I just returned home from Jerez, and naturally, I'm missing bulerías.
I have a letra to share with you today. It's one that David Lagos sang during our private show there, but before I do, I want to tell you a quick story.
It's one that Julie, a student on the Flamenco Tour, shared with me just before she departed Jerez.
On her last morning there, Julie took a final stroll around the city before she caught her train to Granada. On her way back to the apartments she found herself behind an older couple walking down the street. T
As I mentioned last week, we've been studying caña here in Jerez on the Flamenco Tour (along with bulerías por su puesto). We learned from Mercedes that la caña has six ays (iis) while el polo has five.
For baile, that is.
And there is a set of ays in the middle of the letra and at the end.
For cante, it's more open.
We're studying caña with Mercedes right now. (Here in Jerez on the Flamenco Tour that is.) Watching her dance while listening to Santi play the guitar can make it hard to focus on the steps. I'm sure you can imagine . . .
Below is a letra written by Paco López for her show Perspectivas.
Caña
Paco López
Ya la nieve se hizo agua
de tanto llover
Los ojitos tengo secos
de sembrar y no recoger
The snow has turned to water . . .
Another letra from this alegrías by David Lagos and one more video that I'm pretty positive will make your day all kinds of better as soon as you watch it.
Alegrías
David Lagos
A un lance de su capote
suenan la palmas en la plaza
y es que torea en la plaza
vaya torero Rafael de Paula
With a throw of his cape
the clapping sounds in the bullring
because he is bullfighting in the bullring
Wow, the bullfighter Rafael de Paula
You can hear this letra at 2 minutes 30 seconds, but I highly recommend watching the whole thing, especially one minute in when he sings his tri tri tri trans and the very end.
Another alegrías letra by David Lagos and live performance video.
Awhile ago I posted the first letra of this alegrías by David Lagos along with an unbelievably wonderful video of him singing it live accompanied by his brother Alfredo Lagos. Today find a couple more not to be missed videos of David performing it, along with the first letra. One is him live in Cádiz, and the other is him singing for Mercedes Ruíz dancing in a bata de cola during a rehearsal.
Que es chiquita y salerosa
no le pongáis tanta falta…
I want to tell you about some things that help me to feel better when I'm in a funky place. I also want to show you a very cool video and share a flamenco verse with you. But first, some words I wrote last week
(my first week back home post Flamenco Tour)
Coming home I feel overwhelmed.
This is not new.
It is how I usually feel after a trip to Spain. Excited to be back but overwhelmed and sort of confused at the same time.
David Lagos sang the following letra at our private show here in Jerez the other night.
Naturally, I cried, and I wasn't alone…
This will make your day.
TRUST me.
It's a video of David Lagos live por alegrías accompanied by his brother, Alfredo Lagos.
You should know, if you don't already, that David is nice.
You should also know, if you don't already, that he writes beautiful letras.
And you might as well know that one of my favorite things ever is listening to David Lagos sing por alegrías and that when I hear him sing alegrías live I cry every time ...
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..."
One letra. Varios palos. We know how this goes in flamenco.
Faly used to sing this one por bulerías:
Tangos
Popular
Dolores
¿Con qué te lavas la cara?
Que tanto te huele a flores
Dolores
With what do you wash your face?
You smell so much like flowers
Watch this little boy sings it por tangos.
I am in Sevilla where the bells of the catederál keep ringing and the birds keep singing. That was not meant to rhyme, it just did. In Jerez there were lots of birds but not so many bells. And speaking of Jerez, last Saturday we went to hear José Carpio, "El Mijita," sing at a new little bar called Zoniquete. I mean it when I say that the place was small.
Bulerías
Popular
Esta noche me mudo
me llevo un chisme
la caldera me llevo
aunque me tizne
I left almost immediately after the show ended last night.
And people said, ¿Te vas Laura, Ya?
"You're leaving, now?"
Sí, me voy.
Even though the show just ended. I wasn't even waiting to see if something exciting happened next. I wasn't even staying to socialize some more. I was going home as early as 12:30 am...
Sí.
It was a peña show last night. At Peña La Bulería.
Ok, so I told you that I might share some bulerías tesoros directly from the mouth of Ana María López with you today or tomorrow. Well, it's not happening today because I just got this great email from Becky. Becky is a student. She came on the Spain Tour.
Below you'll find an email that she sent to her husband.
She passed it along to me. and I asked her if I could post it. She was sending it to me for me, but she very graciously agreed.
I read it as a series of snapshots showing how life has been going here in Jerez, which is why I wanted to share it with all of you. So, here you go, from Becky...
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