Learn how to sing this Flamenco Christmas song! Monday December 3rd, We’ll post the music clip!

El Carbonero

Ay mare mi carbonero

no vino ayer

y lo estuve esperando y hasta las tres

Mire usted mare
mi carbonero no tiene cuenta
con los dineros

(Coro)
¡Carbon!
Carbon de caña carbon
¡Carbonero!
carbonero no quiero yo

Mare mi carbonero
no vino anoche
y lo estuve esperando y hasta las doce

Mire usted mare
mi carbonero no tiene cuenta
con los dineros

(Coro)

Ay Mare mi carbonero
vende picón
Hecho con buen sarmiento de buen oló

Mire usted mare
mi carbonero no tiene cuenta
con los dineros

(Coro)

Mare Mi Carbonero
tiene una huerta
llena de coliflores
y lasta la puerta
Mire usted mare
mi carbonero no tiene cuenta
con los dineros

(Coro)

Mare mi carbonero
tiene un perrito
lleno de cascabeles
y hasta el jopito

Mire usted mare
mi carbonero no tiene cuenta
con los dineros

(Coro)

Ay mare mi carbonero
cuando se lava
se le ven los lunares
y las pestañas

Mire usted mare
mi carbonero no tiene cuenta
con los dineros

(Coro)

Oh mother my carbonero

Didn’t come (home) yesterday

And I was waiting up until three

Look mother my carbonero

Doesn’t understand money

Charcoal! Charcoal from wood charcoal!

Carbonero! Carbonero, I don’t love him anymore

Oh mother my carbonero

Didn’t come (home) last night

And I was waiting up until midnight

(Chorus)

oh mother my carbonero

sells  picon hecho con buen sarmiento de buen oló **

(Chorus)

Mother my carbonero

Has a garden

Full of colliflower

All the way to the gate

(Chorus)

Mother my carbonero

Has a little dog

Full of  cascabeles y hasta el jopito**

 

Oh mother my carbonero

When he showers

You can see all of his birthmarks and his eyelashes (Chorus)

**More Translations

El Carbonero-  Man that sells charcoal

Chimenea– fire place with chimney

Copa o Brazero-small open fire for indoor spaces/households

Candela– large open fire , pit-fire, or fire made in a barrel for outdoors or plazas

Picon– charcoal that has been broken down so that it can be used to heat up the home.

Sarmiento– branch from a grape vine

**Hecho con buen sarmiento  de buen oló

-made from good quality good smelling sarmiento

In times when fireplaces and open fires were what were used for warmth inside households, families would look for sources of fuel for burning that didn’t smell so much like smoke. Wood that smelled good when it burned like Sarmiento was a solution-Luis’ mother would use citrus peels rosemary branches or incense in their brazero to make the house smell good.

**Cascabeles- little bells (the kind that you would attach to a cat or dog collar

**Jopito-  Neither Luis nor I could figure out what a Jopito is. Thinking it as a dimunitive of another word we took out ye ol’ dictionary and this is what we found

   Jopear– has many different meanings, when referring to animals it means ‘to frighten’

   Jopo– a comb to decorate ones hair with

   Jopona– is a rabbit/jack rabbit