Colombians reacted to the news that the US Secret Service agents were caught up in a sex scandal in a truly Caribbean way: José Quessep Primera wrote a champeta song dedicated to the poor "knuckleheads" involved in the "night out" in Cartagena.
Esta es la historia de los gringos (bis) |
Fuerteventura may be far away from Seville, but from 21 to 29 April, we also have Feria de Abril — right here in C.C. El Campanario, with live acts, flamenco dress fashion and horse show... Don't miss it!
This week's song is famous A bailar, a bailar by Cantores de Híspalis.
Whenever you order a cup of coffee (or tea) in Canaries, you have an opportunity to learn a bit of vernacular. The Canarian company, Café Ortega, came up with a brilliant idea: to put Canarian words (canarismos) where they are least expected... on sugar sachets. I don't take sugar with my hot drinks, but when I saw a sachet with the word zumbadera on it, I just had to take action. And when I say action, I mean a bit of internet research. Luckily for me, some people not only collect sugar sachets, but share their treasures with the world. Adriana, a schoolgirl and a budding sucrologist from Gran Canaria, did just that. I used many of the words from her collection in the table below.
Mind you, these sugar-sachet definitions of canarismos can be tricky, and not just for chonis (foreign tourists) but for the Spanish speakers too. For example, matraquilla is defined as "pesado con idea fija, obsesión, guineo". Guineo? In Collins Spanish-English Dictionary, guineo means "banana". But according to Léxico Canario y Palabras Canarias guide, guineo means "repetitive talk" or "nonsense". Or take mago: "campurrio, maúro, hombre del campo" — both campurrio and maúro are Canarian words themselves.
Spanish Wikipedia classifies canarismos as follows:
The latter include those "borrowed" from Guanche language, for instance baifo, gofio, or tabaiba; Portuguese, such as margullar or millo; and English, e.g. bisne (business), fonil (funnel) or quinegua (King Edward potato).
| aboyado | harto de comer, lleno hasta reventar |
| ahuevado | con forma esférica o de huevo |
| alongarse | asomarse, proyectar el busto hacia adelante |
| arrente | a ras, próximo a, seguido de |
| baifo | cabrito |
| baña | barriga, chicha, gordura |
| belingo | fiesta, jolgorio |
| bembas | labios (generalmente gruesos) |
| bisne | negocio de carácter trapisondista |
| bochinche | cafetín, taberna, cantina |
| cachimba | pipa para fumar tabaco |
| cachorro | sombrero que usa el canario |
| cambado | curvado, torcido, doblado |
| cartucho | bolsa de papel para envolver |
| chispar | lloviznar, llover ligeramente |
| choni | turista extranjero, guiri |
| destupir | desatascar, dejar libre el paso de una corriente del agua |
| encabronarse | irritarse, ponerse furioso |
| enyesque | tapa, pequeña porción de alimento para acompañar la bebida |
| escoñar | estropear, dejar algo inservible |
| escobillón | el cepillo de barrer |
| fañoso | que habla con pronunciación nasal, constipado, resfriado |
| farruco | bravucón, matón |
| fechillo | cerrojo, pasador para cerrar puertas y ventanas |
| fonil | embudo |
| fósforo | cerilla |
| jalar | tirar de algo con la mano |
| jeito | maña, habilidad |
| jeringarse | fastidiarse, conformarse |
| jocico | boca, principalmente de animal aunque también se usa para personas |
| liña | cuerdas para tender la ropa |
| mago | campurrio, maúro, hombre del campo |
| magua | pena, desconsuelo, añoranza |
| majada | golpe (normalmente en las manos) |
| margullar | bucear, sumergirse |
| matraquilla | pesado con idea fija, obsesión, guineo |
| molido | cansado |
| ñoños | dedos de los pies |
| partigazo | tortazo contra el suelo, peñazo |
| pastuño | excremento de animal o persona |
| pelete | frío |
| queque | bizcocho (postre) |
| quinegua | tipo de papa (proviene del inglés King Edward) |
| raña | sucio, encachazado |
| rayar | anotar puntos de la partida "arrayar" |
| rodarse | desplazarse hacia un lado |
| rosca | palomita de maíz |
| ruín | 1. Se dice del niño muy travieso, inquieto y revoltoso. 2. Se dice de los alimentos con mal sabor. |
| sancochado | hervido, guisado |
| solajero | sol muy fuerte |
| sopladera | globo |
| tangonazo | beber de un golpe, lingotazo |
| templadera | borrachera |
| tenderete | fiesta, reunión de gente divirtiéndose |
| tenique | piedra grande |
| tolete | lerdo, torpe |
| tonga | pila o porción de cosas apiladas en orden |
| ventorrillo | quiosco de feria de comidas y bebidas |
| verguilla | alambre de hierro |
| zarandajo | informal, persona en la que no se puede confiar |
| zumbadera | aturdimiento, atontamiento |
...is The Girl is Gone — a tasty flamenco-funk-R&B fudge I mean, fusion from the New York City band Caramelo. Their debut album Ride is out on May 29, 2012.
El Choclo was composed at the turn of the 20th Century by Argentine Ángel Villoldo. According to Roberto Selles,
Undoubtedly, next to La cumparsita it is the tango tune most widely spread.
The vocal versions of El Choclo were recorded by Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, Julio Iglesias and many others. But I'd rather stick to the instrumental. I really like this rendition by Italian jazz pianist Paolo Di Sabatino.
...is Oriente by Guadalupe Victoria Yolí Raymond, better known as La Lupe. This song appears on El Rey y Yo, her 1967 recording with Tito Puente.
