Paseabase el rey moro (Mudejar/Begoña Olavide)

Romance de origen arabe del siglo XV-XVI

Performers: Mudejar (Begoña Olavide)
Images: Various
Alhambra photo: The courtyard of Lions by Victor Ovies
(www.granadaphoto.com )

"Paseabase el rey moro" is a ballad that Perez de Hita (1544-1619) considered to be a translation from Arabic; he tells the following tale: "The Count of Tendilla felt obliged to prohibit this ballad because it stirred up the populace to such a degree as to disturb the peace and make it necessary to resort to armas in order to stifle the mutinies of the Moriscos." The events deal with the capture of Alhama in 1482; The Count of Tendilla was the governor who remained in the Alhambra after the caputre of Granada ten years later.

The Moorish king was strolling
Through the city of Granada
Letters came
Saying that Alhama had been taken
¡Ay de mi Alhama!

He cast the letters into the fire
And killed the messenger
He ordered the trumpets to be played
His trumpets of silver
¡Ay de mi Alhama!

Friends, you must know
of a new misfortune
Ferocious Christians
have seized Alhama
¡Ay de mi Alhama!

A wise man of law spoke
A mand of long, white beard
You got what you were due, good king
Good king, you got what you were due
¡Ay de mi Alhama!

You killed the bencerrajes
who were the best of Granada
You chose the turncoats
of famed Córdoba
¡Ay de mi Alhama!

For that, king, you deserve
a double-edged sorrow
You lose, and you lose your kingdom
and here is lost Granada
¡Ay de mi Alhama!