Mose Salio de Misrayim

This romansa (ballad) tells the story of Moses in the wilderness of Midian, where he lived for forty years as a shepherd tending sheep that belonged to Jethro, his father-in-law. At Mt. Horeb, in the well-known story of the burning bush, God orders Moses to deliver the people of Israel from oppression.

This romansa was sung during the Passover holiday by women in the sizable Jewish community centered around Tangier and Tetuan, across the Straits of Gibraltar from Spain. Following the infamous edict of expulsion in 1492, thousands of Spanish Jews crossed the straits of Gibraltar to North Africa, where Jewish communities flourished until the mid-twentieth century.

After the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, a majority of the Jews from Morocco and other North African countries immigrated to the new Jewish state.

Source: Susana Weich Shahak, Musica y Tradiciones Sefardies (Salamanca: Centro de Cultura Tradicional Diputacion de Salamanca, 1992).

Susan, vocals; Tina, bass viola da gamba; Howard, guitar