Asturian-American Migration Forum

Vaqueiras

(Note: in this song, the "ll" is pronounced as "ch", because it is in the vaqueira dialect of asturianu. This is called "ll vaqueira." I have seen it written as ts, and sometimes ll with a dot under each l, a character that I cannot reproduce on my keyboard. Improvements on my translation are always appreciated.)


El señor cura nun baille,
porque diz que tien corona,
baille señor cura, baille,
que Dios tou lo perdona.

La gracia qu'hai pa cantare
nin se compra, nin s'arrienda,
dala Dios a aquel que quier
y a mi deixóume ensin ella.

Todos vienen a mirare
cómo baillan las vaquieras,
son tan bonas pa baillare
como las perexileiras.


The priest doesn't dance,
because he says he has a tonsure,
dance, priest, dance,
And God will forgive you.

The attraction that there is to singing,
can neither be bought nor sold,
God gives it to whomever He pleases
and left me without it.

Everyone comes to see,
how the vaqueira women dance,
they are as good at dancing,
as the women who wear fancy clothes.

The "ll" is pronounced as "ch", because it is in the vaqueira dialect of asturianu. The "Academia dela Llingua Asturiana" propose to write the "ch"
on computers using a dot betwen the ls so its correct to write like this (L.L).

In handwriting the L.L is written with two dots under the LL.

¿De quién son aquel.los mal.los
que l.levan lus esquilones?
Son de Tomas de Cuatrinos
que lus trai muy fanfarrones

El galán que l.leva'l ramu
ya de Fulgueras, del "Richu"
ya´partense lus siñores
que delanti l.leva'l ril.lu

Yeras una buena moza
toda l.lena de figuras
y'an quitándote la albarda
tas l.lena de mataduras

You can also find another vaqueira song in this link. Note: the "tx" sounds like "l.l" but it's not Asturian, it's from the Basque language. It's shown there with "tx" just to not use the Castilian "ch".

Gracias, Chris, pola tua aportación. La mia mai naciera n'aquel.la zona ya préstame abondu l.ler cantares d'al.lá. Sólo quixera faer dos pequenas correiciones: "mal.los" escríbese ya pronúnciase "machos" porque ía referíu a los los machos de las mulas. Lo mesmu pasa colo "ril.lu" que nun ía con l.l senon "richu" porque vien de "rea", "reya" ou "reyu" (el cachu más importante del aráu). Estas dos cousas nun son muitu importantes porque ía un error abondu frecuenti lo de cambiar ch ya l.l, pero estas nun tienen el mesmo asunar, anque muito se paezan. L.l tien pronunciase "ts" ya non "ch". En xeneral, las palabras que'n l.latín escribíanse con L ou LL n'asturianu occidental son con L.L, pero las que vienen del CL, PL, etc. (p. ex llover: pluvere-chuver) son con CH ya pronúncianse ch.

Thank you, Chris. My mother was born in that area and I enjoy a lot reading songs from there. I only want to do two little corrections: "mal.los" is written and pronunced as "machos" because it refers to the male of the mule. The same happens to "ril.lu", that is not with l.l but "richu" because it comes from "rea", "reya" or "reyu" (the most important part of a plough). These two things are not very important because it's a very frequent mistake to change ch and l.l, but these don't sounds like the same despite they are very similar. L.l must be pronunced "ts" and not "ch". Generally, words that in latin were written with L or LL, in asturian are with L.L, but that ones that come from CL, PL, etc. (p. ex to rain: pluvere-chuver) are with CH and are pronunced as spanish ch.

Si os gusta la música Vaqueira, os invito a ver los 2 Vídeos y 19 fotos que he realizado del Festival y Boda Vaqueira 2012 en la braña de Aristébano (Valdés) http://videoblogasturias.com/2012/08/04 ... ristebano/
Es una de las referencias más importantes para la canción vaqueira
La Boda Vaqueira es fiesta de interés turístico nacional y en este caso se casó un concejal del ayuntamiento
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