Tel Aviv, 2014
I’m dying to get back to Thessaloniki…
Well, Artemis, I’m going to sing you a little song and say goodbye with that.
Tu madre kuando te pario i te kito al mundo, korason eya no te dio para penar te trusho. Adio kerida, no kero la vida, me la yevates tu. *
[Translated from Ladino: When your mother gave birth to you and brought you into this world, she didn’t give you a heart, she brought you into this world for you to suffer. Goodbye, goodbye, beloved one, I don’t want to live, you took away my life].
Many, many kisses, and may God give us health.
Le Hitraot hamuda ve ani maamin, mekave she niye briim ve le hitraot po ba arets. Ani met liyot be Saloniki, ani oev et Saloniki aval kashe, levad ani lo yehol linsoah ani tsarih et a Shuli a bat sheli, aiti mamsih lavo kol shana. En davar, toda raba lah, arbe toda.
[Translated from Hebrew: Farewell, my sweetheart, I believe and hope we’ll be healthy and meet again in Israel. I’m dying to get back in Thessaloniki, I love Thessaloniki, but it’s hard. I can’t go on my own, I need, if Shouli, my daughter, were here, I’d keep coming back every year. Never mind, thank you, many thanks].
Thank you, many thanks.
Goodbye boubale [“goodbye, my dear” in Hebrew].
* Dario Sevy says goodbye to Artemis Alcalay, singing the well-known, beloved Sephardic song “Adio Kerida” [Goodbye, my beloved one] in Ladino.
Citation: “Dario Sevy”, excerpts from his interview to Artemis Alcalay as part of the “Greek Jews Holocaust Survivors” project, 19 April 2021, https://greekjewsholocaustsurvivors.art/en/profile/dario-sevy/