Littlebricksfusion's video: Flory Jagoda - Saray De Oro

Saray De Oro ~ Album Arvoliko 2008 Adiyo Kerida http://youtu.be/52sBpWYkSeg Arkul - Saray De Oro http://youtu.be/eBLRHxt35sc Ladino http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judaeo-Spanish I adore Flory Jagoda. Not the most orthodox way to begin a review of a CD, but the fact remains—to me, Flory is not only a wonderful singer, musician and songwriter, not only the "nona" of Sephardic songs, but also a loving, caring, thoughtful—and funny, when she wants to be—friend, mother, wife, grand-mother, teacher, human being. In 2004, when I had to be in Washington, I had supper at her apartment, and she said—at almost 80—she was thinking of writing a different type of song, something more serious, more connected to her darker memories and thoughts, the Holocaust, the state of the world. Two years later, I found myself in D.C. again, and Flory came to my concert at the Alan Lomax symposium—there, in the Library of Congress, she gave me her two new CDs, one with the much-appreciated Moroccan-Argentinian singer and cantor Ramon Tasat, and her own: as she puts it, the fourth of a four-volume set. Flory writes brief notes at the beginning, about the need, as one grows older, to share painful memories, and also the happy ones. She situates this as her final (she says but one can hope otherwise) CD in the series: the first, "Songs of my Grandmother", then "Memories of Sarajevo", then "The Grandmother Sings" with herself in the role, and finally "Arvoliko:, "The Little Tree" which is, she tells us, the only marker of the mass grave of 42 massacred members of the Altaras, Flory's own family. The liner notes signal the presence of family members and friends—Betty Jagoda Murphy, Flory's older daughter, and Josh Murphy; Flory's younger daughter Lori Jagoda Lowell and her children Alec and Ariel; and friends Susan Gaeta, now closely associated with Flory as a singer, Betsy Carey, Howard Bass, Alan Oretsky, Tina Chancey (my friend and much-admired colleague in Early Music) and Scott Reiss on recorder and percussion—a bittersweet presence for those of us who knew him and were devastated to hear of his suicide a short time ago. The CD opens with pensive bars on the guitar, and Flory's voice, pitched a little lower than usual, pensively, singing Isak Papo's "Saray de Oro" (Golden Sarajevo), set to Flory's own music: the author had sent her this poem asking her to compose a melody for it. "I watch television with an anxious soul, my golden Sarajevo is being destroyed ... yesterday they were friends and good neighbors, cruel politics has destroyed everything, completely changing the people...", Papo wrote at eighty years old... http://www.klezmershack.com/articles/cohen_j/flory_arvoliko/ http://www.rahul.net/jsutton/reviews/jfsagrev.html © 1996 Lyrics by Isak Papo, music by Judy Frankel Now in his mid-eighties, Professor Papo writes me from Zagreb that he used to teach civil engineering. He says that "Saray" is what he used to call "Sarajevo" and that they say "civdad" rather than "ciudad". (He also asked me to pronounce the h in "inhumanidad".) Estremecido miro el televizoro. Destruyéndose está mi Saray de oro. Nunca pensava que pudía ser verdad Tanta inhumanidad y terrible crueldad. Lo que se pasa hazen sus civdadinos, Ayer amigos y tan buenos vizinos. La cruela política todo derroca, Enteremente a la gente troca. Ángeles divinos, onde vos topax agora En esta, sincero dicho, mala hora? Atrás ochenta años en Saray me nací, De mi chiquez toda la vida allí pasí. Me recordo del meldar y de Ham Daniel, El primero alef-bet ambezándolo de él. En caza uzávamos la lingua española, Con los amigos la lingua de la escola. De la España truximos la cultura y tradición, La lingua y romanças cultivimos con emoción. Si la Medinat Yisrael no existía, No sé cómo se salvava la judería. Embiamos munchas gracias al Dio alto y poderozo De criar por tresera vez muestro país gloriozo. Ángeles divinos, onde vos topax agora En esta, sincero dicho, mala hora? Trembling, I watch the television. My golden Sarajevo is being destroyed. I never thought it could be true, So much inhumanity and terrible cruelty. What is happening is done by its citizens, Yesterday's friends and good neighbors. Cruel politics destroys all, Makes people change completely. Divine angels, where are you now At this truly terrible hour? Eighty years ago I was born in Sarajevo. There I spent all my life since childhood. I remember reading the Torah. And Rabbi Daniel, From him I learned the first alef-bet. At home we used the Spanish language, With friends it was the school language. From Spain we brought our culture and tradition The language and romances we cultivated with deep feeling. If the State of Israel did not exist I don't know how the Jewish people could survive. We send many thanks to G-d most high and mighty For creating our glorious land for the third time. Divine angels, where are you now At this truly terrible hour?