Letras about poverty

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Letras about poverty

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Adam

Posts: 1156
Joined: Dec. 6 2006
From: Hamilton, ON

Letras about poverty

Hola all! I have an unusual request...I'm writing an article about the gitanos in Andalucía for a local paper and want to deepen it with some old letras about poverty, the gitano condition, etc. - preferably traditional, old stuff. Any help would be much appreciated, and whoever provides something I use gets a shout-out in the article!

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Aug. 19 2007 9:13:07

Ailsa

Posts: 2277
Joined: Apr. 17 2007
From: South East England

RE: Letras about poverty (in reply to Adam)

Hey Adam that sounds really interesting - can you share the article after it's been published? I'd really like to read it.

A

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Aug. 19 2007 12:33:46

Kate

Posts: 1827
Joined: Jul. 8 2003
From: Living in Granada, Andalucía

RE: Letras about poverty (in reply to Adam)

Amarraita en tu pelo (Tangos) Sung by Remedios Amaya
(Pepe de Lucía/Javier Limón)

Lejos del bullicio
lejos del ruído
voy con la corriente
de mi propio río
yo no tengo nada
no tengo dinero
tan solo unos ojos negros
mirando al cielo

Qué dolor en mi alma (Seguiriyas) ( Don't know who wrote it but sung by Carmen Linares)

Malhaya sea el dinero
que el dinero es causa
que los ojitos a quien bien yo quería
no estén en mi casa.

Campanitas de la torre (polo) Curro de Utrera

campanitas de la torre
por Dios, dejarme dormir
que durmiendo yo la veo
soñando juntita a mí

toos los presos tienen penas
pero las mías son dobles
una la de mi condena
la otra porque soy pobre

Fiestas de Pastora (bulerías) La Niña de los Peines.

mal fin tenga la persona
que se llevaba el dinero
y no se sabe llevar
unos ojitos grandes y negros

pajaritos jilgueros
¿qué habéis comido?
sopitas de la olla
y agua del río

Hope they are of some use.

How's your Spanish coming along Adam ? Here's a review of "Poeta en Nueva York" that I wrote for deflamenco
http://www.deflamenco.com/actuaciones/lorca/index070815.jsp

_____________________________

Emilio Maya Temple
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000CA6OBC
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/emiliomaya

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Aug. 19 2007 15:13:12

Ricardo

Posts: 14873
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC

RE: Letras about poverty (in reply to Adam)

No Doblen campana
creyeron que una reina
era una probe gitana

don't ring the town bell...because they thought the beautiful girl coming into town was a queen, but it was just a poor gipsy women.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Aug. 19 2007 19:08:18

Adam

Posts: 1156
Joined: Dec. 6 2006
From: Hamilton, ON

RE: Letras about poverty (in reply to Adam)

Thanks for all the help! Any more would be appreciated, and these are a great start. Ailsa, I'll post it if it's any good!

I'm working under a tight deadline so the paper will be ready when the freshmen arrive, so I'm not sure how quality this will be, haha. Kate, the Spanish is coming along OK but I haven't gotten much practice. The other day I was at a Hawaiian slack key concert (I'm on Hawaii at the moment) and ran into, of all people, a flamenco singer from San Francisco with whom I got to practice my Spanish

But that's about it. Your letras are proving to be good translation exercises though! Thanks for the link, btw, I have to run now but I'll read it when I get back.

Ricardo, I'm confused: I would think that that means "They thought the queen was a poor gypsy woman", not the other way around...?

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Aug. 20 2007 0:35:28

Ricardo

Posts: 14873
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC

RE: Letras about poverty (in reply to Adam)

quote:

Ricardo, I'm confused: I would think that that means "They thought the queen was a poor gypsy woman", not the other way around...?

Yeah, I am writing in Spanish the way it sounds when they sing it (in bulerias compas it is like ay, creyeron que un reina, reina, reina.... er-a-un-pro-be-gi......gi-ta-na...., that sort of thing) and filling in the blanks there in english for you. They ring the bell when the queen comes to town to warn everybody. So they saw this beautiful girl coming to town and start ringing the bell. But some one realized it was just a poor gipsy girl and so tells them to stop ringing the darn bell for no reason.

"Dont ring the bell!"
...they thought it was the queen,
(BUT) it was just a poor gipsy.

Know what I mean? And that "probe" instead of "pobre" is important for some reason too.

Ricardo

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Aug. 20 2007 6:01:08