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
I am in Sevilla where the bells of the catederál keep ringing and the birds keep singing. That was not meant to rhyme, it just did. In Jerez there were lots of birds but not so many bells. And speaking of Jerez, last Saturday we went to hear José Carpio, "El Mijita," sing at a new little bar called Zoniquete. I mean it when I say that the place was small.
Estamos bailando por tangos con Mercedes así que hoy unas letra por tangos para acompañar parte de nuestro baile... Sorry, that means, that we're dancing tangos with Mercedes here in Jerez so below are a couple of letras that we're using to accompany our dance.
Ponte guapa Mariquilla
te voy a llevar esta tarde
a la fería de Sevilla
Te roneas porque vales
Tú eres la piedra más chica
de la acera de mi calle
In the previous interview with Mercedes Ruíz we heard about her favorite dancers of today and about how she interprets the cante. In today's interview Mercedes answers more of your questions, shares her thoughts for students of all levels, lets us in on her idea of long term plans and even shares with us what she dreams about.
Last night Mercedes danced in a way that was basically unbelievable. To be expected, as it’s her usual way. We already know that she eats, sleeps, and drinks flamenco.
But last night was even more unbelievable than normal.
So today we begin with a new round of interviews with Mercedes Ruíz. In today's interview, Mercedes talks about the longest amount of time she's gone without dancing, how she interprets a letra, and shares who some of her favorite flamenco of today dancers are.
oday in bulerías at Los Cernícalos I heard Junquerita sing this letra, along with this one, and a bunch of others. Because he sings and sings and sings and sings as people dance and dance and dance and dance. It is great.
Then Ani wanted to teach everyone some new moves. She talked about how changing your bulerías moves is kind of like changing your clothes. You might put on a different shirt one day but wear the same skirt from the previous day. Or perhaps you'll change both. It just depends.
The point is you choose.
An estribillo por bulerías sung by Camarón with a video.
La vida la vida la vida es
es un pasatiempo la vida es
Life, life, life is
It's a pastime life is
As we often do, we danced fandangos with Ricardo when he was in town. And so, a fandangos verse for today. This comes from Argentina's Un Viaje por el Cante. You can hear her talking about it here.
Fandangos del Alosno
from Estación Jabugo-Galaroza Popular/Adapt. Argentina "Juan Rebollo"
En esta noche me paro
y espero que el alba venga
y a mi alma la preparo
porque tú eres mi condena
con esos ojillos claros
It's the final installment of the interview series with Perico Navarro. Today he shares some advice for all students, talks about what inspires him, talks about the role of cajón in Jerez, and tells us how he feels about audiences in Jerez and beyond. You'll also see a video with Mercedes Ruíz dancing to Paco Cepero's guitar with Pedro accompanying.
¿Qué te inspira? Yo como percusionista flamenco siempre voy acompañando algún artista.
The estribillo to Agua Fresca by Luis de Córdoba. Lamiae sang it last Tuesday...
Si quieres agua fresca, Niña
ven a mi pozo, Niña, ven a mi pozo…
Today a folkloric song. Ricardo gave me this one.
Panaderas
Popular
Para empezar a cantar
tengo que pedir licencia
que si no me llamarán
cantaora sin vergüenza
It's more from the interview with Perico Navarro. You can catch the previous segment here.
Today's interview, I have to warn you, gets a bit technical. But just keep reading, I think you'll be glad you did. Pedro talks about outside influences, playing with incredible artists - You'll see an great video of him playing with El Torta and Jesús Méndez in Jerez - and the beginning of his career with Mercedes Ruíz and Santiago Lara.
A letra for today ~
La guitarra que no suena
es lo mismo que la mar
que nunca besa la arena
Today a whole song and a video of La Paquera singing it.
Maldigo Tus Ojos Verdes
Antonio Gallardo, Nicolás Sánchez Ortega
En la soledad de mis noches sin luna
busco los luceros de tus ojos verdes
y como una loca repito tu nombre
porque tengo miedo de tanto quererte
Tengo que buscar la vida
con la cruz de tu traición
soy esa rama caída
que a nadie da compasión.
Ok, so here's the part two to yesterday's post that I promised you. Where I tell you how to turn any class into an ideal class for you. Because sometimes class feels too easy. And other times it feels too hard.
I've been in both situations.
When class feels too easy, it's usually because I've got my lazy pants on. No seas floja, Laura.
When class feels too difficult, it's usually because hard-on-myself me has taken over. Tranquila, chiquilla.
And it's really up to us. I mean it.
Basically there are two main concepts we need to understand, one to make class harder and another to make it easier. But before we get to those, some specific ideas on how to make the most out of whatever class you find yourself in.
Not really. It may be called Beginning. Or Advanced.
And that name might tell me about the pace of the class. Or about the type or amount of information and material that will be given.
But what does it really mean?
Is what I view as beginning the same as what you view as beginning?
Can I expect to find people all at the same skill level because the class is called intermediate?
Does the name of the class tell me where I belong?
No and not necessarily.
I have some thoughts on figuring out which class you "belong" in and some more thoughts about what to do should you find yourself in a class that feels like the wrong level.
This song has been running through my head since Wednesday. A couple of years had passed since I'd listened to it. I don't know why.
It's Potito's De Puntillas with Estrella Morente, Josemi Carmona & Juan Habichuela. Listen here.
Here's the estribillo
De Puntillas
(estribillo)
Perico Navarro.
I've mentioned him before.
Should you ever meet him you'll see what I mean about his eyes.
And you'll see that he's nice, so nice. I mean it, súper simpatico.
I interviewed him last fall in Jerez. That's where he's from. You can read the first segment here where he shares some thoughts on bulerías.
Today we talk about how he first became interested in the cajón, how he learned to play, and when he started getting into flamenco.
Another story from Jerez...
I told them how it terrified me. I told them I was terrorized by it. But they still wanted to go.
I took them there even before our first class with Mercedes.
I needed for them to see it. I was hoping they would want to take it too. I was worried they might think it was too much on top everything else.
Physically it is not demanding. So, that would be no issue.
But mentally, well...
They were ready for certain things.
Es oficial. Spring has sprung! And so today an estribillo from the song Primavera from José Mercé's Del Amanacer. One of the very first flamenco albums I ever purchased... the very very first one was Manolo Sanlúcar's Tauromagia...
But anyway, in honor of springtime,
You've heard me talk about Ani and her bulerías class and about bits of wisdom I've learned from her. I want to share another bit today.
It's one of those things she said that sent me scurrying to my notebook. I didn't think much about it when she said it. I just knew it was importante and that I wanted to write it down.
In bulerías class you learn steps.
But you don't have to do them.
You can. Or you can do your own. Or someone else’s.
So, yes, you learn steps.
But you're really there to learn concepts.
