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
The other night, well actually it was a couple of months ago, I was lying awake in my bed. It was way past my bedtime. And I had this feeling.
This feeling of gratitude.
Agradecimiento.
For technology for allowing me to lie in my bed in Portland, Oregon and watch bulerías in Spain while keeping compás on the side of the bed.
It happened while I was watching this video of David Palomar.
Last time we were in Jerez I was asking Mercedes for clarification of the words to a tangos letra that we were dancing to. I got so excited when I saw the Guión to her show Perspectivas (which she got out to show me the words) that she loaned it to me to so that I could look at all of the letras. This is a colombianas I found in there:
I was rehearsing with Kuma the other day when I accidentally learned a bunch of lessons. All lessons that I'd learned before, as so often is the case.
He was playing cajón. I was dancing. And not long into things, the re-noticings started coming. One after another. I had to keep running over to my phone to write them down. Because I was so excited. And because I didn't want to forget.
After awhile, on account of one of the noticings, I realized it was time to stop running away from our practice to write them down.
This was important.
One letra. Varios palos. We know how this goes in flamenco.
Faly used to sing this one por bulerías:
Tangos
Popular
Dolores
¿Con qué te lavas la cara?
Que tanto te huele a flores
Dolores
With what do you wash your face?
You smell so much like flowers
Watch this little boy sings it por tangos.
You know I've been on a bit of a fandangos kick lately.
And yesterday I was listening to a bootleg (Do we still call it that?) from a friend of a live Vicente Amigo show from 2002.
And I was reminded of this song.
I didn't know what to post today, so I decided to get out my beautiful, shiny book, La poesía del flamenco, the one that I bought on the first flamenco tour, and choose a letra from the first page I opened to, whatever it happened to be. So, I took the book in my hands, held it for a few moments, and opened carefully.
Why carefully?
Quite honestly, I'm not sure.
Today, a fandangos letra and translation and a video of Paco Toronjo singing it.
Cómo quieres que te quiera
como yo quiero a mi madre
si mi madre a mi me dio
lo que tú quieres quitarme
la vergüenza y la razón
Se Me Escapan Las Palabras
Concha Buika
Se me escapan las palabras,
se me van al aire,
cada vez que grito que no puedo más…
On the 4th of July I was hanging out with Diana. The kids were outside lighting fireworks and what not. We were inside playing. Flamenco playing. Sharing songs and stuff. Diana shared this one ...
Dime
Lole y Manuel
Dime ...
Si has mentio alguna vez
y dime si cuando lo hiciste sentiste vergüenza de ser embustero.
Dime, dime, dime ...
Today one of my favorite videos of Rocío Molina dancing tangos and some thoughts on the importance of watching flamenco dance.
Watching is a must. We talk a lot about listening, which is importantísimo. Absolutely essential.
But so is watching.
We are lucky. We have YouTube. We have Vimeo. We have Did Somebody Say Flamenco?
We have access to all kinds of good flamenco.
In our kitchens. In our bedrooms. In our offices. (Don't worry I won't tell.)
So watch.
It's pleasure.
It's study.
It's inspiration.
It's necessary.
I know you do this. And in a minute I want to hear about a favorite video of yours.
For tonight, más Fandangos del Alosno.
Fandangos
Popular
Un espejo muy brillante
en tu cuarto voy a poner
pa cuando vayas a mirarte
veas mi retrato en él
y no puedas ni peinarte
José Mendez sang this one at the Peña Torres Macarena in Sevilla. I rushed over there after class on Wednesday night. It was crowded, and people were into it, and the show was great. Plus Zorri was there. His bulerías along with his matching outfit alone were enough to make it all worth while...
Because there are so many more where last week's came from. And so, another one that Rafael Lorente wrote for us in my little book:
Fandangos
Popular
Un juez a mí me preguntó
que de que me mantenía
Yo le respondí
- robando igual que se mantiene usía
pero no robando tanto
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.
