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
Dancing with castanets. It's something we do on Saturdays.
Four fingers moving on one hand
One finger moving on the other
Feet forming steps
Arms trying to follow
(at least we've taken out the hand movements)
This is what we do.
All the while trying to look good and stay in compás.
So far in class we've danced the first and most of the second sevillanas con castañuelas, and Pam asked if I would post the toques.
Today, a letra por bulerías and a video of La Macanita singing it.
Bulerías de Jerez
Popular
Te tienes que faltar
la alegría y el dinero
la salud y la libertad
Here’s a letra por soleá and a bulerías. Both are interpretations from Diego Camancho, "El Boquerón" of popular verses.
I saw him perform for the first time in 2011 in Jerez at the peña. He was having a good night, and I was told were were lucky. I saw him perform the next time I was there. Again, they said it was a good night.
This is about getting therapy accidentally.
Accidentally and without a lot of work.
It's something you can try too.
An excerpt from something I wrote last summer:
Thursday was tough. For various unforeseen reasons. I wanted to just stay home and feel sorry for myself.
But, I didn't.
Well, I did for a bit, but then I made myself go to class with Danica.
Fandangos de Huelva
Popular
Yo no digo que mi barca
sea la mejor del puerto
pero si digo que tiene
los mejores movimientos
que ninguna barca tiene
¡Felicidades!
Thank you 2013.
Welcome 2014.
Getting in can sometimes be the hardest part...
I told you that today I'd tell you about going to see Estrella Morente in Córdoba. So today I'll share a video of Estrella Morente and a song she sang at the show.
when she sang Volver as an encore.
A bit further down in the post you can see a video of her performing it and looking very beautiful.
She does it as a bulerías. I discovered that it was originally a tango, not the flamenco kind, the Argentinian kind, by Carlos Gardel and that the words were written by Alfredo Le Pera.
But first, about the show in Córdoba.
We spent just two days in Córdoba on the last trip.
Two days to see the city and one night to see Estrella Morente perform. I'll tell you about that on Friday.
The first visit was in 1998, the first time I went to Spain.
I went there after my sister left.
I went there by myself.
I danced sevillanas backwards tonight with castanets. Why, you ask?
Because it seemed like it would be fun
And it was.
For the English translation, click here.
Go to 1 minute in the video below to hear this letra.
That I'm posting a letra por bulerías.
(Hang on the translation is coming, but if you can't wait, just scroll down.)
Niño de la Fragua sang it down the street from us at Peña la Bulería.
We were so tired that night.
From all of the dancing and walking around and doing of things.
We were tired and unmotivated. We were thinking we might just stay in.
Faly sang this tonight por tientos.
Soleá
Popular
Ven acá y siéntate aquí
tú en una piedra y yo en otra
nos contaremos las penas
que son largas y no son pocas.
Come here, and have a seat
you on one rock, me on another
we'll tell each other our sorrows
that are long and many.
Faly was my very first flamenco teacher.
One more tangos that David was using with us last week...
Tangos
Popular
Viva Málaga la bella,
tierra de tanta alegría,
que si a prueba me pusiera,
por ella daría la vida
Long live Malaga the beautiful,
land of so much happiness,
that if she put me to the test,
for her I would give my life
Those are some madroños from the Mercat Central here in Valencia.
I remember going there in 1998, the first time I came to Spain. It was February, and there were no madroños.
Anyway, the fruit lady told us to eat them as-is. No washing. No doing anything to them.
We followed her instructions.
Yum.
Tangos
Popular
La que quiera madroños vaya a la sierra
olé Morena vaya a la sierra
porque se están secando sus madroñeras
olé morena sus madroñeras
Last night we were doing palmas with Pedro.
It's something we do when we come to Jerez.
Naturally people had many questions
and requests.
Someone asked to do some palmas por alegrías
... since we'd been dancing alegrías with Mercedes.
Pedro talked about las alegrías de Córdoba. He mentioned the letra about the platero.
Ricardo asked me how things were going here in Jerez.
Everyone was happy. We were hearing tons of flamenco. Doing tons of flamenco. Learning a lot. The weather was nice...
"Todo bien," I told him, except that I felt like my body looked weird when I danced.
"Andaaaaa. Tu cabeza si que es rara."
"Come on! Your head is what is messed up," he told me.
This morning in class we were talking about tonight's show at the Villamarta, the Homenaje a la Chaty.
Somebody asked Mercedes what she would be dancing in the show. They were hoping it would be alegrías since that's what we're learning from her in the workshop.
"Let's see if Laura can guess what I'm going to dance..."
I have a bulerías letra to share with you today.
We got to Jerez on a Friday. But I forgot that it was Friday. We went from Paris to Madrid. From Madrid to Sevilla. And from Sevilla to Jerez.
And we were here.
