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 in
Letras
I want to tell you about some things that help me to feel better when I'm in a funky place. I also want to show you a very cool video and share a flamenco verse with you. But first, some words I wrote last week
(my first week back home post Flamenco Tour)
Coming home I feel overwhelmed.
This is not new.
It is how I usually feel after a trip to Spain. Excited to be back but overwhelmed and sort of confused at the same time.
Dime que no estoy sola
When I have to stop what I'm doing and close my eyes. Cerrar mis ojos y pararme.
Because I hear something too beautiful not to. Not to stop. To listen, to take it in, to feel. And to let myself cry.
Close my eyes and stop
to
just
listen.
And then do it again.
I am sitting on my bed looking up at the Alhambra. (No, I am not joking.) It is almost 1am, and I am in Granada. I was doing almost this exact same thing at almost this exact same time last night.
In a moment I'll get to this week's letra along with a great raw video of Junco singing and playing guitar for the camera…
David Lagos sang the following letra at our private show here in Jerez the other night.
Naturally, I cried, and I wasn't alone…
On Friday I went to the Peña la Bulería. As you may recall, it is literally steps away from our apartments here in Jerez. I was feeling sleepy and my legs were not looking forward to standing on the hard marble floor after having spent a good deal of time in flamenco shoes and walking on hard streets that day, but once there I was glad I went. As usual.
A young singer named Enrique Remache was performing.
I heard many fantastic letras, like like this one, and jaleos, and took great pleasure in witnessing the reactions of the público.
Always one of my favorite aspects of seeing flamenco in Jerez. Men looking at each other and laughing with pleasure upon hearing a particular thing sung a particular way. I won't try to explain this. Just please visit Jerez sometime in your life, and see.
I also love seeing the mix of generations at the peña shows. Teenagers to people in their 70's voluntarily going to hear flamenco.
Quite awhile ago I published this letra. It was fall not spring when I posted it, and at that time I was preparing to embark on the VERY FIRST FlamencoTour to Jerez. Now as I get ready for the sixth (yes sixth!) tour, I'm re-posting it…
One of my favorite sites of the Andalucían countryside,
Below, a verse from a traditional Spanish song. Tío Gregorio El Borrico recorded it por alegrías...
Al olivo al olivo
al olivo subí
por cortar una ramita
del olivo caí
Here’s another tientos letra that we did with Sol and a video of La Moneta dancing to it.
When Sol was here we studied cante por tientos. It was scary singing out loud in front of a bunch of people, even though we all knew each other... But it was great fun too.
Below is one of the letras we sang:
Tientos
Popular
Cuando me meto en mi cama
hablo con mi Dios y le digo
que me parece mentira
lo que tu has hecho conmigo
When I go to bed
I speak with God and I tell him
that it seems a lie
what you've done to me
Last week we were remembering Paco de Lucía.
Today let's remember Camarón with this video and this song
Today a song that Paco de Lucía composed for his mother from the album of the same name which he dedicated to her, Luzía.
Las cuerdas de mi guitarra
están llorando…
Today marks the one year anniversary of Paco de Lucía's passing. I reposted some words I wrote last year after it happened along with a favorite video (with you-know-who playing palmas) on the experience flamenco site.
Below, let's revisit one of his most popular pieces,
The classic Entre dos Aguas:
The sun and the moon have been hanging out together in Portland today. I guess they're getting along.
(Below you can see the crescent moon I've been admiring in today's blue sky.)
Sol y Luna
El sol le dijo a la luna
vivir contigo no puedo
porque cuando digo blanco
tú siempre me dices negro
Here’s a letra Sol, our visiting artist right now, loves
Soleá is said to be the backbone of flamenco,
"It touches my soul," she says.
Cat lovers and cat haters (dislikers?), come one, come all. It's a coletilla por bulerías that we sang with Oscar last month, and it has to do with kitty cats:
Me araña
me araña el gatito
échalo pá trás
He scratches me
The cat scratches me
Get him away
(By the way, I myself am a cat lover.)
This is a version of this one.
A note about dancing bulerías and coletillas:
In class, Oscar talked about how when a singer runs out of coletilla while singing for you, he might start doing jaleo instead. (And Ani always says once you hear just jaleos, it is definitely time to get out!)
Feliz finde ~ Happy weekend!
Sol 'La Argentinita' is in town with the Portland Opera's production of Carmen. Lucky us! And the luckiest bit of all is that she's sticking around after the shows to give us workshops. They're happening February 18-22, and she'll be giving a free preview class next Wednesday, February 11 at 5:30pm. Come meet her and even dance and sing a bit too...
We wrap up Ida y Vuelta month with one more guajiras. Check it out then watch Concha Jareño dance.
Today a vidalita letra and a video of Mayte Martín teaching cante...
This is part of the vidalita that Mayte Martin sings on her album Querencia. It's her adaptation of one by Juan Valderrama.
