DC Flamenco Blog

Keep up-to-date with the flamenco scene in Washington DC. Updated almost daily by guitarist Miguelito

Sunday, February 20th

What happened to the blog???


The last time I made an entry here, I had left for a weekend trip to New York with my flamenco friend Jenifer to see concert by Eva la Yerbabuena. When I got back home, naturally the first thing I did was transfer the photos from my camera to my computer so I can edit them for my photo diary.

Almost three weeks later, I've been adding a LOT of photos to my photo diary almost every day and writing more and more commentary. In other words, I've been blogging elsewhere on my site. The photo diary is now my blog.
Miguelito on 02.20.05 @ 12:26 PM EST [link]


Saturday, January 29th

Lorca poetry class at GW January 28, 2005



Pictured here is Phillips Hall on the George Washington University campus. The Romance Languages and Literatures department is on the fifth floor.

You'd think that on sunny day like this everyone would be wide awake at 9:35am, right? The bitter cold should 've waken us all up. Maybe we were all still half-asleep or perhaps I'm now realizing that not everyone in the class is a serious student of poetry...yet.

Typical poetry class procedure: read each line of poetry then the professor asks what each line means. Well, today we had a more blank stares than usual. Backing up a little we reviewed the basics of poetry appreciation:

Read first for literal meaning. Then reread to look for deeper meaning.

We continued analyzing "Las Morillas de Jaen" which is Lorca's adaptation of an Arabic poem in the form of a zejel on the topic of prohibited love between a christian man and three muslim girls (Morillas=Moriscas). A recurring theme in Lorca's works: unfulfilled (and in this case, forbidden) desire.

Next, as we read through Anda Jaleo, professor Echeverria explained the historical context as a poetic statement about the political climate of the time. Then we listened to cantaora Carmen Linares' flamenco interpretation in the rhythm of bulerias.

Near the end of this class session, I played a seguiriya on the guitar before we read the poem Poema de la Seguiriya Gitana and explored the symbolism. I'm starting to get the hang of this and even managed to contribute a few times to the discussion.

I'm looking forward to going on a field trip this weekend to contemplate Lorca's thoughts as he composed "Poeta en Nueva York."
Miguelito on 01.29.05 @ 12:31 AM EST [link]


Friday, January 28th

Gloria Monge at Andalucia January 27, 2005



The Andalucia Restaurant, I admit, is hard-to-find and far from downtown DC. So I'm always grateful when my friends come out to see the show on Thursday nights. Last night was good. Thanks to a great review in last week's Montgomery Gazette, the place was packed!

Although, she's been listed in teacher directory for quite some time now, this was the first time that I met Gloria Monge (pictured above). She came all the way from Reston, Virginia! Thanks for coming to the show Gloria. Needless to say, we got her to dance a little Sevillanas after the show.
Miguelito on 01.28.05 @ 11:48 PM EST [link]


Poetry and Eva la Yerbabuena


Interviewer: "Poetry is very important to you, isn't it?"

Eva la Yerbabuena: "There are times when you read, and you say to yourself, this is what I was trying to say so many times, when I danced a solea or a siguiriya."

Read the interview with Eva in today's Bloomberg. She'll be performing in New York at City Center this weekend.

NOTE: my webhost is upgrading the system over the next few days which may temporarily disrupt the availability of this website. Please be patient. Also, I'll be out of town this weekend, so I won't be answering email until Monday.
Miguelito on 01.28.05 @ 11:43 PM EST [link]


Thursday, January 27th

Flamenco Family in Atlanta


"I brought in someone for a workshop once who said 'Atlanta feels like a flamenco family...'"

Ulrika Frank as quoted in an article about the flamenco scene in Atlanta, Georgia.
Miguelito on 01.27.05 @ 02:10 PM EST [link]


Aerial flamenco


What's an aerial flamenco dancer?
Miguelito on 01.27.05 @ 12:47 PM EST [link]


Flamenco Festival articles January 27, 2005


It's about that time, as the Flamenco Festival approaches (or in the case of London, has already started) the publicity machine is revved up and ready to go:

Read the review of Eva la Yerbabuena's London performance in today's Financial Times.

Read the review of the London shows of Bara and Yerbabuena in the Telegraph.

NY's Flamenco Festival is mentioned in today's New York Daily News.

There's a blurb about Lisner's Flamenco Festival in today's Washington Times.
Miguelito on 01.27.05 @ 09:48 AM EST [link]


Wednesday, January 26th

Lorca's poetry class at GW January 26, 2005



Reading through an essay by Spanish writer Vicente Molina Foix, we discussed what colleagues and scholars of Federico Garcia Lorca had to say about his works. Among the names mentioned: Vicente Aleixandre and Christopher Maurer. A recurring theme: Federico the poet is inseparable from Federico the musician.

To illustrate this point, we listened to different musical interpretations of Lorca's "Zorongo Gitano" including my own guitar solo arrangement that I use to accompany flamenco dancers and singers. Next, professor Echeverria put on a CD of cantaora Carmen Linares singing Zorongo por tangos and an old recording from 1921 of La Argentinita singing it accompanied on piano by Lorca himself.

In Lorca's poem "La Guitarra," we explored symbolism. Everyone had different ideas about what Lorca choice of words--who knew how many different meanings there were for 'blanco?'

I learned that really is no "right" answer in poetic interpretation. Just allow yourself to be taken in by the musicality of the lines, the beauty in the choice of words, sounds etc. Some things that cannot be expressed in words can only be expressed through music and vice-versa. Poetry is music.

Oops...I digress, I'm blabbing on and on about poetry. This blog is supposed to be about flamenco, right? Just bear with me for another few weeks. One of my upcoming assignments is to read Lorca's essay "Play and theory of Duende."

Study of poetry is something new to me. But so far I'm having a good time and later in the semester when everything starts to fall into place, I'll hopefully have something intelligent to say about Lorca that's relevant to us flamencos. Stay tuned!
Miguelito on 01.26.05 @ 02:32 PM EST [link]



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