Música Española: getting to know Spain through her music.

2. Concierto de Aranjuez Part 1
by Joaquín Rodrigo, 1939

Paco de Lucia soloist

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxpRVbhWlLI

The very recognizable part 2..

Concierto de Aranjuez


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8LL1x6J2rU&feature=related

Hi amsdon,

The Aranjuez Part 2 is an all time favorite...what a beautiful piece of music! And, a wonderful way to start my day..thank you.

Some music from Galicia, where I live;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-xaCxwww5A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awVphvubV2w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnxAlr2pIgE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dj2LfZXpDcw
and one I took myself...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoZ-ZR74ap4

Thanks guys, I agree.

I don't know if enough people realize the wealth of music created by Spanish composers and the fact that so many were inspired by particular settings in Spain.

The Alhambra has inspited numerous pieces.

Recuerdos de la Alhambra
(Memories of the Alhambra) is a was composed in 1896 by Spanish composer Francisco Tárrega when he was in Granada.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BOj9ZdpSOg

Oops too early I meant "inspired"

Continuing your little musical tour through Spain:

Cádiz has been popping up on these posts more frequently, especially on posts about good seafood. It's largest city, Jerez de la Frontera, has been especially known for sherry, horses, and flamenco.

Many here have asked where one can see flamenco besides tablaos.
Peñas are privately run organizations established for the presevation, development and the simple enjoyment of flamenco. There are many through out Andalucía, in fact throughout Spain. They are lsited on the main flamenco websites such as this one
http://www.deflamenco.com/sitios/indexi.jsp

I used this You Tube clip because of it's great flamenco but also because of it's little informative
slideshow on Cádiz.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucIdtNN9Tps&feature=related

Sevilla is known as one of the cradles of flamenco.
Even still one of it's most popular songs/dances is NOT technically flamenco, rather a folk song dervived from another form.
This dance reflects the fun gregarious nature of the people of Sevilla.

Sevillanas is a part song/dance
that is danced in couples, originally as a way to get closer to your partner but nowadays just for the fun of it. It is one of the forms enjoyed by young & old, despite their level of (or lack of) expertise. It has many versions some quite charming.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isTQwaqZDJw&NR=1

A cute modern one...can you figure out the words?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63cq0DZAEmk

Whoops should read a "4 part" song / dance. Each part known as a "copla"

So we've covered music inpired by Cordoba, Aranjuez, Galicia, (Thanks Ribeirasacra), Granada, as well as that typical of Cadiz & Sevilla

I'll end this little project now In Huelva as DH is wondering what on earth I've been up to.

One of the beautiful things about flamenco is that even though it has evolved and sometimes even fused with modern music and other cultures (yes there is also RAP), the original pure flamenco is still passed on from generation to generation, as seen in this clip of a pure fandango de Huelva sung by a talented artist of the younger generation.

If you listen carefully you'll hear the pride in being from Huelva
"Viva Huelva Viva Huelva Y su fandango...."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmX2yaHlk6g&feature=related

more on the region of Huelva


http://www.spain.info/TourSpain/Destinos/TipoII/Datos+Generales/A/JP/0/huelva?language=en

Keeping with a musical tour through Spain I am re-posting some of Maribel's great contibutions from another thread (Hope you don't mind Maribel they lend very nicely to a this compilation)

This heads us north to the Basque Country, Navarra, Galicia, Asturias, Catalunia, & Salamanca.


From her post Maribel said:

"Here's a video of the Jota aragonesa
http://tinyurl.com/9q4bn7

In the Basque Country and Navarra, there's the "aurresku"
http://tinyurl.com/899ebt

Maribel also said:
"We had the aurresku performed at our wedding in Navarra"

In Galicia and Asturias (Celtic Spain), the "muñeira"
http://tinyurl.com/a3xpuc

In Catalunya, the "sardana"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sardana

In the province of Salamanca you do have the "Charrada", which you can see performed in regional costume in the town of Ciudad Rodrigo during the Festival de la Charrada on Easter Saturday (April 11) at 5 pm in the town hall square. There will also be "dulzaineros" who will play a double reed oboe like instrument, the dulzaina (similar to a Breton bombarde) during this annual folkloric festival.

http://tinyurl.com/932m48


Thanks Maribel you are such a wealth of information. Hope you don't mind the pilphering.

Triana is a neighborhood in Sevilla (Andalucia) that has flamenco as it's soul.

Interestingly Triana has inspired
a variety of musical works, some
of which seem to have very little in common with flamenco, other than a certain passion.

" Triana" by Isaac Abeniz was was one such work. Inspired by a city that is so "Spanish" & originated in another century it has a definate modern feel.
An appropriate interpretation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4oEZfLiIEg

I've been busy...continuing our trip through musical Spain here's a clip from a documentary that shows flamenco through the eyes of a non gypsy..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HaXPtiqbtY&NR=1

Do a search in Youtube for Zarzuela, the so-called 'Spanish operetta':
Agua, azucarillos y aguardiente
Doña Francisquita
La Gran Vía
Luisa Fernanda
La del manojo de rosas
El dúo de La africana
El niño judío
La revoltosa
La verbena de la Paloma
…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zarzuela

Revulgo's suggestion http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNuOdKxhfrE&feature=related

and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hOiZy0xOsU&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwjM9PYqXqc

Spanish dance & music is really less about flamenco & more about the regional fokloric music of each area.

The typical costume of Valencia, with its gorgeous detailed designs are very distinctive & it is important to note the accesories as well as the hair.

http://www.portalvalencia.net/fallas/traje-fallera.html



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLx6OZNmqxk&feature=related

More Valencia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awjgPHElkRs&feature=related

Semana Santa (Holy week) in Spain is filled with processions music. The "saeta", the song sung acapella in flamenco style to the Virgin

I like this home made video I found on you tube because you can see the tranasition from the procession's music & mood & then just feel without really seeing the other people how the saeta slowly overtakes the crowd with her emotional "saeta".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFq6TeZpb4k

Wow they removed it (just now!),
here's another one of the same ......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10mvyusMFds&feature=related

I have just started making my way through these videos, and I'm watching the ones from Galicia now. Spanish bagpipes, who knew?

Info about bagpipes in Spain:
http://clip.dia.fi.upm.es/~boris/gaita/node2.html

Basque country:
Mikel Laboa (1934-2008) was the best exponent of the revitalisation of Basque language music from the 1960's on. During the dictatorship he would often express himself through characteristic gutteral sounds (Basque language was forbidden) to bypass censorship. Here are two of his best known and most loved songs, Txoria-txori (A bird is a bird), and Gure hitzak (Our words):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vuVQ8CZhN0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-5rctbmV1Q

Here is Laboa accompanied by the world famous Orfeón Donostiarra (San Sebastián Choir) in a telling clip from the excellent Julio Medem documentary about the Basque conflict (La Pelota Vasca/The Basque Ball, 2003):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOkv1rRfdhA

A bit more festive, Orfeón Donostiarra leading the crowds on the main square in San Sebastián's old town singing on the occation of the 75th anniversary of one of the city's most famous gastronomic societies during the annual drum festival (Tamborrada) in 2008:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhncDjXMeQ4

Just thought I should add Joan Baez' version of Laboa's "Txoria Txori", performed in Bilbao in 1988.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dIualbfxK8

Thank you both Revulgo & Kimhe for sharing this.
Revulgo was there a specific site you got this from? I would like to see that too. Great info !

Kim wow you have inspired me to read more about Laboa and the Basque experience in general. They are beautiful songs and particulalrly liked the audience singing with Baez.

Please come back & share more.

As many of you would know, Leonard Cohen is greatly inspired by the Andalusian poet Federico García Lorca. One of his most known songs "Take This Waltz" is based upon Lorca's poem "Pequeño Vals Vienés":

Lorca's original poem:
http://www.mat.upm.es/~jcm/lorca-vals.html

Cohen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdkIW7V8Y0w

Cohen's song coming back to Lorca's home town of Granada, reinterpreted by the city's greatest flamenco singer Enrique Morente:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev1JteDTE6Y

Some great pieces from the flamenco history (song and guitar from the Sevilla/Jerez stretch):

Diego del Gastor (1908-1973), one of the most original guitarists of the "old school":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds3pBoLw8lo

Diego del Gastor (shortly before he died) accompanying the great cantaora Fernanda de Utrera (1923-2006):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPhVPz5KGRA

Tia Anica "La Piriñaca" (Jerez, 1899-1987). She is widely held as one of the best cantaoras of all times, but she wasn't allowed to perform in public by her husband and only got known by a broader public after his death:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-Zv3BZNcYo

20 mins documentary about Tia Anica in Spanish:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK0v67OxoJg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLi1J50asXE&feature=related

amsdon - what a great thread.

some was already familair to me, other works not.

I'm looking forward to [having the time to] listen to them.

regards, ann

Ann I am so glad you are enjoying it. And Kim I am really really glad you are here to add these. Thank you.

I have seen the Fernanda/Diego del Gastor series on You tube and would love to own a copy. She was one of my favs.
Do you have it? I have always loved Fernanda & Bernarda but especially Fernanda. To me she is absolutely the epitome of "duende."

It is also important that our friends here on Fodors know that these clips represent true flamenco. Regardless of the times or year of the clip this is what flamenco really is. By the way so neat to see Terremoto in the background.

Thanks again keep 'em coming.

By the way since the original idea was to celebrate the music though the regions we should point out that Andalcucia has all sorts of specialites, each independently but in particular as Kimhe points out, the Jerez area which is so often skirted over as far as travel is one of the cradles (if not THE cradle/cuna) of the artform.

Him have you been to Cadiz? I have not yet and would love your input.

In contrast to the intensity of the previous examples of pure flamenco (jondo or deep flamenco) the artists of Cadiz also developed a light hearted style. As a result of it's geographic advantage as a port it was exposed to many cultures.

This clip is especially touching in view of the recent passing in 09 of the well known singer Chano Lobato. Along with the very natural interpretation by the bailaora (dancer), Chano Lobato from Cadiz truly manages to capture the feel of Cuba in his cante (song)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oZ8SfsNRhI&feature=related

Amsdon,
Not been to Cádiz yet, but together with Huelva it's on the schedule for a not too distant future. Amaong other things, looking forward to see the nearly 3000 yrs old bronce crótalos (finger cymbals/castanets) used by the "Bailarinas de Gades" (Puellae gaditanae) in Phoenician times and on display in Huelva's archeological museum.

Fernanda/Diego del Gastor was recorded as part of the tv programme "Rito y Geografía del cante" which ran from 1971 to 1973. http://www.esflamenco.com/scripts/news/ennews.asp?frmIdPagina=342
Fernanda/Diego is on this DVD + book:
https://www.deflamenco.com/tiendaflamenco/ver.jsp?cod=2256

The freshness of the Cádiz style is on display in the performance "Del Primer Paso" of the gaditanos Rosario Toledo (dance) and David Palomar (song) that premiered in the Jerez festival a little over a month ago:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOzhClFqwH0

Thanks Kim, I wish my relatives would think to go to the deflamenco site at holiday time or birthdays .....I know it's the thought that counts but wow would I love to have these.

As for yout trip are you doing a flamenco focused itinerary?

amsdon,

Not only flamenco focused, too much Phoenician, Roman, Moorish and recent history for that...

We use to be based in Málaga. It has repeatedly been said that Málaga's flamenco identity became fragmented with the tourist boom of the 60's, and that therefore for example the malagueña Rocío Molina has had to invent herself, and as the critic Estela Zatania has said; "what an invention..."

Nevertheless, Málaga has a proud flamenco history. Here is the exeptional cantaor Juan Breva (1844-1918): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtOOQVkWHCk

La Repompa de Málaga, another great singer and one of the young dead (1937-1959):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlCe6P-cb7Y

Rocío Bazán (Estepona, Málaga 1977) is an excellent cantaora on the present flamenco scene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl4umjRR0ao

"Not only flamenco focused, too much Phoenician, Roman, Moorish and recent history for that... "

Wow!
Do you mean to say dance/music history or history in general? I am so intrigued and invite you to e mail me sometime anamariasuarez@sbcglobal.net, love to chat offline & learn more, if that's not too intrusive.

As for Rocío Bazán I did not know of her but you have made my day. What a joy to hear these old letras (dinero etc) interpreted by today's young stars. I be will certain to look for her online.

I agree with Kimhe Fodorites should be aware of Malaga's role in the flamenco community & history.

Tangos de Malaga for starters has been a standard for years.

Josele will be ticked about all this discussion I am sure!

Hi guys:

"Bulerias"
This is a light hearted dance (and song) meant as a way to relax & have fun.

So many here want to see "authentic" shows. Well here is an example of such fun in real life, this is my kind of flamenco "star".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gz4lLWqkS-I&feature=channel

and also if I could dance like these students of Jose Galvan I would be very happy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiUcfH6ITH0&feature=channel

Music in Spain is constantly evolving. It impacts and is impacted by other cultures....I just discovered this beautiful artist:

Her story follows belows
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpaOTWZUIgA

http://buika.net/
(Spanish only right now)

Spanish singer Concha Buika, better known simply as Buika, is an intense artist who carries her history with her, literally: her arm is prominently tattooed with the names of women in her family, while her music embraces the African, American and Andalusian influences that shaped her as an artist.


Buika has vividly recalled being the lone black child in her school and community on the Spanish island of Mallorca, where she was born in 1972 and felt she was constantly reminded of her innate otherness. The daughter of a political refugee from Equatorial Guinea, she grew up hearing flamenco and gypsy music in the streets and listening to her mother’s extensive jazz collection at home — not fully realizing until later that, positioned as she was on the edge of divergent cultures, her upbringing gifted her with an expansive worldview.

It also laid the foundation for a sophisticated resume that includes some colorful dues-paying. She started out singing for partying Europeans on Ibiza and Mallorca; later, in 2000 and 2001, she worked at a handful of Vegas casinos as a Tina Turner impersonator.


After Buika returned to Spain, word spread rapidly about her riveting live performances and personalized blend of flamenco, soul, jazz and house music. International acclaim greeted the release of her self-titled 2005 debut and especially 2006’s “Mi Niña Lola,” while last year’s stunning “Niña de Fuego” was nominated for a Latin Grammy award.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Manolo Caracol was able to reach tremedous commercial success in his early career including the movies with Lola Flores.

There are even lyrics to sevillanas that say " Y la llave de ese cante Caracol se la llevó"

Even in his later years (and perhaps more so because of them) he personifies the elusive "duende."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVxqHQ0tJb4&feature=related

Thank you amsdon for letting us listen to the clear and beautiful flamenco voice of Caracol, he was unique! I nevertheless think that male flamenco singers of the recent decades meet his and the other proud legacies well, while we still have to wait for anyone who could compare to great female singers such as La Piriñaca or Fernanda.

She is admittedly quite different, but nobody has won all the four cante prizes in La Union since Miguel Poveda in 1993, and even though Rocío Márquez (1985) occasionally sings out of tune (desafinado) I repeatadly get goosebumps at the end of this session:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwAnMBUXGLQ&feature=fvst

Here she is in a more "everyday" setting, and her style is, perhaps, not completely off what you might call a female Caracol: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QNm99l8HkY

Kim these are real gems. She is unreal.
She sounds somewhat like Arcangel in that verdiales..What do you think of him?

I have to agree with you about the women. Although remember now that Fernanda was still alive when I went into my flamenco hibernation in approx the early 1990s. I was I was still listening to old old LPs & my newer stuff cassettes (hahaa) were of Fernanda & Bernarda. I never used the computer until 2004 or 5, so almost everything that has happened subsequently is a brand new discovery.
The discovery of flamenco on You Tube was like having a birthday or Christmas.

Funny, I cannot carry a tune if my life depended on it, but like you pick up on the desafinados. I have noticed tarantos especially it is so common to hear them momentarily fuera de tono and almost seems intentional at times..have you noticed that?


I will certainly share this Rocio too with my Southern California friends. I thank you again you made my night.

And yes the closest to a female Caracol I've heard I agree with you.

I have found it most interesting to study the music from the roots level, the traditional songs in Fiestas in small villages. First we visited the big festivals like San Mateo wine festival (Logroño, La Rioja), Valencia fiesta of the Fallas (fantastic!), the Holy Week (Semana Santa) and April Fair festival in Seville, Saint Fermin in Pamplona etc. Nowadays we prefer the fiestas in small villages.
The ongoing San Tirso Festival in Potes and Ojedo (Cantabria) and the Festival of Moors and Christians in small villages in Andalusia or Valencia are charming in many ways, but the spontaneus singing of traditional songs in these fiestas is something very special. I take music rather seriously, but each time I am charmed with these songs and the local people singing.
I might add the Orujo festival in Potes to this same category of charming and intimate fiestas. You really feel like part of it all unlike in some bigger fiestas.
You will find a few articles about some of the fiestas from here:
http://www.travelinginspain.com/spain_festivals/orujo.html
On the sidebar there are links to other fiestas.

amsdon,

I've some catching up to do regarding Arcangel, thanks for reminding me!

Yes Cathym also mentioned she prefers the smaller festivals.
and if you search under her name there are several comments.
I have looked online quite a bit and have found some listing b date but still I would love one huge ist by date & region.

This is the closest most comprehensive I found so far:
http://gospain.about.com/od/spanishfestivals/Festivals_in_Spain_Spanish_Celebrations_of_Culture_Film_Music.htm


But in my case the Granada Music festival and the bienal are still calling...

has no one mentioned mala rodriguez yet?

No sorry cn you tell us about her?

hip hop/flamenco fusion. it's a great sound - more contemporary but v spanish...try it


biography from w/pedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Mala_Rodr%C3%ADguez

youtube clip (there are loads)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqXg68pYxsM

Interesting.

Hard for me to enjoy this. But this thread is not about what I personally enjoy rather about spanish music & getting to know Spain through her music. (I actually like certain american rap styles, but have a strong negative reaction to anything that deals with drugs. Yes I know she is not condoning it rather telling it like it is. But I just don't want to see it on a video.)

As far as getting to know Spain through her music, though not originated in Spain this style is certianly now part of the fabric of the country. You are right it has fused or absorbed many musical styles.

Thanks for sharing this portuense.

pleasure - not a drug fan either but i really like the edgy stuff; there are a few compilation cds around which are full of excellent crossover stuff. one is Flameco Fusion, another is called something like Flamenco Chill In Chill Out - that's a two CD set and has hardly a bad track. You'll laugh at the one about Zapping, the Spanish phenomenon which is cruising the TV channels with your remote (zapper)...though of course it's a universal pastime

Yes I understand. Funny zapping...I have heard the slang here & there too.. "fashon" to mean stylish.."flipiando"...I guess to mean flipping out etc.

And now with text messaging the words in any language well don't get me started..

with you on that - i frequently start a text message and make a call instead half way through...can't bear it.

As we are approaching the harsh contemporary scene, I was reminded of my bar favourite during those San Sebastián study days in the mid 90's: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t78MjM9kuv4

And, Manu Chao's (Basque and Galician parents) wonderful "Clandestino" in the tapping of José Mercé (yes, he's appologized): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NV2GnCkT5aI

This (Maldito Duende) should keep the flamencos among us on our toes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlT9PJahTW4&feature=related

This is very interesting. I'm saving the links to watch and listen later. This music is very new to me, but I totally appreciate the idea of knowing a place through its music. I will be visiting Barcelona next month (first time in Spain.) We are seeking out some good music venues.We've been referred to Palau de Musica, but all that is playing that week is Jazz it looks like. While we love jazz, we are looking for something more indicative of local culture and history. Can you point us anywhere? Thank you.

i'd forgotten about heroes del silencio...sll that hair! reminds me of my old schoolmate mike peters of the alarm who, of course, reminded everyone of bono

hanabilly,

Although flamenco is first and formost Andalucía and Madrid, many of the best artists frequently visit Barcelona. Besides, both traditionally and now, some of the best flamencos come from Barcelona/Catalunya. On the 4th and 6th of October, two of the best cantaores (male flamenco singers) perform in Barcelona. A great happpening on the 4th when the huge José Mercé presents his new album in Gran Teatre del Liceu.
http://www.liceubarcelona.com/cms/index_ct.htm

Two days later the wonderful "El Lebrijano" sings at Teatro Coliseum to the dance genious Pastora Galván. And, as Gabriel García Márquez says: "When Lebrijano sings water gets wet".

In the same theater, from late September to the beginning of November, Sara Baras - the world's most famous flamenco dancer - is dancing "Carmen".
http://www.grupbalana.com/teatro.asp?ID=169

You should also experience the Sardana (catalan folk dance) in front of the Cathedral on Sundays at noon. Jacob Lubliner writes:
"... at noon on Sundays, they collect in front of the Cathedral to watch Catalans young and old (mostly old) engage in the mysterious ritual of dancing the sardana.

Mysterious? James Michener, whose Iberia (1968) was for many years the leading American reference on Spain, seemed to think so.

"One Sunday morning,” he wrote, “as I was walking through the Gothic Quarter... I heard the lovely sound of rustic pipes and muffled drums. I could have been in a woodland except that the cathedral rose above me, and as I entered its plaza I saw that several hundred people... had gathered about two orchestras...” After a somewhat inaccurate description of the “orchestras” (with a reference to “five country oboes”), Michener goes on: “As I was watching the fiscorn players, for I had not before seen this instrument, a strange thing happened all around me. A moment ago the Catalans in the plaza had been listening to the sardana; now, without anyone’s having given a signal, large circles had formed, containing men and women of all ages down to eight years old, so that the entire plaza was covered with people silently performing the folk dance that accompanies the sardana. I was astonished at how quietly this had happened, for there were at least eleven of these large circles, some with thirty members, and the dance was vigorous and beautiful, yet how it had started I couldn’t say.” And further: “I found that if I took my eye away from the plaza for even one moment, I missed the beginning of this strange dance... I was determined to see who gave the signal for this dance, so on several occasions I kept my eyes glued to a fixed spot where experience had told me a circle would be formed. One moment, not a sign of dancing. Then a girl, unaccompanied by any boy, sedately placed her purse on the flagstones. Nothing happened. Then a boy carefully took off his jacket, folded it and placed it atop the purse. Within seconds a dozen purses, jackets, walking sticks and coats were piled neatly in that spot, and around them the Catalans, strangers one to the other, began their slow sardana. More than anything else this strange beginning resembled the process by which ice forms across the surface of water; now it is fluid; now it is crystallized; the dance has begun."
http://www.ce.berkeley.edu/~coby/essays/sardana.htm

Thank you so much for the reply. I will miss the singers you mentioned, but this gives me a good starting point. Sadly, I will be there only 4 days (Nov. 7-11) so I am going to see if we will be able to catch Ms. Baras. What a treat that will be!
Thank you again.http://www.fodors.com/community/images/PostMessage.png

Hanabilly you should really enjoy that!

Since we have gone to a modern dirrection,
this group known as "Navajita Platea" is founded by flamencos who have chosen to go off the traditional path. Flamenco, jazz and rock all influence the sound.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwryjjXSwDI&feature=related

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99IzXAQlwz4

fortunately we are going to Barcelona next week [10-13 sept].

unfortunately we will not be there when any of the above are playing. anyone got any good tips for watching flamenco in barcelona apaart from the above? any good shows or clubs?

annhig,

Sorry Amsdon, this is not a perfect entry into the topic of this thread, but then again, to some extent it is.

I would recommend that you go to the Tablao de Carmen in Montjuïc. Carmen Amaya (1913-1963) was arguably the best flamenco dancer that ever was, and this place was established in 1988 on the 25th anniversary of her death as a (rentable though) homage to her in the place where she made her debut in 1929 in front of king Alfonso XIII. Haven't been there myself, but I've experienced a lot of flamenco and this place proves right from the clips I've seen. From the center of town you have to take a not to far taxi trip. Make an evening of it and explore the Poble Espanyol, the World's Fair exhibition artificial city of 1929 (where Carmen made her debut) which sat out to capture the reginal differences of Spain.
http://www.tablaodecarmen.com/index.php?lang=en
http://www.poble-espanyol.com/pemsa/en.html

And now, strictly getting back to know Spain through her music!

Oh no problem Kim & Ann. I was not ignoring this I just went back to work and now cannot check as often.

I have never been to Barcelona (yet) So many people comment that there is no good flamenco in Barcelona...forgetting that Carmen Amaya herself was a gypsy from Barcelona area. I rcently re-watched the documentary "Queen of the Gypsies" about her life & as always really enjoyed it. Talk about energy!!

Ann if you can get that video somewhere it may enhance your visit to that tablao which is named for her.

Thanks for helping as always Kim.

Despite the several answers showing music from other parts of Spain, I guess flamenco has won the battle among foreigners. Funny, as it is mainly played just on Southern and southeastern Spain...(and on places for tourists on the rest of Spain) but this art was the chosen one for export as it is very visual, very alive, and according to the image of very "Spanish". While I´ve never been to a flamenco show and wouldn´t know where to find one, here in Northern Spain.

Oh no Mike it is not a contest...it is just that is my expertise is in flamenco. However having ancestors from Asturias & Zamora I am very interested in thart as well as ALL other parts of Spain..
Hopefully Fodorites have enjoyed all the contibutions.

Feel free to contribute a favorite!

hi kimhe,

thanks so much for the recommendation for el tablao de carmen. we are staying at the nearby fira palace , so the idea is a great one. if we go, [probably tomorrow night!] we will report back!

regards, ann

Yay!!! have fun OLe.

Ann did you ever see who Carmen Amaya was???? Here is some info:

In her youth ( aclip from a documentry)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQlk5AYsZtk&feature=related

and in the movie Los Tarantos very shortly before her untimely death at age 50
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDdJiIw9yNk&feature=related

In the Basque country we have a very old tradition, in the form of a contest, by people called "bertsolariak" (verse makers). Here you can see 2008 final,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uERuratOUMo&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fmaitemangas%2Eblogspot%2Ecom%2F2009%2F05%2Fversolaris%2Do%2Dbertsolaris%2Ehtml&feature=player_embedded#t=12.

Verses are improvised, based on some theme given by the jury to the participants. They compete on wit, funnier verses, irony, etc, and they can´t rhyme twice with the same word, or ending, I think.

Very popular among Basque speakers and in villages, this "sport" is based on oral traditions, but the verses are on any popular subject.

Also in the Basque Country, there´s a very popular music and dance called "aurresku" (plenty of videos on youtube), an old and traditional ceremonial dance in honour of a important person. Performed also in all Basque weddings as a sign of respect and to honour the grooms.

Another "song", the "irrintzi", a "yell" formerly used for war purposes and now sung at the end or during many Basque music festivals. Breathtaking.

I was wondering what arresku meant...when I saw some on you tube...can you post one I wasn't sure which one to post?...

What a nice tradition and way of honoring the bride & groom. Thanks Mikelg!

By the way can you improvise verses too?(I mean you personally? Must be hard)

Aurresku means "forward", more or less. There´s a variation when it´s the full dance, called "atzesku" (backward). Four parts on each.

Couldn´t say which one on youtube is the best. Most are taped by non professionals, so they are quite real.

Also, widely performed are the "ezpatadantza", (swords dance), the mutildantza,...hundreds...and a very special one, the "kaixarranka", in Lekeitio, in honour of St Peter, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muDYWF3HuSg&feature=related.

A tradition that is getting lost is people singing in bars while having some glasses of wine...male voices in groups of eight, generally.

No, I can´t improvise verses, one must be very fluent in Basque and I´m not.

In any case, it´s perfectly understandable that out of Spain flamenco is the big thing...but just not played everywhere.

For me, the most impressive thing about experiensing bertsolariak(s) in Plaza de la Constitución in San Sebastián/Donostia was to see how young people with skateboards listened and stayed throughout a very long presentation. Muy fuerte and one of many expressions of the vitality of Basque culture!

And about flamenco "not [being] played everywhere" I, of course, perfectly agree. But, on the 20th of November, Juan Peña "El Lebrijano" sings in the Victoria Eugenia theater in San Sebastián. And as the author Gabriel García Márques says: "Cuando El Lebrijano canta se moja el agua/ When El Lebrijano sings water gets wet".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bfn-KoE77uc&feature=related

Well spelt, the "k" marks the plural in Basque. Yes, of course we have flamenco exhibitions in the Basque country, or northern Spain, but it´s a rarity. I meant it´s not normally our type of music.

Dear amsdon,
If you had put your email address on your profile, I'd email you directly, rather than publicly. You are obviously well-educated, since your posts are almost faultless. There is just one thing you seem to get wrong every time - "its". This is a possesive adjective like my, your, his, etc. It does not have an apostrophe. "It's" is an abbreviation for "it is" or "it has". If it's a typographical error, rather than a punctuation blind-spot, just preview before poting.

Bert, I am sorry that I make these mistakes, I am usually rushing and or sometimes simply lazy. I am aware of most of the errors and also of the rules of grammar, but again often I just rush through these posts. It would be different if I were retired and had more time.

I am also trying not to take this personally, but my guess is other Fodorites may be just as surprised as I am by your comment here about my grammatical mistakes. I know you must mean well, but I do not give my e mail for your proposed purpose.

My deceased parents were both teachers. They too would be dismayed at these mistakes by the way. But they are likley now more upset with you than me. Watch out for mom she was a pistol...

Sorry, amsdon. My comments were certainly not intended to be taken personally. It is only because your posts are so well-written, that I thought it worthwhile to mention this one lapse. I'm sure we all do make mistakes, and some I make I do not notice even when I use the preview button. [For example 'poting', the last word in my previous post. Talk about hoist with my own petard!] I know these forums are informal, and not English exams, but hardly anybody posts in "text-speak" - to give an example of one extreme of writing style. Hardly any Americans and few English people seem to get the its/it's thing right, so I thought it might just be something you were not aware of. I certainly did only mean well.
Just think, you could actually type more quickly if you did not put the unnecessary apostrophe in "its"!

Bert4545, there is a good number of non-native English speakers on these forums, as myself, so it may not be a good idea to "correct" other people´s mistakes...

Bert I am home again now and have gotten over it.
Thank you though for your words. I realize now that I have been touchy lately. Somehow I just knew you were not being mean spirited. But I am ok now. Here is my e mail, but go easy on me. Anamariasuarez@sbcglobal.net.

Mike thank you you raise a good point too. We al do need to feel safe here. Funny I realize now that some people may not know the expression about being a "pistol." Hopefully they do not think she carried a pistol.... lol. Well these idiomatic expressions are a whole new thread.

So on with with the show...Rocio Jurado we miss you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=By_6bqg-Sz4

bert - i think you need to remove your head from somewhere dark and forget about small grammatical errors. i make plenty when i post - frankly, i don't normally have time to edit everything i write. i don't believe that forum users have a problem with this. it's information and experience they're after. still, this post is probably superfluous - i imagine amsdon's gracious response has left you as embarrassed as you should be

No, portuense, not really. Both of Amsdon's responses were certainly gracious. There are many forums where posts are filled with errors. I would not dream of commenting on them - the writers are obviously not concerned with correct English. I also would not comment on what are obviously typographical errors. But amsdon's posts were (as I said before) almost faultless. She IS obviously making the effort to write in good English. She may not have been aware of the 'rule' about its/it's, so I thought it would be helpful to mention it. These forums are open to any opinions, and, so long as what is written is not rude or abusive (which I don't think my comments were), I think it is OK to mention mistakes. Look, as I said, these forums are not English exams, but amsdon made the same mistake three times in one post. I looked to see if her email address was open, as I would have preferred to mention it privately, but it was not given in her profile. And, for mikelg, I would not comment on something written by someone whose first language is not English - I think you can tell by the way sentences are constructed.

Why you may deduct an English speaker native I´m not it´s something I undertand not.

Thanks guys for hanging in there (and for caring portuense & Mike) Bert & I are cool now don't worry.


I for one am ready for the weeken. There's nothing like a Jota to kick up your heels on a Friday!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ra-cBSQmd1U

hi amsdon,

well, thanks for the link but we never got to see the tablao di carmen as we found it too late. the poble espanole where it's situated [lol, that one's for bert] is vast and we wandered around for ages until we gave up and had some supper at a very nice Gallician restaurant. they do have maps, but the maps, though they have a key with numbers on them, don't actually have a list of restaurants etc. to marry up with the key!

then we wandered around a bit more and came across it just as we were on our way out. by then we were "cream crackered" so we didn't bother, and at €35 for the show and a drink each [even more if you have a tapas or a meal] it was a bit outside our comfort zone, especially as it had cost us €5 each to get into the poble in the first place. [that's the price after 8pm, it's about €12 each before then].

the poble itself is very interesting, if seemingly a bit disneyfied at first. I read that the designers toured spain in an ancient vehicle [this was in 1929] to find the most typical and representative buildings from all over the country to reproduce. it did seem a bit rich to be charged to enter what is really a glorified food court/shopping mall but I suppose it keeps out the riff-raff.

there were huge numbers of coaches parked outside but i suspect that they were waiting for people who were watching the magic fountain which turned out to be just along the road.

coming back to the subject of music and flamenco, we did in fact get to see some the next night at the palau di musica catalunya, for which we had booked on line before we went. the programme turned out to be a rather funny mix of flamenco and opera, but fun to watch. and the building is superb with great accoustics. I suspect that the guitar programme the next night would have been better, but who knows?

regards, ann

Wow thanks Ann for the info. Do you know what the nam of the programe you saw at the Palau Di Musica?

Yes I know what you mean, but it sounds like you had a fun trip?

hi amsdom,

it was called, with a lack of originality I thought "opera y flamenco". if you have a look at the palau di musica website [www.palaumusica.org] you'll find the details for the concert tomorrow night - 20th.

actually the best bit was the orchestra - some very talented young people playing a variety of strings, a piano, guitar, and pecussion of some sort.

yep the trip was fun - I'm doing a TR at the moment if you're interested.

regards, ann

Now, when Mikel Laboa has left us and the Basque Country: His friend, Benito Lertxundi, is both a bertsolari out of this world as well as a singer/songwriter of "cohenesque basqueness" that would deserve a broader audience:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M42pJv5mH0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZwcwkgCTzs&feature=related

This one (Al Alba/By dawn) has turned out to be something of a hymn to democracy in Spain. It was created as a reaction to the last death penalties of the franquist regime in the fall of 1975 and laid out as a love song to bypass censorship. The flamenco singer José Mercé made his version, and - without knowing what all the fuzz was about - I was quite moved by how the predominatly Spanish and blue-haired audience sang by in the small town of Nerja in October 2004. First, the original and then José Mercé:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vdm2OHdgHA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRadQwNsq_Q

If many singers of around the world had sung in English rather than in their native tongues, they would have been much more famous.

But international music nowadays is just sung in English, and widely known, had it quality or not.

Mike yes I agree.

So glad more people are participating. Want to keep this going.

Ann thank you I will look for your report.
I still remember the original help you gave me in 07.

Kim that must have been emotional to experience.
I also saw this one I am sure you saw it too on You Tube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOZ15IpAES4&feature=fvw

Two tremendous talents one just recently passed away
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9Vv9m79IPw&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pf4YFxrSKi8&feature=related