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
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Letras
Dancing to the cante. It is what every dancer from Jerez does, professional or non.
It is the dancer conversing with the singer.
You must become familiar with the letras (song verses) and engage with the singer when dancing.
To gain familiarity with the letras:
1. Listen a lot.
2. Take a cante class, and study the letras.
To engage with the singer when dancing:
1. Observe what other good dancers do. (Hint: Notice the way Carmen responds to José in the video.)
Awhile ago I posted the first letra of this alegrías by David Lagos along with an unbelievably wonderful video of him singing it live accompanied by his brother Alfredo Lagos. Today find a couple more not to be missed videos of David performing it, along with the first letra. One is him live in Cádiz, and the other is him singing for Mercedes Ruíz dancing in a bata de cola during a rehearsal.
Que es chiquita y salerosa
no le pongáis tanta falta…
Improvisation in flamenco. It's not as tricky as you may think.
Today I explain how to improvise in fiesta style flamenco dances.
If you follow certain principles, you can improvise no matter your level.
So if you think you're not ready to do this, think again…
I received an inquiry about the words to the following sevillana this week. It's one of the first I learned.
Faly used to sing it, and we would dance to it. And dance to it. And dance to it. And then we would dance to it. Ever been there?
So, here you go.
On the past two Flamenco Tours to Jerez we've had a cante class with José 'El Mijita.' Exciting, Scaaaary, and FUN! You can see video of that at the end of the post.
Above is one of his favorite letras to sing por bulerías; it's one we worked on in the classes.
Why do we study the cante?
We do it to expand our understanding of flamenco as a whole. Because as we know, the dance does not exist on its own. We do it to broaden our understanding of the language of flamenco. To learn new things. And, of course, to have fun...
During the class last spring Lily, one of the students, held onto Héctor Raúl for the duration of the class. She wasn't quite sure why, but I'm pretty positive it was a subconscious act done for support.
Because this experience took people out of their comfort zones.
Bulerías
Si me quieres por fuera y no por dentro
Quítate de mi vera cariño lento
Si me quieres por dentro y no por fuera
Déjame que te bese tu piel morena
Today I share with you another favorite letra from Sol:
Por el habla de la gente
olvidé yo a quien bien quería
mientras yo viva en el mundo
se me acabó la alegría
I'll be honest. In the beginning, I wasn't a huge fan of flamenco singing.
It wasn't that I didn't like it.
It intrigued me that's for sure. But I didn't feel inclined to sit around and listen to it a whole bunch.
It didn't take long before that changed.
I guess it happened early on during my time in Sevilla, on that first flamenco trip.
And actually, while I was initially drawn to the baile, the cante played a huge roll in getting me hooked on flamenco ... and keeping me in it.
Just like the compás.
Well, you know how it is now.
Which brings me to the letra:
Tangos.
Tangos del Titi
Popular
Mi mare me lo advirtió
que a ningún forasterito
le diera conversación
My mother warned me
not to strike up a conversation
with a stranger
You can hear Argentina sing this letra in the video below
I saw this video the other day on Facebook with Argentina (so beautifully) singing this coletilla,
Todo es de color...
Accompanied by Farruquito, sitting at a dining room table. (You can hear it at about 3 minutes.)
It's actually an entire song, and it's kind of long, and you definitely don't want to miss the video of Lole and Manuel performing it live which you'll find (along with the translation) as you scroll down in the post...
Todo es de Color
J.M. Flores*
Todo es de color
Todo el mundo cuenta sus penas
pidiendo la comprensión,
quien cuenta sus alegrías
no comprende al que sufrió
I told you that today I'd post a video of Manuel Molina singing...
Along with another letra:
Que Nadie Vaya a Llorar
Que nadie vaya a llorar el día que yo me muera
es más hermoso cantar aunque se cante con pena
que nadie vaya llevar ni flores ni ropa negra
no me vayáis a enterrar para pudrirme bajo tierra
es más hermoso cantar mientras mi carne se quema
y luego me ofrecéis al mar o al aire o sobre la arena o en un jardin,
me da igual
pero cuando yo muera que nadie vaya a llorar
Nobody cry the day that I die
It's more beautiful to sing even if one sings with sorrow
Nobody bring flowers or wear black clothes
Don't bury me just to rot underground
It's more beautiful to sing while my flesh burns
And then offer me to the sea, or to the air, or over the sand, or in a garden,
It doesn't matter to me,
But when I die, nobody cry
You can watch another version here, one that will be part of the upcoming Flamenco Sin Fronteras documentary.
Oh, and you might want to check this out as well.
At his funeral, people sang as he requested, and his daughter, Alba Molina wore white.
Manuel Molina passed away on Tuesday. Que descanse en paz.
May he rest in peace.
Here is something to remember him with today. An incredibly beautiful video of Lole y Manuel performing Dime.
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.
