Viewing entries tagged
estribillos & coletillas

Taconear | Viernes con una Letra

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Taconear | Viernes con una Letra

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
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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:

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Todo es de Color | Viernes con una Letra

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Todo es de Color | Viernes con una Letra

I saw this video the other day on Facebook with Argentina (so beautifully) singing this coletilla,

Todo es de color...

Accompanied by Farruquito, sitting at a dining room table. (You can hear it at about 3 minutes.)

And so, today's letra

It's actually an entire song, and it's kind of long, and you definitely don't want to miss the video of Lole and Manuel performing it live which you'll find (along with the translation) as you scroll down in the post...

Todo es de Color 
J.M. Flores*

Todo es de color

Todo el mundo cuenta sus penas
pidiendo la comprensión, 
quien cuenta sus alegrías
no comprende al que sufrió
 

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To All Cat Lovers & All Cat Haters

Cat lovers and cat haters (dislikers?), come one, come all. It's a coletilla por bulerías that we sang with Oscar last month, and it has to do with kitty cats:

Me araña
me araña el gatito
échalo pá trás

He scratches me
The cat scratches me
Get him away

(By the way, I myself am a cat lover.)

This is a version of this one.

A note about dancing bulerías and coletillas:

In class, Oscar talked about how when a singer runs out of coletilla while singing for you, he might start doing jaleo instead. (And Ani always says once you hear just jaleos, it is definitely time to get out!)

Feliz finde ~ Happy weekend!

Free Demo Class with Sol 'La Argentinita!'

Sol 'La Argentinita' is in town with the Portland Opera's production of Carmen. Lucky us! And the luckiest bit of all is that she's sticking around after the shows to give us workshops. They're happening February 18-22, and she'll be giving a free preview class next Wednesday, February 11 at 5:30pm. Come meet her and even dance and sing a bit too...

You might also enjoy

Be Careful With That Cat

Una Coletilla

Five Things You Need to Know About Dancing Bulerías

Bulerías (por soleá)

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Now That I Want to Go Back Up | Viernes con una Letra

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Now That I Want to Go Back Up | Viernes con una Letra

Today another one that I got from Zorri. He is full of letras.

Literally.

This one is kind of fuerte.

Bulerías
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Contigo bajé la cuesta
y ahora que quiero subirla
que trabajito me cuesta

I went down the hill with you
and now that I want to go back up,
Oh how much work it is

We all know a lot of the sentido gets lost in translation. The letras just don't have the same feeling in English. And then at times there are specific things that really cannot be translated within the verse itself.

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Hope | Viernes con una Letra

To dress oneself with hope.  I love that. So, below is the rest.

And you can listen to Rocío Jurado singing it here.

Un estribillo por fandangos

Ay, madre quién pudiera 
Vestirse de esperanza
como la primavera

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