They were among the first ones, alongside with Elvis Presley and The Rolling Stones, to bring together thousands of fans at their concerts, even when that meant queueing for long hours, full of excitement -some fans even ended up fainting. The Beatles (in Spain, 'Los Beatles'), started the fan phenomenon, and theirs was granted its own name: beatlemania.In Spain, despite Franco's regime tried to prevent it from happening until the very last minute, The Beatles performed for the first time in 1965. Just a sign of the enormous success they have since had in our country. Numerous Spanish and Latin American artists have released or performed covers of songs by The Beatles. Here is a Youtube playlist with 15 of those, some better than others (a few are quite surreal):
And here are the artists featured on the playlist, the name of their covers and the name of the corresponding original songs by The Beatles:
Numerous artists from around the world have recorded their versions of the classic My Way, from Aretha Franklin to The Strokes, including The Three Tenors, Sid Vicious and Kanye West. The melody comes from a French song (Comme d'habitude), and the lyrics were made up by Paul Anka. But if My Way is associated with an artist, that artist would be Frank Sinatra, who played it for the first time and turned it into one of the most popular songs of all time. As we were saying, a great number of artists have sung it and adapted it to different ryhtms ever since. Many of them in English, but others went further and translated it into other languages. Here are 15 covers of My Way (A mi manera) in Spanish, corresponding to different music genres. You can listen to them on Youtube and Spotify:
The lyrics to A mi manera aren't the same in all the covers. These are the lyrics to Raphael's version:
El final se acerca ya, lo esperaré serenamente. Ya ves, que yo he sido así, te lo diré, sinceramente. Viví, la inmensidad sin conocer jamás fronteras, y bien, sin descansar, y a mi manera. Jamás tuve un amor que para mí fuera importante. Tomé solo la flor y lo mejor de cada instante. Viví y disfruté, no sé si más que otro cualquiera. Y, sí, todo esto fue a mi manera.
Porque sabrás que un hombre al fin conocerás por su vivir. No hay por qué hablar ni que decir, ni que llorar ni que fingir, puedo seguir hasta el final a mi manera. Tal vez lloré o tal vez reí, tal vez gané o tal vez perdí. Ahora sé que fui feliz, que si lloré, también amé. Puedo vivir hasta el final a mi manera.
Bonus track: two special covers These are not in Spanish (that's why they are not included in the playlist above), but we love the covers by Los Piratas and Andrés Calamaro:
Today, April 22nd, is Earth Day. Why don't we celebrate with music? Here are 20 songs in Spanish about the planet and the environment. Discover new rythms and artists and keep practising your Spanish. Various genres are represented: pop, hip hop, flamenco, celtic, gospel... there is even a Disney song:
Macaco- Moving Macaco - Mamá Tierra Bebe - Ska de la Tierra Mägo de Oz - La costa del silencio Mägo de Oz - La venganza de Gaia Maná - Dónde jugarán los niños BSO Pocahontas - Colores en el viento José Mercé - Amapolas de papel Los Piratas - La canción de la Tierra Roberto Carlos - El progreso La Unión - Hermana Tierra Geronación - El hombre y la Tierra Bersuit Vergarabat - Madre hay una sola Marta Sánchez - Amén Laura Pausini - Hermana Tierra Melón Diesel - Planeta verde Antidoping - Planeta Café Tacvba - El ciclón Ana Belén - Planeta agua Alejandro Lerner - Puedes cambiar el mundo
As many of you know, Lourdes, one of our Spanish teachers here at Tía Tula, is also a dance and fitness instructor (you can see her in action here).She is a huge fan of Zumba, the high-energy Columbian dance phenomenon that combines aerobics and elements of Salsa, Samba and Reggaeton, among others. We asked her for the perfect Zumba playlist!
Zumba is the perfect work-out, helping you to burn calories, tone muscles, increase co-ordination and improve cardio-vascular fitness - all while dancing to your favorite tracks. What's more, Zumba can help ease tension, reduce stress and put a smile on your face!
Why not have a listen to our Zumba playlist, available on Spotify?
A Youtube playlist is also available, complete with choreographed dance routines. Fancy giving it a try?
Click here to see what happened last time Lourdes led a Zumba class at Tía Tula...
If you like the sound of Spanish music we recommend having a listen to our very own Tía Tula playlist, created as part of the UN initiative #HappySoundsLike.
