Tune Req: El Prisonero

Subject: El Prisonero
From: Lena
Date: 10 Nov 00 - 09:10 PM

Hello everyone.I'm very much looking for the tune of this spanish/jewish song:

Mes de mayo mes de mayo
cuando las fuertes calores
cuando los toritos bravos
los caballos corredores

Cuando la cebada siegan
y el trigo pierde colores
cuando los enamorados
regalan a sus amores

unos les regalan lirios
otros le regalan flores
y yo triste de mi
metido en estas prisiones

Sin saber cuando es de dia
sin saber cuando es de noche
si no es por un pajarito
que canta desde la torre

Thanks very much whoever could help.Lena

Subject: RE: Tune Req: El Prisonero
From: BigDaddy
Date: 11 Nov 00 - 02:43 AM

Could it be "El Pregonero?"

Subject: RE: Tune Req: El Prisonero
From: Lena
Date: 11 Nov 00 - 02:59 AM

It could,it could,as far as I know....

Subject: RE: Tune Req: El Prisonero
From: Lena
Date: 13 Nov 00 - 05:53 AM

I'm still hoping in some help....

Subject: RE: Tune Req: El Prisonero
From: Escamillo
Date: 13 Nov 00 - 06:29 AM

This is just to say that I saw your post, Lena (I'm Spanish speaking) but don´t have a clue. I'll try to find out.

Un abrazo - Andrés

Subject: RE: Tune Req: El Prisonero
From: Escamillo
Date: 13 Nov 00 - 02:33 PM

Nothing as yet. If you are searching, please note that the correct wording should be El Prisionero.

Un abrazo - Andrés

Subject: RE: Tune Req: El Prisonero
From: Lena
Date: 13 Nov 00 - 05:25 PM

Thanks for the correction,Escamillo

Desmantelamos
Lena
(Desmantelare is the first and probably sole spanish verb I was ever able to coniugate...)

Subject: RE: Tune Req: El Prisonero
From: Lena
Date: 15 Nov 00 - 05:07 AM

REFREEEEEESH,I'LL HAVE THAT TUNE,I WILL,I WILL!!!!!

Subject: RE: Tune Req: El Prisonero
From: Lena
Date: 19 Nov 00 - 06:51 AM

Escamillo...>?!

I'll keep on trying.
REFRESH

Subject: RE: Tune Req: El Prisonero
From: Escamillo
Date: 20 Nov 00 - 06:26 AM

Nothing ! Can you find some reference about the author, or the region in Spain, or the epoque ? Sometimes it is easier to find out something in regional libraries, for example Asturian, Galizian, etc. when we know the origin.

Un abrazo - Andr‚s

Subject: RE: Tune Req: El Prisonero
From: Lena
Date: 21 Nov 00 - 03:44 AM

gratias . I'll have a look...

Subject: RE: Tune Req: El Prisonero
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 09 May 01 - 08:27 AM

Hola Lena,

a spanish lady, working in judaistics, told me, that this song doesn't seem to her jewish-spanish, but decidedly spanish (toritos and else).

Am looking further for the tune, Wilfried

Subject: RE: Tune Req: El Prisonero
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 27 Nov 01 - 05:28 AM

Hola Lena,

it's a long time since I looked for the tune, but finally here are the good tidings:
The song is part of the Gerineldo cyclus. I have found a romance of 165 lines with 4 tunes. The source:
Larrea Palacín, Arcadio de:
Romances de Tetuán ; vol. 2. - Madrid : Instituto de Estudios Africanes, 1952
(Cancionero judío del norte de Marruecos ; 2)
Mes de Mayo: pg. 25 - 30

I'm a little bit ashamed, because I ordered a lot of Spanish songbooks and didn't find anything; when I found this cancionero on one of the shelves of the library I'm head of, it opened exactly with the page in question!

Since this book is not registered in the Library of Congress, you may send me your postal adress and get a xerox of pages 25-30 in return.

Wilfried

Subject: RE: Tune Req: El Prisonero
From: masato sakurai
Date: 27 Nov 01 - 07:56 AM

No music, but some background info (with English translation) is HERE, and several versions are HERE (two sources are mentioned to be "música grabada").
~Masato

Subject: RE: Tune Req: El Prisionero
From: Joe Offer
Date: 27 Nov 01 - 02:55 PM

Hi, Lena - I did a Google search and came up with the site Masato linked to, the one that had many versions of the song. One version was apparently a hymn to the Blessed Mother (Mary). This site has just the hymn, with a MIDI (click) with a wonderful tune in the background. Could it be the tune you're seeking?
Apparently, at least some versions of the song are Sephardic/Ladino. There is an anthology called Folk Songs of Europe that has a listinf for "Prisionero," but I don't know how to get hold of bibliographic information on the book.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Tune Req: El Prisonero
From: masato sakurai
Date: 27 Nov 01 - 08:06 PM

From the catalogue at the site (UTK Library):
----------------------------------------
Author: Karpeles, Maud. ed.
Title: Folk songs of Europe, edited for the International Folk Music Council. Prepared under the auspices of the International Music Council, with the assistance of the United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)
Imprint: New York, Oak Publications [1964]
Call Number: M1698.K37F6 1964
Description: xx, 268 p. 22 cm.
Subject: Folk-songs, European.
Notes: "Original edition ... 1956 ... Novello ... England" Unacc., with chord symbols; words in original languages and English.
Bibliography: "Sources of the songs": p. xii-xvi.
Series: International folk song anthologies
Other Authors: International Folk Music Council.
Holdings: Music Lib stacks M1698.K37F6 1964 checked in
----------------------------------------

I have the anthology (Oak edition), but cannot find it at present.

~Masato

Subject: RE: Tune Req: El Prisonero
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 28 Nov 01 - 05:30 AM

Joe's hint to the hymn to the Blessed Virgin does not fit the text Lena gives, the others do.
Masato's references give some more fitting texts, most of them about 12 to 16 lines.
Further reading told me that the romance (165 lines) I found in Larrea Palacín's book is a conglomerate of about three romances, and maybe the song of el prisionero was incorporated as an opening. The first lines are mostly identical with Lena's text.

Wilfried

Subject: RE: Tune Req: El Prisonero
From: Joe Offer
Date: 30 Nov 01 - 06:57 AM

Ah, look again, Wilfried. The hymn lyrics have much in common with the verses Lena posted. Look at the verses toward the end of the hymn. Certainly, the hymn is not as close to Lena's words as the lyrics on this site (click), which Masato linked to.

Is the tune in the background the tune for the hymn? Is it the tune Lena is seeking? Has anybody ever heard this song?
-Joe Offer-

Subject: Lyr Add: EL PRISIONERO
From: masato sakurai
Date: 07 Jun 02 - 10:05 PM

From Folk Songs of Europe, edited by Maud Karpeles (p. 144, with music & chords).

EL PRISIONERO (The Prisoner)
(From El Folklore en la Escuela, Eduardo M. Torner. Madrid, 1936.)

1. Mes de Mayo, mes de Mayo,
Cuando hace la calore,
Cuando los torigos encañan
Y están los campos enflor.
(the last two lines: bis)

2. Cuando canta la calandria
Y responde el ruiseñor,
Cuando los enamorados
Van a servir al amor;

3. Sino yo, triste, cuitado
Que vivo, en esta prisión;
Que ni sé cuando es de día
Ni cuando las noches son,

4. Sino por una avecilla
Que me cantaba al albor.
Matómela un ballestero;
Déle Dios mal galardón.

(English)
1. Month of Maying, month of Maying,
When the heat is on the land,
When the wheat in stalk is growing
And in fields the flowers stand;

2. When the lark above is singing
To the nightingale her song
And the lovers out a-walking
Know the joy of love that's young.

3. But for me there's only waiting
In this prison like the grave;
Sad am I, not even knowing
Whether night has turned to day.

4. Once a blackbird told the hour
As it sang to me at dawn,
But a bowman drew his arrow--
May God'd curse be his reward.

~Masato

Subject: RE: Tune Req: El Prisonero
From: Sorcha
Date: 07 Jun 02 - 11:53 PM

I think the sheet music can be ordered from here. It's been awhile since I've seen Lena around. Do we have an e mail, Joe?

---

Yes, I sent her an e-mail, Sorcha.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Tune Req: El Prisonero
From: GUEST,Lena
Date: 11 Jun 02 - 05:18 AM

Thanks!! The other day I found those lyrics in an old notebook and wondered once more about the tune...it's been such a long time.L.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: El Prisonero
From: GUEST
Date: 11 Jun 02 - 05:37 AM

Since I got the e-mail while checking my inbox here at the Musicology Dept, I looked for Karpeles's book in the library. Apparently, it's JUST that book of hers they are missing. Sigh. Wilfried, thaks for the xerox copies, but I wouldn't know how to log-in my personal page anymore (time flies...) so that I could write to you and send you my post address. Joe, at the moment I can't have access to a MIDI file, but I'll check the Hymn as soon as I can. even if it would be quite ironical that a ladino song (I keep on being sure the song is from the Sephardic stream...)becomes a hymn! Masato, I'm about to give a read to the article you linked to.And that's it for the moment. Sorry I totally lost sight of the Mudcat, that's why I was rude enough not to thank you all before...

Subject: RE: Tune Req: El Prisonero
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 12 Jun 02 - 08:26 AM

Guest (Lena?),

send your address by e-mail to [e-mail]

I'll send the xerocopies ASAP, if not P.D.Q.

Wilfried

Subject: RE: Tune Req: El Prisonero
From: masato sakurai
Date: 02 Jan 05 - 03:15 AM

X:1
T:EL PRISIONERO
T:(The Prisoner)
M:3/4
L:1/8
B:Folk Songs of Europe, edited by Maud Karpeles, p. 144
S:El Folklore en la Escuela, Eduardo M. Torner. Madrid, 1936
K:Gm
G B|"Gm"d3 d d c|d2 B2 c d|"Cm"e3 d c B|
w:1~Mes de Ma-yo, mes de Ma-yo, Cuan-do ha-ce la ca- %calore was a typo
"D"A6 |"Gm"G B B A B G|"D"^F2 D2 A B|
w:lor, Cuan-do los tri-gos en-ca-ñan Y~es-tán %torigos was a typo
c3 B c A|"Gm"B6 |G B B A B G|
w:los camp-os en flor. Cuan-do los tri-gos en-
"D"^F2 D2 A B|c3 B A B|"Gm"G4||
w:ca-ñan Y~es-tán los camp-os en flor. %en flor (2 words)

Subject: RE: Tune Req: El Prisonero
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 02 Jan 05 - 02:51 PM

The "Folk Literature of the Sephardic Jews has several versions and fragments from various localities. Ballads Titles Index
Scroll down to "Prisionero" and click on the transcription files. The discussion is all in Spanish. In the section "Gerineldo Prisionero Conde Niño Virgilios," are the texts, some in medieval Spanish. This site is meant for scholars and I am not one. Three audio files are listed (not available at the moment). This is a large and complex site and not all sections are available at any one time, so check back occasionally.
(This is the site where I obtained audio of the Sephardic "Miserlou")

Prisionero (canción inf2)- fragment

1rst hemistich: Medh de mayo, medh de mayo,
2nd hemistich: cuando las fuertes calores,
1rst hemistich: cuando los toros son bravos,
2nd hemistich: los cabayos corredores.
1rst hemistich: Cuando el albahaca se siembra,
2nd hemistich: los trigos toman colores.

1rst hemistich: Cuando el albahaca se siembra,
2nd hemistich: los trigos toman colores,
1rst hemistich: cuando los enamorados,
2nd hemistich: regalan a sus amores.
1rst hemistich: Unos los regalan lirios
2nd hemistich: y otros los regalan flores
1rst hemistich: Y yo, !qué triste de mi!
2nd hemistich: metido en estas prisiones,
1rst hemistich: sin saber cuándo es de noche [inf2 se corrige] de dia.
2nd hemistich: y menos cuándo es de noche,
1rst hemistich: si no es por los tortolitos
2nd hemistich: que se arroyan en el monte.
1rst hemistich: Mañanita de San Juan,
      canción. inf2
2nd hemistich: se levanta Girineldo,
1rst hemistich: a dar agua sus cabayos,
2nd hemistich: que de sed s'estan muriendo.
1est hemistich: Mientras los cabayos beban,
2nd hemistich: Girineldo va a cantar.
1est hemistich: La prinsesa lo ha sentido
2nd hemistich: y ha comensado a yamar.
    commentario
inf2       Ahora.
Continues with versions inf2 and inf1