Thursday, December 17, 2015

Flamenco Quote of the Day


The dancer's trembling heart must bring everything into harmony, from the tips of her shoes to the flutter of her eyelashes, from the rustles of her dress to the incessant play of her fingers. Shipwrecked in a field of air, she must measure lines, silences, zigzags and rapid curves, with a sixth sense of aroma and geometry, without ever mistaking her terrain. In this she resembles the torero, whose heart must keep to the neck of the bull. Both of them face the same danger--he, death; and she, darkness.

Federico Garcia Lorca/Poet, from In Praise of Antonia Merce

www.MatadoraFlamenca.com

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Flamenco Quote of the Day

Malena had a little stand where
she sold sunflower seeds
to the little ones.
Malena of mine, Malena of mine,
come dance a little buleria!

La Malena tenia un puestesillo
que vendia sus pipas, pa' los
chiquillos.
Malena mia, Malena mia,
date una vueltesita por buleria.

Bulerias/Traditional

www.MatadoraFlamenca.com

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Flamenco Quote of the Day

To help us seek duende there is neither map nor discipline.
All one knows is that it burns the blood like powdered glass,
that it exhausts, that it rejects all the sweet geometry one has
learned, that it breaks with all styles.

Federico Garcia Lorca, Flamenco Poet
From Theory and Function of the Duende

www.MatadoraFlamenca.com

Monday, December 14, 2015

Flamenco Quote of the Day

After the husband of the woman he loved slit
Curro Pablas' stomach and took her back, 
Pablas lived long enough to sing this song:

I am going to the graveyard
oh, God! Little companion of my soul,
don't let me die so alone;
I want to die by your side.

Al cementario me voy,
por dios! Companerita de mi alma,
no me dejes morir tan solito;
quiero morir a tu vera.

Seguiriyas

www.MatadoraFlamenca.com

Sunday, December 13, 2015

Flamenco Quote of the Day

"Because in this story of flamenco everything is 'me, me, me,' and if there's any room left, it's 'me', too, you know what I mean?"

"Porque en esta historia, sobre todo en el flamenco, todo es "yo, y yo y yo", y si sobra un trocito en el cartel pues también yo... Ya sabes lo que te digo." 

Javier Latorre/Bailaor

www.MatadoraFlamenca.com

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Flamenco Quote of the Day


I must punish 
the eyes of my face 
for looking with affection 
on someone who doesn’t care. 

A los ojos de mi cara 
los tengo que castigar, 
porque miran con cariño 
a quien mal pago les da. 

Solea

www.MatadoraFlamenca.com

Friday, December 11, 2015

Flamenco Quote of the Day

George Borrow, writing in the nineteenth century on the history of gypsies in Spain draws this conclusion:

The gypsy women and girls were the principal attractions to these visitors. There can be no doubt...that they are capable of exciting passion of the most ardent description, particularly in the bosoms of those who are not of their race. No females in the world can be more licentious in word and gesture, in dance and song, than the gitanas.


www.MatadoraFlamenca.com

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Flamenco Quote of the Day


She loosed her robe, 
that I might see
her body, lissome as a tree.
The rosebud opened in that hour
and oh, the beauty of my flower.

Al Mutamid/Poet-King of Sevilla

www.MatadoraFlamenca.com

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Flamenco Quote of the Day


What kind of bird is that singing
in the olive tree?
Go and tell it to hush...
its singing hurts me so much.

Que pajaro sera aquel que
canta en la verde oliva?
Corre y dile que se calle...
que su cante me lastima.

Tientos/Traditional

www.MatadoraFlamenca.com

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Flamenco Quote of the Day

"An art that turns its guts inside out and refuses to hide behind the mask of beauty...that is the real flamenco. Clearly this is not some superficial form of entertainment. Flamenco does not please, it is inherently not pleasing."

Claus Schreiner/Author

www.MatadoraFlamenca.com

Monday, December 7, 2015

Flamenco Quote of the Day

Virgin of Macarena,
the moon's reflection
shines on your dark little face.
There is no face like your face,
nor sorrow like your sorrow.

Virgen de la Macarena
reflejo de luna clara
da en tu carita morena.
No hay cara como tu cara,
ni pena como tu pena.

Saeta/Traditionally sung to the Virgin Mary and Crucified Christ during Holy Week in Sevilla

www.Matadoraflamenca.com

Sunday, December 6, 2015

Flamenco Quote of the Day

Just as the forge becomes
a flame of gold,
So do my insides
when I remember you,
and I weep.

Asi, como esta la fragua
echa candela de oro,
se me ponen las entrañas
cuando te recuerdo, y lloro.

Martinete

www.MatadoraFlamenca.com

Saturday, December 5, 2015

Flamenco Quote of the Day

Ardent struggle, endless vigil, like all art...the dancer battles the air around her, air that threatens at any moment to destroy her harmony or to open huge empty spaces where her rhythm will be annihilated.

Federico Garcia Lorca/Poet

www.MatadoraFlamenca.com

Friday, December 4, 2015

Flamenco Quote of the Day


Manuela Carrasco and I started out together, in the Cochera, a tablao in Seville. In the cuadro there was Lole Montoya, Farruquito, Manuela, and myself. Farruco always used to come and watch the cuadro and he would define us, saying that she was more a heelwork dancer, and I was more arms. Although we both dance with temperament, her way of dancing is completely different from mine.

Concha Vargas/Bailaora

www.MatadoraFlamenca.com

Thursday, December 3, 2015

Flamenco Quote of the Day

Though I tear the
hands off of my watch,
time will not stop.

Agujas de mi reloj
que yo las iba arrancando,
y el tiempo no se paro.

Solea

www.MatadoraFlamenca.com

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Flamenco Quote of the Day

These songs, to be born, must come from the singer
after fighting his own voice and falling into an ecstasy
of inwardness that will draw everyone around him
into a vortex of feeling, wrapped round by that voice,
a guitar, and the sound of naked palms beating, and surging
down the dark line that runs from nothingness to nothingness
through life.

Felix Grande

www.MatadoraFlamenca.com

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Flamenco Quote of the Day

Even after death I am 
bound to keep on loving you.
For a man loves too, when dead.
I love you from my soul, and
the soul never dies.

Hasta despues de la muerte
te tengo que estar queriendo,
que muerto tambien se quiere.
Yo te quiero con el alma,
y el alma nunca se muere.

Fandangos

www.MatadoraFlamenca.com

Monday, November 30, 2015

Flamenco Quote of the Day

When I pass by your side
and your dress brushes against me,
a deep shudder runs through my bones.

Cuando paso por tu vera
y me roza tu vestido,
hasta los huesos me tiemblan.

Solea por Bulerias

www.MatadoraFlamenca.com

Sunday, November 29, 2015

Flamenco Quote of the Day

The figure of the cantaor lies between two great lines:
the great arc of the heavens on the outside and the
zigzag of the serpent in his soul on the inside.

Federico Garcia Lorca/Flamenco Poet

www.MatadoraFlamenca.com

Saturday, November 28, 2015

Flamenco Quote of the Day

The flowers begin to weep 
seeing you enter the garden;
because every flower wants
to look like you.

Al verte las flores lloran,
cuando entras en tu jardin,
porque las flores quisieran
todas parecerse a ti.

Bulerias

www.MatadoraFlamenca.com

Friday, November 27, 2015

Flamenco Quote of the Day

Of the guitar players of today I really like, for the respect that he shows towards flamenco: Martín Revuelo, of the good guitar playing. In the baile (dance) area, Carmelilla Montoya, daughter of Carmen Montoya, who is a magnificent bailaora, but who hasn't danced for a long time now. It is a crime for this woman to be treated as an outcast, when she is such a great professional.

De la guitarra nueva de ahora me gusta mucho por lo respetuoso que es con el flamenco:Martín Revuelo, de la 
guitarra buena. En el baile Carmelilla Montoya, la hija de Carmen Montoya, que es una magnifica bailaora, pero lleva sin actuar ya hace tiempo. Es un crimen que a esta mujer se la margine, cuando es una gran profesional.

1999 Paco Lira/Owner, La Carboneria, Sevilla

www.matadoraFlamenca.com

Thursday, November 26, 2015

Flamenco Quote of the Day


I went out to the fields to cry
like a mad man screaming,
and even the wind kept telling
me that you loved someone else.

Al campo me fui a llorar
dando voces como un loco,
y hasta el aire me decia
que tu querias a otro.

Solea

www.MatadoraFlamenca.com

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Flamenco Quote of the Day

Me, do what you tell me to do? For twenty minutes? No, no I can't. This is not how it is done, daughter. You do it! These people nowadays spend their lives in the rehearsal studio, all of them, Canales, Cortés, Sara Baras, they’re all prefabricated! I get up there on stage and “here I am folks!” No one does that any more nowadays, and on top of everything, they don’t give you an inch.

¿Voy a hacer lo que tú me digas? ¿veinte minutos?...no, no puedo, esto no es así hija mía…¡hazlo tú!...se tiráis la vida ensayando, todos los que hay hoy, Canales, Cortés, Sara Baras ¡todos viven del ensayo! Yo me pongo allí arriba y venga, a dar la cara y a improvisar, a ver quién hace eso hoy en día, y encima no te quieren dar paso.

La Cañeta de Malaga/Flamenco Singer

www.MatadoraFlamenca.com

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Flamenco Quote of the Day


One day I went to the asylum;
it weighs heavily on me. 
In the patio I saw a madwoman
giving her breast to nurse
a rag doll.

Yo entre un dia en el manicomio
me peso haberlo hecho;
yo vi una loca en el patio,
se sacaba y daba el pecho
a una muneca de trapo.

Fandango Grande/Traditional

www.MatadoraFlamenca.com

Monday, November 23, 2015

Flamenco Quote of the Day

If you’re going to play soleá or siguiriya with the sound of minera, look, I think that’s senseless, soleá is soleá, and siguiriya is siguiriya, and each form should sound distinctive, tientos should sound like tientos, tangos, bulerías, etc... I understand it’s very difficult to change the tuning, and they do it to show off to other guitarists, but often the most difficult thing is to find meaningful simplicity, to be able to communicate something with just two notes instead of twenty. 

Paco Cepero/Flamenco Guitarist

www.MatadoraFlamenca.com

Sunday, November 22, 2015

Flamenco Quote of the Day

Farewell Oh beautiful girl, Oh
scented rose. You
will go towards love and I will go toward death.
The blood in my heart flourishes
like an open spring.

Federico Garcia Lorca/Flamenco Poet
from "A Ballad on a Day in July"

www.MatadoraFlamenca.com

Saturday, November 21, 2015

Flamenco Quote of the Day

When I loved you most
I had to forget you,
otherwise I would have died.

Cuando yo mas te queria,
me preciso el olvidarte,
porque si no me moria.

Solea

www.MatadoraFlamenca.com

Friday, November 20, 2015

Flamenco Quote of the Day

Invisible to my eyes, thou art ever present to my heart.
Thy happiness I desire to be infinite, as are my sighs, my tears, and my sleepless nights!
Impatient of the bridle when other women seek to guide me, thou makest me submissive to thy lightest wishes.
My desire each moment is to be at thy side - speedily may it be fulfilled!
Ah! my heart's darling, think of me, and forget me not, however long my absence!
Dearest of names! I have written it, I have now traced that delicious word – I'timad!

Al Mu'tamid/Poet King of Sevilla (this poem was dedicated to his wife, I'timad, a slave whose freedom he purchased)

www.MatadoraFlamenca.com

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Flamenco Quote of the Day

My betrothed is a watchmaker.
Whenever he comes to see me
the minute hand stops.

Es mi novio relojero.
Cada vez que viene a verme
se le para el minutero.

Bulerias/Traditional

www.MatadoraFlamenca.com

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Flamenco Quote of the Day

Through the expression of anguished sensuality
vibrates the sorrow of the Semitic races, oppressed
and tortured, constrained into hiding their sentiments,
obliged to express nothing but love. In these songs of
love that we hear, so passionate and sensual, we
perceive without realizing it, the plaint of these oppressed
races who do not remember precisely the reason for their cry,
but do remember their sadness and their lamentations.

Rafael Cansinos Assens
La Copla Andaluza

www.MatadoraFlamenca.com

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Flamenco Quote of the Day

Don't ask me to come back to you,
for I am no longer the man I once was.
If time could be turned around
I would already have gone back.

No me llames a tu lado
si ya no valgo lo que valia.
Si el tiempo admitiera vuelta,
que ya pasito pa' atras daria.

Solea/Traditional

www.MatadoraFlamenca.com

Monday, November 16, 2015

Flamenco Quote of the Day

All who deserve it should
be stabbed in the heart,
for my insides ache from being
so good to you.

Mala puñalada le den
a to' que diera motivo,
que me duelen las entrañas
de hacerlo bien contigo.

Solea/Traditional

www.MatadoraFlamenca.com

Sunday, November 15, 2015

Flamenco Quote of the Day

"Trousers are unforgiving; they show up
every mistake and they give you nothing
to take hold of."

Carmen Amaya/Bailaora

www.MatadoraFlamenca.com

Saturday, November 14, 2015

Flamenco Quote of the Day

If you hear the bell toll,
don't ask who has died.
Your own remorse will
tell you.

Si oyes doblar las campanas
no preguntes quien ha muerto
porque a ti te lo dira 
tu mismo remordimiento.

Pe------/Traditional, attributed to the Sephardic Jews during the Inquisition. Gypsy superstition surrounding this form prevents the name of the form from being written or spoken out loud. It is said to bring death.

www.MatadoraFlamenca.com

Friday, November 13, 2015

Flamenco Quote of the Day

“In dancing, not only is the dance important, it’s also a look, a move of the head, the way you pick up your skirt, the way you raise your arms at just the right moment, how you remain still or move your feet when the time is right. It’s not something I searched for, it was already inside me. I think I know how to do it in the right places. What can I tell you about my strong points? I think my feet are strong, and my arms, because I never forget them. I try never to destructure the line”.

Manuela Carrasco/Bailaora

www.MatadoraFlamenca.com

Thursday, November 12, 2015

Flamenco Quote of the Day

Sometime, if only out of pity,
write to me sometime,
for my heart is so withered
with suffering that it can no
longer even feel pain.

Alguna vez
siquiera por compasion
escribeme alguna vez,
que yo tengo el corazon
marchito de padecer
que ya no siente ni el dolor.

Malagueña/La Trini

www.MatadoraFlamenca.com

Flamenco Quote of the Day

Her piercing eyes cut my heart in two,
And my eyes wept with longing for her,
And I would kiss the lips behind the veil, 
And embrace the pearl necklace above
your embroidered sash.

A Love Poem or "Ghazal" by Al Mutamid, Poet-King of Sevilla

www.MatadoraFlamenca.com

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Flamenco Quote of the Day

Long live Granada, the Moorish queen,
land bathed by the river Genil.
Blessed be the morning
that I met you,
with your pure gypsy face.

Viva Granada la sultana
tierra que baña el Genil.
Bendita sea la mañana
en que yo te conoci
con tu cara tan gitana.

Granaina/Traditional

www.MatadoraFlamenca.com