Madame Gashpar (arr. F. Jagoda)

Here’s another wonderful song from Flory’s repertoire that brings to life the joyous holiday traditions of her native Bosnia; in this instance, the holiday is Purim. Here is what Flory wrote about this song in her book, The Flory Jagoda Songbook (Tara Publications, 1993): “My cousin, Marcel Samakovlija, who taught me so many songs, used to sing this little fantasy to me: ‘Right after Purim Madame Gashpar, a very kind, rich lady in Sarajevo, gathered the children with their dinero di Purim (Purim money) in the town square (Il Charshi) near the Jewish Quarter. Then they would go shopping for little animals.’ The fun of the song is about a little game where the children made Madame Gashpar guess how much each little animal cost. If she guessed wrong, she owed them one dinar. Naturally, she never guessed right, so each child collected a special dinar from Madame Gashpar.”

Susan, lead vocals, guitar; Gina, harmony vocals; Tina, rebec; Howard, guitar.

LADINO	ENGLISH
Madame Gashpar saliyo al charshi;	Madame Gashpar went to the market;
Kun il dinaro di Purim	With the Purim money
Un poyiko me merki;	I bought myself a little chick;
Il poyiko Biri-biri-bi.	It chirps Biri-biri-bi.
Si savej la mi sinyora	Guess, my lady,
I pur kuanto lo merki?	How much did I pay for it?
Madame Gashpar saliyo al charshi;	Madame Gashpar went to the market;
Kun il dinaro di Purim	With the Purim money
Una gayinika me merki;	I bought myself a little hen;
La gayenika Gi-gi-gi:	It clucks Gi-gi-gi;
Il poyiko Biri-biri-bi.	The chick chirps Biri-biri-bi.
Si savej la mi sinyora
I pur kuanto lo merki?	The little rooster: Giri-giri-gi.
Madame Gashpar saliyo al charshi;	The little cow: Mu-mu-mu.
Kun il dinaro di Purim
Un gayiko me merki;	The little bird: Tvi-tvi-tvi.
Il gayiko Giri-giri-gi;
La gayinika Gi-gi-gi;
Il poyiko Biri-biri-bi.
Si savej la mi sinyora
I pur kuanto lo merki?
La vakita Mu-mu-mu;
Il gayiko Giri-giri-gi;
La gayinika Gi-gi-gi;
Il poyiko Biri-biri-bi.
Si savej…
La vakita Mu-mu-mu;
Il gayiko Giri-giri-gi;
La gayinika Gi-gi-gi;
Il poyiko Biri-biri-bi.
Un pashariko Tvi-tvi-tvi;
Si savej…