Cofradias
Mac
Cabeza, especially if you've been lost for a couple of hours in the
forest of the Sierra Morena behind Andújar. Expecting a lonely
mountaintop retreat for a quick picnic lunch shared with the vultures
which we saw and other promised wildlife, which we didn't, reality
prevailed long before we rounded the last hairpin.
Scattered around the flat mountaintop beneath the large and rather
battered Santuario were hundreds of buidings: two hotels, a bar, and
the others arranged singly or in streets arranged at random. Sheep
grazed the green spaces between. This is not a village: almost all of
the buidings are labelled as belonging to "Cofradias" of communities
all over Andalucía. This being the weekend, there were a lot of
people around, and a sort of holiday camp atmosphere prevailed. Does
anyone know exactly what a "Cofradia" is and how the system works?
The Santuario seemed rather chaotic: construction of new pilgrim
accommodation at one side while at the other the half-ruined crypt
barely sheltered the flickering velas and hundreds of mementos -
pictures, personal belongings, discarded artificial limbs, crutches
and other surgical devices, racks of communion dresses and large heaps
of polythene sacks containing heaven knows what. A "Museo de la
Virgen" contained what must be the largest collection of pictures of
the subject anywhere.
It was possible to climb behind the altar into the presence of this
particular image, which of course I did, but despite the all this
religeous industry, the deafening volume of the bells, and the
hundreds of people around, the six o'clock Mass attracted a
congregation of about fifteen.
We stayed not because we found the place attractive (except for the
great views), but because I didn't fancy the thought of driving back
down the mountain in the gathering mist, to find somewhere to stay in
the sprawling town of Andújar on a Saturday night. And just as I very
rarely recommend places to stay, so never do I do the opposite. The
one-star Hotel Rural, however, was overpriced, the service casual,
unsmiling and perfunctory.
¡Pero no os preocupad, las cosas mejoran!
Mac
Roger Warwick
> anyone know exactly what a "Cofradia" is and how the system works?
Not sure how the system works, but a Cofradía is a Catholic
Brotherhood. Perhaps they were rehearsing their Semana Santa (Easter)
processions, or simply having meetings to discuss the Easter
arrangements.
They tend to be the associations responsible for the Easter
processions and form around one particular religious icon or other.
They are of course numerous in Seville and I suppose other Andalusian
locations. Also in the rest of Spain but Seville has the Easter
processions "por excelencia" and thus the most important Cofradías
also.
> ¡Pero no os preocupad, las cosas mejoran!
I hope this is taken in the right spirit - simply that of information
for anybody wanting to practise their Spanish. Since the verb is
negative, the subjunctive must be used in this imperative ... ¡No os
preocupéis!
The normal imperative would be ¡Preocupaos! (reflexive verbs lose the
final "d" of the second person plural imperative form)
Roger.
JOHN CHAPMAN
I can remember from my Spanish studies how difficult it is to grasp this tense. I never mastered it and no matter how I try, I'll always sound like a Canadian gringo with poor usage of the language. I guess you have to live in Spain and be fully immersed to get the hang of it. I'm jut happy to be able to order cafe con leche for breakfast.
By the way, we have made our plans and will be attending the Bienal de Flamenco in Sevilla next September.
Saludos!
Roger Warwick
> Flamenco in Sevilla next September.
Lucky you! Are you a great flamenco fan, then?
Do you think my daughter has the "duende"? ...
Roger.
Don Nivens
Do you have more info on the Bienal in September,(dates,etc)? Thanks for
putting the bailes de la hija on again. She is really good!
Congratulations!
Thank you,
Don
Charlotte, NC...EE
JOHN CHAPMAN
Yes we are really excited. We were introduced to Flamenco in 2003 during our first trip to Madrid and Sevilla. Now we have many CD and a few DVD (But these are hard to get in NTSC format for North America). The other thing that makes it hard to plan is waiting for the website and General Tickets to the performances published. My wife has fallen in love with Vicente Amigo and would kill to see him.
Do you know of any other sites that might pre-publish or pre-advise of performers for the Bienal.
Saludos!
Roger Warwick
According to the website (http://www.bienal-flamenco.org/) it's from
the 10th September to the 11th October, 2008.
Roger.
JOHN CHAPMAN
Apparently we have to now way till sometime in May for the schedule to appear and prepare for the mad-dash of ticket purchase.
By the way, my wife really enjoyed the videos of your daughter. From our point of view she seems quite good (looks like she is in her teens - is this correct) - let's hope she is a budding Sara Baras!
Roger Warwick
> point of view she seems quite good (looks like she is in her teens - is this
> correct) - let's hope she is a budding Sara Baras!
I hope the other members of the group don't mind me hi-jacking this
thread a little, but it is a subject very dear to my heart ;-) ...
It is of course almost impossible for me to be objective, but on the
basis of these videos she managed to get work in the Raul Belmonte
company dancing for 3 months at the Sala Hacienda in Tenerife last
summer.
She'll be performing at the Teatro Mayor in Madrid in April and will
be auditioning for the "Baile Flamenco de Madrid" company in
September, all the while still studying during her last year at high
school.
She'll be 18 next week and our celebration dinner will be at the
Corral de la Moreria, which is almost certainly the best "tablao" or
flamenco restaurant in Madrid ...
http://www.gomadrid.com/activity/corral-de-la-moreria.html
Roger.
John Zumsteg
I don't think anyone minds you "hijacking" this thread -- I'm very
glad you posted the link to your daughter's flamenco videos. I love
flamenco and I very much enjoyed seeing her dance. I just wish I could
be in Madrid in April to see her dance.
I wish for her a long and successful career as a dancer and I wish for
you many happy (and proud) times of watching her dance.
John
Pete Clark
, Roger Warwick <ro...@gomadrid.com> writes
WOW - what movement...
I have often watched, and tried to understand flamenco, with little
success.
I would assume that she has "choreographed" it herself? I mean, will it
be the same steps and movements the next time she dances it? Or is it
"jazzlike" - a different interpretation each time?
And, are there set moves for this piece? Or would someone else dancing
it do different movements.
I enjoy the dancing, and the singing, at the village ferias, but none of
the Spanish seem to understand my questions! Sometimes, the answers are
just so obvious, that no-one will answer a question.
Like, when we were buying the house, and commented on the fact that, if
all the windows have rejas, and there is only one door, what do we do if
there is a fire?
...and of course, I never got a reply, because people wondered why I
asked such a stupid question - because, unlike houses in the UK, in most
fincas, there is just about nothing in the construction to burn...
--
Pete Clark
Sunny Andalucia
http://hotcosta.com/Andalucia.Spain
JOHN CHAPMAN
Sounds like a budding future star. All the best to her and wish her a Happy Birthday from Canada
From: Roger Warwick <ro...@gomadrid.com>
To: trave...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 9:34:10 AM
Subject: [travelspain] Re: Cofradias
Roger Warwick
> be the same steps and movements the next time she dances it? Or is it
> "jazzlike" - a different interpretation each time?
Indeed, it's a dance she choreographed herself. If she danced it
again, with the same music, she would probably use the same steps
because she already has the dance to pat. Or given time, she might
change and improve it.
Somebody else, hearing the same music, would use totally different movements.
Basically she has a repertoire of steps and movements that she can put
together in a million different ways to create totally different
dances.
Roger.
Mac
Of course I don't mind the thread being 'hijacked', but to return to
the original topic, I still am a bit confused about cofradías. I´ve
added the accent because I saw a reference to "cofradías y hermandads"
in the local (Hellín) paper. I thought the latter were all-male
groups (like the Masons) who processed the images through towns during
Semana Santa. What I saw appeared to be large family parties having a
riotous weekend away in accommodation owned by the cofradía.
Mac
Roger Warwick
Certainly the Wikipedia definition of Cofradía (in Spanish) gives no
other definition than that we commonly associated with these
groups.....
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cofrad%C3%ADa
Roger.
Pete Clark
Roger Warwick <ro...@gomadrid.com> writes
>
>> I would assume that she has "choreographed" it herself? I mean, will it
>> be the same steps and movements the next time she dances it? Or is it
>> "jazzlike" - a different interpretation each time?
>
>Indeed, it's a dance she choreographed herself. If she danced it
>again, with the same music, she would probably use the same steps
>because she already has the dance to pat. Or given time, she might
>change and improve it.
Thank you, that explains it perfectly.
Now I need to get my head around the singing... it's the same question -
if the same person sings the song the next time, will it be the same?
And if someone else sings the same song, will they sing the same melody?
Obviously, in "western" music, different people sing the same song in a
slightly different way, but again, my question is, is the singing a
total improvised "jazz style" piece, or is it following a melody?
Roger Warwick
> if the same person sings the song the next time, will it be the same?
> And if someone else sings the same song, will they sing the same melody?
The singing is something I'm less familiar with, but I do know that
the most important thing in flamenco music are the different "palos"
or flamenco styles, such as Alegrías, Bulerías, Martinete, Soleá, etc.
Each of these styles will have a different beat or rythym. They are
further defined by their melody and other more technical musical
factors that I don't have the knowledge to even begin to discuss. I
believe there are a few palos with a free-form rythym but most will
always follow the same one.
Thus, a flamenco singer will always be guided in some way by the music
- he or she will "feel" the rythym and accompany accordingly. I
imagine the singers follow the same creative process as any other
contemporary music singers - probably the music and words are created
sometimes separately and sometimes together, but again I don't really
know that much about it.
And I can also imagine that if the same song is sung by different
singers, they will put their own interpretation into it, but always
following the same guidelines in terms of beat and rythym. Much the
same as the different versions we hear of any more familiar (to us)
popular song.
Roger.