Luciérnagas / Pirilampos

(Glow-worms)

English translation by Chris Dove

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1. Glow-worms     (J. Climent)
 

With Héctor López (cajón)

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2. On the Banks of the Douro / Riomanzanas Passacaglia (J. Climent / Traditional)
 

With Pilar López Ballarín (tambourine), Héctor López (cajón) and Juanma Sánchez (bassoon).

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The first tune is a mixture of waltz and bourrée inspired by Iberian and French melodies. Very special thanks to Luis Vaquero Sanabria, piper of Urzes, folk band of the Home of Zamora in Madrid, for remembering it when I had forgotten. The second piece was collected in Riomanzanas (Aliste, Zamora) by Alberto Jambrina and José Manuel González Matellán on 24 September 1983. It was originally performed by Gabriel de la Fuente.

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3. March of the Crickets (J. Climent)
 

With Jaime Muñoz (baroque flute).

 

4. Alingolondró (How Would You Know Your Husband?) (Traditional)
 

With Pilar López Ballarín (voice)

 

Collected from Doña María Barrio in Pedralba de la Pradera (Sanabria, Zamora) in 1984 by Rafa Martín, Quique Almendros and myself. Doña María didn’t sing us the whole story; the end of the song was missing. I have returned to the University of Washington archive of Spanish ballads to complete the lyrics. In the original version, the undisclosed husband rejects the wife’s offers one by one with the line “But what would you give, My Lady…”

 

One day as I sat sewing / Alingolondró (Fol-the-dol-the-dol)
Sewing silk and embroidering / Alingolondrero (Fol-the-dol-the-dero)
I saw a gentleman riding by / High in Sierra Morena
I stepped up and asked him / If he’d come from the war
From the war I come, My Lady / Why do you ask?
I ask about my husband dear / Seven long years he is gone there
Seven long years, nearly eight / And never a line he’s written me
How would you know your husband? / How would you know him in the war?
He rides a bonny white horse / The saddle black and gold
And painted on the stirrup leather / Is a picture of his lady
From everything that you have said / I do believe your husband’s dead
What would you give, My Lady / To have him back alive?
I would give my hundred cows / And a wee bull to go with them
I would give my hundred mules / And a wee horse to go with them
I’d give my hundred ewes / And a good young ram to go with them
I’d give the hundred doubloons / That I keep here in my purse
What would you give, My Lady / If your husband were worth more?
I have no more to give you / If more I had, I’d give it
I’ll bring your husband to you / If you give your white legs to me
To serve you right I’d give you / The sharp end of a bull’s horn!
What would I want my husband for / If I gave my white legs to you?
Come to my arms, my own one / For I was and am your husband
Husband, you have done me wrong / To treat me in this way!

 

5. Peñaranda Charrada (Traditional dance from Peñaranda)
 

With Blanca Altable (fiddle), Rocío Garde (bouzouki) and Pilar López Ballarín (drum).

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From Peñaranda de Bracamonte (Salamanca), original composer or performer unknown. It formed part of the repertoire of the mythical dulzaina (shawm) band, Los Talaos. Felix Sánchez included it in the first album of the series: Arte de la Dulzaina (Art of the Shawm) (Dial, 1983).

 

6. Musette (J.S. Bach)
 

From the English Suite N° 3, BWV 808. With Rafa Martín (hurdy gurdies).

 

Musettes were pieces with a pastoral air that formed part of the baroque dance suites. Having a bass drone, they could be played on a musette (bagpipe). I thought it would be fun to play this one on the pipes (cornemuse in D) with Rafa on hurdy gurdies.

 

7. Hard times I’ve had (Traditional)
 

With Pilar López Ballarín (voice)

 

Collected from Doña María Barrio in Pedralba de la Pradería (Sanabría, Zamora) in 1984 by Rafa Martín, Quique Almendros and myself. The final couplet comes from H. Barrio and A. Espina “Oral tradition at the border: Calabor (1925-1936)” an article published in Revista de Folklore (Folklore Review) number 134 (1992).

 

Up the street and down the street / I’m perishing of cold
When will you pay me, Madam / For the hard times I’ve endured
Once, I own, I yielded / And opened doors and windows
But now my will is firm / I keep them all fast shut
Crying I was born, they say / And that may very well be
How often in my mother’s arms / I would have lain crying
High up there / I heard singing and I cried
“Damn” my youth / That brought me little pleasure
Stand up, young man, stand up / For up above am I
Higher up is the honour / Your wicked tongue took from me

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8. Lusco-fusco (J. Climent and Rocío Garde)
 

With Rocío Garde (accordion)

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Lusco-fusco is sunset in Portuguese and the tune is dedicated to good times spent watching the sun go down into the Atlantic in Portugal. I composed the tune in ten minutes but didn’t record it in time and completely forgot it. Almost a year later it came back into my head (or rather my fingers) just as it had the first time. Many thanks to Rocío for finding the pulse and the harmony it wanted.

 

9. The Way (J. Climent)
 

With Héctor López (cajón)

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An old composition of mine for bagpipe trio. Rescued again in extremis thanks to some four track cassette recordings going back to about 1996.

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10. Passacalle (L. Boccherini)
 

From the quintetino Musica Notturna delle Strade di Madrid Op. 30, G324. With Diego Sánchez (acoustic guitar), Rocío Garde (bouzouki), Pilar López Ballarín (tambourine) and Jaime Muñoz (baroque flute).

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Another folkified rendering of a famous classical piece based, in turn, on traditional or popular XVIII Century Madrid music. This piece was part of our live repertoire in the Mirando Nubes ensemble in 2017.

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11. Lobeznos Serenade / Pedrazales Reveille (Traditional)
 

With Pilar López Ballarín (tambourine) and Juanma Sánchez (bassoons)

 

The ronda (serenade) was collected from Don José Rodríguez in Lobeznos (Sanabria, Zamora) in 1984 by Rafa Martín, Quique Almendros and myself. The alboreada (dawn awakening tune) is part of the repertoire of brothers Modesto and Tarsicio Espada (Los Gaiteros de Pedrazales -The Pedrazales Pipers). Manuel Otero and I recorded it on two bagpipes on the CD “De Urzes y Madroños” (Of Heathers and Arbutus), published by Casa de Zamora en Madrid (Home of Zamora in Madrid).

 

Tonight’s the night / When I will have
Joy or sadness / Pain or relief
Come on, lass, it’s late
We don’t want the nightwatch to catch us out on the street
If the nightwatch catch us / I have an excuse
I’ll say I’ve been / To say the rosary
Come on, lass...
Come on, lads / It’s nearly dawn
Each man to serenade his lady / As I do mine
Come on, lass...

 

12. Valse dos Pirilampos (J. Climent)
 

The title means The Glow-worm Waltz in Portuguese.

Glow-worms are coleoptera of the Lampiridae family. They feed on slugs and snails. Their disappearance from many places is due to a lack of humid zones and the abuse of chemicals in private and market gardens and orchards but more than anything to light pollution. Paradoxically, the use of more energy efficient lighting is exacerbating the excess of nocturnal light. This has reached a point where, if it was a luxury for our recent ancestors to have light by night, now truly dark nights are the exception. To recover the magic lights of the glow-worms we must reconcile ourselves with the primordial dark of night and all its sounds, a treasure we have lost almost before we realised how much we needed it.

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Bonus: The Lonesome Fiddler (Traditional)

Slow reel composed by the traditional Irish fiddler Eddie Kelly (Co. Galway, Ireland, 1933). I first heard it from an anonymous fiddler at the Nuechi Celta (Celtic Night) in Corao (Asturias) in 1984. Thanks to the kind assistance of my friend the great fiddler, Matt Early, in 2016 I managed to get in touch with Éilís Crean, an Irish fiddler living in the USA who specialises in the style of Eddie Kelly. Éilís sent me a fantastic video tutorial that helped me to unpick the tune in a matter of hours, something I had been unable to do in 22 years! Thanks a million, Éilís.

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José Climent: mandolin, violins, octave mandola , ukulele, bagpipes, tin whistle, drums, electric bass, acoustic guitar, assorted percussions, sequencing (cellos) and singing. 
Héctor López: cajon (1, 2 y 9). Pilar López Ballarín: singing (4 y 7), tambourine (2 y 10), drum (5). Juanma Sánchez: bassoon (2 y 11). Jaime Muñoz: flute (baroque traverso, 3 y 10). Blanca Altable: violin (5). Rocío Garde: bouzouki (5 y 10), accordion (8). Rafa Martín: hurdie-gurdies (6). Diego  Sánchez: acoustic guitar (10). 
Original graphic artwork by Javier Olivares

Thanks to Javier Olivares, Chris Dove, Éilís Crean, Pío Fernández, Alberto Jambrina, Fernando Llorente, Matt Early, Marcas Ó Murchú, Bé Colaço and of course to Regina Chambel and Artur and David Climent.
Recorded, mixed and mastered entirely with Audacity, at Aravaca (Madrid) between 2015 and 2019.