Sevillanas for the romantic-at-heart!
When I first started to learn the Sevillanas in my youthful university days, I mostly danced to songs that were fast-paced. Afterall, the Sevillanas is the dance that is danced at the largest party in Sevilla, the Feria de Abril (April Fair). Some versions go at Speedy Gonzales pace, I marvelled at how Feria folks fared, in drunken merry-making state and ladies in their voluminous Sevillanas dresses!
So when my friend, Paloma Navarro, sang a slower-paced, melodious version accompanied by her heart-stirring Sevillanas guitar tunes, I appreciated the difference. The pace, along with the love themes (of requited or unrequited love!) makes us dance and respond differently.
Our bodies are also having to breathe and flow with the song melody as we fill up up pace and time. We ‘grow’ our feeling even as our bodies, arms and fingers extend to ‘fill the air’ around us and our partner.
I’d to share with students in my Sevillanas class, and you my readers, this romantic piece by Rafael del Estad (gracias, Paloma, for introducing him)
You can tell from the lyrics, it isn’t the ‘happy hunky-dory’ romance. After Cupid shoots him, this forlorn lover languors at the state of being in Love! At least that’s how I interprete it. You can express it the way you interpret personally, at the moment of your dance!
Comments:
Google Translate does a decent rough translation. (We’re not translating it into poetry here, but just enough to give you the gist). I’ve only made some minor adjustments (in italics). The English version is first, and the Spanish can be found below, for those who want to appreciate the song to the original lyrics.
Sevillanas pronunciation = [seβiˈʝanas] Or ‘Ser-bee-YA-naas (without closing your lips on the ‘b’ . Double ‘l’ is pronounced ‘y’ in Spanish)
SEVILLANAS IN ENGLISH
COPLA 1
From the source of your mouth I have drunk,
and I’m imprisoned in the nets of your body
In the nets of your body
In the fountain of your mouth I drank
And I am in prison of your body
In your mouth I drank and I am imprisoned
In the nets of your body
In the nets of your body
And your kisses are burning coals
That they burn me inside
Coals fires that burn me
The insides of my body
And now I do not know what to do
If you kiss your lips
Or die of thirst
Or pass the ordeal (Tania’s comments: literally ‘Go through Calvary’)
Of not seeing you again
COPLA 2
Your hair is pure gold bars,
that they lock me up in jail where I live
In the jail where I live
Your hair is pure gold bars
In the jail where I live
Pure gold bars that lock me up
In the jail where I live
In the jail where I live
And they have me prisoner of your kisses
Of which I am captive.
Prisoner of your kisses my life
Of which I am captive
And now I do not know what to do
If you kiss your lips
Or die of thirst
Or pass the ordeal
Of not seeing you again
COPLA 3
With the letters of your name I have written,
thousand words inside my heart
A thousand words inside my heart
With the letters of your name I have written
A thousand words inside my heart
I have a thousand words written
Inside my heart
Inside my heart
That tell me the truth of your love
And my feelings
The truth of your love my life
And my feelings
And now I do not know what to do
If you kiss your lips
Or die of thirst
Or pass the ordeal
Of not seeing you again
COPLA 4
The caresses of your hands numb me,
the beats of your body drive me crazy
The beats of your body drive me crazy
The caresses of your hands numb me
The beats of your body
The caresses of your hands drive me crazy
The beats of your body
The beats of your body
I need the heat on your lips
The smell of your hair
Of the taste that is on your lips my life
The smell of your hair
And now I do not know what to do
If you kiss your lips
Or die of thirst
Or pass the ordeal
Of not seeing you again
SPANISH LETRA
COPLA 1
De la fuente de tu boca yo he bebío,
y estoy preso en las redes de tu cuerpo
En las redes de tu cuerpo
En la fuente de tu boca yo he bebío
Y estoy preso de tu cuerpo
En tu boca yo he bebío y estoy preso
En las redes de tu cuerpo
En las redes de tu cuerpo
Y tus besos son carbones encendíos
Que a mí me queman por dentro
Carbones encendíos que me queman
Las entrañas de mi cuerpo
Y ahora no sé qué hacer
Si besarte los labios
O morirme de sed
O pasar el calvario
De no volverte a ver
COPLA 2
Tus cabellos son barrotes de oro puro,
que me encierran en la cárcel donde vivo
En la cárcel donde vivo
Tus cabellos son barrotes de oro puro
En la cárcel donde vivo
Barrotes de oro puro que me encierran
En la cárcel donde vivo
En la cárcel donde vivo
Y me tienen prisionero de tus besos
De los que yo soy cautivo.
Prisionero de tus besos vida mía
De los que yo soy cautivo
Y ahora no sé qué hacer
Si besarte los labios
O morirme de sed
O pasar el calvario
De no volverte a ver
COPLA 3
Con las letras de tu nombre tengo escritas,
mil palabras dentro del corazón mío
Mil palabras dentro del corazón mío
Con las letras de tu nombre tengo escritas
Mil palabras dentro del corazón mío
Tengo escritas mil palabras
Dentro del corazón mío
Dentro del corazón mío
Que me dicen la verdad de tu cariño
Y los sentimientos míos
La verdad de tu cariño vida mía
Y los sentimientos míos
Y ahora no sé qué hacer
Si besarte los labios
O morirme de sed
O pasar el calvario
De no volverte a ver
COPLA 4
Me adormecen las caricias de tus manos,
me enloquecen los latíos de tu cuerpo
Me enloquecen los latíos de tu cuerpo
Me adormecen las caricias de tus manos
Los latíos de tu cuerpo
Las caricias de tus manos me enloquecen
Los latíos de tu cuerpo
Los latíos de tu cuerpo
Necesito del calor que hay en tus labios
Del olor de tus cabellos
Del sabor que hay en tus labios vida mía
Del olor de tus cabellos
Y ahora no sé qué hacer
Si besarte los labios
O morirme de sed
O pasar el calvario
De no volverte a ver
*Letras de Sevillanas is a useful site from which I found the lyrics.
More Sevillanas
Street-side Sevillanas in Old City Hoi An
If you’d like to catch one of our videos and learn Sevillanas Copla 4, you can check out this story, Dance beyond the Studio, the Itinerant Ways of Flamenco. My friend Jenn and I were chilling out in the Old City of Hoi An, after conducting flamenco workshops in Ho Chi Minh. Hoi An with its picturesque yellow streets and alleys inspired us to do an impromptu Sevillanas. Nevermind the motobikes zipping by and curious heads peeping from the walls, it was fun to be part of daily action there! (The copla at the start of this Sevillanas Youtube video is a spontaneous mix, the next copla follows a more traditional choreography)
Sevillanas Flamenca
A quickie-view here of a Sevillanas with a faster pace. Instead of the traditional choreography or a slow romantic one, we’re also dancing this to a more flamenco style (taught by our maestro from Sevilla, Manuel Betanzos), giving it more rhythmic accents and weight (peso) to the body style.
