Haketía:
A Memoir of Judeo-Spanish Language and Culture in Morocco
Estrella Jalfón de Bentolila
Out of print. Not in circulation.
Before radio and television, entertainment centered around talking, stories, and songs. Important events were filled with songs, the Romances, that could be traced back even to the fifteenth century. Romances were sung to celebrate a birth, a circumcision ceremony, or a wedding, and they were sung at religious festivals, at funerals, and of course to rock babies to sleep. The most frequent themes come from the medieval period, and they can be about wars between Christians and Muslims, young captives carried to far away lands, palace intrigues, or Biblical stories. Romances have been passed from mother to daughter, from generation to generation, for five centuries. My mother left a notebook full of Romances and old sayings, which I still preserve.
Professor Susana Weich-Shahak has done the most to study Moroccan romances, collecting texts from people who still remember them in Morocco, Israel, Spain, and Argentina among other places. Her book Sephardic Romances from Morocco (2011) gives a more complete summary of this genre of music. Here are five Romances that will give an indication of the lyrics that exist in these songs.
Belisera
Todas las aves dormían, cuantas Dios criaba y nace
No dormía Belisera, la hija del emperante.
De amores del conde Niño, que se quería finare,
Vueltas diera en la su cama como pece vivo en mare.
Saliera de su camita que parece un gavilane,
Pusiérase una sayita no cubriendo el su liviale
Y fuese par’ los palacios donde sus doncellas yacen.
Buenas noches, mis doncellas. Belisera, bien vengadeis.
Que las que teneis amores consejo me habéis de dare,
Y las que no los teneis que se aparten a un luguare.
Por tu vida, Martinico, emprestame tu puñale:
Mataría a esos perros que ladran por la calle,
Que de día ni de noche no me dejan sosegare.
Martinico, como es necio, la pretara su puñale.
La cabeza entre los hombros, al suelo se la arrojare.
Vaite aguera, Martinico, contalo a’ mi padre.
Y fuese pa’ los palacios donde el conde Niño yace.
Golpes diera en la su puerta que la quería quebrare.
Quién es éste o cuál es éste que a mi puerta así combate
Belisera soy, señor, y vengo en vuestra busquedade.
Vaite aguera, Belisera, vaite en ca del rey, tu padre,
Que cuando quiera mujer, por ti yo he de buscare.
English Summary of the Story.
All the birds were asleep, all that God had created and were born. Belisera, the daughter of the emperor, could not sleep. She was in love with the Count Niño for whom she yearned. She tossed and turned in her bed like a fish in the sea, she got out of her bed like a hawk and put on a short dress that was lewd. She walked through the palace to where the young women were. They welcomed her, and she asked that someone who had been in love give her advice, and she asked the ones who had not been in love to leave. She asks Martinico to give her his knife that she is going to kill the barking dogs in the street, but he refuses. She threatens him and taunts him to report it to her father, the king. Then, she goes to the palace where Count Niño lives, and she pounds on the door. He asks who it is. She declares that she has come looking for him, and he tells her to go to her father, the king. When he, the Count, is ready to be with a woman, he will come looking for her.
Bergico
Preso llevan a Bergico, y en las sus prisiones él,
Por una traición que ha hecho en los palacios del rey.
Un día yendo el rey a misa se encontró con ‘na mujer,
Toda ella vestida en luto, ella y sus damas también.
Preguntó el rey a su alcalde quién era esa mujer:
Vuestra sobrina, mi señor, vuestra sobrina Isabel.
¿Por qué va Isabel de luto, ella y sus damas también?
Por Bergico, mi señor, que en vuestras prisiones él.
Pronto, pronto, mis criados, poned mesas y a comer,
Mientras las mesas se aprontan, a Bergico iré yo a ver.
En Buena hora estés, Bergico! – Bien vengáis, ¡mi señor rey!
Oh, ¿Qué años, oh qué meses, que en vuestras prisiones es?
Siete años, mi señor, siete años y más un mes:
Cuando yo entre en la prisión empecime a embarbecer,
Y ahora, por mis pecados, ¡empecime a encanecer!
¿ Qué darías tú, Bergico, por dormir con Isabel?
La vida de la prisón la doblaría otra vez,
Si queries, mi señor, ¡toda la vida también!
Pronto, pronto, mesa, criados, poned mesas y a comer.
Y otro día a la mañana, las ricas bodas se armaron.
English Summary of the Story.
Bergico was a prisoner for treason in the palace of the king. One day the king was going to mass, and he saw a woman dressed in mourning, as were her servants accompanying her. The king asked one of his aides who the woman was, and he was told that it was his niece, Isabel. The king asked why she was in mourning, and he was told that it was for Bergico who was in prison. The king ordered that the tables be set for eating while he went to the prison to see Bergico. The king asked him how long he had been in prison, and Bergico answered seven years and one month. He said that when he entered prison, he let his beard grow, and now it has turned grey. The king asked him what he would give to sleep with Isabel, and he answered that twice the time he had been in prison and then added, he would give his entire life in prison for that. The king ordered his servants to serve the food and prepare for an elaborate wedding the next morning.
Don Diego
En la ciudad de Toledo y en la ciudad de Granada,
Y ahí se ha criado un mancebo que Diego León se llama.
Él era alto de cuerpo, morenito de su cara,
Y estrechito de cintura, mozo criado entre damas.
De una tal se enamoró, de una muy linda muchacha;
Se miran por una reja y también por una ventana.
Y el día que no se ven no les aprovecha nada;
Ni les aprovecha el pan, ni el agua de la mañana,
Ni les aprovecha el dinero con que León negociaba.
Y un día se vieron juntos, dijo León a su dama;
Mañana te he de pedir, no vaya ser en hora mala.
Lo que la dama responde, lo que a León le agradaba.
Otro día a la mañana con Don Pedro se encontrara,
Con el sombrero en la mano los Buenos días le daba;
Don Pedro, déme a su hija, y a su hija Doña Juana.
Mi hija no es de casar y aún es Chiquita y muchacha.
Por hacer burla del caso y a su casa lo contara;
Hija, León te ha pedido, no vayas en hora mala;
Y el que mi yerno ha de ser y had de menester que traiga.
De caudal cien mil ducados y otros tantos de oro y plata,
Y otros tantos le dare, hija mía y de mi alma.
Padre, casisme con él, aunque nunca me deis nada,
Que los bienes de este mundo Dio los daba y los llevaba.
Y d’allí supo su padre que de amor está tocada.
Cerrola en un aposento para que con León no hablara.
Mandara cuatro valientes, los mayors de la plaza,
Que mataran a León y le trajeran su alma.
León a los tres mató y el uno herido estaba.
Tres días no eran pasados, León en la plaza estaba;
Cogió tres chinas del suelo y a la ventana arrojara.
Mi dama que no responde, de senas que está trocada.
No estoy trocada, León, qu’ aun sigo yo en mi palabra.
Bajara las escaleras como una Leona brava,
Tres días no eran pasados. Las ricas bodas se arman.
English Summary of the Story.
In the cities of Toledo and Granada there was a handsome young man named Diego León. He was tall and dark with a narrow waist, and he was admired by all the young women. He fell in love with a girl that he saw in a window, and they talked through the iron grating of her window. The day that they did not see each other was worthless, neither water, nor bread, nor money meant anything. One day Diego told his love that he was going to ask her father permission to marry her, and she agreed. When he saw the father, Don Diego, he asked for her hand, but the father said that she was too young. The father then told his daughter and said that only a man who could give 100,000 ducats for a dowry would marry her, and the father promised to match that amount himself to give to her. She protested saying that she wanted to marry Diego, and that she was not interested in any amount of money. The father ordered that she be shut away in the basement, and that four men be hired to kill Diego. But, Diego killed three of his attackers and wounded the other. From the plaza Diego threw three pebbles to her window and called out why she was not answering him. Had she changed her mind? She answered that she had not changed her mind, and she came storming down the stairs like a lionness. In three days an elegant wedding was arranged.
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