OJOS ESPAÑOLES - Hugo Avendaño

This morning someone over on YouTube posted a "Spanish Eyes."   I thought about Hugo Avendaño's version at once. 

Placido Domingo is way out  in front of nearly every one else with this song but in my mind there is one who stands head and shoulders above all the crowd -  Hugo Avendaño.

Hugo Avendaño Espinoza was born in Tuxpan, Veracruz, Mexico on 8 March 1927.  He died 5 January 1998 from pancreatic cancer.  In his youth he began medical studies but left that to learn  voice under Joseph Pierson who also was instructor to such greats as Jorge Negrete, Pedro Vargas, and Esquivel.   Leonard Warren was his teacher at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

Hugo Avendaño sang in many Verde operas across the Americas and enjoyed a popular career singing romantic Mexican songs.  He was married many years with the soprano Graziella Garza.  They had three children together.  This list of  Avendaño's lifetime achievements is long indeed.

Today we respectfully submit his version of OJOS ESPAÑOLES as perhaps the best ever sung.

Las Letras:
Son como el mar,
como el azul del cielo,
como el sol;
Son del color
de un clavel que empieza a despertar.
Son algo más
que las estrellas al anochecer,
¡Olé y olé!
Los ojos de la española
que yo amé
Yo fuí feliz,
mirando aquellos ojos
de mi amor;
Yo nunca ví
ni en el arco iris su color
Son algo más
que las estrellas al anochecer,
¡Olé y olé!
Los ojos de la española
que yo amé
ojos de amor, que nunca olvidaré

on english this is approximately:
They are like the sea,
as the blue sky,
like the sun;
Are the color
of a carnation that starts to awaken.

Are more
the stars at night,
Ole and Ole!
The eyes of the Spanish
I loved

I was happy,
looking at those eyes
of my love;
I never saw
rainbow or color

Are more
the stars at night,
Ole and Ole!
The eyes of the Spanish
I loved
eyes of love, I will never forget

Ojos Espanoles was written by Berthold Kämpfert (16 October 1923 – 21 June 1980) from Hamburg, Germany. Known in most of the world as "Spanish Eyes" the song has  been sung and heard almost everywhere.

and now the song:

Kotasierota has a particularly beautiful instrumental version of this song for which she has graciously offered Avendaño's version to be a response.


Richard Abel - Spanish Eyes

do sljedeći put, blagoslov - until next time, blessings,

Canovals a.k.a. Slavonac

12 Ožujak 2012

An open letter to Big Brother ...

Yesterday I heard how the Homeland Security People in the United States are monitoring all our "Social Networks," probably including our blogs.  This is intrusive and insulting and possibly damaging.   We all have heard about how even highly placed officials have been refused boarding passes on airplanes because somehow they made it onto some list or another the government keeps.  What I don't hear about is how the government replaces the cost of the airplane ticket when a person is refused boarding because of one of their mistakes. 

I'm fairly sure this blog has a pretty fair following in the United States government because I routinely talk about Mexico, the borderland area between Mexico and the United States, and Eastern Europe.  I appreciate this following.  It is nice that someone reads my blog.  Thank you Big Brother.  If I can get you to read it enough perhaps I can eventually make some money from Adsense or some such.   

Actually, I am hoping that Google monitors this blog as much as the government does.  This morning while I am signed in everywhere to Canovals, the Google Blog here insisted on signing me into Canovals2 which of course does not exist on their Blog system.  Clever, huh?   Google / YouTube also tries to sign in another account which uses Yahoo as my Yahoo Google account - only Google cannot find that account as a Google account so they try their hardest to get me to sign up for an account which I don't want.  And ... if I already have it, why can't they find it.  Clever, huh? 

This morning, Google has my blog in Croatian even though I've chosen English as the language we will use here and I've written quite a bit about that  just that to explain why.  Really clever folks these Google guys are, yes?

Big Brother, you would do me a big favor if you could pass this entry along to the really clever fellows over at Google so they  could think over their cleverness.  

do sljedeći put, blagoslov - until next time, blessings,

Canovals a.k.a. Slavonac

12 Ožujak 2012

NAPULJSKA GITARA - Crveni Koralji

So I dug up an old old song.  I like it.]

Crveni Koralji (Red Corals) are a rock and roll group from Zagreb.   First known as Crveni đavoli (Red devils)  or Crveni dječac (Red boys) ,  Crveni Koralji were the first band to sell over 100,000 records.  Back in the day there were not so many record players in all of Jugoslavia so that was quite an achievment.

Their heyday was the sixties and they still come out for nostalgic performances when they please.

Their singles are:
Rekla si: volimo se, ( PGP RTB 1963 .) 
Crvene ruže (Roses are red), Ja za ljubav dosad nisam znao (Things), sa Ivicom Šerfezijem (Jugoton 1964 .) 
Bez djevojke, Još uvijek se nadam, (Jugoton 1969 .) 
Their albums are:

Napuljska gitara, Maštanje, Zvjezdana noć, Dolazak - Andrlea, ( Jugoton, 1964 . EPY 3370) Peggy sue, Koliko dugo (Blowing in the Wind), Svadja, Noćas, sa Matt Collinsom (Jugoton 1964 .) 

Peggy sue, Koliko dugo (Blowing in the Wind), Svadja, Noćas, sa Matt Collinsom (Jugoton 1964 .) 

Najljepši san, dok je drugi ljubi (Then he kissed me), Ponoć je prošla, Rekla si: volimo se, (PGP RTB 1964 .) 

Zizi, Au revoir, Reci, reci, reci... (Dis, Dis, Dis ...) Too beautiful (Trop Beau), Zvonko Špišić (Records 196?) (Dis, dis, dis...), Suviše lijepo (Trop beau), sa Zvonkom Spišićom (Jugoton 196?) Zizi, Au revoir, Reci, reci, reci... (Dis, Dis, Dis ...) Too beautiful (Trop Beau), Zvonko Špišić (Records 196?) (Dis, dis, dis...), Suviše lijepo (Trop beau), sa Zvonkom Spišićom (Jugoton 196?) 

Otiđi od nje (You better move on), Perfidia (Dominiguez), Tema mladih ljubavnika (Young Lovers), Svega mi je dosta (It's all over now), (PGP RTB 1965 .) 

Volim je (And i love her), Sretne godine, Johnny guitar, Izgubljenoj ljubavi, (PGP RTB 1966.) 

Sam (What's they gonna do), Kad bih bio drvosječa (If I were a Carpenter), Bila si jedina, Ne želim više tu ljubav, (PGP RTB 1968., EP 50553) 

Moja gitara, Noćas sam sanjao, U jutro (Al matino), Otac je rekao (Simon says), (PGP RTB 1969.) 

The founding players were Miro Lukačić,Davorin Sarajlić,Rudolf Šimunec,Josip Badrić, and Boris Babarović. Through the years Jelenko Krupić, Mika Hižak, Vlado Kirby Bastajić, Boris Turina, Kreso Pavlic, Zeljko Marinac, Vlatko Medocki, and Marijan Mise have joined in as well. Ivica Šerfezi collaberated with them on Crvene Ruže and Matt Collins on Peggy Sue.

There aren't any words to NAPULJSKA GITARA but the sound hits me as sixties American and Teksikanski beach music so what you get in the video is a mix of California and Texas gulf beaches with some imagry that made me smile.  I hope it makes you smile too.

do sljedeći put, blagoslov - until next time, blessings,

Canovals a.k.a. Slavonac

24 veljača 2012

Odlučio sam slijediti Krista - Luka Balvan

I grew up hearing this song first as I have decided to follow Jesus" and much later as Odlučio sam slijediti Krista.

Later, when I was in graduate school some of the professors decried the song because of its "decisionalist" theology.  Their position was a puzzlement to me.   By the time my professors were squawking about it, this song was already deep in the catholic consciousness of Croatians.  The other matter that caused me some difficulty with my professor's opinions was a little matter in Holy Writ which I hold authoritative as being the Word of God without error.  

There it is in Joshua 15:

Međutim, ako vam se ne sviđa služiti Jahvi, onda danas izaberite kome ćete služiti: možda bogovima kojima su služili vaši oci s onu stranu Rijeke ili bogovima Amorejaca  u čijoj zemlji sada prebivate. Ja i moj dom služit ćemo Jahvi."

na engleskom:

"But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

So, there it is:  "izaberite."  On english that is "choose."  "Ja i moj dom služit ćemo Jahvi." "I and my house to serve we will to the Lord."  You want good engleski, you put on on good engleski or go read for your self on english.  I want to show you literal construction which is very close to original language how it says this.

Then we look at Luki 9:57 "Dok su išli putem, neki čovjek reče Isusu:  'Slijedit ću te kamo god ti pošao!'"

We Slavs have an advantage you know.  Holy Writ was put on "old" slavonic long before on  other languages.  Our translations are old, almost as old as the greek for the old testament.  The point of my saying this is to assure you that the translators were close to the old understandings of these texts and so they are very very accurate.  Latin or Slavonic? Take the Slavonic every time.  Even the Pope in Rome long long time before Vatican II said we Croats can have our liturgy and our Scripture in our very own language.  English or Slavonic? Slavonic every time.  Even the translators for King James took very close look at the Slavonic before they put their translation into print.

I suppose this may place me at odds with certain of my professors and with part of the church. Oh well.  Along with Martin Luther "“Unless I am proved wrong by Scripture or by evident reason, then I am a prisoner in conscience to the word of God. I cannot retract and I will not retract.  To go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand. I can do no other.”   Ja i moj dom služit ćemo Jahvi.

"Choose."  "I and my house to serve we will ..."  In old Slav's thinking I cannot tell the  difference between this and "Odlučio sam slijediti Krista."  Never mind.  If there is some difference it does not matter, jer odlučio sam slijediti Krista and that's that. If you want come with me, then, here is the path ... Ja i moj dom služit ćemo Jahvi.

Supposedly some fellow named S. Sundar Singh  wrote "I have decided to follow Jesus" and put it to an old Hindustani melody.  Maybe that was my professor's real objection to the song.  The Hindustani melody.  Someday someone please be explaining to them about the group who came down from Bohemia to Saxony and who are the people called the "Saxon immigration."  How on earth did they decide to be German?  Sigh.  You can paint the duck white but he is still not a  pelikan.  The song is in the public domain.  Luka Balvan sings it for us.  Balvan graciously makes all his music available for all the people.  I think this song is good meditation for Ash Wednesday and for all of korizma.

Tekst:
odlučio sam slijediti Krista,odlučio sam slijediti Krista,
odlučio sam slijediti Krista, neću se vratit nikada.
Da niko neće, ja idem za njim. Neću se vratit nikada.
Krist je preda mnom, a svijet je za mnom. Neću se vratit nikada.
Uzmite sav svijet, dajte mi Krista. Neću se vratit nikada.


As it comes to us from Singh:
I have decided to follow Jesus;I have decided to follow Jesus;
No turning back, no turning back.
Though I may wonder, I still will follow;
No turning back, no turning back.
The world behind me, the cross before me;
no turning back, no turning back.
Though none go with me, still I will follow;
No turning back, no turning back.

do sljedeći put, blagoslov - until next time, blessings,

Canovals a.k.a. Slavonac


24 veljača 2012

  

TOPOĽČIANSKE PIVO

Alright.  Here's the story.  Near Hrad Topol'cianske was a pivovar, a brewery.  They made beer there. They sang about it.  This is the song they sang.  They closed the pivovar.  There is now no more beer from Topol'čianski.

So that's the end of the story.  No!!! Not even close to the end of the story.  To get to the end of the story, we have to find the front of the story.   "Don't you mean that you have to find the beginning of the story?  What's the matter for you?  Don't you even speak English?"   Alright.  Have it your way.  You find the beginning.  I'm going to the front.  You can come with me or not.  Your choice it is.

To find the front, we must first learn something about the Vezérlő Fejedelem.  After all, if you want to go  to the front of the line, you must first find who is first in line.  He is called the Fejedelem, the Prince.  As you know of course, the word "Prince" means simply "the First."  As it turns out, the Fejedelem in our story is the son of Rákóczi Ferenc and Jelena Zrinska.  Jelena Zrinksa was the daughter of Petar Zrinski with whose neck the empire had had some interest.  Jelena Zrinska was a neice of the Nikola Zrinski whose poetry placed the exploits of his ancestor Nikola Šubić Zrinski at Szigetvár against Suleiman the Magnificent into the hearts of every Croat in the all the world for all time.  "U boj! u boj!  ... Za dom! Spremne!" 

The family lived at this time near Mukacheve around which the borders of the Ukrajna have been drawn since the Second World War - you know- there in Mala Polska.  Look at the map, you can find it.  During the battle of Trenčín, whose environs are visible from the ramparts of the  Topol'čianski  Rákóczi Ferenc's horse stumbled and he was knocked unconscious.  His soldiers presumed his death and fled the field, ending the "Kurac" rebellion.  As a result, the Hussites in Czech and Slovakia were at a fatal military disadvantage as were  the Lutherans in Hungary  and in Croatia, all of whom had supported the notion that the purpose of the state was to protect the people rather than the people to serve the state. 

Oh, did I mention in here anywhere that all this began with the emperor suspending the constitution of the empire? Oh. Perhaps I should have. 

Had Rákóczi's horse not stumbled, the chances are that Central Europe might have been mostly  Protestant thereafter.   One of the Croats who rode rode with Rákóczi from the Topol'čianski that day was my ancestor.  Was he one of those who fled in panic?  I would like to think not, but I don't know.
 

My ancestors on my father's side began arriving in America shortly after all this, during the period when the Hapsburg government was interested in the necks of almost every member of the family.  Oh.

Topol'čianski Hrad was one of the strong points held by Rákóczi.  It lays astride an ancient roadway leading from Krakova in the north to Bjelovar and on south to Tirana.  It was the roadway by which many Bijelohrvati  moved south over a period of time into that which is modern Croatia.  It was the roadway by which merchandise, ideas, and the news traveled for many centuries.  Those ancient travelers left their mark.  Their path can be easily traced with the help of Google maps.  At Bjelovar the road intersects with the ancient highway to Osijek, Novosad, and points east all the way to China.  This was the ancient "Silk Road" which European  mariners spent so much effort to replace with a more secure water highway with which the Ottoman's and others could not interfere.

There's more to the story.  Important but little known history whispers through the breezes on the battlements of hrad Topol'čianski. If I have to, I will tell some of that history later.  Freddy, you know who you are Freddy. I am going to give you a days to respond before I go public with what I dug up in the castle courtyard.  I would much rather you told the story, but if I have to I will.  You do not wish me to do that. 

Just a few miles  north of Hrad Topol'čianski is the pass where the Germans massed just prior to their invasion of Poland.  Auschwitz lays just a few miles further, just off the old road to Krakova.

So why is an old Croat featuring a song called TOPOĽČIANSKE PIVO?  Topolčianski is in Slovakia isn't it? Yup.  It sure is.  Hrad Topol'cianski was our castle.  It was one of my family's castles.  It was a Croatian Castle on a highway connecting Croatians in the north with Croatians in the south.  The once mighty stari hrad is now a crumbling oddity.  The once major highway across Europe is not even passable by automobile all the way up to the castle.  The castle is crumbling.  The Croats are gone as are others, all long gone, and now, so is the beer.  Placem.

do sljedeći put, blagoslov - until next time, blessings,

Canovals a.k.a. Slavonac
 24 veljača  2012

Sometimes some things

... are just fun!!   This is one of those things.   I'm not going to tell you where this was recorded.  There are privacy matters involved, some of them mine.  I will tell you this.  I used to buy flowers  from her mom for my mom.  So there.  This was recorded by her daughter.  Oh yes, and she and her husband  are among the friends CJ and I share in common. And this is fun.  

How many  times do you ride down the road with the music on and bounce to the music?   Hee hee, next time you  do that just make sure one of the kids don't have a camera :)  

(Click the link - it opens in a separate window)
Dancing Driver


do sljedeći put, blagoslov - until next time, blessings,

Canovals a.k.a. Slavonac
 25 studenog 2011

Funny, its a day ...

Funny, its a day like today when you can see how many of us there are down here at the end of the world.  The Amerikanski are all somewhere eating turkey and whatever.   Its a holiday and we are either in our usual holes in the ground working or somewhere else working.  I decided I wanted something warm to eat.  There's only one place open on the holiday around here.  Guess where?  Jup!  Coffee, cheese danish, and a samitch of cheese and bacon of turkey.  Don't even ask what language in which I ordered. :)  Starbucks came though just fine today. (Hmmm, samitch - that's teksikanski for sandwich on engleski). 

The call from the daughter I mentioned last blog?  Turned out to be a mass text message to the whole family so she didn't have to mess with any of us.  She was too busy to answer the phone when I called her back.  Sigh.  But she did better than the others, none of the rest of them called or texted.  Funny how that bothers me less and less these days. 

I remember the first Bozic after Carole died.  That soon will have been six Bozic past.  The service at the church concluded.  I locked up the building and realized that I was alone.  Easter was the same.  All the holidays were the same.  Even when I made sure that I had showered before I came to church it was the same.  The children didn't call then either.  For years, other people who came into my life made excuses not to be around me on holidays too.  It got to the point that when people put on their supercilious smiles and wished me "Merry Christmas" that I snarled "bah! humbug!" somewhere deep inside of me where no one could see. 

I went away and cooked my own Christmas eve and Veliki Petak fish and kupus according to the season and the Grinch did what he did in private for himself by himself.  I did not realize at the time how many of my brothers and sisters were around me.  By brothers and sisters, I do not mean my parent's children.  When Jesus brothers and sisters (ok, I suppose they were half-brothers  etc.) came accusing Him of being insane, Jesus motioned his hand around the room and said "these are my brothers and my sisters."  As it turns out, I have rather a lot of really nice brothers and sisters whom my parents never knew.  And me, the Grinch, I am not alone any more and so today on Amerikanski Dan Hvala I am thankful indeed.

First of all, CJ's dogs are "babysitting" me this afternoon as the sun slips out of sight.  One is right under my desk.  I can hear him when he scratches.  Another talks to me if I take too long clicking another song to play.

Still another has been laying quietly near my feet for a good while.  We listened to "Second Waltz - Dmitri Shostokovic"  for a while and when we finished that playlist we moved on down the line.  Right now we are listening to "Breze" performed by Irena Vrčkovic. Next up is Vrčkovic with Pidži singing Tam dol na ravnem polju.  Pidži enjoys a bit of  fame in the central Teksas area because they've heard him on the radio and some lucky folk have seen him in person.

You really didn't think that Pidži took Teksikanski music back to Slovenija did you?  If you thought that, the joke is on you.  You've read already here where I've discussed the origins of Tejano music, yes?  You've read how that influenced the rest of the music of the region and you read about the "Commanches" in Blanco County, yes?  Jup.  You got it, the whole blooming Texas music scene is dominated by music with Slavic origins, hi hi :)  If you happen to be an "Anglo" Texan reading this,,, go to YouTube and watch Irena and Pidži and the band work out "Tam dol na ravnem polju."   

If you have your "languages" ear turned on, no "po noci" in the song most assuredly does not mean the same as "panoche" on španski jezik.  The slovenijan expression means "by night" more or less, and the spanoljski means, ummmpf something a bit more crude, yet the root meaning is still something "by night."  Hmmmmm so who is going to pop up and give me a reasonable explanation how this non-hispanic heterographic homophone arrived into Mexican Spanish?  Ummmm.  Gotcha didn't I? 

Ok, one of the doggies has just put in her request for Vesna Maria, so we're going to listen to her for a while now.

Today was Vesna Maria's birthday.  Sretan rođendan Vesna Maria!  We all need to remember the date so she really knows how many friends she has out here next year.  Hi hi, I see at least two pages of birthday congratulations on her page over on FaceBook.  She is a wonderful performer with a wonderful voice.   CJ and I both love to watch her and listen to her voice. 

Someday when I think the time is right I am going to ask a certain question and if the answer is right, and if I've won the lottery by that time, I wouldn't mind a bit if Momir and Vesna Maria flew over and sang something like "Tri palme na otoku srece" at a special occaision after that.  That would just about make the celebration extra fino.  Sigh.  If I win the lottery.  Anyway, me and the doggies have them on YouTube and we can dream. 

Somewhere in one of Patria's songs they say that "a man without dreams is like the heavens without stars."  I believe that and so as long as my sky has stars in it I refuse to not dream.  Another song I would like Vesna Maria and Momir to do on that day is "Ljubav."  Momir knows why.   It has something to do with the video sash958 made with Vesna Maria and Momir doing this song.  Momir, what do you  think?  Should I say why this song is so important to me?  Or should that just be one of those things that goes to the grave with me? 

Another random trip into linguistics.  Mariachi.  A truely Mexican word.  Please explain its Spanish construction for me if you can.  You can not, can you?  I didn't think so.  Mariacke.  Slavic. Polish.  And no this did not arrive with Napoleon.  As I've shown you elsewhere, we Slavs have been arriving in North America in a steady stream since the 1500s.  Just 'cause we didn't raise a flag and build an empire doesn't mean we weren't here.  We were.  We are.   Marian musicians in certain cathedrals.  Trumpets sound the hours in Krakova and in Warsaw.  Hmmmmm.  Originally these were church musicians not from the indiginous culture, in Mexico banished from the church into the streets and to this day allowed to perform religious works only at the Shrine of Guadalupe, or perhaps Christmas Eve in certain show cathedrals or in the streets.  The priests have taught the mariachi they cannot to play in church.  Do you wonder at the anti-clerical feelings in the North of Mexico?  Religion was banned from church.  Ufffff !!!!!   What a concept ...

There was once a wedding at which I had certian duties.  The bride's father is a mariachi.  He had written a song especially for his daughter's wedding but he was sure his group could not sing in church.  Hi hi hi hi hi, that's exactly where  that sung was first heard.  In Church.  I insisted, and  they played the man's song for his daughter inside the church in front of the altar.  Viva la revolucion!!!!  Bog i Hrvati!!! Dios y la gente!!! God and the people!  Oh dear, I am a bit radical I'm afraid. 

Oh my, here we are, me and the doggies, listening to Vesna Maria sing "Alaj mi je veceras po voji" along with Djerdan - now this is a recording that thrills my heart. 

Now here is CJ, and she really thrills my heart.

pa,

do sljedeći put, blagoslov - until next time, blessings,

Canovals a.k.a. Slavonac
 24 studenog 2011