estebanana -> RE: Solo, yes... Cante, not so sure! (Apr. 6 2016 4:30:01)
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You think the lyrics of Led Zep, Foreigner, Garth Brooks or most Blue Grass is high literature? [:D] Many letras are in older forms of colloquial Spanish, they might not be said that way today, but they a context and this is usually rooted in Andaluz culture. So when you pick up on cultural markers or go to Spain and get into the head space of the South, you begin to see why the poetry of the letras works. Letras are are not usually narratives, usually they are poetry fragments sewn together by the singer for an effect of mood rather than saying something specific. Listening to letras or reading them is like looking through an album of snap shots the singer wants you to see. Some paint landscapes, and other tell of personal stories, others about the character of people in a certain town, etc. It's poetry and in the day it came from, some letras are very old, they may have double meanings, letras can stand as metaphors. They are generally "curated" or selected in real time by the singer according to how the mood of the letra suits them in the moment. That selection and delivery is part of how a performance effects listeners emotionally if they are catching words. Some singers are also more clear than others, if you have trouble understanding the Spanish or the letra due to the tongue twisting and syllable stretching games often a good entry point into hearing more is Antonio Maireina. Macanita is not too crazy to understand either, many good singers who are on the more clear side. Letras are older idiomatic poetry forms, non narrative, that present small pictures or ideas and singers weave them together. They are not as corny as a lot of opera, because opera travels a lineal path of narrative and letras are grouped more abstractly and don not have to be related by story line.
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