Bulerías
Yo estaba ciega y no veía
Ya me quitaron la venda
Que tan ciega me tenía
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flamenco songs
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.”
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Today I share with you a video of Manuel Lombo doing his thing at a juerga in Spain. Manuel begins singing letras then moves to cuplés, with plenty of dancing in-between. He is backed by a chorus of jaleos and palmas that help us to feel the energy in the room.
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You've now learned what a cuplé por bulerías is, you've seen the transformation of popular song to cuplé, and today I want to show you one more example. It's Adela la Chaqueta's interpretation of Voy a Perder La Cabeza Por Tu Amor. (I know you'll enjoy her opening and closing dance moves, and if dancing is your thing, stick around because the next two posts will have plenty of that.)
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For this second installment of the flamenco cuplé series, I want to show you the transformation of a song from its original form into a cuplé por bulerías. So here is a song famously interpreted by Rocío Jurado. First watch her sing it directly to Lola Flores (watch it all the way through to see what happens between the two of them at the end) then see how Fernanda de Utrera adapts it as a cuplé por bulerías.
Se Nos Rompió El Amor
Maria Alejandra Alvarez-Beigbeder Casas / Manuel Alvarez-Beigbeder Perez
Se nos rompió el amor
de tanto usarlo.
De tanto loco abrazo
sin medida.
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In the first installment of the flamenco cuplé series I'll explain what a cuplé is and show you a video example. But let's begin by looking at this one that Ani sang one day during bulerías class on the Flamenco Tour to Jerez. It was so pretty, so I asked her to tell me the words:
¿Quién se ha llevao mi amor?
¿Quién me ha dejao sin nada?
¿Quién se ha llevao todo el sol
que entraba por mi ventana?
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The moon is almost full, so I've included a lunar themed letra for you. (Though this one would make more sense on a new moon...) And since yesterday's video analysis was a hit, I decided to do another. Below you'll find a video of Beatríz Morales dancing to today's letra and giving many clear examples of what it looks like to dance to the cante along with my description of where each component of the structure occurs within her dance. Check it out, and find out what the ultimate bulerías goal is.
Bulerías
Esta noche la luna a mí no me acompaña
Me voy solo pa' casa
No espero al alba
La luna se ha enfadado por no llevarla
anoche a la verbena de Santa Ana
No me enfades luna, tú no me enfades.
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Today a bulerías letra and a video of Camarón singing it with Paco de Lucía on guitar.
Bulerías
Popular
Abuelos, padres y tíos
de los buenos manantiales
se forman los buenos ríos
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Tangos
Excerpt from "Que Desgraciaitos Son" Paco de Lucía/Camarón
La virtud es la alegría
Que te alivia el corazón
Y la desgracia es la pena,
La tristeza y el dolor.
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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.
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We studied bamberas with abanico with Mercedes during the Flamenco Tour.
Now that. was. fun.
After the letra you'll find a quick fan activity from our class that you can try at home.
Bamberas
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Vamos niña pa la bamba
que te voy a columpiar
yo te daré despacito
no te vaya a marear
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Lately I've had bulerías on my mind . . . I've been watching bulerías, listening to bulerías, dancing bulerías (in class, at home, in my head).
Naturally, the moves I'm currently working with during the 10-Day Dance Like You're In Class With Mercedes Ruíz Home Challenge are por bulerías.
So, today I offer you some bulerías inspiration via a video of Manuel Liñan dancing and a letra that David Carpio sings to him. There's also a quick activity for you at the end of the post. (I know, I'm big on activities this week.)
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I want to share a story with you about how I messed up dancing bulerías last weekend, how it left me feeling not so happy about my dancing, eight important lessons about flamenco (and life) I learned in the process, and how those lessons served me when I applied them to a sticky situation in my life.
So last weekend I took a workshop with Alfonso Cid. He shared bunches of bulerías letras with us (you'll find one below) and gave a very informative introduction to flamenco, with a focus on cante. He had us all singing and doing palmas and even got some of us up dancing.
Toward the end of the workshop someone asked Alfonso to address how to dance bulerías por fiesta, how to dance to the cante. (As you know, this is one of my favorite things.)
Yay! (and Olé).
Some people got up to dance, mess up or not mess up, and learn along the way.
I was one of those people.
And here is what I learned:
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I just returned home from Jerez, and naturally, I'm missing bulerías.
I have a letra to share with you today. It's one that David Lagos sang during our private show there, but before I do, I want to tell you a quick story.
It's one that Julie, a student on the Flamenco Tour, shared with me just before she departed Jerez.
On her last morning there, Julie took a final stroll around the city before she caught her train to Granada. On her way back to the apartments she found herself behind an older couple walking down the street. T
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Below find another tangos from La Niña de los Peines followed by a recording and a palmas activity for you.
A mi madre abandoné
por tu querer solamente
Ahora me veo solita
sin madre y sin tu querer
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Soleá apolá
Todo el mundo le pide a Dios
la salud y la libertad
y yo le pido la muerte
no me la quiere mandar
The whole world asks God
for health and freedom
And I ask for death
He doesn't want to send it to me
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Another letra from this alegrías by David Lagos and one more video that I'm pretty positive will make your day all kinds of better as soon as you watch it.
Alegrías
David Lagos
A un lance de su capote
suenan la palmas en la plaza
y es que torea en la plaza
vaya torero Rafael de Paula
With a throw of his cape
the clapping sounds in the bullring
because he is bullfighting in the bullring
Wow, the bullfighter Rafael de Paula
You can hear this letra at 2 minutes 30 seconds, but I highly recommend watching the whole thing, especially one minute in when he sings his tri tri tri trans and the very end.
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Bulerías
A Letra from Otra Galaxia (Other Galaxy)
Antonio Humanes, José Monge Cruz (Camarón)
Yo me pregunto mil veces
mi paso por este mundo
y a quién le debo mis alegrías y mis penas
¿Será al cielo y a la tierra
o a los senderos ocultos de la esfera?
I ask myself a thousand times
my path in this world
and to whom do I owe my joys and my sorrows,
to the sky and the land
or to the hidden paths of the globe?
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Awhile ago I posted the first letra of this alegrías by David Lagos along with an unbelievably wonderful video of him singing it live accompanied by his brother Alfredo Lagos. Today find a couple more not to be missed videos of David performing it, along with the first letra. One is him live in Cádiz, and the other is him singing for Mercedes Ruíz dancing in a bata de cola during a rehearsal.
Que es chiquita y salerosa
no le pongáis tanta falta…
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Manuel Molina passed away on Tuesday. Que descanse en paz.
May he rest in peace.
Here is something to remember him with today. An incredibly beautiful video of Lole y Manuel performing Dime.