On the last Flamenco Tour to Jerez the ladies spent a good amount of time in the bar talking to José Luís and Maribel (our hosts). This is often the case as they are quite fun to chat with, and they make us feel at home. (Some people don't speak Spanish. I'm convinced this makes the conversations all the more fun.) So Luís loves flamenco letras and happily shares them with us.
One day Stefani and I were sitting at the bar, and she asked him if he was an aficionado. He told us that he wasn't but that he used to be. He said that when he was younger he would go to the peñas and keep up with what was going on in the flamenco world. He told us he is no longer as dedicated.
Anyway, when you walk into Luís and Maribel's bar you see a big wooden bureau to the left with a man's face carved into it. That man is El Torta.
Luís wrote out some of his letras for the ladies.
The moon has been bright and visible, and so I share the following one with you today:
Bulerías
Esta noche voy a hablar con la luna
para decirle lo mucho que te quiero
por la noche sueño contigo
y hasta te acaricio el pelo
y le diré que tienes la cara morena
y los ojos negros
y le diré que tienes los labios rojos
como un atardecer que se está muriendo
Tonight I'm going to talk to the moon
to tell it how much I love you
at night I dream of you
and I even caress your hair
And I will tell it that you have a dark face
and dark eyes
and I will tell it that you have red lips
like a dying sunset
Stefani asked if I would translate this letra (along with the others he wrote out). My translation doesn't do justice to the poetry of the original Spanish letra, but at least it gives you an idea of the meaning.
El Torta is credited with writing the verse, but this blog seems to state otherwise, although I cannot tell who the author of the blog is. Hmm.
You can listen to it El Torta sing it here.
Jerez
I took the photo above from our rooftop in Jerez during October's full moon. Here are a couple more rooftop moon shots from Jerez:
One (my favorite)
And Two
I'm going back to Jerez in May for another Flamenco Tour, and you can come too! Click here to find out more.