Read on for a short glossary of castanet sounds, a video, and a story...
Las castañuelas. Each finger movement has its own sound. And this is good.
With this we have a language for communicating what our fingers are supposed to do. So we can say the combinations (even if we can't do them) something I have found quite helpful to the learning process. Plus, it's fun. Another layer!
So a key needs to exist on this site, a mini-glossary of the sounds we make with our fingers on the castanets. You'll find that below (along with an incredible video.)
I waited a long time to start learning to play castanets
Not because I didn't like the sound. Not because I wasn't interested. Mostly because it just seemed like too much. I wasn't ready for the challenge. What with so many other things to figure out. So many other things to work on.
Today a bulerías letra and a video of Carmen Amaya.
Bulerias
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No me llame usted bonita
que mi marido es celoso
y de noche me mortifica
Don't call me pretty
for my husband is jealous
and at night will beat me
Reminded of this clip last week, I have been watching it over and over. It never goes bad.... Click here to see it.
Bulerías
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La gitana del siglo
se emborracha de los aromas
de los caramelitos del niño.
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Again, tangos.
Tangos
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La virgen de Los Remedios
tiene su cara morena
y el niño que está en sus brazos
es más blanco que la azucena.
So, Danica arrived this week. And I asked her to give me some favorite letras. She gave me many.
Because there are so many.
How to choose?
For today, unos tangos.
Porque son maravillosos los tangos. They're wonderful, tangos, they just are.
Tangos
El corazón es el que manda
cuando la duda está en la mente,
cuando la duda está en la mente.
Today, Fandangos del Alosno, a letra and a video.
This week, let's look at some more Bulerías de Jerez. Because they're wonderful. And because tomorrow when I'll be releasing the details of the fall trip to Jerez...where we will hear lots and lots and lots of bulerías.
In the meantime, here's a letra for inspiration and a video of Mercedes Ruíz with El Londro singing it.
Bulerías
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Como crujía la leña
La leña de los leñeros
Porque así van a crujir mis huesos
De tanto como te quiero
Here I am at the 25th anniversary of the Festival Flamenco Internacional de Albuquerque. Seeing fabulous artists perform every night.
Taking classes from some of them, Pastora Galván and Olga Pericet.
And doing it with friends. The very best way to do it.
I've been wanting to tell you about it all week. I'll definitely tell you more later...
We've been working on jaleos in Pastora's class.
Here is one of the letras we're dancing to and a video of Pastora Galván dancing.
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Cantiñas. We danced por cantiñas with Emilio. We've seen the first letra.
And a second one too.
And now here is a coletilla, un estribillo.
Que me lo tienes que dar,
que me lo tienes que dar
El tacón de la bota,
que para taconear.
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Cantiñas from Miguel Poveda's Casa Pavón, which we danced to last weekend with Emilio. Here is the second letra...
Las cautivaba el mes de enero
A todas las flores del año
Las cautiva el mes de enero
Y llegando al mes de abril
Salían de su cautiverio.
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Cantiñas con abanico. That is what we're doing in one of the workshops with Emilio this weekend.
And I am inspired beyond belief.
We're dancing to Miguel Poveda's Casa Pavón. Here is the first letra...
Donde están los colegiales
Plazoletilla del Rey
donde están los colegiales
al punto de la oración
unos entran y otros salen.
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Fandangos from Pitingo:
Más quiero
hoy el fandango es mi alegría…
Ricardo was here this spring...in case you hadn't heard. He was constantly giving us tips during the workshops. Many great tips. I've shared some of them and I'll surely share more.
But perhaps just as helpful were the little phrases I heard him say over and over again.
He didn't really intend them as tips. They were not things that he carefully considered before sharing with us. They were more just reactions, spoken in the moment.
And, oh, these little comments had a lot to tell me.
So I want to keep hearing them.
It's tangos. Tangos that we danced tonight in class... We did this letra on Wednesday too.
And everybody looked so happy when they were suddenly dancing to cante.
Because there's just something about dancing to the cante. Marcandolo, rematandolo. Simply put, It's fun.
After class some started asking questions, "What was that song?" So, here it is. Oooo, and soon I get to sing it with the first graders. I love watching them accompany each other, dancing and singing...
Tangos
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Sentaito en mi escalera
esperando el porvenir
el porvenir que nunca llega.
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I asked Emilio, who is coming here very very very soon, to give me a favorite letra. He couldn't decide. "Fandangos," he said, any and all. (I LOVED the fandangos he taught us last year.) So, I want you to see this video. Arcángel, cantando por fandangos. I saw him perform them live, and oh my goodness, it was beyond incredible. Me ponían los pelos de punta... He is from Huelva, go figure.
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Last week I told you we would have more tientos today, so here's a letra and a video of Camarón ...
Tientos
Camarón de la Isla
Cuantas veces yo he pensado
que el mundo es una mentira
cuantos quisieran tener
pá comer lo que otros tiran
How often I have thought
that the world is a lie
How many would like to eat
what others throw out.
Today a letra por tientos and an old video of Miguel Poveda.
If you know me, you know that I absolutely love tientos. Someday I will tell you the story of Ricardo's refusal, after much begging, to teach me tientos, but not today. I have loved this palo from the first time I heard it. And this tientos has perhaps my favorite estribillo of all time. It is beyond beautiful. Just read it then listen, and you'll know what I mean. Oh, and Lamiae sang it for me on Sunday...That was wonderful.
Moraíto como un lirio
Antonio Sánchez Pecino
Mi cuerpecito lo tengo
moraíto como un lirio,
si Dios me diera la muerte
acababan mis martiritos
Today, fandangos de Huelva and a video of Mayte Martín singing.
Here is the first copla Mayte Martín sings in Conquero. You might have seen the second one here last week, and the final one the week before. It's all a bit mixed up but, then, so am I. Hmm, though upon second thought, that's how flamenco is normally sung. The singer mixes and matches verses in the moment, so this makes perfect sense!
Fandangos de Huelva
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Y los dientes de marfíl
los ojos como las moras
y tu boca es una fuente
donde una noche bebí
agua con ansias de muerte
It's another fandangos verse from Mayte Martín's Conquero, which we are dancing to in Ricardo's beginning workshop. Here is Antonio Rengel singing it. It seems he may have written it, but I am not sure. If you know, please let me know.
