Aman doktor, canim kuzum doktor Derdime bir çare. Çaresiz dertlere düştüm Doktor bana bir çare. Mendilimin yeşili, aman aman Ben kaybettim eşimi. Kışı beraber geçirdik Yazı ayırdı felek. Yo kuando ke vo murir, aman, aman, En la mi tomba vo skrivir Ke me melden i ke me yoren Ke el amor m´izo murir.
Ah, doctor, my soul, my gentle doctor,
find a cure for my pain.
I have fallen into an illness with no cure
doctor, a remedy for me. The green of my kerchief, ah, ah
I have lost my husband.
We passed the winter together,
but fate parted us in the summer.
When the time comes that I will die,
ah, ah,
Upon my grave I want it written
that they recite for me and weep for me,
that love is what made me die.
Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: YCD 2979/15 Bienvenida Aguado-Mushak sings a strophe in Turkish and one in Judeo-Spanish. In the Turkish strophe the sick maiden beseeches the surgeon (Aman, doctor), calling him "canem" (my soul), begging him to find her a cure (bana bir care) for her sickness (dert). In the Judeo-Spanish strophe she seems to resign herself and only wants to write on her tomb about her sad fate, so that everyone will read it (que lo melden) and cry because she has died of love.
This website was created by Orit Perlman with the collaboration and blessings of Dr. Susana Weich-Shahak in 2025