tag:alfonsocid.com,2005:/blogs/blog?p=2Blog2023-06-19T23:31:53-04:00Alfonso Cidfalsetag:alfonsocid.com,2005:Post/60997952023-06-19T23:31:53-04:002023-12-10T14:27:33-05:00Why Flamenco does not come from India.<p><strong>Why Flamenco does not come from India.</strong></p><p>“Flamenco comes from India”. I have heard this said so many times over the years. Every time I hear it I think it is such a simplistic statement. It shows how little information there is about the origin of this beautiful art form we all love so much.</p><p>We all know that Indian Kathak and Bharatanatyam dances have footwork, very different footwork technique to flamenco, but footwork. Despite that, Kathak as we know it today was developed in the courts of the Mogul Empire starting in the 16<sup>th</sup> Century. As we will see later the gypsies arrived in what today is modern Spain in 1425. If we think about the length of time the gypsies took in their migration from Rajasthan and the Punjab, it is very unlikely that they knew what Kathak dance was. </p><p>Today we can see connections between these two art forms despite the great geographical, historical and cultural differences they have. I wonder why we don’t see the connection between flamenco and the zapateo or footwork of the Mexican Jarabe Tapatío? </p><p> </p><p>To say flamenco comes from India is as if we were to say American musical theatre comes from Italian opera or jazz comes from Africa. Those art forms are so American that nobody would dare to question their origin. For instance, let us look at jazz. The majority of jazz pioneers were African-Americans. Yet, just because the ancestors of people who created and practiced an art form came from somewhere else - even though African-Americans are Americans - it doesn’t mean that art form comes from the same place from which they originated. Jazz has obviously, among others, African roots, that doesn’t make it an African art form. Again, that is simplistic, not accurate. Even more so, don’t the majority of Americans-except for the Native-Americans-come from somewhere else? Despite that, nobody would say rock and roll comes from England, Poland or Germany. Culture, history and art arise from processes much more complex than this simplistic point of view.</p><p>I have even heard the crazy theory, hypothesis or whatever you want to call it that because the Celts settled in the Iberian Peninsula and Irish step dance comes from a country of Celtic heritage, that flamenco footwork is somehow descended from Irish step dancing. It is believed the Celts came to the Iberian Peninsula-remember, back then it wasn’t called Spain- in the 6<sup>th</sup> Century BC. There is no way we could know what those Celtic people’s dances were like!!! I also find hard to believe the flamencos of the golden age in the late 19<sup>th</sup> and early 20<sup>th</sup> Centuries had any knowledge of Irish step dance.</p><p>In the modern age of communication we have access to incredible amounts of information. Mass culture, technology and media make everything so immediate and instantaneous that we tend to forget that some cultural processes took generations to arrive to the forms we know today. Those processes were isolated from one another even though we may find similarities among different art forms. It boils down to the fact that we all are human beings, with the same talent for creative thinking, breathing the same air, we all have the same bodies and the same physiology that is affected by gravity in the same way everywhere in the world, therefore the similarities in our art forms. </p><p>As a Spaniard, I feel as if something so dear to me and to my culture was being taken away. The general public most of the time does not go beyond the cliché when it comes to flamenco. Yet we are willing to believe or draw mistaken conclusions. I would even say more: in this time and era of political correctness, I don’t find it politically correct to say “flamenco comes from India”. Are my people, Spaniards, gypsies and non gypsies alike, so stupid they cannot create their own art form? </p><p> </p><p>I would like to encourage artists, educators and all those who do care about flamenco to make the extra effort to do their research, to get closer to the new thinking from the latest research. I would like to see more accuracy, especially when introducing this art form to the general public and school students. </p><p>It is amazing how important and how much part of people’s lives flamenco is in the United States. We are so far away from the source of this culture, yet we do care so much about it. I love the fact that interest in flamenco is widespread today. Within the context of today’s flamenco we need to put it in its right place, and knowing about its origins, I think, is very important. In order to go forward we need to know where we came from.</p><p>In this article it is my intention to try to organize some of the information I have gathered from books I have read. It is a shame all the flamenco bibliography coming out of Spain has not been translated into English. The advances in flamenco research have been incredible over the last few years.</p><p>When you love something, you should get to know it in depth, getting to the heart of whatever subject you love. When you start learning about something it is accurate to use the scientific method. One must gather as much information as one can, combine the evidence and come to a conclusion or hypothesis. One has to come to an overall idea of the subject beyond the myths, legends, oral traditions, misunderstandings and romanticism.</p><p>Don’t get me wrong here. I’m the first one who feels romantic about flamenco and love the oral tradition, for flamenco would be nothing without oral tradition. There is a “truth” to be found as beautiful and passionate as the legend itself. I have learnt that in Scandinavian oral tradition the northern lights were believed to be the souls of warriors fighting one another. We now know they are caused by electrically charged particles from the solar wind, colliding with the strongest area of the Earth’s magnetic field at the North Pole. The science is as fascinating as the legend. </p><p> </p><p>People from Andalusia, both “gitanos” and “payos” (gypsy and non-gypsy), created flamenco. There would not be flamenco without one or the other. They are all people of Andalusia and they created their own traditional art form. </p><p>Ever since the beautiful musical documentary by the French filmmaker Toni Gatlif entitled “Latcho Drom” was released it has become a pop culture icon, especially among the followers of the so called “world music” genre. After watching this movie some people came to the erroneous conclusion that flamenco came from India. </p><p>In this movie the migratory journey of the gypsies is portrayed in beautiful musical vignettes starting in the Indian northeastern region of the Rajasthan through Egypt, Turkey, the eastern European countries of Rumania, Hungary and the Czech Republic, France and finally Spain. Even though the musical styles in these vignettes are completely different, some people still came to the conclusion we are discussing here. </p><p>If one thing is obvious in these performances, it is the incredible talent and creativity of the gypsy people, the idiosyncratic way in which they re-interpret the music of the areas they settle in. They throw into the mixture their own raw musical talent creating new flavors and art forms from the folkloric music they find in their travels.</p><p>Gypsies came from India after a long migration that took them halfway across the world through centuries of traveling. Yet, we don’t find flamenco anywhere else but the South of Spain. The first historical records we have of the arrival of the gypsies in the Iberian Peninsula are from 1425 where we find them in Barcelona. From there they spread all over Spain and Portugal. We tend to think of gypsies as a homogeneous group of people and culture but there are many different groups with different customs, ways of living, occupations and musical traditions. They share a common ancestry but when it comes to music and dance there are many distinct styles.</p><p> </p><p>The question now is. Why does flamenco not come from India?</p><p><strong>Language. </strong>Language is the first reason and the most obvious one. Flamenco is performed in Spanish. It is Spanish with an accent from Andalusia in which we find words from “caló” the language from the Spanish gypsies as well as the “lenguaje de germanía” the slang or jargon of the lower classes in the streets of Andalusian cities. These two became almost inseparable by the 19<sup>th</sup> Century. If you are not an expert in linguistics it is difficult to know if some of those words came from one or the other. Flamenco lyrics follow Spanish grammatical rules; they are not Sanskrit, Hindi, Urdu, or any other Indian language or dialect.</p><p><strong>Stanzas. </strong>The stanzas of flamenco lyrics are also found in the folkloric music of the rest of Spain and Latin America as well as Spanish and other European poetry. I don’t know much about the lyrics in Indian music but I’m sure the meters of the stanzas don’t follow the rhymes of flamenco.</p><p><strong>Rhythm. </strong>The rhythms of flamenco are not found in Indian music. Some of them are found in early Spanish music from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. We find twelve count rhythms in the folías, chaconas, zarabandas, jácaras and canarios, all of them musical and dance forms found in Spanish tradition. These twelve count rhythms may well be influences from African slaves’ music via the Americas and Spain itself. You may be surprised that 12% of the population of Seville in the 17<sup>th</sup> Century was of African origin. The first style or rhythm attributed to flamenco that is found in historical records is the fandango, a term used in Spanish music even before the word flamenco was used the way we use it today. We don’t hear about the word “flamenco” with reference to the art form until the middle or late 19<sup>th</sup> Century. The newer studies also attribute to the word fandango an African origin.</p><p>The tango rhythm is a relatively recent addition to Spanish music. It was in the late 1840’s when a song and dance called “el Tango Americano” or “Baile de Negros” arrived in the dance halls of Spain. It was a style of Cuban “güaracha” whose rhythm was related to the habanera pattern that became so popular in Europe as to inspire opera composers. The flamenco artists adopted this new dance and added their lyrics and melodies or created new melodies altogether, becoming what we know today as one of the most popular flamenco styles. It is believed that two artists from Cádiz, Marruro and Enrique el Mellizo, slowed down the tango creating another style, the tiento, by the turn of the 20<sup>th</sup> Century. I don’t understand why people want to associate flamenco with India while the Afro-American-Caribbean influences are so much more evident and plausible. </p><p><strong>Modes or scales. </strong>Even though we can hear echoes of Moorish, Al-Andalusian and Sephardic Jewish music in the folk music of Spain, the melodies of flamenco are fairly recent creations. It was in the mid 19<sup>th</sup> Century that flamenco started to develop its musical forms as we know them today. The traditional flamenco scales are the Medieval Phrygian (or Dorian), major and minor scales which make flamenco a modal style of music. We find scales similar to the Medieval Phrygian scale in other musical traditions: the maqam (mode) Hijaz in Arabic music or the thaat (thaat means mode in Indian tradition) Bhairav in Northern India. Even though those modes may sound similar to a Western ear, I think they respond to very different musical traditions. We have to go back, really far back, in history to find the “musical DNA” from which those modes originated. </p><p> </p><p>When we talk about flamenco we need to come closer in time and space to find the evidence of its origin. The origins are in Spain and in its former colonies in the Americas. </p><p>We know Gregorian chant includes the Medieval Phrygian mode in its repertoire. It has been documented that the low clergy used to preach the Gospels to the illiterate by chanting them in Spanish in the streets and squares of cities and villages. This was banned by the Catholic Church as the official language of the Church at the time was Latin. This practice didn’t stop and very possibly gave birth to the saetas. Saetas are devotional songs sung in the streets of Andalusia to the processional images of Jesus and the Virgin during Holy Week. These saetas very possibly gave birth later on to other a capella styles such as carceleras, tonás, and martinets. These, it is said by the new research, developed into the cante jondo (deep song) styles of seguiriyas.</p><p>From the Middle Ages all the way to the early 20<sup>th</sup> Century there was a guild of blind singers and storytellers in Spain. They used to sing medieval ballads, episodes of the Bible, miracles of Saints, historic events of their time, even the adventures of “bandoleros” or bandits and smugglers in the sierras of Andalusia and the rest of Spain. These blind singers and story tellers would accompany themselves with the strumming of a guitar and sell their stories printed on chapbooks, little booklets bound by a thread or saddle-stitched. These chapbooks or pamphlets were part of a Spanish literary genre called “pliegos de cordel (thread bound booklets). They were so common among the populace that the stories in them became part of the repertoire of folk music. The “romances” we find in the flamenco repertoire today are excerpts of these ballads interpreted within much modern and recent flamenco melodies from the 19<sup>th</sup> Century. Those melodies of the “romances” are not from the Middle Ages but very possibly from the blind ballad singers that were adopted by flamenco artists.</p><p>The bolero school of dance of the late 18<sup>th</sup> Century also had a great influence in the development of flamenco. “La Escuela Bolera” was a balletic interpretation of Spanish folk dances. The dances of the bolero school were fandangos, jaleos, seguidillas (these gave birth to the sevillanas), zorongos, peteneras, cachuchas, el ole de la Curra and boleros among others. Some of these dances have names that are reminiscent of what flamenco styles would be called later on. I could go on and on describing examples like these about other flamenco styles and their origins. </p><p>Even bullfighting has an influence in flamenco, not only in the movements of the flamenco dancer but in the way those traditions are interwoven in Spanish culture. There is no way we can separate bullfighting and flamenco because a lot of times bullfighters themselves enjoyed flamenco or were flamenco artists themselves. For instance the word “tercio” means literally “a third” in Spanish. When it comes to “tauromaquia” or bullfighting it means the different stages of a bullfight. “Tercios” are also the melodic phrases of a flamenco song. There are many more examples like this shared by these two traditions. </p><p>Especially since the 1960’s, it was believed that there is a genealogical tree of flamenco styles in which the styles performed without the guitar “cantes a palo seco” were at the trunk of that tree. From there all the rest of flamenco styles or “palos” (palo in Spanish, among other meanings, is a suit of a deck of cards; therefore we have “flamenco suits”) shoot out from that trunk. It was also said that “Flamenco began with the singing”. I don’t think that is accurate based on the findings mentioned above. Spanish people have danced forever: there are traditional dances in every village and town. There has also been guitar music in Spain for centuries. The guitar was born in Spain. Why would the flamenco artists refrain from dancing and using the guitar early on in flamenco history? </p><p>Rather than a genealogical tree I think there was a parallel evolution of different artistic expressions which in time were all gathered under the umbrella of flamenco.</p><p> </p><p>The Romantic Movement that took place in Europe from the early 19<sup>th</sup> Century and their Dionysian obsession with freedom, Turks and their harems, Moors, Gypsies and civilizations of past times, gave the cultural context in which flamenco started to take shape as we know it today. The gypsy became the romantic icon of the free man. Gypsies became the messengers, the carriers of primitive traditions of former times. Even today, we feel the fascination for their way of life and talent for music and dance.</p><p>The romantic nationalism and revolutions in Europe at the time also played a role in the creation of flamenco. After the Peninsular war against Napoleon, Spain underwent a crisis of identity. The Italian opera and the French ballet dominated the theaters in Europe. Spanish people expressed these nationalistic sentiments and culturally separated itself from the rest of Europe by adopting the character and manners of what it was thought Andalusian people were. There is the origin of the flamenco type. The proud, at times flamboyant, attitude of the flamencos comes from this period of time. </p><p>Flamenco is very rich and complex, it is many things, but I won’t be far from the truth if I say it is also in its origin a 19<sup>th</sup> Century romantic re-interpretation of the music and dances that were performed in Spain. </p><p>We also have to think about the Spanish Industrial Revolution. Peasants migrated from rural villages into the cities. As they started working in factories and workshops the musical expressions that were closely related to the work in the countryside didn’t apply any more. The alienation of the mechanical work in factories and life in crowded neighborhoods, like Triana in Sevilla, (my mother was born in one of those tenements in Triana), created another reality, a reality which couldn’t be expressed by songs about plowing the fields or bringing in the harvest. This is the reason why the songs of the Andalusian gypsies and payos are so full of pathos. The Romantic Movement and its ideas about the human self in this world of suffering and emotion played a key role in the development of the flamenco poetic esthetic. </p><p>It is important to understand that Flamenco is fundamentally an urban art form. Flamenco was born in the cities of Cádiz, Jerez, Utrera, Sevilla, and from there spread all over Andalusia and the rest of Spain. Flamenco is an urban art form in the same way in which Argentinean tango, Mexican mariachi, Greek rembetika, American jazz, rock and roll, hip hop or Puerto Rican salsa are urban art forms. Flamenco is a modern Spanish expression of human feelings… and today, it is practiced, performed and appreciated all over the world!!</p><p> </p><p>Needless to say, I have nothing against India. But flamenco never came from there. </p><p>I have had the honor to be part of several Flamenco/Indian fusion shows. I admire Indian music and dance. In the process of putting those shows together I always felt great joy, mingled with respect and admiration for the artists with whom I had the good fortune to share the stage. In putting these shows together it was always very difficult to find the common ground between, for instance, the kathak tradition and flamenco. We always had to compromise, and either the flamencos had to go to the Indian’s terrain or the Indians had to go to the flamenco’s terrain. There are no common stanzas, or shared rhythms: we always had to undergo the process of give and take and to create an arrangement to be able to perform together. It was challenging to put these shows together, but that’s the beauty of art. Despite the difficulties we always found ways to blend our art forms into a wonderful show.</p><p>On the other hand, when we fuse flamenco with, for example, Cuban music, I don’t find the same difficulties. Jazz, Brazilian music, blues, even jarocho Mexican music from Vera Cruz are a lot easier to fuse with flamenco. What is it those styles of music share? It is their Afro-American-Caribbean roots. I think there is still a lot to say about the influences of the Americas, not only in flamenco, but in European music in general.</p><p> </p><p>If you are interested in knowing where I found all this information, I have put together a bibliography of the titles I have read over the years. I’m sorry, it is all in Spanish. I hope it is helpful to you. </p><p> </p><p><strong>Bibliography:</strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>-BARRIOS, MANUEL: Gitanos, Moriscos y Cante Flamenco. RC Editor. Sevilla 1989.</p><p> </p><p>-CARO BAROJA, JULIO: Ensayo sobre la Literatura de Cordel. Ediciones Istmo, S. A. Madrid 1990.</p><p> </p><p>-GAMBOA, JOSÉ MANUEL: Cante por Cante. Disco/libro didáctico de Flamenco. Flamenco en el Foro y New Atlantis. Madrid 2002.</p><p> </p><p>-HURTADO TORRES, ANTONIO Y DAVID: La Llave de la Música Flamenca. Signatura Ediciones. Sevilla 2009.</p><p> </p><p>-LINARES, MARÍA TERESA/ NÚÑEZ, FAUSTINO: La música entre Cuba y España. Editado por Fundación Autor. Madrid 1998.</p><p> </p><p>-MACHADO Y ÁLVAREZ, ANTONIO (DEMÓFILO): Colección de Cantes Flamencos, recogidos y anotados. DVD ediciones. Barcelona 1998.</p><p> </p><p>-MOLINA, RICARDO; MAIRENA, ANTONIO: Mundo y Formas del Cante Flamenco. Ediciones Giralda. Sevilla 2005.</p><p> </p><p>-STEINGRESS, GERHARD: Sociología del Cante Flamenco. </p><p>III premio de investigación de la Fundación Andaluza de flamenco. Centro andaluz de flamenco. Consejería de Cultura, Junta de Andalucía. Signatura Ediciones. Sevilla 1991.</p>Alfonso Cidtag:alfonsocid.com,2005:Post/70591882022-09-13T09:39:49-04:002023-06-19T21:43:13-04:00Descanse en Paz, Manolete<p>No recuerdo bien la fecha exacta, fue una noche de febrero del año 2003. En el City Center de Nueva York se celebró la <a contents="Gala de Andalucía" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.flamencofestival.org/en/artistas/manolete-antonio-canales-juana-amaya-manuel-soler-farruquito-farru/" target="_blank">Gala de Andalucía</a> dentro del marco del New York Flamenco Festival con un elenco de ensueño: Farruquito, Farru, Juana Amaya, Manuel Soler, Antonio Canales y Manolete. ¡Cinco generaciones de geniales bailaores en un mismo espectáculo! </p>
<p>Los Farrucos fueron auténticas gacelas en su dueto. Me impresionó, y aún recuerdo como si hubiese sido ayer, verlos recorrer diagonales en el amplio escenario del City Center en lo que parecían cuatro simples pasos de la más absoluta elegancia.<br>Juana Amaya, increíble ella, demostró que sus vertiginosos pies se transforman en auténticos rayos de compás puro, dejándose la vida misma en el escenario, y derrochando flamencura por todos sus poros.<br>Manuel Soler demostró su sabiduría, un hombre y su arte, en el mismo centro del escenario, en solitario, bailando, a pesar de su corazón enfermo, en una conversación de una creatividad originalísima con su cajón peruano.<br>Antonio Canales bailó por soleá y se metió al público en el bolsillo. A pesar de la seriedad y jondura del palo, su baile derrochó gracia, simpatía y sutileza a raudales. ¡Un artistazo! <br>Y después, en el último acto de la noche, salió <a contents="Manolete" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://youtu.be/Aw2FzT4i5BQ" target="_blank">Manolete</a>. Sentado en una silla, al igual que Manolo Soler en mitad del escenario, sólo ante el peligro, inició un baile por alegrías. Y de nuevo, tal y como hiciera Canales, las ideas preconcebidas sobre un palo Flamenco se vieron patas arriba ya que esas alegrías de Manolete no fueron normales, eso fue un verdadero ritual, un conjuro con el que perdimos la noción del tiempo y el espacio. ¡Magistral!</p>
<p>Pasaron varios años, era julio de 2017, y junto con la banda de Jazz Flamenco, los <a contents="New Bojaira" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://newbojaira.com/" target="_blank">New Bojaira</a>, tuve la fortuna de ir de gira a España. La noche anterior habíamos tocado en el Festival en el Lago de Atarfe. La noche siguiente a nuestra actuación nos deleitamos mis colegas el pianista Jesús Hernández, el batería Mark Holen, el contrabajista Tim Ferguson y yo con unas tapas en <a contents="Casa Torcuato" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.casatorcuato.com/" target="_blank">Casa Torcuato</a>. En una de las mesas de la placita en frente del Torcuato, en el mismo Albaicín de Granada, echamos una noche al fresco de lo más agradable. <br>Al final de la noche, ya de vuelta en casa de Jesús, Tim se dio cuenta que había dejado su móvil en la mesa donde habíamos cenado. Llamamos al establecimiento y de hecho el móvil ya lo tenía a buen recaudo uno de los camareros. Decidimos ir al día siguiente para recogerlo, en ese momento ya era de madrugada, y de paso sería la excusa perfecta para volver y tomarnos otras cervecitas y unas tapas en ese tradicional establecimiento granadino. </p>
<p>Y así fue. Estábamos sentados en los taburetes de la barra del bar, disfrutando de unos aperitivos, cuando Tim, ya con su móvil en el bolsillo, se fijó en una foto impresionante de un bailaor, entre otras muchas fotos de Flamencos que decoran las paredes del Torcuato. <br>Jesús y yo le informamos que ese bailaor era Manolete. Jesús nos dijo que él vivía muy cerca de allí, en el Albaicín. Y yo le conté la sublime experiencia, el embrujo de verlo bailar por alegrías en el City Center de Nueva York.<br>En ese mismo momento, como si la conversación hubiese sido un presagio, apareció por la puerta del bar un hombre delgado y de baja estatura, pero con un carisma y una elegancia fuera de lo común que lo hacían parecer mucho más grande. Era el mismo Manolete, vestido con camisa y pantalones blancos, portando un bastón que le daba la categoría del Señor, con mayúscula, que en verdad era. Al reconocerlo lo saludamos y a raíz de ahí se entabló una cordial conversación. Le pedimos al maestro que se hiciera una foto con nosotros, a lo cual accedió sin problemas y con extrema simpatía. </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/393525/7c3ff01aa438beb3857b8a983933b530dc5aa7ef/original/img-5973.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_small">Los New Bojaira con Manolete en Casa Torcuato, Albaicín, Granada.<br>De izquierda a derecha: Tim Ferguson, Alfonso Cid, Mark Holen, Jesús Hernández, Manuel Santiago Maya "Manolete".</span></p>
<p>Ayer, <a contents="12 de septiembre de 2022" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.granadahoy.com/ocio/Adios-Manolete-elegancia-baile-flamenco_0_1719729747.html" target="_blank">12 de septiembre de 2022</a>, se nos fue para siempre el magnífico artista, bailaor, maestro y Flamenco Manuel Santiago Maya “Manolete”. Mi más sentido pésame a sus familiares y amigos. Descanse en Paz.</p>Alfonso Cidtag:alfonsocid.com,2005:Post/68841732022-01-31T00:45:42-05:002022-07-20T21:55:19-04:00René Robert, the photographer of the Flamencos<p>A man falls in a busy Parisian Street in the evening. The cause is unknown. Did he feel dizzy, slip, or faint unconscious? Passers-by are so busy, wrapped up in their evening plans, going back home after work, excited to watch their favorite TV show streaming on the internet, or immersed in their cellphones. None of them, nobody stops to show any concern for this man lying on the sidewalk. Nobody wants to get involved and alter their plans for the night. </p>
<p>His body is still there after nine hours, a homeless person notices him and shows interest. As he is unresponsive, he calls the fire fighters. Upon arrival, the doctors at the hospital can’t save this man’s life. Cause of death, hypothermia. In short, he died of exposure, frozen in a frigid winter night between January 19th and 20th in Paris. </p>
<p>This is the true story of French-Swiss photographer René Robert, the photographer of the Flamenco artists. He took pictures of all the Flamenco legends of the 20th Century over a span of 50 years, many of them his friends from whom he had earned the upmost respect and love. His pictures were always in black & white, according to him, it enhanced the images strength in that moment he always sought after, when the expression of the singer, dancer or guitar player was at its peak. </p>
<p>Ever since my brother shared this piece of news with me, I’ve been feeling outraged. René was an artist, he wasn’t homeless, he had a home. He had just gone out for an evening stroll around his neighborhood. Despite that, it doesn’t really matter if he was or wasn’t a homeless person. Have we become so desensitized to human suffering as to be incapable of stopping our busy lives to check on a person who obviously was in need? What kind of society or civilization we have created in which we let people die in the street unattended? As his friend and journalist Michel Mompontet said: René was “killed by indifference.” </p>
<p>Mompontet also questioned himself: “Am I 100% sure that I would have stopped had I been confronted with that scene – a man on the ground? The lesson we must learn from this extremely sad story is that confronted with a situation like this, stopping to check on a person in distress makes the difference between life and death. </p>
<p>Here are some links of interest about this story. <br>El País: <a contents="https://english.elpais.com/usa/2022-01-28/photographer-rene-robert-freezes-to-death-on-busy-paris-street.html" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://english.elpais.com/usa/2022-01-28/photographer-rene-robert-freezes-to-death-on-busy-paris-street.html" target="_blank">https://english.elpais.com/usa/2022-01-28/photographer-rene-robert-freezes-to-death-on-busy-paris-street.html</a> <br>The Guardian: <a contents="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/28/swiss-photographer-rene-robert-killed-indifference-france-shocked-hypothermia-death-busy-paris-street" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/28/swiss-photographer-rene-robert-killed-indifference-france-shocked-hypothermia-death-busy-paris-street" target="_blank">https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/28/swiss-photographer-rene-robert-killed-indifference-france-shocked-hypothermia-death-busy-paris-street</a></p>Alfonso Cidtag:alfonsocid.com,2005:Post/68841702022-01-31T00:44:11-05:002022-04-10T21:17:36-04:00René Robert, el fotógrafo de los Flamencos<p>Un hombre cae en la calle en una bulliciosa noche parisina. No se sabe por qué, un mareo, resbaló, calló inconsciente. Los viandantes están todos muy ocupados con sus planes para esa noche, volviendo a casa del trabajo, cenar, ver un nuevo capítulo de su serie favorita en internet, o enfrascados en sus teléfonos móviles. Ninguno de ellos, nadie se para para interesarse por ese señor tirado en la acera. Nadie quiere involucrarse y posponer sus planes para esa noche. </p>
<p>Tras nueve horas inmóvil una persona sin techo se interesa por él. Al ver que no respondía, llamó a los bomberos. A su llegada al hospital los médicos no pueden salvar la vida del señor. Lo declaran muerto por hipotermia. En definitiva, murió de frío tras nueve horas a la intemperie en una invernal noche parisina entre el 19 y el 20 de enero de 2022. </p>
<p>Esta es una historia real, la de René Robert, el fotógrafo Francosuizo de los artistas Flamencos. Fotografió a todas las leyendas del Flamenco del Siglo XX durante 50 años, muchas de ellas, amigas suyas, y de las cuales tenía el respeto y el cariño más absoluto. Sus fotos siempre eran en blanco y negro, según él, resaltaba la fuerza de la imagen, de la expresión en ese momento álgido en el cante, baile o toque que él siempre buscaba. </p>
<p>Desde que mi hermano compartió esta noticia conmigo no he podido más que sentirme indignado. René era un artista, no era un indigente, tenía su casa y sólo fue a dar uno de sus habituales paseos nocturnos por su barrio. Aun así, da igual que fuese un artista o un sin techo. ¿Tan insensibilizados estamos ante el sufrimiento humano que somos incapaces de parar nuestra ajetreada vida diaria, para interesarnos por el bienestar de una persona, que evidentemente, necesitaba ayuda. ¿Qué tipo de sociedad, de civilización hemos creado que somos capaces de dejar morir a alguien en la calle? Como dijo su amigo y periodista Michel Mompontet: René “murió por indiferencia”. </p>
<p>También Mompontet se hizo la pregunta: “¿Estoy seguro al 100% que me hubiese parado si me hubiese encontrado en una situación como esa, con un hombre en el suelo?” La lección que hemos de aprender de esta muerte tan triste es que ante una situación así, pararnos para interesarnos por esa persona puede marcar la diferencia entre la vida y la muerte. </p>
<p>Aquí tienen algunos enlaces de interés sobre esta noticia. <br>El País: <a contents="https://elpais.com/cultura/2022-01-27/el-fotografo-rene-robert-muere-congelado-en-las-calles-de-paris-tras-una-caida.html" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://elpais.com/cultura/2022-01-27/el-fotografo-rene-robert-muere-congelado-en-las-calles-de-paris-tras-una-caida.html" target="_blank">https://elpais.com/cultura/2022-01-27/el-fotografo-rene-robert-muere-congelado-en-las-calles-de-paris-tras-una-caida.html</a> <br>Contexto y Acción: <a contents="https://ctxt.es/es/20220101/Culturas/38535/rene-robert-fotografo-paris-flamenco-muerte-maria-cristina-reverte.htm" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://ctxt.es/es/20220101/Culturas/38535/rene-robert-fotografo-paris-flamenco-muerte-maria-cristina-reverte.htm" target="_blank">https://ctxt.es/es/20220101/Culturas/38535/rene-robert-fotografo-paris-flamenco-muerte-maria-cristina-reverte.htm</a> <br>The Guardian: <a contents="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/28/swiss-photographer-rene-robert-killed-indifference-france-shocked-hypothermia-death-busy-paris-street" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/28/swiss-photographer-rene-robert-killed-indifference-france-shocked-hypothermia-death-busy-paris-street" target="_blank">https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/28/swiss-photographer-rene-robert-killed-indifference-france-shocked-hypothermia-death-busy-paris-street</a></p>Alfonso Cidtag:alfonsocid.com,2005:Post/68561032021-12-31T14:59:27-05:002022-04-10T21:17:49-04:00Happy New Year! ¡Feliz 2022!<p>¡Feliz Año Nuevo mis amigas y amigos!</p>
<p>(Traducción al español más abajo) </p>
<p>I really hope 2022 comes filled with joy, fortune, love and above all good health for you and your loved ones. </p>
<p>Here is a video from 14 years ago!!! Time flies by!! This was a show by my band “Gazpacho Andalú” at the Bronx Public Library with dear friends: Arturo Martinez on guitar, dancer and cantaora Barbara Martinez, Antonio De Vivo on percussion and backing vocals, Gary Raheb on Cuban tres and Sean Kupisz on electric bass. </p>
<p>I remember I had such a bad cold I had lost my voice, I don’t know how I did it!! I found this crack in my vocal cords in which I could produce something similar to my regular voice. Despite that, those were great times!!</p>
<p>De veras espero que este 2022 llegue cargadito de alegría, fortuna, amor y sobre todo mucha salud para todos vosotros y sus seres queridos.</p>
<p>Quisiera compartir este vídeo de un espectáculo que hice con mi banda, los "Gazpacho Andalú", en la Biblioteca Pública del Bronx hace ya ¡¡14 años!! ¡Cómo pasa el tiempo! En la banda estaban mis amigos: el guitarrista Arturo Martínez, la bailaora y cantaora Bárbara Martínez, el percusionista y vocalista Antonio de Vivo, Gary Raheb al tres cubano y Sean Kupisz en el bajo eléctrico.</p>
<p>Recuerdo que ese día tenía un resfriado terrible y casi que no tenía voz. ¡No sé cómo lo hice! Encontré un resquicio en mis cuerdas vocales por el que pude encontrar algo semejante a mi voz. A pesar de eso ¡nos lo pasamos genial!</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="NgJwQDSJS1w" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/NgJwQDSJS1w/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NgJwQDSJS1w?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe> </p>
<p>I composed this song titled "Una Joya de Momento" for my then 3 years old baby daughter, Natalie. Here are the lyrics and their translation: </p>
<p>Compuse esta canción para mi hija Natalie que entonces era una bebé de tres años. Aquí tienen la letra:</p>
<p>Sopla más burbujas de jabón </p>
<p>Pero que sopla amigo mío que más burbujas de jabón </p>
<p>Que centellean y flotan con mil colores </p>
<p>Entre las copas de los árboles </p>
<p>La luz del sol se enredaba </p>
<p>Y tu carita de luna </p>
<p>Con tu sonrisa brillaba </p>
<p>Tú eres libre como el juego </p>
<p>Y tu juego es como el agua </p>
<p>Que corre en los riachuelos </p>
<p>Le le le ... </p>
<p>Y esa joya de momento </p>
<p>Que yo no olvido, que yo recuerdo </p>
<p>Esa joya de momento </p>
<p>Mi niña chica corriendo </p>
<p>Tras las burbujas, flores de ensueño </p>
<p>Mi niña chica corriendo </p>
<p>Tras las burbujas, flores de ensueño </p>
<p>Que mira mira mira... </p>
<p>Como corre </p>
<p>Que mira mira mira... </p>
<p>Como juega </p>
<p>Mi niña chica pura de inocencia </p>
<p>¡Ay se tambalea! </p>
<p>Con sus brazos abierto </p>
<p>¡Ay se tambalea!... </p>
<p>Sopla más burbujas de jabón </p>
<p>Pero que sopla amigo mío que más burbujas de jabón </p>
<p>Que centellean y flotan con mil colores. </p>
<p>Translation: </p>
<p>Blow more soup bubbles </p>
<p>Oh my friend! Blow more soup bubbles </p>
<p>Because they shine and float with a thousand colors </p>
<p>The sunshine tangled </p>
<p>Among the tree tops </p>
<p>And your moon shaped little face </p>
<p>Shone with your smile </p>
<p>Your joyful play is free </p>
<p>And your freedom is </p>
<p>Like running water in the streams. </p>
<p>A moment, like a jewel </p>
<p>Never forgotten that I'll always remember </p>
<p>A moment, like a jewel </p>
<p>My little girl running </p>
<p>After the bubbles, dream flowers </p>
<p>My little girl running </p>
<p>After the bubbles, dream flowers </p>
<p>Look at her, look at her </p>
<p>How she runs </p>
<p>Look at her, look at her </p>
<p>How she plays </p>
<p>My little girl full of innocence </p>
<p>She sways with her opened arms </p>
<p>She sways! </p>
<p>Blow more soup bubbles </p>
<p>Oh my friend! Blow more soup bubbles </p>
<p>Because they shine and float with a thousand colors. </p>
<p>I hope you enjoy it!</p>Alfonso Cidtag:alfonsocid.com,2005:Post/64579032020-10-17T14:26:20-04:002022-07-20T21:55:19-04:00Pepa de Benito-"Yo Vengo de Utrera" (Bulerías Romanceadas)<p>Her full name was Josefa Peña Reyes (Utrera, 1937-11/7/2016), she was part of a deeply rooted Utrera and Lebrija gypsy family. Her grandfather was Fernando Peña Soto, the legendary “Pinini”, who is mentioned in many stanzas of the traditional flamenco styles originated in this area of Andalusia. He himself is attributed the creation of a form of cantiñas. Pepa is also first cousins with the great Fernanda and Bernarda de Utrera, and the siblings Pedro and Inés Bacán, guitarist and singer respectively, from Lebrija. She obviously grew up in a family in which flamenco singing was part of daily life. She became a singer at a very early age, although didn’t become a professional until later on in her life, encouraged by her cousin Pedro Bacán.</p>
<p>I had the joy of attending one of her performances at the Peña Flamenca Torres-Macarena in Sevilla around 1994. I witnessed there her particular interpretation of fandangos in soleá rhythm, which used to be one of her signature styles. We can listen to her in this video of a Flamenco "juerga" or party.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="zo2T6l49Vfw" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/zo2T6l49Vfw/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zo2T6l49Vfw?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>This set of bulerías Pepa de Benito offers us in this recording below is a perfect example of the styles we can hear in towns such as Utrera and Lebrija, in the Andalusian province of Seville. We can find this recording in this track’s namesake album <a contents="“Yo Vengo de Utrera”" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.amazon.com/Yo-Vengo-Utrera-Pepa-Benito/dp/B0018BN1VA" target="_blank">“Yo Vengo de Utrera”</a>, Harmonia Mundi (1999). </p>
<p>I'd like to invite you here on an analysis of each "letra" in this recording. First, let's listen!</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="Sw12GszUPMk" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/Sw12GszUPMk/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Sw12GszUPMk?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>The vocal introduction in this bulería is actually an excerpt from an “alboreá” or gyspsy wedding song. </p>
<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="width:500px;"><tbody> <tr> <td> <p>Y alevanta</p>
<p>Y no duermas má </p>
<p>Que mañanita</p>
<p>Tendrá lugar. </p> </td> <td> <p>Get up</p>
<p>And sleep no longer </p>
<p>This morning</p>
<p>Something will take place. </p> </td> </tr>
</tbody></table>
<p> </p>
<p>This is a very traditional set of bulería lyrics from the city of Utrera. </p>
<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="width:500px;"><tbody> <tr> <td> <p>¡Ay! yo vengo de Utrera </p>
<p>¡Ay! Yo vengo vendiendo </p>
<p>Ollas y cazuelas. </p> </td> <td> <p>I come from Utrera </p>
<p>And I’m selling </p>
<p>Pots and pans.</p> </td> </tr>
</tbody></table>
<p> </p>
<p>Bulería coletilla (tag or refrain), this is a melody that will repeat with different lyrics all throughout this recording. </p>
<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="width:500px;"><tbody> <tr> <td> <p>“Tié” quietecito </p>
<p>Y no te alevante </p>
<p>Voy a la plaza </p>
<p>Vuelvo a Alicante.</p> </td> <td> <p>Stay put </p>
<p>And don’t get up </p>
<p>I’m going to the square </p>
<p>I’m returning to Alicante.</p> </td> </tr>
</tbody></table>
<p> </p>
<p>This is another set of traditional bulerías. We can hear this melody and other similar ones with slight variations, as well as different sets of lyrics, in many tradicional Flamenco repertoires from towns and neighborhoods such as Jerez, Cádiz, Triana in Sevilla, or artists from other Spanish cities in and out of Andalusia. </p>
<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="width:500px;"><tbody> <tr> <td> <p>Me gusta el oír </p>
<p>Las campanitas de las monjas </p>
<p>Cuando me voy a dormir.</p> </td> <td> <p>I like to listen to </p>
<p>The bells from the nun’s convent </p>
<p>When I go to sleep.</p> </td> </tr>
</tbody></table>
<p> </p>
<p>This stanza is an example of “bulería romanceada”. This set of lyrics is not that of a “romance” or ballad per se, yet it is interpreted with the typical melody in which “romances” are performed. It is the same melody as in the very popular “Esta noche mando yo, mañana mande quien quiera” a “bulería romanceada” as well. </p>
<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="width:500px;"><tbody> <tr> <td> <p>Arribita, arribita hay una estrellita de oro </p>
<p>Son los ojos de mi chica </p>
<p>Que cuando los miro lloro.</p> </td> <td> <p>High above there’s a golden star </p>
<p>It reminds me of my little one’s eyes </p>
<p>When I look at them I cry.</p> </td> </tr>
</tbody></table>
<p> </p>
<p>This Coletilla is an excerpt from the “Romance de las Tres Cautivas.” We will elaborate more extensively about this subject down below. </p>
<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="width:500px;"><tbody> <tr> <td> <p>¡Ay! A la verde verde </p>
<p>Y a la verde oliva </p>
<p>¡Ay! donde cuativaron </p>
<p>Y a mis tres cautivas.</p> </td> <td> <p>Aye! The green, green </p>
<p>The green olive grove </p>
<p>Aye! Where they capture </p>
<p>My three captive girls.</p> </td> </tr>
</tbody></table>
<p> </p>
<p>Bulería coletilla. </p>
<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="width:500px;"><tbody> <tr> <td> <p>La fuente vieja </p>
<p>Se ha alborotao </p>
<p>Porque Pinini </p>
<p>Se ha emborrachao.</p> </td> <td> <p>At the old fountain </p>
<p>There was a racket </p>
<p>Because Pinini </p>
<p>Got drunk. </p> </td> </tr>
</tbody></table>
<p> </p>
<p>Bulería. </p>
<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="width:500px;"><tbody> <tr> <td> <p>Tengo en mi casa un almendro </p>
<p>Que to el que sale y to el que entra </p>
<p>Y almendrita sigue comiendo.</p> </td> <td> <p>There’s an almond tree at my house </p>
<p>Everyone that comes and goes </p>
<p>Enjoys sweet almonds all day long. </p> </td> </tr>
</tbody></table>
<p> </p>
<p>This stanza is another example of an “alboreá” or wedding song. These lyrics are referring to a bride’s “responsibility” to protect her virginity. </p>
<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="width:500px;"><tbody> <tr> <td> <p>¡Ay! Guárdalo que es bueno </p>
<p>Te acompañará </p>
<p>Que si no lo guarda </p>
<p>Pronto se verá.</p> </td> <td> <p>Aye! Protect it for it’s good </p>
<p>That accompanies you </p>
<p>If you don’t protect it </p>
<p>Soon you won’t be able to hide it. </p> </td> </tr>
</tbody></table>
<p> </p>
<p>Bulería coletilla. </p>
<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="width:500px;"><tbody> <tr> <td> <p>¡Ay! No ha nacío </p>
<p>Ni nacerá </p>
<p>La yerbabuena </p>
<p>Por mi corral.</p> </td> <td> <p>Aye! It hasn’t grown </p>
<p>Nor it will ever grow </p>
<p>The mint </p>
<p>In my yard.</p> </td> </tr>
</tbody></table>
<p> </p>
<p>As it happens in most traditional Flamenco styles, that are comprised of medleys of independent stanzas with full poetic meaning, we find here a “romance”. This is a fragment of an actual medieval ballad, “El Romance de la Cautiva”- The Ballad of the Captive Girl (go to the section (II) of this <a contents="link" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.lacasadelarbol.es/3Cautiva.htm" target="_blank">link</a>). They were kept from one generation to the next by oral tradition, as well as by a guild of mendicant blind singers that not only in Spain, but in the rest of Europe and the Americas, used to sing these ballads in the streets, squares and markets. With the arrival of the printing press in the Mid 15th Century, a whole literature genre was born, “la literatura de cordel” (this refers to the way this literature was sold hanging from a peg and thread).</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/393525/a3123d3b9e5182e84558a364e6b46e8c6bb78697/original/literatura-de-cordel.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><a contents="Diego Dacal&nbsp;-&nbsp;literatura de cordel" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11784200" target="_blank">Diego Dacal-literatura de cordel</a></p>
<p>These were chapbooks or small pamphlets in which one could find not only old ballads, but also actual news and events in ballad format, that blind singers used to sell as well as sing accompanied by guitar, fiddle or rabel playing.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="VXvbFXraTTY" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/VXvbFXraTTY/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VXvbFXraTTY?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>Once the arrival of newspapers, radio and, of course, TV, these blind singers went out of business. Flamenco gypsy families kept this ballads as part of their oral tradition and within their repertoire of Flamenco forms up until today. </p>
<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="width:500px;"><tbody> <tr> <td> <p>Salí de los torneos </p>
<p>Me fui pa la morería </p>
<p>Me he encontraito a una mora </p>
<p>Lavando en la fuente fría.</p> </td> <td> <p>I left from the jousting tournament </p>
<p>And went to Moorish lands </p>
<p>I found a Moorish girl </p>
<p>Washing in the cold fountain. </p> </td> </tr>
</tbody></table>
<p> </p>
<p>This next set of lyrics comes directly from another ballad, “El Romance de las Tres Cautivas”-The Ballad of the Three Captive Girls (go to this <a contents="link" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.lacasadelarbol.es/3Cautivas.htm" target="_blank">link</a>, where you could find not only this lyrics, but the “¡Ay! A la verde oliva” we find above). We can also listen to a version of this ballad, recorded on video by folklorist Joaquín Díaz, and interpreted by Felicidad Carretero near the Castilian city of Valladolid. </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="-e2Uq6B70sE" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/-e2Uq6B70sE/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-e2Uq6B70sE?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe> </p>
<p>We must take in account these melodies are not by any means the origin of the Flamenco interpretation of this ballad, but a different take on the same piece of traditional literature. They may very possibly respond to totally different, unrelated musical traditions. </p>
<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="width:500px;"><tbody> <tr> <td> <p>¡Ay! No llores Constanza </p>
<p>¡Ay! No llores Lucía </p>
<p>¡Ay! Que viniendo el moro </p>
<p>¡Ay! Me liberaría. </p> </td> <td> <p>Aye! Don’t cry Constanza </p>
<p>Aye! Don’t cry Lucía </p>
<p>Aye! As the moor arrives </p>
<p>Aye! I will get liberated. </p> </td> </tr>
</tbody></table>
<p> </p>
<p>Bulería coletilla. </p>
<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="width:500px;"><tbody> <tr> <td> <p>Solita sola </p>
<p>Solita se vino </p>
<p>La Utreranita </p>
<p>Por los camino.</p> </td> <td> <p>Alone, just on her own </p>
<p>Alone she came </p>
<p>The sweet Utrera girl </p>
<p>Came down the road.</p> </td> </tr>
</tbody></table>
<p> </p>
<p>Closing “alboreá”, used here as a refrain to “rematar” or give an ending to this series of bulerías. </p>
<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="width:500px;"><tbody> <tr> <td> <p>Y alevanta</p>
<p>Y no duermas má </p>
<p>Que mañanita t</p>
<p>Tendrá lugar. </p> </td> <td> <p>Get up a</p>
<p>And sleep no longer </p>
<p>This morning s</p>
<p>Something will take place</p> </td> </tr>
</tbody></table>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<hr><p><strong>Bibliography and links of interest: </strong></p>
<p>Caro Baroja, Julio-<a contents="Ensayo sobre la Literatura de Cordel" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Ensayo_sobre_literatura_de_cordel.html?hl=es&id=H4YgqLrERegC" target="_blank">Ensayo sobre la Literatura de Cordel</a>, Ediciones AKAL. </p>
<p>Núñez, Faustino-<a contents="Romances" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.flamencopolis.com/archives/308" target="_blank">Romances</a>, http://www.flamencopolis.com/ </p>
<p>Díaz, Joaquín-Fundación Joaquín Díaz, <a contents="Colección Pliegos de Cordel" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://funjdiaz.net/pliegos-listado.php" target="_blank">Colección Pliegos de Cordel</a>, https://funjdiaz.net/ </p>
<p>Cambridge University Digital Library, <a contents="Spanish Chapbooks" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/spanishchapbooks/1" target="_blank">Spanish Chapbooks</a>, https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/ </p>
<p>Amedei Paola, Badalini Claudia, Castellani Chiara, Di Leo Katia-<a contents="Yo Vengo de Utrera" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://depaloenpalo.wordpress.com/2013/08/12/pepa-de-benito-yo-vengo-de-utrera-1999/" target="_blank">Yo Vengo de Utrera</a>, https://depaloenpalo.wordpress.com/ </p>
<p>La Casa del Arbol, <a contents="La Cautiva" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.lacasadelarbol.es/3Cautiva.htm" target="_blank">La Cautiva</a>, <a contents="Las Tres Cautivas" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.lacasadelarbol.es/3Cautivas.htm" target="_blank">Las Tres Cautivas</a>, http://www.lacasadelarbol.es/</p>
<p>Tertulia de Flamenco y Temas Gitanos de Utrera, <a contents="Arbol Genealógico de la Familia Pinini" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tertuliagitanadeflamenco.blogspot.com/2010/11/pinini-and-family.html" target="_blank">Arbol Genealógico de la Familia Pinini</a>, http://tertuliagitanadeflamenco.blogspot.com/ </p>Alfonso Cidtag:alfonsocid.com,2005:Post/60997982015-10-21T20:00:00-04:002022-04-10T21:18:54-04:00Alonso Núñez “Rancapino Chico” y Manuel Jero (Seguiriya).<p> </p>
<p>Alonso Núñez “Rancapino Chico” y Manuel Jero (Seguiriya).</p>
<p>(English translation below)</p>
<p> </p>
<div class="video responsive"><div class="video-container"><div class="video responsive"><div class="video-container"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="wrapped wrapped" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ezorJx7I8SA" width="560"></iframe></div></div></div></div>
<p>Alonso Núñez “Rancapino Chico” es hijo del gran cantaor de Chiclana de la Frontera, Cádiz, Alonso Núñez “Rancapino”. Siendo así, es poseedor de una herencia cantaora de raigambre. Su padre era gran amigo del legendario Camarón de la Isla y compañero suyo de correrías juveniles y flamencas, especialmente en la Venta Vargas, en San Fernando, donde comenzaron sus primeras experiencias como cantaores.</p>
<p>Estas son las credenciales de este joven cantaor que como ven aquí, tiene arte y conocimiento para dar y regalar. Este video fue grabado para la serie documental titulada “Al Ritmo de la Calle” en el Bar de Bartolo de la ciudad de San Fernando. Su interpretación demuestra que el flamenco tradicional está más vivo que nunca, es más yo creo que hoy en día se canta mucho y bien. Señoras y señores ¡el flamenco no está desapareciendo!</p>
<p>La seguiriya es uno de los palos flamencos más difíciles y de mayor profundidad interpretativa. Es uno de los palos que forman parte del “cante jondo”, por su hondura y tristeza, junto a la soleá y los cantes a “palo seco” (sin acompañamiento de guitarra) con los que está emparentada: tonás, martinetes y carceleras. Sus letras hablan de la muerte, de la enfermedad, de la madre o del amor perdido, todas ellas llenas de un patetismo y un drama que llega a lo más profundo de la esencia humana.</p>
<p>La estrofa o letra de la seguiriya puede tener tres o cuatro versos de seis sílabas y uno de ellos, el tercero o el segundo, de 11 sílabas, que pueden variar en número al unirse algunas de ellas debido a la pronunciación del dialecto andaluz del castellano.</p>
<p>El ritmo es un ciclo de 12 partes de amalgama de 3/4 y 6/8 que sigue el siguiente patrón rítmico:</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration:underline"><strong>8</strong></span> 9 <span style="text-decoration:underline"><strong>10</strong></span> 11 <span style="text-decoration:underline"><strong>12</strong></span> 1 2 <span style="text-decoration:underline"><strong>3</strong></span> 4 5 <span style="text-decoration:underline"><strong>6</strong></span> 7</p>
<p>En este vídeo “Rancapino Chico” interpreta una serie de tres estilos diferentes de seguiriyas de Jerez y los Puertos, todos estilos de la provincia de Cádiz. La ciudad de Jerez de la Frontera es una de las cunas del flamenco y Manuel Torre fue uno de sus cantaores clásicos más legendarios de principios del siglo XX. Joaquín Lacherna nació en 1843 también en Jerez y fue tío de Manuel Torre. La seguiriya de Curro Curse es una seguiriya que forma parte del grupo de Los Puertos: siendo estos puertos las ciudades de San Fernando, Puerto Real, Puerto de Santa María y Sanlúcar de Barrameda. Estas son seguiriyas muy antíguas. Curro Durse nació en Cádiz alrededor de 1825 y fue bisabuelo de otro gran monstruo del cante flamenco, Manolo Caracol.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration:underline">Seguiriya de Manuel Torre</span></p>
<p>Siempre por los rincones</p>
<p>Te encuentro llorando.</p>
<p>Que le aliviaran la duquelita* de mi cuerpo</p>
<p>De mi corazón. </p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="text-decoration:underline">Seguiriya de Joaquín Lacherna</span></p>
<p>Contemplarme a mi madre</p>
<p>Que no llore más</p>
<p>Que muero loco y enfermito</p>
<p>En el hospital</p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="text-decoration:underline">Seguiriya de Curro Durse</span></p>
<p>Como el redoblar</p>
<p>Yo he redoblaito por mi madre</p>
<p>De mi corazón</p>
<p> </p>
<p>*duquelas: penas en calé, jerga gitano/andaluza.</p>
<p>English translation:</p>
<p>Alonso Núñez “Rancapino Chico” is the son of the great flamenco Singer Alonso Núñez “Rancapino” from Chiclana de la Frontera, Cádiz province. Thus, he possesses a deeply rooted flamenco family heritage. His father was Camarón de la Isla’s best childhood friend with whom he shared many of their first experiences as cantaores or flamenco singers in their teens, specially legendary were their performances at Venta Vargas (Vargas’ Inn) in San Fernando.</p>
<p>These are the credentials of this young cantaor. As you can see he is as proficient and knowledgeable as can be. This video is part of the musical documentary series titles “Al Ritmo de la Calle” (To te Beat of the Street) and it was shot at the Bar Bartolo in San Fernando. His performance is a testimony of the good health traditional flamenco is in, even more I think nowadays flamenco is as good as ever has been. Ladies and gentlemen, flamenco is not disappearing!! </p>
<p>The seguiriya es one of the most difficult and deeper flamenco styles to perform. It’s part of the set of flamenco styles called “cante jondo” or deep song, as well as the soleares and the “cantes a palo seco” or a Capella (without guitar accompaniment) to which it is related: tonás, martinetes and carceleras. Its lyrics tell stories of death, illness, the loss of the mother or the beloved one. They are full of pathos, drama and touch to the core of the human essence.</p>
<p>The stanza of the seguiriya can have three or four lines of six syllables in which the second or third line has eleven syllables, although they can vary in number depending on the pronunciation of the Andalusian Spanish dialect.</p>
<p>The meter of the seguiriya is a 12 count rhythm formed by a 3/4 and a 6/8 beat measures. The pattern goes as follows:</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration:underline"><strong>8</strong></span> 9 <span style="text-decoration:underline"><strong>10</strong></span> 11 <span style="text-decoration:underline"><strong>12</strong></span> 1 2 <span style="text-decoration:underline"><strong>3</strong></span> 4 5 <span style="text-decoration:underline"><strong>6</strong></span> 7</p>
<p>In this video “Rancapino Chico” interprets a series of three seguiriya styles from Jerez and Los Puertos, all of them forms originated in the province of Cádiz. The city of Jerez de la Frontera is one of the cradles od flamenco and Manuel Torre was one of its more legendary artists from the classic period of flamenco singing in the early 20<sup>th</sup> Century. Joaquín Lacherna was bron in Jerez as well on 1843 and was tManuel Torre’s uncle. Curro Durse’s seguiriya is part of the family of seguiriyas from Los Puertos: these are the port cities of San Fernando, Puerto Real, Puerto de Santa María and Sanlúcar de Barrameda. They are really ancient seguiriya styles. Curro Durse was born in Cádiz circa 1825 and was the great grandfather of another of the flamenco singing greats, Manolo Caracol. </p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="text-decoration:underline">Seguiriya de Manuel Torre</span></p>
<p>I always find you</p>
<p>Crying in the corners.</p>
<p>I hope to relieve the sorrows from my body</p>
<p>And my heart.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="text-decoration:underline">Seguiriya de Joaquín Lacherna</span></p>
<p>Be considerate to my mother</p>
<p>So she doesn’t cry anymore,</p>
<p>Because I’m dying crazy and ill</p>
<p>In the hospital.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="text-decoration:underline">Seguiriya de Curro Durse</span></p>
<p>As bells toll</p>
<p>I’ve been tolling</p>
<p>For my mother</p>
<p>My sweetheart.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>Alfonso Cidtag:alfonsocid.com,2005:Post/60997972013-05-07T20:00:00-04:002022-04-25T08:29:54-04:00Introduction to flamenco.<p>Flamenco is a music and dance form that originated in Andalusia, in the south of Spain about 200 years ago. It's an art form that reflects the actual melting pot Andalusia is, a land in which we historically can find, Celtic, Iberian, Tartessian, Greek, Roman, Visigothic, Arab, Moorish, Castillian, Jewish, Black-African, Latin-American and Gypsy influences. It encompasses a great number of styles with different origins, melodies, rhythms and types of verses or stanzas. </p>
<p>Each flamenco style is called a “palo flamenco”. If you look for the word “palo” in a Spanish dictionary you will realize it has several meanings one of them is stick, which is the one a lot of aficionados use, although this is actually wrong. In this case we are referring to the suit of a deck of cards. When we talk about "palos flamencos", we are talking about the different “suits” of the flamenco genre.</p>
<p>There is a set of “palos secos”, meaning without the accompaniment of the guitar or “a cappella”. These are: Tonás, Carceleras, Martinetes, Debla and Saetas. </p>
<hr><p><strong><span style="text-decoration:underline">There are four groups of cantes flamencos according to their rhythm or “compás”. </span></strong></p>
<p>It is very possible you may have come across this very popular illustration of a Flamenco genealogical tree. In it, all the different styles or "palos" are placed in the branches of a tree in a whimsical manner, sometimes following a interpretative or stylistic logic, sometimes geographical or historical reasons. In the trunk, down below, we find the "palo seco" style of the "toná", giving us the impression the more dramatic and full of pathos Flamenco styles are the origin of the art form. Even tough this way of classifying Flamenco may seem kind of logical, interesting, even beautiful, it doesn't have any correlation to the very complex historical and musical processes that gave birth to it. That Flamenco genealogical tree responds to an idea of Flamenco pushed forward by "flamencologists" during the mid 20th Century. It is barely scientific, rather capricious, and follows concepts completely dated nowadays.</p>
<p>If we are to use a more accurate and musicological method to classifying Flamenco, we'd rather do it by grouping the "palos" according to their rhythm, their "compás". </p>
<table align="left" border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 573px;"><tbody> <tr> <td valign="top" width="143"> <p><strong>Fandangos</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Fandangos de Huelva.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Verdiales y abandolaos.</p>
<p>Rondeña.</p>
<p>Fandangos Naturales.</p>
<p>Malagueñas.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Granainas y Medias Granainas.</p>
<p>Cantes de Levante.</p>
<p>(These last four have lost their rhythm but evolved from the fandangos)</p>
<p> </p> </td> <td valign="top" width="143"> <p><strong>Soleares</strong></p>
<p>Caña.</p>
<p>Polo.</p>
<p>Jaleos.</p>
<p>Soleares.</p>
<p>Bulerías por soleá.</p>
<p>Alegrias.</p>
<p>cantiñas.</p>
<p>Bulerías.</p>
<p>Cuplés por bulerías.</p>
<p>Petenera.</p>
<p>Guajiras.</p>
<p>(The placement of the accents in the last two styles could be counted as shown below)</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p> </td> <td valign="top" width="143"> <p><strong>Seguiriyas</strong></p>
<p>Tonás.</p>
<p>Carceleras.</p>
<p>Martinetes.</p>
<p>Debla.</p>
<p>Seguiriyas.</p>
<p>Saetas.</p>
<p>Cabales.</p>
<p>Liviana.</p>
<p>Serrana.</p>
<p> </p> </td> <td valign="top" width="143"> <p><strong>Tangos</strong></p>
<p>Tientos.</p>
<p>Tangos.</p>
<p>Tanguillos.</p>
<p>Rumba.</p>
<p>Tarantos.</p>
<p>Farruca.</p>
<p>Garrotín.</p>
<p>Zambra.</p>
<p>Colombianas.</p>
<p>Milonga.</p>
<p>Vidalita.</p>
<p>Mariana.</p>
<p> </p> </td> </tr>
</tbody></table>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong><span style="text-decoration:underline">These are the accents that form the basic Flamenco rhythms (click on the names of the rhythms to hear a sample of them)</span></strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p><a contents="Fandangos" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://youtu.be/0Kkn5QIJLSo" target="_blank">Fandangos</a>:<strong> <span style="text-decoration:underline">1</span></strong> 2 3 <strong><span style="text-decoration:underline">4</span></strong> 5 6 <strong><span style="text-decoration:underline">7</span></strong> 8 9 <strong><span style="text-decoration:underline">10</span></strong> 11 12</p>
<p><a contents="Soleares" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://youtu.be/K6dtVCmzoT4" target="_blank">Soleares</a>: 1 2 <strong><span style="text-decoration:underline">3</span></strong> 4 5 <strong><span style="text-decoration:underline">6</span></strong> 7 <strong><span style="text-decoration:underline">8</span></strong> 9 <strong><span style="text-decoration:underline">10</span></strong> 11 <strong><span style="text-decoration:underline">12</span></strong> or 1 2 <strong><span style="text-decoration:underline">3</span></strong> 4 5 6 <strong><span style="text-decoration:underline">7</span></strong> <strong><span style="text-decoration:underline">8</span></strong> 9 <strong><span style="text-decoration:underline">10</span></strong> 11 <strong><span style="text-decoration:underline">12</span></strong></p>
<p><a contents="Seguiriyas" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://youtu.be/OdrcJ_jHzTI" target="_blank">Seguiriyas</a>: <strong><span style="text-decoration:underline">8</span></strong> 9 <strong><span style="text-decoration:underline">10</span></strong> 11 <strong><span style="text-decoration:underline">12</span></strong> 1 2 <strong><span style="text-decoration:underline">3</span></strong> 4 5 <strong><span style="text-decoration:underline">6</span></strong> 7</p>
<p><a contents="Tangos" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://youtu.be/yvMBMPe-_vA" target="_blank">Tangos</a>: 1 <strong>2 3 <span style="text-decoration:underline">4</span></strong> 1 <strong>2 3 <span style="text-decoration:underline">4</span></strong></p>
<p><a contents="Guajiras" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://youtu.be/7MADzaej8oc" target="_blank">Guajiras</a> and Peteneras: <strong><span style="text-decoration:underline">1</span></strong> 2 3 <strong><span style="text-decoration:underline">4</span></strong> 5 6 <strong><span style="text-decoration:underline">7</span></strong> 8 <strong><span style="text-decoration:underline">9</span></strong> 10 <strong><span style="text-decoration:underline">11</span></strong> 12</p>
<p> </p>
<hr><p><strong><span style="text-decoration:underline">There are different kinds of flamenco stanzas or “estrofas”:</span></strong></p>
<p>Some of these stanzas have been part of Spanish, even European, literature and folk music for centuries before flamenco appeared. </p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Quintillas: </strong>verses of five lines with eight syllables each line. This is the “estrofa” of all fandangos.</p>
<p>Fandango de Almonaster la Real. This is a folk fandango from the beautiful village of Almonaster la Real, in the northern hills of the province of Huelva, the so called Sierra de Aracena. </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="TEeMkpBz8DI" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/TEeMkpBz8DI/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TEeMkpBz8DI?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>En la Fuente del Venero</p>
<p>De Almonaster la Real</p>
<p>Yo me quiero declarar</p>
<p>A esa flamenca que quiero</p>
<p>Que no la puedo olvidar </p>
<p><strong>Translation: </strong></p>
<p>At the Venero fountain</p>
<p>In Almonaster la Real</p>
<p>I want to declare my love</p>
<p>To that flamenco girl</p>
<p>I love I can’t forget her.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Cuartetas: </strong>verses of four lines with eight syllables each line. This is the “estrofa” of Cañas, Polos, Soleares, some Seguiriyas, Bulerías, Tonás y Martinetes, Alegrias y Cantiñas,Tangos, Tientos, Garrotín.</p>
<p>Soleá de la Andonda. According to Flamenco researcher Norman Paul Kliman, in his <a contents="Soleares Audio Library" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://canteytoque.es/soleares.htm#andonda1" target="_blank">Soleares Audio Library</a>: "We know next to nothing about this singer, and there is some disagreement as to her place of birth. In 1879, Demófilo wrote that she was from Jerez, and two years later he included her in a list of singers from Morón. In 1905, Núñez de Prado wrote that she was from Utrera. According to oral tradition, she lived in Triana and was much younger than her lover el Fillo. The Morón-based researcher Luis Javier Vázquez Morilla indicates that she was born in Ronda, that her name was María Amaya Heredia, and that she was actually the lover (or perhaps the wife) of one of el Fillo's children, although no evidence of this has been made available yet. Luis and Ramón Soler state that the soleás of la Andonda were popular in Ronda. The authors point out the abundance of these styles in the recordings of Paca Aguilera and the ties between certain families of Gypsy artists from Ronda and Morón. Style 1 attributed to this singer has been recorded many times throughout history and remains very popular today. It is sometimes referred to as the "soleá grande de Triana."</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="Tp2z-uWl11U" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/Tp2z-uWl11U/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Tp2z-uWl11U?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>Y tú dices que no me quiere</p>
<p>Pena no tengo ninguna</p>
<p>Porque yo con tu queré</p>
<p>No tenia hecha escritura. </p>
<p><strong>Translation: </strong></p>
<p>You say you don’t love me</p>
<p>I don’t really care</p>
<p>Because I don’t have a contract</p>
<p>With your love</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Tercetas: </strong>verses of three lines with eight syllables each line. This is the “estrofa” of Soleares, Jaleos, Bulerías, Tangos, Tientos.</p>
<p>Bulería. The bulería nowadays is the indisputable queen of all Flamenco styles, and it is in the town of Jerez de la Frontera where we find them in its finest expression. This is a example of a "bulería corta de Jerez", a style singers choose to sing at the beginning of a bulerías number, as to warm up their voice.</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="w7HalZrBIO4" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/w7HalZrBIO4/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/w7HalZrBIO4?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe> </p>
<p>¿Dime qué quieres de mí?</p>
<p>Si hasta el aguita que bebo</p>
<p>Te la tengo que pedi. </p>
<p><strong>Translation: </strong></p>
<p>What do you want from me?</p>
<p>That even the water I drink</p>
<p>I must ask you for it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Solearilla:</strong> first line of three or five syllables and two more lines with eight syllables. This is the “estrofa” of some Soleares and Bulerías.</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="J2ayLCpP_WI" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/J2ayLCpP_WI/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/J2ayLCpP_WI?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>Y será</p>
<p>Pa mi unos tormentos grandes</p>
<p>Verte y no poderte hablar. </p>
<p><strong>Translation:</strong> </p>
<p>It is</p>
<p>For me great torment</p>
<p>To see you and not be allowed to talk to you.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Verso de pie quebrado: </strong>“estrofa” with four lines, the first two lines with seven syllables, the third with eleven and the fourth with seven. This is the “estrofa” of many styles of Seguiriya.</p>
<p>Seguiriya de Paco la Luz. This is a seguiriya style created by Francisco Valencia Soto "Paco la Luz" born in Jerez in 1839. I learned it from a recording by singer <a contents="Juan Talega" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://canteytoque.es/luz1tal8.mp3" target="_blank">Juan Talega</a>, although I throw in there my own personal phrasing and ornamentation. </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="YgqbdVtn2vo" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/YgqbdVtn2vo/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YgqbdVtn2vo?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>Yo no soy de esta tierra</p>
<p>Ni conozco a nadie</p>
<p>Y el que lo hiciera por mis niños</p>
<p>Que Dios se lo pague. </p>
<p><strong>Translation:</strong> </p>
<p>I’m not from this country</p>
<p>Neither do I know anyone</p>
<p>But he who could help me with my kids</p>
<p>God bless him!</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Décima: </strong>“estrofa” of ten lines with eight syllables that originated in Spain during the Baroque era (17th Century). This is the verse of the Guajiras.</p>
<p>Guajira. The Flamenco guajira has nothing to do with the namesake Cuban musical style, it is rather a Flamenco interpretation of another Cuban musical form called "punto Cubano" and its Canary Islands counterpart the "punto Canario". I learned this set of lyrics from the great <a contents="Enrique Morente" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://youtu.be/Ex1PqdX0RgM" target="_blank">Enrique Morente</a>. </p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="iKcBRCBQbzs" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/iKcBRCBQbzs/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iKcBRCBQbzs?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>Aquí la malanga crece</p>
<p>Rico manjar suculento</p>
<p>Y al rumor del blando viento</p>
<p>La rica caña se mece</p>
<p>El ajónjoli parece</p>
<p>Rica alfombra peregrina ¡</p>
<p>Ay! El mamey que se reclina</p>
<p>Y hacia la rama que toca</p>
<p>Parece la dulce boca</p>
<p>De mi angélica Rufina ¡ole bien! </p>
<p><strong>Translation:</strong> </p>
<p>Yams grow here</p>
<p>Tasty delicacy and</p>
<p>To the murmur of the breeze</p>
<p>The sugar cane sways</p>
<p>The sesame field seems</p>
<p>A strangely beautiful rug.</p>
<p>¡Ay! The mamey bends over</p>
<p>Towards a branch kissing it</p>
<p>Looks like my Rufina’s S</p>
<p>weet angelic lips ¡ole bien!</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Pregón: </strong>this is a song vendors in the streets of Andalusia and Spain used to do to publicize their goods. There are several “pregones” that have survived until today, also Caracoles and Mirabrás, two styles of Cantiñas, have Pregones in their lyrics.</p>
<p>Pregón de Macandé. Gabriel Díaz Fernández aka "Macandé" was born in Cádiz in 1897. He was a Flamenco singer and street vendor who used to sell candy in the bullring at the nearby town of San Fernando. He also created his own styles of fandangos. I learned this pregón after it was made very popular by singer <a contents="David Palomar" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://youtu.be/r0__ocLMQ8c" target="_blank">David Palomar</a> in his album titled "Trimilenaria" (2008).</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="0m0dRbhA1sQ" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/0m0dRbhA1sQ/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0m0dRbhA1sQ?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>Por la salida de Asturias</p>
<p>Y la entrada en la montaña</p>
<p>Fabrico yo mis caramelo</p>
<p>Y pa’ venderlos por España</p>
<p>¡Ay! de menta, caramelos,</p>
<p>Que los acabo, mis caramelos.</p>
<p>Venir niñas a comprarme</p>
<p>Que lo llevo de menta,</p>
<p>También los llevo de limón,</p>
<p>De Félix y Mariano Rodríguez,</p>
<p>De Vicente Barrera,</p>
<p>Del gran artista Cagancho</p>
<p>Y el Niño del Mataero.</p>
<p>Comprarme mis caramelos. </p>
<p><strong>Translation:</strong> </p>
<p>Next to the exit to Asturias</p>
<p>And the entrance in the mountain</p>
<p>I make my candy</p>
<p>To sell them around Spain</p>
<p>My mint candy</p>
<p>I’ll sell them all out, my candy.</p>
<p>Come to me girls and buy them</p>
<p>My mint candy.</p>
<p>There is also lemon candy</p>
<p>From Félix and Mariano Rodríguez,</p>
<p>From Vicente Barrera,</p>
<p>From the great artists Cagancho</p>
<p>And the Boy from the slaughterhouse*</p>
<p>People, buy my candy!!</p>
<p>*All these are names of legendary bull fighters who used to order candy with pictures of their faces on the wrapping as advertisement. </p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Coplas, cuplés, canciones: </strong>These are songs that have been incorporated into the flamenco repertoire. There is in Spain a music genre called “Canción Española” which is actually popular music from the early 20th Century with an influence from Spanish folk music and Spanish operetta or “zarzuela”. They follow the format of any popular song: verse-chorus-verse-chorus and in flamenco we can find them performed in Bulerías. More recently, since the 1960’s, Tangos and Rumbas have also been composed in this format.</p>
<p>Rocío ¡ay! mi Rocío (cuplé por bulerías). This is a "copla" or Spanish popular song from the early 20th Century and popularized by <a contents="Imperio Argentina" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://youtu.be/5u-dEOWTk7g">Imperio Argentina</a>. I first heard it in the bulería version by <a contents="Canalejas de Puerto Real" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://youtu.be/HDxzL_F0CoE">Canalejas de Puerto Real</a>.</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="7HpUcqAz8OI" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/7HpUcqAz8OI/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7HpUcqAz8OI?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Con sombrero negro </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Y chaqueta corta </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Y en las brujas horas </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Del anochecer, </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Por su calle abajo </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Paseaba una moza </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">De quien sin saberlo </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Yo me enamoré. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Una mañana clara </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">De abril sonreía. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Me acerqué a su reja </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Gallardo juncal </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Y le dije alegre </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Con Vd mi vida </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Unas palabritas</span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Tengo yo que hablar. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Hablamos de muchas cosas </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Que el tiempo se las llevó, </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Pero tan sólo una copla </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Que en mi alma se quedó. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Estribillo: </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Rocío ¡ay! Mi Rocío. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Manojito de claveles, </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Capullito florecío, </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">De pensar en tu querer </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Voy a perder el sentío </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Porque te quiero mi vida </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Como nadie te ha querío. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Rocío ¡ay! Mi Rocío. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular"><strong>Translation:</strong></span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">With a black hat </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">And a short jacket </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">During the haunted hours </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Of nightfall, </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Down her street </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">A beautiful girl passed me by </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">And inadvertently </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">I fell madly in love with her. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">A fresh morning </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">In April it was shining. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">I got nearby her window grill </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Dressed as dashing I could </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">And happily, told her </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">With you, my sweetheart </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">A few words </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">I’d like to have a chat. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">We talked about many things </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Gone with the wind, </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Except for a song </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">That remains in my soul. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Chorus: </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Rocío ¡ay! My Rocío. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Bunch of carnations, </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Blooming bud, </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Just thinking of your love </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">It’s driving me crazy </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Because I love you sweetheart </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">As nobody has before </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Rocío ¡ay! My Rocío.</span></p>
<hr><p><strong>The structure of the Cante Flamenco</strong></p>
<p>The flamenco songs as you have seen have a tendency to be short verses, despite this they have full meaning and stand on their own with full poetic and musical intention.</p>
<p>When a singer starts a flamenco performance, he or she first of all chooses a “palo flamenco”, for instance soleare<em>s</em>, and will proceed to do a series of different styles or traditional melodies within that “palo”, something like a medley.</p>
<p>The performance will go as follows:</p>
<p> </p>
<ol> <li><strong>Guitar introduction.</strong></li> <li>
<strong>Salida:</strong> This is a cry full of ornaments done with half and quarter tones; it is the essence of flamenco music. It is the way a “cantaor” uses to get within the frame work of the tonality and the scale he will use to do his “cantes”. It can be an “¡ay!, lere lere, tiriti tran tran tran”, etc... <strong> </strong>
</li> <li>
<strong>Cante de preparación: </strong>This is the first cante, or a few of them, which are slightly difficult.<strong> </strong>
</li> <li>
<strong>Cante valiente or macho: </strong>This is a cante of extreme difficulty that brings the performance to its emotional climax. After the cantaor warms up he will do these styles within the palo, in occasions without breathing in between phrases or “tercios” to show how capable he or she is as a performer.<strong> </strong>
</li> <li>
<strong>Remate:</strong> This is an ending or tag in some styles, called “coletilla”, “coro” or “juguetillo” that is performed in a faster tempo. In other styles like Malagueñas the “remate” is a cante abandolao or verdiales.<strong> </strong>We also have this in dance numbers, for instance, we finish or “rematamos” a sole<em>á</em> or alegrías dance with bulería<em>s</em> or tientos with tangos.<strong> </strong>
</li>
</ol>
<p>This performance of "romeras", a style of "cantiñas" similar to "alegrías de Cádiz", is a good example of the development of a Flamenco number.</p>
<p><strong> <iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="O6-sIwH0rXk" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/O6-sIwH0rXk/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/O6-sIwH0rXk?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></strong></p>
<hr><p><span style="text-decoration:underline"><strong>Flamenco scales.</strong></span></p>
<p>The flamenco scale is without any doubt the Phrygian scale. There are also songs in major and minor keys, despite that once you listen to the Phrygian scale you immediately associate those sounds to flamenco music. </p>
<p>If you were to play on a piano keyboard the C major scale (all white keys), but instead of going from C to the higher C you started on E, you’d be playing the Phrygian scale, the flamenco mode or scale. You may change the sound of this scale by raising the third note a half a tone, in this case we would be playing a G sharp (G#) instead of a natural G. By doing so we make it sound even more flamenco or "Moorish".</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="chMeSgevxtE" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/chMeSgevxtE/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/chMeSgevxtE?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<hr><p><span style="text-decoration:underline"><strong>Flamenco vocabulary.</strong></span></p>
<p><strong>Baile, el:</strong> flamenco dance.<strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong>Cante, el: </strong>flamenco song.</p>
<p><strong>Cierre: </strong>closing, break at the end of a footwork section of a dance.</p>
<p><strong>Camelar: </strong>to want, to love.</p>
<p><strong>Castellana: </strong>Castilian girl, step of the Castilian girl performed traditionally after the silencio in an alegrías de Cádiz dance.</p>
<p><strong>Coletilla: </strong>tag, little refrain at the end of a flamenco stanza.</p>
<p><strong>Compás: </strong>rhythm, beat, musical bar.</p>
<p><strong>Contestación: </strong>answer, footwork done by the dancer in between the music phrases of a song. It coincides with the “respire” or breath of the singer.</p>
<p><strong>Desplante: </strong>literally means rudeness, it is a step full of attitude, a break similar to a llamada and performed in bulerías as a remate. </p>
<p><strong>Escobilla: </strong>solo footwork section in a flamenco dance.<strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong>Falseta: </strong>Melody or musical idea performed by the guitarist.</p>
<p><strong>Jaleo: </strong>racket, mess, shouts of encouragement to cheer the performers in a flamenco show. It also refers to a style that is the origin of bulerías.</p>
<p><strong>Juguetillo: </strong>literally it means little toy, in flamenco this refers to a tag or refrain at the end of a dance.</p>
<p><strong>Letra: </strong>lyrics, words.</p>
<p><strong>Llamada: </strong>call, cue given by the dancer to call the singer in.</p>
<p><strong>Remate: </strong>break, specially the one the dancer performs at the end of a flamenco song. It can also be the ending or climax of a flamenco song or dance.</p>
<p><strong>Respiro: </strong>breath, it can go on for an entire “compás”<em> </em>or bar. It coincides with the footwork answer or “contestación”<em> </em>by the dancer or an embellishment by the guitarist..</p>
<p><strong>Salida: </strong>start, it is a cry, a wail the flamenco singer performs at the beginning of a flamenco song or dance to warm up or tune up with the guitar.</p>
<p><strong>Silencio: </strong>silence, very lyrical section without footwork of the alegrías dance performed traditionally by the guitarist in a minor key, as opposed to the major key of the alegrías. </p>
<p><strong>Subida: </strong>rise, climb, speeding up footwork section in which the dancer brings up the tempo of the dance.</p>
<p><strong>Tablao: </strong>flamenco stage, it also refers to the flamenco clubs that originated in Spain during the 1960s. </p>
<p><strong>Tercios: </strong>literally it means thirds; it also refers to the different stages of a bullfight. In flamenco it refers to the different musical phrases of a flamenco song.</p>
<p><strong>Toque, el: </strong>flamenco guitar playing.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I'd like to thank all the Flamenco artists, experts, musicologists and researchers that have contributed with their knowledge to this article, especially José Manuel Gamboa, Faustino Núñez, Norman Paul Kliman, Guillermo Castro, Gerhard Steingress and many more.</p>Alfonso Cidtag:alfonsocid.com,2005:Post/60997962013-01-18T19:00:00-05:002023-04-26T20:46:34-04:00Homenaje a Triana.
<p>"What are they singing here? What type of bulerías are these?" That is what a friend and flamenco dancer asked me the other day. It turned out that finding an answer led me into a far deeper analysis than she was asking for. My research inspired me to write this article. First, let’s have a look at the video she was talking about.</p>
<p></p>
<div class="video responsive"><div class="video-container"><div class="video responsive"><div class="video-container"><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5_b2AhQ0ZbQ?rel=0" width="560" class="wrapped wrapped"></iframe></div></div></div></div>
<p>This is a very enjoyable number by dancer Pastora Galván (http://www.pastoragalvan.com/) with <em>¡mucho arte!</em> You should also note that there is not a single step of <em>zapateado</em> or heel work.</p>
<p>There is a lot of material to dig out in this piece of beautiful art work. Pastora is accompanied, from the left of the screen by one of the staple palmeros in Sevilla, José Jiménez Santiago “El Bobote”; the triumphant breakout <em>cantaor</em> at the last Bienal de Flamenco 2012, José Valencia; the <em>cantaor</em> and <em>palmero</em> Cristian Guerrero and the veteran guitarist Ramón Amador, uncle of Raimundo and Rafael Amador of the legendary band Pata Negra and pianist Diego Amador “El Churri”.</p>
<p>The scene they are recreating here is straight out of a <em>patio de vecinos</em> in the popular Seville neighborhood of Triana (a <em>patio de vecinos</em> is a type of tenement building with an internal courtyard that was once the typical housing of Triana). Pastora Galván is wearing a <em>bata</em> or housecoat and slippers as if she was cozy at home just having fun with her family. The portrait is of a lady in a traditional setting, maybe in a time between the 1930s or 1960s that actually doesn't exist any more due to our modern-day life style and the gentrification of the neighborhood itself.</p>
<p>Let's start analyzing! As it is often the case in flamenco, this piece in bulería rhythm, is a medley of different excerpts of Spanish popular music and bulerías forms or compositions ranging over a century. Despite that, its amazing how seamless these artists make it look, not giving much indication of how diverse their sources are.</p>
<p>The intro to this piece is the music to a beautiful copla or Spanish popular song titled <em>Echale guindas al pavo</em>. This song was composed by Ramón Pelleró Ródenas for the movie Morena Clara (1936)-my grandfather’s favorite movie- in which the legendary <em>coplera</em> Imperio Argentina interpreted the role of a gypsy girl heartbroken by a <em>señorito</em> or rich boy from the high society.</p>
<p></p>
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<p>The first sets of lyrics are, very sexually insinuating by the way, by the poet and writer José Manuel Caballero Bonald, a flamenco expert who appears several times in the documentary series from the 1970s <em>Rito y Geografía del Cante Flamenco</em>. They go:</p>
<p>I told her to come,<br>She told me to come.<br>Fire over fire.</p>
<p>They were recorded originally in the <em>bulería</em> "Siete Horitas Seguias" by El Turronero in his album "Cantes Viejos" from 1976. Go to minute 2:22 in this Spotify player to listen to them:</p>
<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="380" src="https://embed.spotify.com/?uri=spotify:track:5Z4cALeGfbQUQMCUcQOWIW" width="300"></iframe></p>
<p>These artists continue drawing material from a true genius such as Manuel Molina, the artistic and former real life partner of Lole Montoya. The very own style of Manuel Molina, the poet from <em>El Tardón</em>, one of Triana’s quarters, is unmistakable in this stanza.</p>
<p>I’m going to meet my girl<br>Walking through the square, through the square<br>And she is waiting for me<br>Behind the gate, behind the gate<br>Because in Triana<br>The little children Sing to the dawn.</p>
<p>After that a typical Jeréz coletilla, refrain or tag comes along.</p>
<p>You only want money, gypsy girl<br>I’m going with you, gypsy girl.</p>
<p>As a curiosity, you can see Spanish pop music artist Alejandro Sanz singing this very set of lyrics in minute 2:05 of this video:</p>
<p></p>
<div class="video responsive"><div class="video-container"><div class="video responsive"><div class="video-container"><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/c0wrQjpx0yo?rel=0" width="420" class="wrapped wrapped"></iframe></div></div></div></div>
<p>Back we go to Spanish <em>copla</em> when we hear <em>¡Triana, Triana!</em> This song was interpreted by, yet again, Imperio Argentina for the movie titled Carmen la de Triana (1938). This movie was shot in Nazi Germany during the Spanish Civil War. This genre of movies, full of cheesy traditional lore, were very much part of the propaganda policies of Dictator Francisco Franco’s fascist regime. Despite the melodramatic character of these films you can find in them music of great quality. During the shooting of Carmen la de Triana it is said Adolph Hitler tried to date Imperio Argentina with not much luck.</p>
<p>Triana Ay my Triana!<br>How many times<br>I looked at your reflection<br>On the river, like a mirror.<br>In your jasmine scented streets<br>The moon kissed me on the forehead.<br>I don’t want for treasures or fortune<br>Only the neighborhood which is my cradle.<br>Ay the bells of Triana!<br>Soleáres from Triana<br>You hear them wherever you go.<br>I love you, my neighborhood,<br>Because of you I loose my mind.<br>The core of my belief.<br>Ay my Triana! Ay the bells!<br>Ay from Santa Ana!</p>
<p><em>Carmen la de Triana</em>, Imperio Argentina, signs <em>¡Triana, Triana!</em></p>
<p></p>
<div class="video responsive"><div class="video-container"><div class="video responsive"><div class="video-container"><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/42Nif_UlHq4?rel=0" width="420" class="wrapped wrapped"></iframe></div></div></div></div>
<p>The number continues with what we could consider a set of lyrics much more part of the flamenco oral tradition. We hear lyrics from Jerez, the birth place of the bulería. At this moment the performance is building up into a climax, getting into a hypnotic mode, a paroxysm. The words of the song work as a scat.</p>
<p>Polka dotted shawl,<br>The only inheritance<br>My mother left.</p>
<p><br>Go to the river<br>And catch shrimp<br>With your dress. Go!</p>
<p><br>They are going to kick you out.<br>I’m a bullfighter From Bomba’s crew,<br>I’m a banderillero.</p>
<p>Utrera and Lebrija, these two cities in the province of Seville are very important in flamenco history, as you may very well know, but also because the gypsy artists there have preserved a set of <em>romances</em> (ballads, which used to be part of popular culture, thanks to blind traveling artists who performed them in the streets and squares) and <em>alboreás</em> (gypsy wedding songs) that have a very distinct and magnificent flavor.</p>
<p>I’m coming from Utrera<br>On the way I am selling<br>Pots and pans.</p>
<p>I love you Even more<br>Than the mother<br>Who gave birth to you.</p>
<p>In this video from the series <em>Rito y Geografía del Cante Flamenco</em>, we can see a very young Miguel Funi and guitarist Pedro Bacán, both from Lebrija, performing these <em>romances</em> and <em>alboreás</em>. In the minute 4:00 Miguel Funi interprets the stanza about coming from Utrera from Pastora Galván’s piece.</p>
<p></p>
<div class="video responsive"><div class="video-container"><div class="video responsive"><div class="video-container"><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cOxq5mFETqU?start=53" width="560" allowfullscreen="" class="wrapped wrapped"></iframe></div></div></div></div>
<p>At this point everything that comes from José Valencia’s singing is almost unintelligible. It is as if the performers have achieved a trance-like state that can inspire nothing but joy. By now, no one can deny that this is the “real thing”.</p>
<p>You may say this is <em>flamenco puro</em>, but how can something that goes back and forth in time using material from the 19th Century, to the 1930s to the 1970s, back and forth and over again, be described as pure? This is a hybrid, a fusion of styles within flamenco which also draws from Spanish popular music. What standards do we use to qualify a performance like this as pure?</p>
<p>By using terminology like that we are limiting ourselves to a very biased and simplistic categorization. What flamenco “purists” may consider flamenco puro is a response to their own cultural references and adherence to styles which were acquired in a time when a certain trend was in vogue, perhaps when they were young, and they perceive it through a romantic lens mixed with nostalgia and melancholy.</p>
<p>A performance like this one is pure because it moves you. It is pure art and reaches into your core. That’s why I prefer the term <em>arte puro</em> because it describes the essence of the performance, deters discrimination and simplification.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I’d like to thank my mother, Alejandra Cid Pagador, for helping me with her knowledge of flamenco and Spanish copla; José Manuel Gamboa for the couple of very good leads about Ramón Amador, El Turronero and Manuel Molina; Martha Kessler, my dear wife for helping me with the editing and my friend and flamenco dancer Sabrina Aviles for pointing out to me this beautiful performance by Pastora Galván. Sabrina, I hope this answers your question!!</p>
Alfonso Cidtag:alfonsocid.com,2005:Post/60997942010-08-17T20:00:00-04:002022-04-10T21:20:37-04:00Manuel Torre. The singer of the black sounds.
<p><strong>Manuel Torre. The singer of the black sounds. </strong></p>
<p>(Manuel Soto Loreto. Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz), 1878-Sevilla, 1933)</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I’m going through a phase in which I can only listen to Manuel Torre. Every time I listen to his recordings I find a new reason to go back to him, a new turn of his voice that I didn’t notice before. The lack of high fidelity in those recordings doesn’t bother me at all because Manuel Torre was one of the most enigmatic figures of flamenco history and that is clear in those sounds from nearly a century ago. He is considered to be an icon of the era of classic flamenco and is still a great influence for all flamenco singers. He created and recreated variations of flamenco styles such as <em>seguiriyas</em>, <em>soleares</em>, <em>saetas</em>, <em>tonás</em>, <em>tarantos</em> and even <em>farrucas</em>. He was like King Midas, turning into gold everything he touched…only when he was inspired. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>He was born on December 5<sup>th</sup>, 1878 at the number 25 of the Calle Alamo in the San Miguel gypsy neighborhood of Jerez de la Frontera. His mother was Tomasa Loreto Vargas, from Jerez, and his father was Juan Soto Montero, from Algeciras, who worked at a slaughter house and also was a non-professional singer, a specialist of two flamenco deep song styles, <em>tonás</em> and <em>seguiriyas</em>. His father was a really tall man, which is how he likely earned the nickname <em>Torre</em>-tower in Spanish.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He was exposed to the Jerez school of <em>cante</em> (flamenco song), listening to masters such as Manuel Molina, El Marrurro and Enrique el Mellizo in the city of Cádiz. This last artist being a great influenced in his youth. He had to be stopped from tossing himself out of a window after listening for the first time to this maestro.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He worked as a fishmonger for a while, an occupation traditionally held by gypsies in Jerez as well as the families of “La Paquera de Jerez” and Luis “El Zambo” can testify.</p>
<p>His incredible talent took him to the <em>café cantantes</em> (cafes with live music) of his native Jerez from a very early age, his patrons being the Duke of San Lorenzo and José Aguilar, the army officer from Ecija, who presented him as a child prodigy accompanied by the guitarist Javier Molina. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>His debut in Seville was on October 11<sup>th</sup>, 1902 billed as El Niño de Torres at the Salón Filarmónico and in Madrid in 1909. It was in the former city where he developed his artistic career and where he became a great influence for the legendary Tomás Pavón and his sister Pastora “La Niña de los Peines” (The Girl of the Combs). </p>
<p> </p>
<p>He married the flamenco dancer Antonia Torres Vargas “La Gamba”, first cousin of the wife of Pinini, (which links him to another legendary flamenco family from the city of Utrera) and with whom he had two sons, Juan and Tomás. It is known that the ladies next door to their home would stay up until the small hours of the morning, after he got home from that night’s<em> juerga</em> (flamenco party) or show, to hear Manuel whisper lullabies to his children.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He later started a relationship with his daughter-in-law, María Loreto Reyes, also known as “María la Coja” (María the Limper), with whom he had five daughters.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>A very sensitive man, reserved and sexually obsessed that lived beyond social norms. His past times were his greyhounds, his fighting cocks and his collection of watches.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He was a victim of his mood swings, his raw talent and the elusive <em>duende</em> (the flamenco state of mind in which one is in communion with ones fellow musicians and the audience) that would escape him if any given situation or person was not of his like. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>He excelled in every cante by impregnating them with his own innate personal style, his “black sounds” that were an expression of the man “with more culture in his blood than anyone” as García Lorca put it. In 1922 he performed as a guest artist at the <em>Concurso de Cante Jondo</em> (flamenco deep song contest) that Manuel de Falla and García Lorca himself organized in Granada. From that time on, Lorca’s admiration for the singer was shared by the group of poets, writers and intellectuals that formed the <em>Generation of ’27</em>. The members of this movement celebrated on 1927 the 300<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the death of one of the most admired figures of Spanish literature, the baroque poet Luis de Góngora, in Seville. It was during this celebration that they were to witness the art of Manuel in a party thrown by the bullfighter Ignacio Sánchez Mejías at his Cortijo (country state) de Pino Montano on the outskirts of that city.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>There is no way to know this artist’s full potential for the recordings he left us are but shadows of his brilliance. Despite the fact that they are incredible historical documents, one can only get a hint through these recordings of his revolutionary vocal style, his “voz natural”, which he placed neither high nor in his chest without being guttural. We have to trust the accounts of him by the people who got to experience his art. For instance, two great maestros of cante, Pepe de la Matrona and Pericón de Cádiz, gave us impressions of his art in their biographies written by José Luis Ortiz Nuevo.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Pepe de la Matrona<a href="http://www.alfonsocid.com/dashboard/pages/blog/post#_ftn1" data-imported="1">[1]</a> says: “Manuel Torre was a genius. I have listened to Manuel Torre sing some unforgettable things that will never fade from my memory. He was a genius, but insecure, once he would do a brilliant thing and the next time he would do something unbearable to listen to. That is why they called him “El Majareta” (the nutcase). On the other hand Tomás [Pavón] has been much more confident, as well as El Gloria, although,</p>
<p>at times, Manuel would finish them all off.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I remember him in one occasion. We were here in Madrid and it was a coincidence that Antonio el Mellizo and Diego Antunez , who was on his way back from a party in Bilbao, were also here. And a<em> banderillero</em><a href="http://www.alfonsocid.com/dashboard/pages/blog/post#_ftn2" data-imported="1">[2]</a>, Rafaelillo the banderillero, invited us to Rita Ortega’s place, a road inn she had in Cuatro Vientos. Manuel was there the whole night, the entire night singing, and the poor man could not get anything straight, he wasn’t in good shape. At the break of dawn, when we were all leaving, we went to the tables outside to have a coffee. As we sat down Manuel went to the guitarist, the one called Mariscal, Rita’s brother-in-law, and said to him:</p>
<p>-Listen, pick up the <em>bajañí</em><a href="http://www.alfonsocid.com/dashboard/pages/blog/post#_ftn3" data-imported="1">[3]</a> I’m going to sing a couple of things now that I feel alright.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He set his foot on one of those pedestal tables while the guitarist was accompanying him. Then and there, he sang three seguiriyas that made the ground shake. I’ve never seen anything like that. I have those memories in my head and will never forget them in my whole life.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Pericón de Cádiz recalls<a href="http://www.alfonsocid.com/dashboard/pages/blog/post#_ftn4" data-imported="1">[4]</a>: “I remember the time I sang with Manuel Torre and El Niño Gloria in San Fernando.</p>
<p>When it came to Manuel’s turn to sing I was next to El Gloria and just as he was tuning up singing seguiriyas, the bull ring seamed as if was shaking, El Gloria said to me:</p>
<p> -Phew! Pericón, he is opening the perfume jar tonight.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He sang seguiriya<em>s</em> in such a way, it was scary…as he had just finished a man shouted from the audience:</p>
<p> -Manuel, sing fandangos!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Just that, made him crumble! I don’t know what got into him, when he heard that after singing those seguiriyas, he was unable to do anything right.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Sánchez Mejías was a good aficionado who knew what to do. He never asked him to sing whenever he called him to come to a party. Manuel would arrive and first thing he would get his liquor or whatever he wanted, he made him feel comfortable and then the singing would start. One singer would start and then another one until the moment when Manuel would ask Ignacio:</p>
<p>-Man! When are you going to let me sing at least once?</p>
<p>-Of course man, sing! As you wish!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Manuel would go wild then, he was dying to sing, as if he were going to swallow the entire world.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Later on he suffered the loss of his voice. He was sent to hospital in Seville which costs were covered by Ignacio Sánchez Mejias himself. His was doomed, the treatment did not work. His throat silenced for ever, not able to earn a living, he died from tuberculosis on July 21<sup>st</sup>, 1933. With him he took a school of flamenco.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Follow this link to enjoy Manuel Torre singing seguiriyas and the translation of the lyrics below:</p>
<p>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1_7JZlhQPs</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Con qué dobles fatigas</p>
<p>Yo le pido a Dios,</p>
<p>Que me aliviara las que tiene mi madre</p>
<p>En el corazón.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Era un día señalao</p>
<p>De Santiago y Santana,</p>
<p>Yo el rogué a mi Dios</p>
<p>Que le aliviara a mi madre</p>
<p>La ducas de su corazón.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Translation:</p>
<p>With doubled grief</p>
<p>I beg God</p>
<p>To lessen the one my mother</p>
<p>Has got inside her heart.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It was the holyday</p>
<p>Of Santiago and Saint Anne</p>
<p>When I prayed to God</p>
<p>To lessen the grief</p>
<p>From my mother’s heart.</p>
<p> </p>
<hr size="1">
<p><a href="http://www.alfonsocid.com/dashboard/pages/blog/post#_ftnref1" data-imported="1">[1]</a> Ortiz Nuevo, José Luis: Pepe el de la Matrona. Recuerdos de un cantaor Sevillano. Ediciones Demófilo. Madrid, 1975.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.alfonsocid.com/dashboard/pages/blog/post#_ftnref2" data-imported="1">[2]</a> Person who sticks the banderillas into the bull's neck.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.alfonsocid.com/dashboard/pages/blog/post#_ftnref3" data-imported="1">[3]</a> Guitar, in flamenco-gypsy slang.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.alfonsocid.com/dashboard/pages/blog/post#_ftnref4" data-imported="1">[4]</a> Ortiz Nuevo, José Luis: Las Mil y Una Historias de Pericón de Cádiz. Ediciones Demófilo. Madrid, 1975.</p>
Alfonso Cidtag:alfonsocid.com,2005:Post/60997932007-09-03T20:00:00-04:002022-04-10T21:16:33-04:00Peñas Flamencas-Interview with Juan Iglesias.
<p><strong>Peñas Flamencas.</strong></p>
<p>(First published in Phillyflamenco.com on September of 2007)</p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p>After eleven years living away from Spain I can’t help thinking about peñas flamencas with nostalgia. When I first started going to a peña flamenca, I was twenty years younger than I am now and falling in love with that pristine and innocent love that is the first one. If you add to this picture the dazzling streets and parks of Sevilla where my friends and I used to hang out, then you have right there the whole set up to get an idea of what those memories mean to me. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>I became a flamenco aficionado in one of those social clubs. There in Peña Flamenca Torres-Macarena in Calle Torrijiano in the barrio de la Macarena, I started to get acquainted with the differences between the “palos” or flamenco styles and rhythms. Many evenings, a bunch of aficionados would get together in one of the traditionally tiled back rooms of the peña to listen to cassettes played on a boom box. We listened to Tomás Pavón, Antonio Mairena, La Niña de los Peines sitting around a table covered with little plates of olives and “cañas” as they call the tube like glasses of pilsner beer over there.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I was lucky enough to see the performances of Antonio Nuñez “El Chocolate”, Chano Lobato, Rancapino, José Mercé, Aurora Vargas, Naranjito de Triana, José de la Tomasa, El Pele, and many more wonderful “cantaores” or flamenco singers. I saw a very young Javier Latorre dancing, as well as the “flamenquísima” Carmen Ledesma who still lives across the street from the peña. I also enjoyed the playing of such guitarists as Pedro Bacán, Dieguito de Morón, Quique Paredes, Antonio Carrión to name a few.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The common denominator of these performances was the “pureza” or the purity of the rendition the artists gave of the flamenco forms. One thing is for sure, you won’t see any nouveau flamenco or any fusion in a peña Flamenca. The objective of those institutions is to preserve flamenco in its purest form.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>At that time the president of Torres – Macarena was Juan Iglesias Hernández who is today the president of the “Federación Provincial de Sevilla de Entidades Flamencas” (Seville Federation of Flamenco Institutions). I thought there is no better person than him to talk about this subject. Below is an interview I had the pleasure to have done with him for Philly Flamenco. </p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Could you talk about the Federación. What is its purpose?</strong></p>
<p>Our main purpose is to preserve and promote Flamenco.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Tell us about the history of the peñas. When and where the first peñas were established and how and why did they come into existence?</strong></p>
<p>The first peñas flamencas came to be in the sixties, almost at the same time as the summer flamenco festivals there are in many towns and villages throughout Andalusia.</p>
<p>At that time flamenco was in need for promoters and the peñas came to fill in a niche between the artists and the public institutions and local governments that were organizing those festivals.</p>
<p>The first Peñas were established in the big urban center of Andalusia, such as “Peña La Platería” in Granada which is truly a jewel, “La Peña Juan Breva” in Málaga, “El Taranto” in Almería and “Torres – Macarena” in Sevilla.</p>
<p>These Peñas got to organize the aficionados who up to then had been dispersed, established the festivals during the summer and they are the venues where recitals take place keeping the flame of flamenco lit during the harsh winter time.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Was flamenco in danger of disappearing at that time?</strong></p>
<p>If you read about flamenco history you’ll find out that already in the early 20th Century Don Antonio Machado (also known as Demófilo, one of the first Flamenco researchers) is talking about the disappearance of flamenco. That didn’t come to pass. Flamenco has gone through different historical stages. There was a period of darkness in which this art form was practiced in the intimacy of the family environment, then came the period of the cafés cantantes or music cafés where it became a performance done by professionals. After that came the reviled opera flamenco which I think was a golden age. There never have been so many good companies, cantaores and dancers as in that period of flamenco history. Then in the sixties, thanks to the economical growth in Spain, came other forms of entertainment like the television and with it the disappearance of many of these companies which gave way to the summer festivals we have today. Although I personally think we are at the end of this period of our history where we are enjoying a new crop of young artists that are taking the place of the older generation of incredible singers who are sadly passing away.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Who founded those Peñas? Were they aficionados, artists or both? </strong></p>
<p>Although there are actually many Peñas named after artists, you should realize from what I said in one of your previous questions, the oldest Peñas are not named after any artists. If so, they are named after legendary artists.</p>
<p>Peñas are founded by aficionados, it is rare to find artists as members.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>How do you become member in a Peña?</strong></p>
<p>There are different ways, it depends on the Peña. You can be introduced by a member, filling in a form, paying a fee, sometimes a very high sum in the case the members are the owners of the Peña.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Do you need to be a member in order to attend the events that take place in a Peña?</strong></p>
<p>As you well know from your experience in Torres-Macarena, you don’t need to be a member to attend the activities that take place there. Although there are occasions when you have to buy a ticket to, for instance, attend a show. This money works as a fund raiser for the Peña.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>The last time we saw each other in Seville I remember the Federación was organizing an homage to Manuel Vega “El Carbonerillo”. Who was this flamenco artists and what took place in his homage?</strong></p>
<p>Manuel Vega “El Carbonerillo” was a flamenco singer born in Sevilla in 1906 and died in 1937. He had a hard and tragic life. He created some styles of fandango that brought him fame but very little fortune. As a cantaor he was a good example of the opera flamenca period.</p>
<p>His homage consisted in a series of lectures illustrated by cantaores who performed his repertoire in all thirty-seven Peñas that form our Federación, as well as the release of an album on three compact discs with all his recordings.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Despite the fact that the public is becoming more interested in flamenco singing here in the States, flamenco in this country is really synonymous with dance. What is the role of flamenco dance in the Peñas?</strong></p>
<p>I personally think flamenco dance is at its best nowadays, although there are artists that confuse flamenco dance with ballet or modern dance. </p>
<p>Right now we are organizing at Torres-Macarena and sponsored by the Federación the “Concurso de Baile Flamenco Carmen Ledesma”, a contest where a wonderful dancer from San Francisco (I later learned it was Cristina Hall) is participating as one of the contenders.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>How do aficionados from the Peñas view the commercialization that is taking place in flamenco thanks to record labels and artists? Is everything commercial faking the art form or are there good “experiments”?</strong></p>
<p>In some cases we, the aficionados, think they are mistaken, you just have to look at CD sales of those “experiments”. When those experiments are based on the tradition they can be artistically viable and there is commercial success, when that is not the case there is commercial failure. Enrique Morente’s recordings are experiments based on his knowledge, as well as José Mercé, therefore they make a lot of money. Others experiment and despite marketing campaigns they completely fail. I want to make sure you understand I think there are great flamenco innovators, and their works are based in the tradition.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>I’m going to get here a bit off track our conversation, although I think there is a curious point to be made that can be of interest to our readers. I remember a conversation you had with a colleague from the Federación in which you both mentioned how much you respect Enrique Morente as an artist, yet he doesn’t really get the acceptance he deserves from the Seville aficionados. I think this is clearly due to the local taste (what we call in flamenco “localismo” which means to, sometimes, blindly favor the local artists over others from outside your town), some artists or aesthetics are favored over others, in the same way people from Jerez favor other ways to understand flamenco aesthetics or artists. Being Peña members part of the larger picture of aficionados, how would you explain to the American flamenco followers the effects of “localismo”?</strong></p>
<p>I don’t agree. Seville is maybe the place where you find the least “localismo” and I don’t say that because I’m from Seville. Of all the three annual contests of young flamenco singers we have organized, only one of the winners was from Seville, exactly from a town outside Seville called Alcalá de Guadaira. </p>
<p>Anyway, I won’t say Enrique Morente has an incredible following here, there are some aficionados who really follow his work. We tend here to favor artists from Jerez and Cádiz more than anywhere else. Despite that, good aficionados remember and have the earlier recordings by Enrique which are master works.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Finally, before we say goodbye. Would you like to say something to the American flamenco aficionados of phillyflamenco.com?</strong></p>
<p>Only a few words, flamenco is an universal art form, as well as for example jazz. It is an expression of human feelings and if there is communication between the artist and the audience we experience what we call “el duende”. Flamenco, as I said, is universal, there are great performers that are not born in Andalusia who can conjure up “el duende”. It is this incredible capacity of drawing people towards it what makes flamenco greater every day.</p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong>Thanks very much Juan and good luck.</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p>For more information on this subject log on:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.sevillafederacionflamenca.es/" data-imported="1">www.sevillafederacionflamenca.es</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Alfonso Cid.</p>
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Alfonso Cid