How to dance flamenco, flamenco travel in Spain, flamenco dance students and their experiences, interviews with flamenco artists, translations of flamenco letras (songs) from Spanish to English
Viewing entries tagged
flamenco poetry
“I never made a conscious choice to pursue flamenco. I was born in a place (Jerez) and into a family where flamenco was a natural part of life,” - David Lagos
Enjoy this brief video interview to learn more about one of the foremost flamenco singers of today, David Lagos, winner of the Premio Andaluz del Flamenco,
I’m pretty sure you’ll love the animation below to accompany this alegrías:
Alegrías
Navega por la bahía
sin que lo sepa la luna
A few weeks ago a flamenco loving Spanish student contacted me and asked if I could help her with the words from the following tangos sung by Luis Ortega.
As with any traditional flamenco song, this one is a collection of unrelated verses that Luis puts together to form a “song.”
Here’s a letra I discovered here in La Poesía flamenca, Lírica en Andaluz.
De mi nadie hace caso
porque me ven sin dinero
encuerecito y descalzo
Do you know how to dance a bulería corta? And do you know when it’s appropriate to do so?
Find out exactly which components you need to include in your short dance, see four examples (each deconstructed to help you better understand the structure), then practice doing one of your own!
Want to make somebody’s day?
Share this sweet letra with them, and start February off with some LOVE.
Here’s a letra for you followed by a video of Cristina Hall, that you’re going to love just as much as the words to this song.
I first heard today’s letra sung by Camarón. I would go back on the recording and listen to this particular letra over and over and over again. Those words! And the way he sang the last two lines especially always got me, and still gets me. (Below you can see a video of him singing it live and another of Pepe de Lucia singing for Pepita Ibarz.)
Here is an excerpt from José Galán’s Cierra Los Ojos y Mírame followed by the live flashmob direct from the Bienal de Sevilla with José Valencia and María Terremoto singing.
Today I share with you a Lorca piece, café de Chinitas along with a video from Compañia Rafaela Carrasco. Emilio will be dancing to this in his own way this weekend; I can’t wait to see what he does.
Below you’ll find a letra along with a video of José Mercé singing it for Manuela Carrasco.
Baladilla de los tres puñales
Rafael de León
He comprado tres puñales
para que me des la muerte...
El primero, indiferencia,
sonrisa que va y que viene
y que se adentra en la carne
como una rosa de nieve.
We were all blown away by Jesús Carmona and Company's performance here in Portland this week, "I can't stop thinking about it," one student wrote me, "The best performance I attended in my entire life. Heart stopping," another said. You can see pictures from the evening and a video below.
Now, here's a letra from the show:
Today I wrap up the flamenco cuplé series with a bonus post, one more song, and a few more videos:
Un Compromiso
Alfredo García Segura y Gregorio García Segura
Sin firmar un documento,
ni mediar un previo aviso,
sin hablarnos, ni mirarnos
ha nacío un compromiso.
Flamenco singer Manuel Moneo passed away earlier this week.
The huge mural of him that you see in the picture above was steps away from where we study bulerías on the Flamenco Tour to Jerez in the historic flamenco neighborhood of San Miguel. (You can see a video on the making of the mural below.)
Manuel was known for his siguiriyas and soleá. Here you can watch him singing martinete in Carlos Saura's movie, Flamenco.
~ Manuel Moneo
He talks about this concept in the video interview below where you'll not only hear some of his story but also learn about the importance of el Barrio San Miguel, La Plazuela, to flamenco.
But first, let's listen to him sing por bulerías (con mucho arte). Here is one of the letras you'll hear:
You've heard many examples of different artists singing cuplés in the previous four posts. Now it's time to see how one dances to a cuplé, and I've got one of the best possible examples for you, Carmen Herrera. Following the video I'll talk about how to dance bulerías to a cuplé then share one of the songs you'll hear and its translation
Below watch (and be blown away by) Emilio Ochando's award-winning piece Tinevo, which took first place in the XXVº Certamen de Coreografía de Danza Española y Flamenco, where he and three other dancers do their thing with castanets and bata de cola. They dance to this original fandangos by Los Makarines:
Fandangos
Los Makarines
Cantan las hojas,
bailan las peras en el peral,
bailan las rosas,
rosas del viento no del rosal,
y nubes y nubes flotaban,
dormían al ras del aire,
todo el espacio giran con ella,
la fuerza del AIRE.
You're going to LOVE the video below of the Makarines performing sevillanas live. The third copla they sing is an excerpt from this sevillanas and it has to do with the Rocío pilgrimage. Here it is:
Sevillanas (De: Porque El Relente Le Daba)
José Miguel Évora/Isidro Muñoz*
Porque el relente le daba
Le puse mi chaquetilla
Le puse mi chaquetilla
Porque tiritaba y yo la veía,
Ay!
Today in honor of International Dance Day, I have a couple of videos to share with you that will surely make you want to move. You'll love how into it Paloma Fantova gets in the first video. After that watch Parrita sing today's letra.
¡Feliz Día Internacional de la Danza!
El Agua Más Cristalina (Chorus)
El Parrita
El agua más cristalina
El vaso más reluciente
El mejor mantel que tenga voy a ponerle
No viene a cenar cualquiera
Viene el señor de señores
Y el rey de reyes
I just love malagueñas, so here you go:
Malagueñas
Popular
Serían las dos de la noche.
Vino mi hermano a llamarme,
Levántate.
¿Por qué no te levantas hermano mío?
Que se ha muerto nuestra madre
y nos quedamos solitos.
![Q & A with Flamenco Singer David Lagos [Video]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/568079e7bfe873f15c115eee/1647044641228-4J5HR9QZQRHRN1DA1M3M/IMG_6048.jpg)
