It's Valentine's Day, and it's Friday.
That's PERFECT.
A coletilla por bulerías
Tengo un secreto.
I’m
afraid
to go
to Spain.
I leave in a couple of days, and I’m scared
But not for the usual reasons.
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Below find a snippet of my journal from Jerez, a video of Mercedes Ruíz dancing bulerías, a letra por bulerías, and a short activity for you to do while watching the video.
October 30, 2013
I played bulerías to help me fall asleep during siesta time.
Bulerías with lots of palmas and jaleos of course.
Who does that?
Someone who is in Jerez I guess.
Someone who is in Jerez and just can't get enough. It's a good thing I'm going back.
I listened to one that I recorded at the peña last night.
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I am often asked how to tie the knot on a pair of the castanets strings. Because it's not just an average every day knot. You can find out how at the end of this post.
Now raise your hand
Raise your hand if you tried to play the toque for the first sevillana, the one I posted last week.
And, as promised, below is how we play castanets for the second copla.
It's written in two different ways. The reason for that is here.
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I find it nearly impossible to walk by a rosemary bush without touching it.
I love the smell it leaves on my fingers.
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"I'll figure it out." Ricardo hears that a lot when he comes to Portland.
Over and over again he hears it. Namely in rehearsals.
Probably because there is always A LOT to figure out.
MUCHO.
"We'll figure it out."
He became kind of obsessed with the phrase on a past visit. I said it many times. Perhaps because I felt so overwhelmed.
When I wasn't saying it he'd ask me to remind him how to say it.
And then one night he asked how to spell it,
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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.
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Today, a letra por bulerías and a video of La Macanita singing it.
Bulerías de Jerez
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Te tienes que faltar
la alegría y el dinero
la salud y la libertad
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Here’s a letra por soleá and a bulerías. Both are interpretations from Diego Camancho, "El Boquerón" of popular verses.
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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.
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This is about getting therapy accidentally.
Accidentally and without a lot of work.
It's something you can try too.
Here's how it happened for me once...
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.
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Fandangos de Huelva
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Yo no digo que mi barca
sea la mejor del puerto
pero si digo que tiene
los mejores movimientos
que ninguna barca tiene
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¡Felicidades!
Thank you 2013.
Welcome 2014.
Getting in can sometimes be the hardest part...
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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.
I want to tell you about the end of 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.
We'll get to the song in a moment,
But first, about the show in Córdoba.
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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.
It was my second visit to Córdoba
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.
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I danced sevillanas backwards tonight with castanets. Why, you ask?
Because it seemed like it would be fun
And it was.
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For the English translation, click here.
Go to 1 minute in the video below to hear this letra.
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That I'm posting a letra por bulerías.
(Hang on the translation is coming, but if you can't wait, just scroll down.)
I heard this one in Jerez
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.
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Faly sang this tonight por tientos.
Soleá
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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.
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One more tangos that David was using with us last week...
Tangos
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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