Don't be a tourist in Sevilla
“April comes with orange blossom andjasmine´s smell. With trumpets and drums´ sounds, with tunes of scenarios with moves as queens, with smell of incense and homesickness.
April comes and Sevilla flourish. Spring impregnates the streets and a thousand colour canvas blows up. A garden of faith, watercolour of retreat and hope, a labyrinth of cheers and praise.
April comes and the capital of fuss is flooded of ´capirotes`, of quiet pleas and looks to the sky. Of corners full of magic and ´chicotás` which are full of ´sevillanías`.
The flowers´ month comes and my city bursts. Full of flounces, spots and of dances of the sevillanas.
The night comes with sighs of a exsanguination guitar of emotions and footsteps on chalky sand.Early morning appeares having a shower in the Guadalquivir, on the back of a vers. In the twinkling of an eye, the morning wonders asking to the Giralda the reason why so much mistery. Why would it be that in Sevilla the same throat isa breath of a ´saeta` at the Macarena, and of some sevillanas at the Remedios. Might it be for that reason that so many people are enchanted because of its people, its traditions and even its accent. Because whoever runs into Sevilla, does not look for anywhere else”.
“Llega abril con aroma a Azahar y jazmín. Con sones de trompetas y tambores, con sinfonías de bambalinas que mecen reinas, con olor a incienso y a nostalgia. Llega abril y Sevilla florece. La primavera fecunda las calles y estalla en un lienzo de mil colores.Un jardín de fé, una acuarela de recogimiento y esperanza, un laberinto de vítores y alabanzas. Llega abril y la capital de la bulla se inunda de capirotes, de súplicas calladas y miradas al cielo. De esquinas con magia y chicotás que derraman sevillanía. Llega el mes de las flores y mi cuidad estalla. En volantes, en lunares y en baile por sevillanas. Llega la noche con suspiros de una guitarra desangrada de emociones y pisadas sobre el albero. Aparece súbitamente la madrugada bañándose en el Guadalquivir a lomos de un verso. Y en un abrir y cerrar de ojos, se sorprende la mañana preguntándole a la Giralda el porqué de tanto misterio. Por qué será que en sevilla la misma garganta da aliento a una saeta en la Macarena y unas sevillanas en los Remedios. Será por eso que a muchos les embruja su gente, sus tradiciones y hasta su ancento. Porque quien encalla en Sevilla, no busca otro puerto”.
Ana Bermúdez, sevillana.
Sevillanas are a type of folk music and dance of Sevilla and its region. Sevillanas can be heard mainly in fairs and festivals, including the famous Sevilla´s Fair, La Feria de Abril. There is an associated dance for the music: "Baile por sevillanas", consisting of four different parts.
A capirote is a pointed hat of conical form that is used in Spain. It is part of the uniform of some brotherhoods including the Nazarenos and Fariseos during Easter observances and reenactments in some areas during Holy Week in Spain.
Flamenco in its strictest sense, is a professionalized art-form based on the various folkloric music traditions of Southern Spain in autonomous community of Andalucía, Extermadura and Murcia. riginally flamenco dancing was not set to music; it was only singing and clapping of hands called “toque de palmas." Flamenco dancers try to express their deepest emotions by using body movements and facial expressions. The origin of the word flamenco is uncertain, but it comes from the Arabic term "Felah-Mengus", that means “wandering country person” (“campesino errante” in Spanish). A curious theory which ended up having a lot of followers, was that which affirmed that flamencowas the name of a knife.
The saeta is a song of ardent devotion, which is sung to the scenes of the passion during Semana Santa, and is thought to have Jewish origins. Although the saeta is not strictly flamenco, it has all the spontaneity of flamenco, and has been added to the flamenco repertoire of many jondo singers.
Links:
Sevillanas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X50M7joFrzA
Feria de Abril: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xid5lx_fsSU
Capirote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLXsnkn1F6M
Flamenco: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsPhnlXehBk
Sabela González
