raki y vida

[Judith R Cohen <judithc...>]

> 
> If only to bring the thread back to Jewish music:
> 
> I recall a Ladino song "La vida do por el raki" [I give my life for raki].
> It appears in Alhambra's CD "The Joys of Judeo Spanish Song" 
> (graciously offered to our Sound Archive by list member Isabelle 
> Ganz), as coming from Istanbul -- a tainted Sefardi drinking song...
> 
> Francesco
> 
hi, I was sort of hoping no one would bring that one up, for me it's the
mother of cliche-d Judeo-Spanish songs and I've always disliked it,
finmding both the words and tune trite at best (I can take trite words
or a trite tune, but together they get to me). It appears  in MANY cd's
besides Isabelle's. Too many, to my mind. But, yes, it's there, it's a
very popular song , it's pretty recent, it 's part of that early 20th
century ex-Ottoman area Sephardic repertoire, which the Moroccan
Spehardim never sang . Years ago, I videotaped a Sephardi women's club
singing it at the end of a session, dancing with a handkerchief as they
sang, sounding for all the world as if they'd consumed bottles of the
stuff when in fact all they'd had was coffee! 

In Spain, aguardiente is the equivalent of the rakija Carol described,
and anís is the anise-flavoured one. cheers, Judith

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