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I Climbed The High Mountain (I Actually Did) | The Weekly Letra

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I Climbed The High Mountain (I Actually Did) | The Weekly Letra

This week's letra made me think of an experience I had years ago which has nothing to do with flamenco. It has to do with dishonesty and fear. It started with a question, which led to a lie, which in turn led to facing a fear. The facing fear part actually helped prepare me for flamenco where I'm forced to confront my fears over and over again. To my surprise, all of the practice meeting my fears in flamenco has only made it easier to do so in life outside of the dance.

More on that in a minute, but first let's take a look at the letra and watch a video of Mercedes Ruíz, our teacher on the Flamenco Tour to Jerez, dancing caña, all in red, with bata and mantón. 

Caña
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Subí a la alta montaña
buscando leña pa’ el fuego
como no la encontraba
al valle bajé de nuevo

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Bonus Cuplé (Part 6) | The Weekly Letra

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Bonus Cuplé (Part 6) | The Weekly Letra

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. 

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Bulerías de Manuel Moneo | The Weekly Letra

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Bulerías de Manuel Moneo | The Weekly Letra

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.

To sing flamenco well one needs to be able to feel and to love,

~ 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:

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From Copla to Cuplé (Part 2) | The Weekly Letra

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From Copla to Cuplé (Part 2) | The Weekly Letra

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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What's a Cuplé? (Part 1) | The Weekly Letra

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What's a Cuplé? (Part 1) | The Weekly Letra

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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I'm Like An Open Book | The Weekly Letra

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I'm Like An Open Book | The Weekly Letra

Here's a caña letra for you followed by a video of Jesús Carmona (who is coming to Portland in the spring for a show and workshops) dancing.

Caña
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Yo soy como un libro abierto
todo el mundo puede leerme
tú siempre me estás leyendo
pero no has llegado a comprenderme

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My Heart Shook Inside My Soul | The Weekly Letra

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My Heart Shook Inside My Soul | The Weekly Letra

One more Canastera for you to watch, María Terremoto. I can't stop listening to it, especially this coletilla she frames everything with (From Paco de Lucia's Almonte ... I love this chorus so much that I've included two other video versions following hers for you to check out.)

En la marisma con la candela viene el romero
Cantan por Huelva y a la Pastora
los almonteños
y el corazón se me estremeció en el alma

cogí la manta la eche en el suelo

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