Asturian-American Migration Forum

I was surfing Youtube for gaitas and came across this cool videoclip. I thought I'd share my discovery with the A-AMF community. The quality is good, the scenery is beautiful and the music is great. Would love to hear comments from those of you who have visited or live in Asturies.

Here's the URL:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAJ80mKEGZs

Enjoy!

prettiful

Eli,
is that video taken in Asturias? The landscape is beautiful. What is the name of the game they show on the video that is played with sticks and a ball?

If you guys want to see some serious bagpipe playing, check out last year's winner of the McCrimmon Trophy at Lorient (France) Interceltic Festival, Asturian Jorge Suárez.

Watch this and cry!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8LMmJR3 ... ed&search=

Si queréis ver tocar la gaita en serio, aquí os va un clip del ganador del trofeo McCrimmon en el festival de Lorient (Francia), el asturiano Jorge Suárez.

Mirad esto y llorad!

Hi Daisy, I'm in the States, never been to Asturias so I can't really answer your questions. It does appear to be Asturias though, at least to me. It is beautiful isn't it? I'd love to spend some time traveling Asturias getting to know the place.


Hey Terechu, that guy does a great job with the gaita no doubt. Interesting thing about the video, to me it sounds a lot better if I listen to and NOT watch the video for some reason watching it detracts from the music...

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Hola Daisy, vivo en los EE.UU. nunca he estado en Asturias asi que no puedo responder tus preguntas. Sin embargo me parece que es Asturias. Precioso no te parece? Me encantaría pasarme un tiempo en Asturias conociendo el lugar.

Huh! me acabo de dar cuenta de que en Castellano no tenemos una exclamacion equivalente a la Inglesa 'Hey', 'olle' seria lo mas cercano (que se me ocurre) pero no es lo mismo ni de lejos... Terechu que tal? ese tipo hace un gran trabajo con la gaita. Me parece interesante que la musica que toca me suena mucho mejor si es que la escucho mientras no veo el video por algun motivo el observarlo disminuye a la musica...

Eli,
Have you heard of Susana Sevaine? Check this out and tell me what you think.

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZiSTBJumMQ

The piper's band (La Reina'l Truebanu) is from Navia, in western Asturias. A 'truebanu' or 'trobo' is a beehive in Asturian and Galician. They are protected inside a slate enclosure called a 'cortín' or 'curtín' in the West Asturian highland as you drive up AS-12 from Navia to Bual (Boal). The stone structures you see in the utube clip are usually located outside villages and are intended to keep out marauding bears from breaking the beehives to slurp away at the honey. Otherwise, they will sit around for days tearing things apart and feasting on the poor bees. If you drive up this beautiful country road alongside the Navia River Valley, you will begin to see 'curtinos' as of the villages of Serandías and As Lleñadas.

Otherwise, the coastal scenes may have been taken in the pipers' home county of Navia, not far from the beach of Frexulfe where there are steep quartzite cliffs. As for the bowling game, it's called 'bolo celta' and is played in central and western Asturias. I've seen bowling ranges for bolo celta in Campiel.lu (County of Tineu) and in Xedré (County of Cangas del Narcea). I have friends who are fanatics about playing. They'll spend all Sunday afternoon playing at the range. Go to the web site below to see how the diamond ('el poyu' or 'la poya') is done and the wooden pieces that are used (chestnut, hazelnut, etc).

http://www.educastur.princast.es/cpr/av ... .celta.htm

Thanx Is, you were very informative. I thought I had seen beehives in the video, but I did not realize its significance until you explained it. I am learning so much from this forum. That little tidbit about the bowling game being played in Tineu and Cangas de Narcea struck a cord with me b/c of the six towns that have my last name, four of them are from that area. Thanks for sharing. PS: did you check out the Susana Sevaine video? I'd like to learn more about her music.

Susana Seivane is a gallega. The gaita she plays is Galician, not Asturian. Her father is a very well-known maker of Galician gaitas.

The gaita gallega doesn't have the sophisticated capabilities for ornamentation that the gaita asturiana has. (The gaitero that Terechu mentioned plays with the ornamentation which is characteristic of Asturian gaita and which, for the most part, are not possible to do with the Galician pipes.) In its favor, the gallega probably has a sweeter sound than the Asturian gaita and I think it's easier to learn to play the gallega. (I'm not saying one is better than the other. I have a gallega.)

I think Susana's playing is fantastic, but -- to my ears, at least -- her style is extremely schmaltzy. Of course, our musical tastes may differ. Maybe that's our fault and she's simply playing what we're willing to buy. There are much more interesting gaiteros (gallega and asturian), but Susana has sold more CDs than most.

Since she's gallega, I'll list two of my favorite Galician bands which use gaitas: Luar Na Lubre (they had an album called "Plenilunio") and Leixaprén (with an album, "Gaitropos").

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Susana Seivane es gallega. La gaita que toca es gallega, no asturiana. Su padre es un fabricante de gaitas gallegas bien conocido.

La gaita gallega no tiene las capacidades sofisticadas de ornamentación que tiene la asturiana. (El gaitero Jorge Suárez quien notó Terechu toca con los adornos característicos de la gaita asturiana que, por la mayor parte, no se puede hacer con la gallega.) En su favor, la gallega tiene probablemente un sonido más dulce que la gaita asturiana y penso que es más fácil aprender tocar la gallega. (No estoy diciendo que una sea mejor que otra. Tengo una gallega.)

Pienso que técnicamente Susana toca fabulosamente, pero -- a mis oídos, por lo menos -- su estilo es extremadamente sensibleroide. Por supuesto, el gusto musical de cada uno puede ser distinto. Quizás es así porque está jugando simplemente lo cuál estamos dispuestos a comprar. Hay gaiteros mucho más interesantes (gallegos y asturianos), pero Susana ha vendido más CDes que la mayoría.

Puesto que ella es gallega, enumeraré dos de mis bandas gallegas favoritas que utilicen gaitas: Luar Na Lubre (tenían un álbum llamado "Plenilunio") y Leixaprén (con un álbum, "Gaitropos").

Hey Art,
Thanks for the feedback. But could you clarify for me what you meant by "smaltzy". Since I have no frame of reference or criteria for evaluating gaitas, I turn to you and the A-AMF community to educate me as to what is considered "good" gaita music. I enjoyed the Susana Servaine videos because she's youthful and energetic and the style of performance fits into my "americanized" idea of what a music concert should be. Maybe the "purists" in the forum could help me see the light. Looking forward to your responses.

Schmalz and schmalzy are yiddish words related to chicken fat, which was used for cooking much as we use butter and oil. But it has other meanings, too. Schmaltz (the noun) and schmaltzy (the adjective) have an informal meaning of excessively sentimental, or flowery music or art, or maudlin sentimentality.

What about Seivane's music is schmalzy? This is subjective, so you can take my thoughts with a grain of salt. The video you posted earlier is typical of her work. To my ear, the tunes have sing-songy quality (which I would define as monotonous and predictable in rhythm or melody). I think her style of playing trivializes the tunes and the tradition. Of course, technically, she is very good.

Some of her music on that video sounds like the work of a polka band or klezmer band. And I would guess that neither are strongly related to traditional Galician music.

But her audience loves her music. Is that because she creates a party-atmosphere? I've been to flamenco concerts in Spain where the audience, many of whom had obviously been drinking heavily, taunted the performers for fun. The flamenco performers were serious musicians and I don't think they enjoyed the party. Well, at least in Seivane's case, the performer is enjoying the party and participates in creating it.

A broader issue, I think, is: What can contemporary musicians do to draw their audiences into getting to know and appreciate their tradition? Each generation brings something new to the tradition, so it's ever changing. I wonder, though, if Seivane's music diverges from the tradition so much that very little of it is preserved. So is she primarily preserving or primarily burying the tradition?

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"Schmalz" y "schmalzy" son palabras yiddish relacionadas con la grasa del pollo, que fue utilizada para cocinar en una manera que utilizamos mantequilla y aceite. Pero tienen otros significados, también. Schmaltz (el sustantivo) y schmaltzy (el adjetivo) tienen un significado informal para música o arte excesivamente sentimental, o florido, o sentimentalismo muy llorón.

¿Cuál aspecto de la música de Seivane es schmalzy? Esto es subjetivo, así que puedes tomar mis pensamientos con un grano de la sal. El vídeo que notaste anteriormente es típico de su trabajo. Como lo oigo yo, las canciones tienen una calidad de "sing-song" (lo que defino como un rítmo o melodía monótono y previsible). Pienso que su estilo de tocar trivializas las melodiás y la tradición. Por supuesto, técnicamente, toca muy bien.

Algo de su música en ese vídeo suena como el trabajo de una banda del polca o una banda del klezmer, ni una ni otra conjeturo estarían relacionado fuertemente con la música gallega tradicional.

Pero su audiencia ama su música. ¿Es porque ella crea una atmósfera de fiesta? En España he asistido conciertos del flamenco en que la audiencia, mucha de que obviamente habían emborrachando, para divertirse se provocaron mediante burlas y chiflas a los intérpretes. Los cantantes del flamenco eran músicos serios y no creo que gozaron de la fiesta. Pues, por lo menos en el caso de Seivane, la intérprete está gozando de la fiesta y participa en crearlo.

Una cuestión más seria, creo, es: ¿Qué pueden hacer los músicos contemporáneos para que sus audiencias aprenden y aprecian su tradición? Cada generación trae algo nuevo a la tradición, así que está cambiando siempre. Me pregunto, aunque, si la música de Seivane diverge de la tradición tanto que muy poco está preservada. ¿Está principalmente preservando la tradición o está principalmente enterrándola?