Posts tagged with "andalusia"

¡Carnavales!

Posted by Magda No Comments
Mar 17 2010

This last month has been a busy one, not only for the celebration of St. Valentine’s day all over the world, or the beginning of the Chinese New Year, this year in honor to the tiger, but also for the celebration of the Carnival: most of us know about the parades in Brazil, and the masks in Venice, but I’d like to introduce you to the “chirigotas” of Cádiz, a typical Andalusian celebration!

Although the carnival tradition goes back several centuries before Christianity, it was adopted as a prelude to Lent, the forty days of penance before the Holy Week. During these holidays it was “Don Carnal” who governed, and he was allowed to satisfy all mundane appetites, until “Doña Cuaresma” arrived implanting the fasting and abstinence.

In Cádiz, these moments of freedom are used today to create a satire of the social reality and politics of the year. Disguises and masks are used as in other cities, but the real essence of these carnivals  are the “chirigotas“,  invented musical jests that are the instrument that the gaditanos (natives from Cádiz) use as sharp weapons to criticize all that  angers them. Groups of 7 to 15 men form these “chirigotas” (I’m afraid that to date only men can take part in the official jests) singing in different voices and accompanied by guitarras, bandurrias, tambores, cajones, mirlitones, guiros, etc.

There are several compositions included in their repertory: the presentation, the pasodobles, the cuplés and the popurríes. The presentation and the popurríes use music from actual and well known songs, but the other ones must be totally original. And all that is accompanied by disguises, staging, and lots of good humor, not only on the part of the members of the “chirigotas” but also from a public eager to enjoy a good laugh!

It would be great to meet you next year in Cádiz to enjoy their Carnavales!

You can see the live performance of “Lo que diga mi mujer” (Whatever my wife says) in this link, and read the lyrics both in Andalusian Spanish and its English translation…

http://libretodecarnaval.blogspot.com/2009/09/lo-que-diga-mi-mujer-in-english.html

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Traveling through Andalusia

Posted by Adir No Comments
Jul 27 2008

Andalusia (Andalucía in Spanish) is the most populated and second largest autonomous community in Spain, as well as most visited, both by Spanish people and by foreign tourists. Among the most popular routes is the “pueblos blancos” route. On it, the traveler can visit small and medium-sized villages in Cádiz and Málaga (Sierra de Grazalema and Serranía de Ronda) and enjoy a varied and beautiful landscape. They’re called “pueblos blancos” (white villages) because its inhabitants frequently whitewash their houses, which are located on narrow streets and have red tile roofs. Many of these pueblos still have a castle or the remains of a castle.

East of Almería you’ll find the National Park Cabo de Gata-Níjar, with its beautiful and quiet beaches, going as far as Mojácar. In Almería’s countryside you can find a blend of mountains and deserts.  Its landscape made it a perfect location for shooting western movies (“The good, the bad and the ugly”, “For a few dollars more,” “A fistful of dollars,” and even “Lawrence of Arabia” were shot on location there). On the way to Granada, you can choose between crossing the Alpujarras or going north towards Sierra Nevada.

Another very interesting excursion is “Ruta del Califato”. It goes through Córdoba, former capital of the Muslim empire in the 10th century, and Granada. There you’ll find remains of the Arabic splendor like La Mezquita (The Mosque), the Medina Azahara ruins in Córdoba or the Alhambra in Granada. Bullfighting and flamenco (a music and dance form that originated and is still exclusive to this region) also attract visitors from all over the world.

Among several famous people from Andalusia we have Pablo Picasso, Alejandro Sanz, David Bisbal, Lola Flores, Estrella Morente (and her father Enrique), Diego Velázquez, Federico García Lorca, Camaron de la Isla, Paz Vega, Antonio Banderas, Joaquin Sabina and Paco de Lucia.

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