Spanish Guitar, Popular Songs

¡Hola! I couldn't help sharing this video with you. There are some Spanish Guitar popular songs, all of them very beautiful. I hope you like it.

¡Hasta pronto! ;)

 P.D.: Thanks to the author of the video!

¡Celebra la vida! ;)

Axel - Celebra la vida

¡Hola amigos! Today I have a beatiful song that claims you to celebrate the life :D
Let's ¡Celebra la vida!

¡Sed felices! :)
('You all be happy!')

P.D.: We also celebrate to see a click on some ad, so don't hesitate doing it :)))

Spanish Sayings 2

SPANISH SAYINGS 2

¡Hola! :) Here I am, to share with you two Spanish sayings that you can use in a daily conversation.

-> ¡Se lo merecía! (because of being a nice person)
It couldn't have happened to a nicer bloke/person!

Ejemplo:
-> Ganó 150000€ en la lotería. ¡Se lo merecía! :)
He won 150000€ on the lottery. Couldn't have happened to a nicer person! 

As in English, it can be used to express just the opposite, i.e., that someone really deserves a bad thing that has happened to him/her.

Ejemplo:
-> Siempre se reía de nosotros y hoy un chico se ha reído de él y lo ha hecho llorar. ¡Se lo merecía! 
He always laugh at us and today a boy laugh at him and he started to cry. Couldn't have happened to a nicer person!

We can translate that sentence into English as 'He/she deserved it!"

-> Ser de buen corazón
-> Ser buena persona
(one's) heart's in the right place

Ejemplo:
-> Pedro siempre ayuda a sus vecinos y escucha a sus amigos cuando tienen problemas. ¡Es buena persona! / ¡Es de buen corazón!
Pedro always help his neighbours and listen to his friends when they have some problems. His heart is in the right place!

I hope you like it ;) If it is, let us know it  by clicking on an advertisement :)))

¡Buenas noches!
(Have a good night!)

Beautiful flamenco for you!

¡Hola a todos! Recently I have watched a beautiful flamenco video on youtube that I want to share with you. You just need to listen to the music and how she dances with it. It's energic, passionate and emotional.

I hope you like it. ¡Disfrutadlo! :)

 

¡Nos vemos! ;)

(See you soon)

Arabic Iberia, a fascinating Spanish history (Part II)

¡Hola a todos! :) The second part of Arabic Iberia is here, so let's go for it!

As I was saying... Later, the kings that had done that huge war and won it were Fernando of Aragón and Isabel of Castilla, who married each other and became the Catholic Kings. Their marriage was the official beginning of our current (Kingdom of) Spain :).

 

There were 4 kingdoms during the Reconquest: Portugal, Castilla, Navarra and Aragón. As I have said, during that time and after that time, Castilla continued growing and absorbed the other kingdoms, until it was the only kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula in 1492.

Maybe we could say that Spain was born and was build on the basis of a religious and militar expansion project against the Islamic kingdom of that time in order to recover the Iberian Peninsula for the christian kingdoms.

 

And that's already a lot of History for today! :) Now I recommend you to take a nap to refresh all this information in your mind (I will need it as well haha).

¡Qué tengáis un buen día! :)
(Have a nice day!)

Arabic Iberia, a fascinating Spanish history (Part I)

¡Hola! :) As I said in my last post, here I am again, now on time :D
Today I want to tell you about the Arabic Iberian Peninsula, i.e. what the Iberian Peninsula was before really being what we know today as Spain.
Actually, a friend of mine asked me about this part of the Spanish History, so I thought that's a fantastic idea and I decided to prepare a post about that ;)

Before the Spanish people (as we know them at present), there were arabic people in the Iberian Peninsula. They were in the Iberian Peninsula for eight centuries (yes! not a lot... really? haha). There also were some christian visigoth kingdoms that loose their territories (not a lot in that moment) against them in 711.

The best period of time of that 'Islamic Iberian' people was when the huge and important arabic Caliphate of Córdoba appeared after an arabic emir autoproclamates himself as a 'prince of the believers'.

That caliphate was one of the most important and prosperous urban centers of Europe, compared to the christian kingdoms that were going through a period of absolute decadency.

But all this history changed from 711, when the remains of the christian kingdoms began to be stronger and stronger, and began the Reconquest.
The Reconquest needed as much time as the arabic people were in the Iberian Peninsula: 781 years.  So it didn't finish until 1492.

The Reconquest began in the Batlle of Covadonga, which a noble visigoth called Pelayo won, and then he established the first christian non-visigoth (anymore) kingdom called Kingdom of Asturias.

And that's already a lot of History for today! :) Now I recommend you to take a nap to refresh all this information in your mind (I will need it as well haha) and wait expectantly for the second part (huhu).

¡Qué tengáis un buen día! :)
(Have a nice day!)

Eres tú como el agua de mi fuente... la la la :)

¡Hola a todos! :) (Hello everybody!) I came back from a trip to another city during this weekend and I see that my last post was on Thursday :O ¡Oh, Dios mío! (Oh my God!) I thought inmediately. And I write this post for you all :).

I want to let you know you are very important for the blog and its development, so here you have a very well-known Spanish song ("un clásico" :D ) called "Eres tú", because you are 'el agua de la fuente', the water of the fountain, with this I meant the main strenght of this blog jeje :D Qué bueno, ¿verdad? :) (So nice, isn't it?)

¡Disfrutadlo! :)

¡Hasta pronto, lo prometo! :)
(See you soon, I promise it!)

Alegría! - Spanish Expressions 2

¡Alegría! 

¡Hola! :) Sorry for the delay to post again, I have been busy this week. But I
guess that I come here with an interesting post for you :)
¡Alegría! What's that? You can translate it as happiness, however it's different from the Spanish word for happiness, that is 'felicidad'.
Alegría could probably translated as a mix of joy and fun hehe.
And here you have some useful expresssions about it :)

(estar) loco de alegría - (to be) blown away

       Ejemplo: Hoy Pedro está loco de alegría porque ha aprobado el exámen.

                      Today Pedro is blown away because he passed the exam.

(estar) encantado de la vida - thrilled to bits

       Ejemplo: ¿Cómo estás, Juan? Tengo un buen trabajo y tiempo libre,
                      ¡estoy encantado de la vida!

                      ¿How are you, Juan? I have a good job and free time,
                      ¡I'm thrilled to bits!

más contento que unas pascuas - happy as a cloud

       Ejemplo: Terminó su carrera y está más contento que unas pascuas.

                      He finished his degree and he's happy as a cloud.

más feliz que una perdiz - happy as a cloud (2)

       Ejemplo: Terminó su carrera y está más feliz que una perdiz.

                      He finished his degree and he's happy as a cloud.


I hope this has been useful for you all, and hope to see you around here soon enough! :)

Spanish Guitar, so nice sounds :)

A famous Spanish instrument

¡Hola! :D Today I share with you this video of Spanish guitar music, with some famous pieces. I have enjoyed it, I hope you all too :)
It's a recopilation, so it lasts an hour and a quarter to finish haha but you don't need to hear all the video, you can just hear some pieces and stop it.
It's perfect to play it while you're working or maybe just to chill-out hehe.

Disfrutadlo! :)
Enjoy it!

Expresiones sobre el pajar - Expressions about the haystack

¡Hola! :) Today I will show you two Spanish expressions more, both of them related to the haystacks hehe. Here you have them!

¡Es como buscar una aguja en un pajar!

Example:
A: ¿Has encontrado el papel amarillo?
B: Todavía no, ¡es como buscar una aguja en un pajar!

Translation:
A: Have you found the yellow paper?
B: Not yet, ¡it's (as difficult) as looking for a needle in a haystack!

Explanation: When you're looking for something, and it is mixed with a lot of other similar things, and it's very very difficult to be found because of that, you could use this expression.

 

Separar el grano de la paja

Example:

Ese libro explica muchas cosas inútiles, así que tenemos que separar el grano de la paja y quedarnos con lo útil.

Translation:

That book explains lots of unuseful things, so we have to separate the grain from the hay and keep the useful things.

Explanation: 

When you obtain a new information about something, but a lot of the contents in that information doesn't really talk about the main thing that you are looking for, then you need to "separar el grano de la paja" to have just what you wanted from that information.

 

And that's all for today! Visit the blog frequently to read new posts :)

¡Buenas noches! :)

Have a good night!

A caballo regalado, no le mires el dentado!

¡Hola! :) Today I have a Spanish common expression for you.

"A caballo regalado, no le mires el dentado"

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

So when someone gives you a present, it's better to accept it without checking its quality or complaining about it. Just take it and say thanks to that friend, because it's free! :)

¡Hasta pronto! :)

The languages of Spain: there's not only Spanish! :)

¡Hola! :) Today I want to let you know something about Spain that a lot of people from other countries don't know, as I have seen.

Most of the people think that in Spain there is one language: the Spanish language. It looks evident and of course it is. But that is not the only language we have. Actually there are 4 languages in Spain! :)

You need to know that Spanish is the main language, the language which all Spanish people know and speak as a native language. But appart from it, there are big zones in Spain, groups of cities, that also have another official language, spoken by a lot of people of that places.

For instance, myself hehe. I'm Spanish but I come from Menorca, a little island where people also speak Menorcan, a dialect of the Catalan language which is spoken in the Balearic Islands, in Cataluña, and even in some little cities in France and Italy.

Here you have an example of each other first language that Spanish people could have depending on their birth places :)

English: 

Hello! How are you? I'm fine thanks, and you?

Spanish: 

¡Hola! ¿Cómo estás? Estoy bien, gracias. ¿Y tú?

Catalan: 

Hola! Com estàs? Estic bé, gràcies. I tu?

Galician: 

Ola! Como está? Estou ben, grazas. Vostede?

Basque: 

 Kaixo! Nola zaude? Fina naiz, mila esker. Egin duzu?

I guess you are now newly surprised about Spanish culture if you didn't know this, and I hope that you like it! :D

¡Hasta pronto!
Fins aviat!
Vexo vostedes en breve!
Laster arte!
See you soon! 

Carnaval de Canarias, probably the best Spanish carnival celebrations!

¡Hola! :) Today I want to share talk to you about this very famous celebration that takes place in las Islas Canarias every year. Actually I have never been there, but as I have heard it's a huge celebration, maybe near the well-known Brazilian Carnival celebration.

Moreover, there is a well-known kind of competition in which there are girls that wear really big and decorated costumes and show it to the people. As far as I know, there is a team behind each of that costumes, and it tooks months for them to prepare the costumes. It would be really interesting to go there in Carnival to see it! :)

Here you have some images and a little video, as I like to do.
Enjoy it! :)

 

 

¡Hasta pasado mañana! :)
See you the day after tomorrow!

It's something! - Spanish Sayings 1

I would like to post some Spanish sayings that Spanish people often use, so you can study the ones that are more used and leave that others less used.
In this post I will show you some sayings that tell what you have is not totally bad, at least.

¡Algo es algo! - It's something.

Explanation: You could have obtained nothing from an action, but at least you obtained something, so you have to feel good for that.

Example:
- No podemos ir al cine pero por lo menos podemos ver una película en casa.
- Tienes razón, ¡algo es algo!

Translation:
- We can't go to the cinema but at least we can watch a movie at home.
- You're right, it's something!

Es mejor que nada - It's better than nothing

Explanation: It refers to the fact that if you have obtained nothing from an action, it would have been clearly worse, and because of it you have to feel good for the current result.

Example:
- Somos tres personas y ahora sólo tenemos una galleta para comer.
- Bueno, es mejor que nada...

Translation:
- We are three people and now we only have one cookie for eating.
- Well, it's better than nothing...

Más vale pájaro en mano, que ciento volando - One bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. (Literraly =  One bird in the hand is worth a hundred of them flying)

Explanation: It refers to the fact that is better to have something for sure than aim to have more being in risk of loosing everything.

Example:
- ¡Qué mal! Si hubiera jugado un rato más, habría ganado más dinero...
- No pienses así, más vale pájaro en mano que ciento volando.

Translation:
- That's so bad! If I have played for some more time, I would have won more money...
- Don't think so, it's better

Es mejor estar sólo que mal acompañado -  Better alone than poorly accompanied. 

Explanation: It's better to stay alone than going with bad people (friends, boy/girlfriend or other people in general).

Example:
- La novia de Juan dejó a Juan por otro hombre después de seis meses de relación.
- Fuf, pobre Juan... sabes que, es mejor estar sólo que mal acompañado.

Translation:
- Juan's girlfriend left Juan for another man after just six months of relationship.
- Uf, poor Juan... you know, better alone than poorly accompanied.

Más vale poco y bueno que mucho y malo. (Literally = A few and good is worth lots and bad [friends])

Explanation: It means that is always better to have a few trustful and loyal friends than a lot of friends that are not reliable and could hurt you, so they are not really good friends.

Example:
- Roberto tiene muchos amigos y yo sólo tengo dos amigos...
- Pero tus amigos son amigos íntimos, y Roberto en realidad no tiene ningún amigo íntimo. No olvides que más vale poco y bueno que mucho y malo.

Translation:
- Robert has a lot of friends and I only have two friends...
- But your friends are very close friends, and actually Robert doesn't have any close friend. Don't forget that 'a few and good is worth lots and bad'.


And that's all for today! I hope you like it. Don't forget to read the note below ;)
¡Hasta pronto! :)

Español, the fastest language!

¡Hola! :) I just have found a very interesting video! It says that Spanish is the fastest spoken language that exists at present. I'm not sure at all if it's true or not, but I admit that Spanish can be spoken in a way that each word is very near the words beside them, so it could seem fast hehe.
Anyway, it doesn't have too long words and the pronunciation is easier than the most of the language, I think. Moreover, the writting is very intuitive because it follows almost exactly the way Spanish is spoken.

¡Disfrutad del vídeo! :)
Enjoy the video!

Las castañuelas, a Spanish traditional musical instrument

¡Hola! :) Today I want to talk about the Spanish castañuelas. There is a different between the ones made of wood (called castañuelas) and the ones made of metal (cróstalos), but Spanish people in general know them all as castañuelas :).

Spanish castañuelas comes from an ancient kind of castañuelas called iberian "crusmata".

As you probably know, the castañuelas are a very famous instrument used in the flamenco dances as the Spanish sevillanas (a topic for another post ;) ) and also in some well-known orquestas like Carmen de Bizet, The Rapsody España of Chabier, and the ballet El Cid of Massenet, to give them a 'Spanish feeling'. Even Wagner used castañuelas for his song 'Venusberg'.

Actually, the origin of the castañuelas dates back to the Phoenicians, in the year 1000 b.C. Also Egypt, Chinese and Greek people used castañuelas even before Spanish people. There are evidences about their existence even in the Paleolithic! So probably it's one of the first musical instruments that human being have created. 

But Spanish people have conserved, used them, and castañuelas have evolved since the first ones. In the other countries they didn't evolved as Spanish castañuelas did. And they are still being used! :)

Now I leave you with a beautiful video of flamenco dance with castañuelas. Enjoy it! :)

I hope you like my post about Spanish castañuelas.
¡Hasta pronto! :)

Golden Waves, another song of Armik

¡Hola! :)
I hope you enjoyed the guitar music of Armik that I posted in another post, because today I want to let you listen and enjoy this other song of Armik :) I really like it, I hope you like it too hehe. Enjoy it!

At least I guess you will play the video, isn't it? ;)
¡Que tengáis un buen día! :D
I wish you have a nice day today!

La paella española

What is the Paella?

Paella is a typical Spanish food. The main ingredient is rice coloured with species. Moreover, it use to contain chicken meat, prawns, seafood, green peas, etc. We have different kinds of paella, so there are paellas that has meat more than fish, and there are other paellas that has fish more than meat, etc. Anyway, the biggest paellas are made in Valencia. 

Those paellas are so huge that they need several people to prepare them!

Origins of Paella

Linguists believe that the word paella comes from the name of the pan it is made in - the Latin term patella, a flat plate on which offerings were made to the Gods.

It was in the mid-nineteenth century that modern paella was created in an area around Albufera (a fresh water lagoon near the city of Valencia). At lunch time, workers in the fields would make the rice dish in a flat pan over a fire,, mixing in whatever they could find.

Source: about.com

Curious origin, without any doubt! And now it's so delicious :D

 

¡Que tengas un buen día!

Have a good day!

El Mío Cid

¡Hola! :) Taking advantage from the last post, I would like to share with you this video of the beginning of the Cantar del Mío Cid.
El Mío Cid was a legendary man that conquers a lot of territories to the arabic people that were in Spain centuries ago, when the Spanish Kingdom was still being developed and was trying to conquer all the Iberian Peninsula.
The amazing thing in this video is the fact that the boy who recorded it tried to speak in old castilian spanish, and it's amazing to hear it because it has changed a lot :D
Enjoy it! :)

¡Que vaya bien!
Everything goes well with you!

Don Quijote de la Mancha

Don Quijote (Don Quixote) is a novel by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. It's full title is 'El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha' (The ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha).

When the Spanish teenagers go to the high-school, they have to read part or all this book in their Spanish classes. It's an important book of the Spanish culture and literature. Anyway, its way of writting is actually old, only used centuries ago, but in spite of that I was impressed by that book.

It's also a beautiful Spanish, and I thing that is good to feel respect and admiration for all that changes that languages make during their lifes.
I have also read some thing about the Old English and its way of being written in the past, and I was impressed by that too :) Really curious!

¡Hasta más ver, osado caballero! :)
Till the next time, brave knight!

Canción del Pirata - José de Espronceda

¡Hola piratas! :D Today I want to show you a poem written in the 19th century by one of my favourite Spanish poets, José de Espronceda.

The poem talks about the freedom of the pirates from the authorities and the governors, and all the responsabilities that this freedom implies for them.

José de Espronceda - La canción del pirata
 

Con diez cañones por banda,

viento en popa a toda vela,

no corta el mar, sino vuela,

un velero bergantín;

bajel pirata que llaman

por su bravura el Temido

en todo el mar conocido

del uno al otro confín. 

...

You can find the whole lyric here :)

You can find its translation here :)

A beautiful recitation of the poem :)

And here you can watch a video of this poem put in a song by the rock group Tierra Santa, a really good song (yeah! haha :) ). Enjoy it! :)

¡Nos vemos! 

See you!

Fiestas de San Fermín in Pamplona, Spain

Hola! As I'm from Menorca, a little island of Spain located in the Balearic Islands, I have never seen any bull running like in the Fiestas de San Fermín. But I have to admit that this fiestas are really incredible and amazing. The people runs in front of the bulls to avoid them, and everybody is there seeing and enjoying that traditional and important Spanish celebration.

The Fiestas de San Fermín begin in July, as the traditional song says :)

" ¡1 de Enero, 2 de Febrero, 3 de Marzo, 4 de Abril... 5 de Mayo, 6 de Junio, 7 de Julio... San Fermín! "

Today is the 4th day of this fiesta, and as I read in elpais.com, a well-known national newspaper in its online version, during the 4th day the bulls runs faster than any other day in the celebration, and in a shorter period of time.

I leave two images for you, a little video and the source of the news here. Enjoy it! :)

Source of the news: http://ouo.io/9kBcb

¡Hasta la próxima!
See you in the next post!

Armik, the Armenian flamenco guitarist

¡Hola! I would like to share with you this Spanish guitar music (played by an Armenian man, but really flamenco and nice guitarist without any doubt). Here you have the video, enjoy it! :)

Youtube link: http://ouo.io/pCrL77

¡Hasta pronto!
See you soon!