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 originally published this here within the letra, Moraito Como un Lirio by Antonio Sánchez Pecino.
Today I wanted to highlight this estribillo:
Libre quiero ser
Como el pájaro que canta,
Primita, al amanecer
I want to be free
like the bird that sings,
at dawn
You can see it in the video that follows...
Today I want to share a bulerías dancing tip with you along with a letra.
When I'm in Jerez on the Flamenco Tours, Ani offers all kinds of quick and dirty tips.
Here's one
A couple of weeks ago, Virigina, a Flamenco Tour alum, sent me the following account of her time on the Flamenco Tour to Jerez. If you're curious about what happens on the Flamenco Tour, read on...
by: Virginia O'Hanlon
I have danced and taught Afro Cuban, Haitian and Brazilian dance for many years. I'm the sort of explorer who likes to "go to the source" so I have gone to these countries many times on dance/study trips. There were a few great trips, some ok, and two really miserable experiences.
I'm fairly new to flamenco -had 2 years in at the time of this trip- but became intrigued by the "por fiesta" dances so I started looking around for ways to study in Spain, particularly Jerez. I discovered Laura's trips, and it seemed like a structure that would work well for me, so I went last October. It was without a doubt one of the best, richest experiences that I've had, and here are some reasons why.
Today a letra por tangos (or soleá, or bulerías, or soleá por bulerías...) followed by but another must-watch video,
Tangos
Popular
Cuando me eches de menos
tú tienes que venir a buscarme
como un caballo sin freno
When you miss me
you'll have to come looking for me
like a horse with no brakes
Watch and listen to David Palomar sing it below along with Rafael Rodríguez on guitar. (I promise you'll be glad you did.)
Online flamenco learning opportunities seem to be popping up all over the place.
I find this very exciting.
As you know, there are all kinds of flamenco instructional articles around here, but I'm talking about online video teaching.
While I do not believe one can learn flamenco dance only by online studies from home (flamenco is after all a communal art form), these resources can be wonderful for:
Here are a couple of my favorites . . .
Today I'm going to talk about how the same letra can (and definitely will be) interpreted in different ways by different singers. I'll also talk about why, as dancers, we need to pay attention to this. And finally, I'll share a tangos letra with you. (Oh, and at the end of the post I give you an activity to do from the comfort of your own home.)
Depending upon who is singing, how they like to sing a given letra, and even how they are feeling at a given moment, one letra can be interpreted in many different ways.
Let's look at some examples:
Most likely there is at least one person in your life you feel this way about. (I can think of many, my nieces, my sister, my sweetheart, just about all of my friends...)
Why not share today's letra with one of your beloveds?
Yesterday I received an email from a reader, Max Herzog, a guitarist based in San Diego, who came across today's letra on my blog. (I originally posted it about four years ago. I struggled with the translation then, and I'm still struggling with it today.) Max had some great insights along with a smoother translation which I wanted to share with you. You'll find his translation below (with just a couple of small changes from me).
Fandangos
Popular
Los ojos como las moras
y los dientes de marfil
y tu boca es una fuente
donde una noche bebí
agua con ansias de muerte
Saturday evening the moon shone so brightly against a miraculously clear sky.
Last night the moon showed off again, full and bright in the February sky…
I have a guajiras verse to share with you today along with a video of Belén Maya and Mayte Martín.
I'm in Seattle winding down after workshops Belén Maya this week.
On Wednesday I went to a lecture where Belén spoke about herself as an artist.
Another one that Zorri shared.
Bulerías
No sé por qué motivo
esta gitana lo hace
tan malamente conmigo
I don't know the reason
this gypsy woman
treats me so badly
You can hear it here, Los Zambos Por Fiesta, on Al Compás de Los Zambos. It's the first letra.
A letra to awaken to . . .
Soleá
Levanta y no duermas más,
que vienen los pajaritos
cantando la marugá
Get up, and stop sleeping,
the birds are coming out
singing to the dawn
This letra is from from Los cantes de Antonio Mairena Luís y Ramón Soler
Last night we saw the full moon.
We were at the beach for the Flamenco Retreat at the Oregon Coast.
So today, this letra…
Sometimes you want to know a song to go along with the dance form you're studying in class. Other times you want to know the words to that particular flamenco song you like so much. And sometimes you long to know what those words mean.
Here you'll find a collection of letras (flamenco verses) organized by palo (flamenco form.)
Nada!
Portland Flamenco Events is still around, I've just merged it with my other project, the Flamenco Tour. Together they form experienceflamenco.com.
No te preocupes.
When you enter portlandflamencoevents.com into your browser, you will be redirected to the new url, experienceflamenco.com, where you can access all of the same info about our PDX happenings in addition to info about our events in Spain and other cool flamenco things.
It's the final day of 2015, and tomorrow begins a brand new year.
This evening I plan to celebrate what went well in 2015 and look ahead to the possibilities of 2016.
I'm feeling particularly excited at the moment because 2016 means a brand new web site for me, this one, woo-hoo! (I'm still figuring it out, and there are various kinks at the moment, my apologies, but I find transitions to be particularly challenging while also providing amazing opportunities for growth.) I invite you to stick around to see how the site progresses.
Cheers to a bright new year with lots of dancing and fun.
A coletilla is a short ending that the singer tags onto a letra. The singer often repeats it like a little chorus (estribillo). Here's a common one por alegrías:
Una coletilla por alegrías
Popular
Que me lo tienes que dar
el tacón de la bota
que para taconear*
You have to give me
the heel of your boot
to make music with my feet
You can see a video of María la Sabina sing it here:
We danced alegrías with David in Barcelona. He gave us so many cute moves.
Here’s a letra for you…
