Un día antes que muriera llamó a todo su parientera los tomó a su cabecera, un día antes de Purim. A Pasandata le ha dicho, de Agag seas maldicho, que tú tomes el mi dicho y aborrezcas el Purim. Dalfón, mi hijo segundo, así tengas preto mundo, tuerto de vayas del mundo en el día de Purim. A Aspata le decía: de mí tómate mancía, ni cadena ni manilla no estrenes en Purim. Y tú mi hijo Porata, vende tu ropa barata, y no hables con quen tratas en los días de Purim. Despues vino Aridai llorando con muncho guay, por modo de Mordehai se enforcó en Purim. Despues vino Vaizata, lo que a mí me mata, quedar mi paga alta encolgado en Purim. Al cabo lo trujeron, enforcarlo quiseron, iza, iza, le dijeron, lo encolgaron en Purim. Calla tú, Zeresh, la loca, que hablar a ti no toca, por tí ordené la forca y me la estrené en Purim. Y Šimši, el escribano, se mataba con su mano, no dejaba hueso y sano en el día de Purim
One day before he died he called all his relatives he took them to his bedside, one day before Purim. To Pasandata he said, “From Agag may you be cursed, that you take my words and despise Purim.” Dalfón, my second son, may your world be blackened, may you be twisted from the world on this day of Purim. To Aspata he was saying: “Take from me this warning, neither chain nor bracelet shall you wear on Purim.” And you, my son Porata, sell your clothes cheaply, don’t speak with whom you deal in the days of Purim. Afterward came Aridai weeping with great woe, by the plan of Mordechai he was hanged on Purim. Afterward came Vaizata, what kills me is this, that my earned reward was hanged on Purim. In the end they brought him, for they wanted to hang him, “Up, up,” they told him, they hanged him on Purim. Be silent, Zeresh, the crazy one, for it is not your place to speak, because of you I made the gallows and I was hung on Purim. And Šimši, the scribe, killed himself with his own hand, leaving neither bone nor whole on the day of Purim.
From Morenika Izmirlia - Judeo-Spanish songs from Smyrna, 2020
This a a humorous and festive copla from the Ottoman tradition , celebrating the downfall of Haman and the joy of the Jewish people. Haman here is the protagonist, foreseeing all the disasters soon to befall him, his family and his advisors. An almost identical text of a Purim copla exists in North Morocco as well which includes a chorus. Most of the strophes in this copla are structured in Muslim originated 12th century Zajal rhyme quatrains, in which first three lines of each strophe rhyme while all the fourth lines rhyme with each other. The rhythm, typical of the Ottoman region, is an asymmetric 7/8 beat.
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