I asked Sol 'La Argentinita,' our visiting artist, what palo she most preferred dancing to. She likes all flamenco palos as each makes her feel something different, depending upon what is going on at a given time.
She is very interested in soleá right now,
As it is said to be the backbone of flamenco.
La columna vertebral del flamenco. Me llega al alma.
"It touches my soul," she says.
La soleá expresa todo. "Soleá expresses everything."
She shared a couple of her favorite letras with me.
I chose the following. (Get ready, es bastante fuerte. It's quite intense.)
Soleá Popular
Pedirme a mi que te olvide
es predicar en desierto
fundir el hierro frio
y hablar con los muertos
To ask me to forget you
is to preach in the desert
to melt cold iron
and to speak with the dead
By the way, Sol told me that she also loves dancing bulerías (claro que sí) and alegrías... And then, "Me gustan todos los palos!" "I like all of the palos!"
Ha!
Spain?
¡Vamos a España! The FlamencoTour happens in April, and this is the final weekend to register. Get all of the details here.