Ana Alcaide - Luna Sefardita lyrics + English translation

Sephardic Moon

Loneliness has gone quiet,

At the coming of a new sunrise,

On the little edge of the city,

Spring sleeps within it,

With its eyes of April,

The hills flourish, their wheat towards the sun

And lay over gold,

In festive farewells.

Tell me Alina: What evil mark

Burns in the blood of a Hebrew woman?

You come out of the aljama1 singing,

With a fistful of sand,

You wander without looking back,

There will be no one to light the fire in your home,

Follow the sign of chance,

Of the sephardic moon.

Where are the keys of Spain,

Who will open their doors?

Where it keeps a soulless town,

And all of the hours gone,

They come in twos,

In carts, crying over their wounds of love,

Lost in the eyes of the sephardic moon.

1. is a term of Arabic origin used in old official documents in Spain and Portugal to designate the self-governing communities of Moors and Jews living under Christian rule in the Iberian Peninsula. In some present-day Spanish cities, the name is still applied to the quarters where such communities lived, though they are many centuries gone. [Reference]

Submitted by líadan

líadan on Sun, 10/05/2015 - 22:52

Last edited by líadan

líadan on Fri, 15/05/2015 - 02:09

Author's comments:

The lyrics were inspired by the 'Leyenda de las llaves de Toledo' (The Legend of the Keys of Toledo). This controversial legend dates back to the time when the Sephardic Jews were expelled from Toledo and other cities on the Iberian Peninsula. Forced to leave in haste, many of the Jews left with little more than the keys to their homes in hopes they might one day return. Still today there are descendants of these Sephardic Jews that claim to have the keys to the houses in Toledo that their ancestors left. The song tells the story of the exile through the eyes of Alina, a Jewish girl who left her home using the moon as her guide. (According to the booklet).

BuenSabor

Thu, 14/05/2015 - 03:11

Second stanza:

Tell me Alina: What bad appearance
Brews in the blood of a Hebrew woman?
You come out of the aljama1 counting,
With a fistful of sand,
You wander without looking back,
There will be no one to light the fire in your home,
Follow the sign of chance,
Of the sephardic moon.

There is a lot of religious imagery here that doesn't seem to get to the other side. I hope you will consider these:

bad appearance -> evil mark

Brews in the blood -> burns in the blood

You come out of the aljama1 counting,
With a fistful of sand, ->

Escaping from your ghetto, praying (chanting hymns) with
A fistful of your hearth's ashes in hand

You wander without looking back,
There will be no one to light the fire in your home, ->

Don't look back as you run away
Leave no light behind

Follow the sign of chance,
Of the sephardic moon. ->

Signposts of your destiny
Under the sephardiic moon

***************************

Tell me Alina: What evil mark
Burns in the blood of a Hebrew woman?
Escaping from your ghetto, crying with a fistful
Of your hearth's ashes in hand
Don't look back as you run away
Leave no light nor sign behind, besides
Signposts of your destiny
Under the sephardiic moon

1.	Luna Sefardita
2.	La Cantiga del Fuego - La Canción
3.	La Reina Ester

Luna Sefardita (English translation)

Sephardic Moon

Luna Sefardita

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