Lyrics and music by Flory Jagoda
We recorded this song for our third CD, “La Yave d’Espanya.” Flory never recorded this wrenching autobiographical song herself, so ours was the first. Sung in the Bosnian language (formerly known as Serbo-Croatian), the lyrics tell of the teenage Flory’s feelings when fleeing Zagreb in the summer of 1941, shortly after the Nazi occupation of Yugoslavia. She and her parents were living in Zagreb where her father, Michael Kabilio, owned a tie-making business. When it became clear that flight was the only option, her father arranged for Flory to travel on false papers to Split, where she would be met by friends of the family, the Finzis.
She traveled alone (her parents were able to follow some days later), without the yellow star that the Nazis had mandated for Jews, and her father put her on a train to Split with the following injunction: “Play your harmoniku” (Bosnian for accordion) “but don’t speak; just play your harmoniku.” Flory (she described herself as “this little girl with her harmoniku” in the documentary “Flory’s Flame”) did just that, and soon people were singing along (no Ladino songs, of course). Even the conductor came in and sang, forgetting in his enjoyment to ask Flory for her ticket and papers. After living briefly in Split the family was interned on the island of Korçula for almost two years, and later they fled to Bari, Italy, which was occupied by the Allies in September 1943. This melody and the lyrics, which came to Flory during her journey from Zagreb to Split, lay dormant for many decades, but she wrote the song down around 2010 and taught it to Susan and Howard.
Susan, vocals, guitar; Howard, guitar (from our 2019 CD “La Yave d’Espanya”)
LYRICS + TRANSLATIONS
| SERBO CROATIAN | ENGLISH |
| Tata mi kaže | My father tells me |
| Nemoj govoriti | Don’t speak, |
| Samo sviraj harmoniku | Just play your accordion, |
| Sviraj hamoniku i pjesme pjevaj | Play your accordion and sing your songs. |
| (2x) | |
| Neznam zašto bježim | I don’t know why I’m running. |
| Sama je ostala | What have I done? |
| A ja sviram harmoniku | I just play the accordion, |
| Sviram harmoniku i suze lijem. | Play the accordion and sing songs. |
| Zašto ja bježim | Why am I running away? |
| Pa sta sam učinila | WHat have I done? |
| Ja samo sviram harmoniku | I just play the accordion, |
| Sviram harmoniku i suže lijem. | Playing the accordion and shedding tears. |
| Moja mila Majka | My dear mother |
| Sama je ostala | Is left alone, |
| A ja sviram harmoniku | And I’m playing the accordion, |
| Sviram harmoniku i suže lijem. | Playing the accordion and shedding tears. |
| Composition by Flory Jagoda |
