Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Flory Jagoda's "Pesah ala mano (Passover is at hand)"

My favorite Sephardic psychodelic rock band, Deleon, tipped me off to this Passover song by Flory Jagoda. Jagoda is Sephardic Jew from Bosnia, a winner of an NEA National Heritage fellowship, and composer of the Chanukah classic* "Ocho Kandelikas." It's the first Passover song I've heard that focuses on cleaning up after Purim. Which is exactly how I feel most years. My last hamentashen is just crumbs, and now I have to clean up the crumbs (chametz). Really. Already?

Click through to the YouTube page for the full Ladino lyrics and English translation.


* I've always hated the term 'classic.' It's like the word obvious, only used when something wasn't. But Jagoda earned it for Ocho Kandelikas. The song has been recorded a zillion times, to the point where I've seen it mis-labeled as "traditional."

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