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
It's a full moon today. And so...
Luna Llena
Camarón
¿Quién me contaría a mí de qué está hecha la luna?
Si de rosas, de jazmines o de sábanas de cuna.
La luna llena.
Tú eres errante,
tú eres flamenca, ay, y canastera.
Y en lo alto del monte le dice piropos
un olivo a una estrella.
Y por ser la más guapa y celosa,
la luna se ha pintao los ojillos color de aceituna.
It was 2008. And I was in Jerez.
Ten years had passed since that first trip to Spain.
Finally, I had made it back.
So there I was, at the festival, getting ready to study with my best friend for the very first time.
It was Ricardo who told me I needed to study with him.
Last week the Friday letra turned into much more than just a letra. This week, I'll keep it simple.
Here's another estribillo por fandangos.
Un estribillo por fandangos
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Sentado en el valle
debajo de un limonero
Escucho sonar el río
Mi sombra da en el romero
The first time I went to Sevilla I met this guy, José Luís. No, it wasn't like that. You could say he was a friend of a friend.
Just scroll down to the bottom of the post for today's letra and a really cool video.
So José Luís is one of those people who is constantly telling jokes.
Well, constantly saying funny things is more like it because they're not jokes, not exactly. Some people call them jokes, but they're not what I have ever understood to be jokes. I guess because I'm American. And not just that, but I'm from Oregon.
José Luís is always saying funny things and making himself, and other people if they get it, laugh.
You could call him witty, but it's more than that. It's witty in a Sevillano way. Ingenioso. Agudo. That's what the dictionary is calling it.
~ ¿Por qué? Muchas razónes... body mind challenge, growth, because I can, because I have to for sanity and so much more ~
To connect To challenge To remember To create To shift To celebrate"
asks me again and again to look inward. Through messing up, experimenting, and figuring out THAT step or THAT turn, I learn new things about myself. It's visceral. AND it's fun!"
what my body is capable of"
Here are a couple of other letras we danced to with Mercedes Ruíz on the Flamenco Tour to JerezTangos de la
Porque te quiero
dicen que estoy loco yo…
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
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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
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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
