El baile de Ávila
"This song is called "El baile de Ávila" - A Dance from Ávila. The medieval walled city of Ávila is in Castile and León province in Spain." -Nancy
El baile de Ávila
A Dance from Avila
Canción popular
Folk Song
(Spanish)
(English)
Por lo alto de aquella montaña
yo corto una caña, yo corto una flor.
Para labrador, labradora ha de ser.
Que quiero un labradorcillo
que coja las mulas, que sepa arar
y a la medianoche me venga a rondar
con las castañuelas, con el almirez
y la pandereta que retumbe bien.
On that far mountain top
I'm picking a reed, I'm picking a flower.
A farmer deserves a farmer's wife.
I want a nice farmer
Who controls the mules, who knows how to plow
And comes to woo me at my window at midnight
With his castanets, his mortar and pestle,*
And his great-sounding tambourine.
Notes
*When her suitor comes courting at midnight to her bedroom window, he strikes the brass mortar with the pestle on the inside so that it sounds like a bell. He keeps time with it in rapid succession (ding-dinga-ding-dinga-ding) and sings. He may also bring a tambourine and castanets to play or have his friends play.
