Wednesday, March 25, 2009

"Sevillanas del Siglo XVIII" by Federico Garcia Lorca



Lorca and La Argentinita performing together. Clicking on La Argentinita will take you to a link to learn who she is.

Sevillanas del S.XVIII
Text:Federico García Lorca

¡Viva Sevilla!
Llevan las sevillanas
en la mantilla
un letrero que dice:
¡Viva Sevilla!

¡Viva Triana!
¡Vivan los trianeros,
los de Triana!
¡Vivan los sevillanos
y sevillanas!
**************************
Long live Sevilla!
The women of Sevilla wear a sign in their mantillas that reads "Viva Sevilla!

Long live Triana!
Long live the people of Triana!
Long live the women and the men of Sevilla!

Poem here is incomplete. There are more verses.
Trans.Milagro Vargas

31 comments:

  1. García Lorca was an outspoken anti-fascist when Francisco Franco was coming to power in Spain. He was arrested in Granada by the "Black Squad" on August 16, 1936, and after three days of savage beatings, he was shot and buried on farmland. Go here for more on Lorca. Other related links under the Links section of this blog.

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  2. The two Lorca songs posted, Sevillanas and En el Cafe de Chinitas are from Lorca's group of songs 15 Canciones Populares. His early passion for music and great interest in folk songs resulted in these wonderful arrangements.

    In 1931, García Lorca recorded five gramophone records with ten themes from his Colección de Canciones Populares Antiguas (Collection of Ancient Popular Songs). Lorca himself played the piano to accompany "La Argentinita."

    These performances are rare and treasured documents.

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  3. This song reminds me of a folk tune form or almost that of the 12 bar blues with its similar chords progressions. I love Lorca's fresh touch on the piano coupled with the Argentinita's slippery but solid vocal line. You can really see her dancing while you listen to her singing!

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  4. This strophic song is immediately recognizable as "Spanish"! It reminds me of music that might be heard at a bullfight. Every element of this piece exudes joy - from the exuberant piano part to the ornamented vocal line to the spirited percussion.

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  5. Kata,I've removed the weird long coded thing that appeared with your original comment and pasting your comment here:

    Kata said:
    Maravilloso! Qué combinación de elegancia y precisión! Gracias por esta contribución.
    (Hope, that the spelling and grammar is ok.)

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  6. I had no idea there were recordings like this! I'd learned about La Argentinita as a bailaora and learned that she collaborated with Lorca, but I didn't realize that she sang as well. The music is clearly a sevillana - it's lovely to hear the dance rhythms and crispness of everything.

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  7. The folk elements of Spanish song are so prevalent in this piece, it makes me want to get up and dance! I enjoyed listening to the percussive clapper and virtuosic piano that created a lively and festive atmosphere.

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  8. It is amazing to me that Frederico Garcia Lorca was so talented as a pianist and poet and that he was also a composer and painter. I enjoyed hearing the castanets accentuate the rhythmic singing.

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  9. I enjoyed how the piano is used to mimic the guitar while the castanets adds a latin dance feel to the performance.

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  10. It's so wonderful to hear Spanish musicians perform Spanish music. It's even more wonderful to hear Lorca accompany his own song. I agree with Yoshi, the piano mimics the guitar. This seems to be a normative in Spanish keyboard writing.

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  11. What a fun piece! It's so exciting to hear composers performing their own music. Not to mention hearing vocalists with percussion skills!

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  12. Wow! This recording displays so much rhythmic energy and vigor! But it is really striking that it does so without excessive "weight" or accents in the sound, it is just crisp, as Emily said. I'm also impressed with Lorca's multiple talents! Also, La Argentinita's performance seems so unforced, so natural, it sounds really improvisatory!

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  13. Cool! As mentioned, I'm astounded at the singers ability to execute the characteristic melismatic "runs" without weight. She floats through them effortlessly. Similarly, she sustains the line for what seems like forever before taking another breath.

    I find the accompaniment to be a little "boom chuck boom chuck"....which isn't necessarily bad, but surprising as it does not mimic the voice, or impart any of the exotic "Spanish-isms".

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  14. What a great song! This sounds like party music, and the castanets are amazing. I really enjoy the arpeggiated chords in the piano; they sound so clean and percussive.

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  15. You can really hear Lorca's passion for folk music in this piece, but despite the simple melodic and harmonic language, the performance is executed with an impressive level of precision. The rapid right hand patterns in the piano evoke a sense of unshakeable happiness that make this piece sound like music at a party.

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  16. I'm absolutely swooning over this piece! I love the castanets and the dance rhythms! And not to mention the rhythmic precision!

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  17. It is interesting to note that in 1931 was the year that the Spanish monarchy gave way to a republic and for the first time elected officials were ruling in Spain. Before the unrest that led to Lorca's death and the Spanish Civil war, there is a sense of victory and positivity that really comes through in this music. I feel that you can really hear that sense of pride in Lorca and La Argentinina's performance.

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  18. As Ednaldo had mentioned in a previous post in another thread, instrumentation plays a very important role. I have such a different impression from one of these folk songs when I hear guitar accompaniment vs. piano accompaniment. There is an article by Busoni about the nature of transcriptions in which he basically says that every time you rewrite a piece of music or musically readapt it, it undergoes a transformation that essentially departs from its prior state. I find that the use of piano accompaniment in this arrangement gives me more of a sense of "arrangement" versus composition, which is perhaps what Garcia Lorca was aiming to accomplish or left to do as a means of preservation.

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  19. I like how the castanets make provide strong rhythmic drive to the song! I think the piano is imitating guitar in here. It would be nice to hear a version played by guitar and make a comparison.

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  20. If I heard this song out of context and was asked to identify what it was, I would have difficulty identifying it as art song. It sounds so traditional, and the simplicity of it captures the folk quality of the song.

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  21. The castanets really bring even more life to an exciting piece. My only experience of Lorca is as an author and playwright and my memory of his work is quite dark. It is great to hear such a spirited song about pride for one's city.

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  22. This is a fascinating and endearing recording. The way she uses the language reminds me of a lot of the rhetoric work we do in early music. She is not singing with consistent vibrato and is making bold choices in regards to tone and timbre that reflect the folk nature of the piece, and the words flow over the bar lines and do not sound metronomical as if they are constrained to a written rhythm.

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  23. I am fascinated and love the concept of a "dancer-singer" as is the case with La Argentinita. I am curious though whether or not La Argentinita choreographed the dance she is performing (undoubtedly with hand percussion) to Lorca's composition, and what La Argentinita's relationship was with various composers. La Argentinita's vocal style is clearly of a folk style, leading me to wonder what her training vocally is. An entertaining and fascinating performance.

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  24. This is such a wonderful piece. I love how the castanets add a new excitement to the already up beat piece with the fast notes. La Argentinita's bright voice works really well in adding to the happy excitement that is trying to be portrayed here. I can feel the smile on her face through her voice.

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  25. I love how a relatively simple accompaniment, based on a dance rhythm, can be the foundation of such a wonderful vocal line that incorporates so much color within a rather small harmonic range. The castanets provide an affect that, not only adds rhythmic interest, but seems to transport one to a festive scene.

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  26. I love how a relatively simple accompaniment, based on a dance rhythm, can be the foundation of such a wonderful vocal line that incorporates so much color within a rather small harmonic range. The castanets provide an affect that, not only adds rhythmic interest, but seems to transport one to a festive scene.

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  27. I know Lorca as a poet but not really as a composer. This song was really compelling to me. I heard the folk influence, and the dance influence (although I'm not sure which one). It feels less like classical art song and more popular in nature. But the syncopation makes it unpredictable and more advanced than any popular music I've heard from this region.

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  28. After going through the introduction page of La Argentinita and knowing that she is a flamenco dancer, it is interesting for me to feel that - the rhythm that taps out by the percussion instrument sounds like the sound that is made by the heels of the flamenco dancer's shoes. Besides, my attention was attracted by the very simple accompaniment, it seems that all the dramatic effect is made by the voice and La Argentinita did an excellent job!

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  29. I love the percussion with the piano! It adds a very cool rhythmic dimension. There's a lot of energy in this piece that is kept throughout and when it's coupled with the bold sound in the vocal line, it makes very distinctive

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  30. How I wish there was video with this audio! The song is wonderful, and I've seen some videos of La Argentinita dancing, so I must imagine her dancing with this song. Flamenco dancing with castanets has always been fascinating, and she makes it seem so effortless to be a dancer, percussionist, singer, and actress. If you still don't know what duende is, watch La Argentinita dance.

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  31. This song honestly made me want to get up and dance. The introduction of the castanets in this piece added so much charm and, at the risk of sounding redundant, Spanish flare. The dance rhythms are so undeniably present in this piece and it only makes me want to hear more.

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