The second letra in this month's Ida y Vuelta series. A guajiras letra and a video of Rocío Márquez.
Aquella noche, caía
la lluvia muy lentamente,
cantaba triste la fuente…
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Letras
This song will make your life better the moment you press play. You could even just listen to the first twenty seconds though that will likely be impossible because I imagine once you get started you probably will want to hear the whole song.
It's Enrique Morente and his daughter Estrella singing a colombianas.
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It's the winter solstice! (This is how we were celebrating last year.)
Though classes are out for winter vacation, I'm still itching to dance, and I know you might be too.
Dancing is one of my favorite ways to cure holiday and sometimes family overwhelm.
If you too feel like dancing during this coming week but have no class to go to, tune into the experience flamenco blog and join me for the Dance as if You Were in Class With Mercedes Holiday Challenge. (You can do it in your bedroom.)
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Will 2015 be the year to go to Spain? More on that below, but first a letra:
Bulerías
Popular
Qué dolor de mi mare
tengo la camisa sucia
no tengo quien me la lave
The sorrow of my mother
I have a dirty shirt
I have nobody to wash it for me
You can listen to it here.
Stay tuned next week for the final letra of 2014 and the final installment of this series of bulerías shared by Zorri. (Don't worry, you'll see more letras from him here and there in the future.)
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This afternoon I was working on the letra.
I translated it, wrote it out, took a picture of it, and then decided I’d better hurry up and take a quick walk before the sun went down. It was nice out, and I could finish the post later.
It began to rain minutes after I began my walk.
I guess I needed to be rained on.
The sky had given me no indication that this was going to happen. It had been sunny all day, and all I noticed were beautiful nearning sunset colors from the moment I stepped outside. So many colors and shades of brightness that I didn’t really see the grey rain clouds.
I notice lots of things,
But sometimes I miss certain things that would be most helpful to notice,
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It's week two of bulerías shared by Zorri.
Bulerías
Popular
No sé lo que te han contao
que hasta vuelve la cabeza
cuando pasa por mi lao
I don't know what they told you
that has you turn your head,
when you pass by my side
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Today another one that I got from Zorri. He is full of letras.
Literally.
This one is kind of fuerte.
Bulerías
Popular
Contigo bajé la cuesta
y ahora que quiero subirla
que trabajito me cuesta
I went down the hill with you
and now that I want to go back up,
Oh how much work it is
We all know a lot of the sentido gets lost in translation. The letras just don't have the same feeling in English. And then at times there are specific things that really cannot be translated within the verse itself.
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I am in the province of Málaga, so I am thinking of malagueñas. which I love.
Apparently the original malagueñas had folkloric and rhythmic origins from here in Málaga. It would make sense to share one of those letras with you.
But I don't want to.
(Anyway, I posted a verdiales last week.)
Today I want to share this Malagueña del Mellizo with you.
It is said that Enrique el Mellizo's influence transformed malagueñas into the cante libre style we hear today. (He was not from Málaga.)
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This week, since I am in Málaga, verdiales and a video.
Verdiales
Hojita de limón verde
y flor blanca de azahar…
sale mi niña a bailar,
y un rayo de sol se prende
en sus enaguas bordás.
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This is a letra that Zorri sang the other night.
Watching Zorri laugh after singing it was the best, and then hearing him laugh because, well, if you've ever heard his laugh,
It's a laugh that makes you laugh. That on top of the meaning of the letra, let's just say it made for a good laughing session.
Bulerías
Popular
Ten cuidao con ese gato
que se coma una a una
las sardinitas del plato
Be careful with that cat
because one by one it eats
the little sardines from the plate
We were supposed to go to a tablao that night, but that didn't happen.
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It is Halloween, and I just returned home from the peña. I am in Jerez.
On the way I saw a family dressed up in zombie-style Halloween costumes. Their two dogs were dressed as jack-o-lanters.
At the peña
We saw Manuel Agujetas Hijo sing with Domingo Rubichi accompanying on guitar.
Below is a letra por fandangos that he sang.
(You can hear El Chocolate singing it here.)
Fandangos
No me quites la botella
que yo me quiero emborrachar
no me quites la botella
voy a beber de verdad
y a ver si no pienso en ella
y yo la consigo olvidar
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Soleá
Dicen que no siento nada
y las carnes de mis huesos
a pedazos se me van
They say that I don't feel anything
and the skin from my bones
falls off in pieces
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Last night at Manuel Liñan’s show, I heard this letra and had to write it down.
So I took out my little book and scribbled the first line down.
Ricardo looked at me and laughed.
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I'm in the mood for tangos.
Tangos
Popular
Amparo
El enfermo busca el alivio
yo lo busco y no lo hallo
Protection
The sick one looks for relief
I look for it and I don't find it
You can hear La Paquera sing this letra in the video below at 1 minute 59 seconds:
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Melinda brought me a little book of letras from Spain. In it I came across an abbreviated version of the first letra written below. When I researched it online, I found some additional letras in a version by Juan Cantero.