This week we are going to get moving and singing(more than usual 🙂 ). We are focusing on singing and moving to traditional Spanish songs! By using rhythm and movement we are using our energy and body movements to solidify and reinforce our vocabulario! As we move throughout the week I will be attaching videos for you to see what songs we are learning.
Today we will be introducing the song ¨La Bamba.¨ This is an important song because it was one of the first ¨crossover¨ songs into traditional American culture. Culturally it was a gigantic step for Latino culture in the US.
“La Bamba” is a Mexican folk song, originally from the state of Veracruz, best known from a 1958 adaptation by Ritchie Valens, a top 40 hit in the U.S. charts and one of early rock and roll’s best-known songs. Valens’ version of “La Bamba” is ranked number 354 on Rolling Stone magazine′s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It is the only song on the list sung in a language other than English.
“La Bamba” has been covered by numerous artists, most notably by Los Lobos, whose version was the title track of the 1987 film La Bamba and reached No. 1 in the U.S. and UK singles charts in the same year!
I am attaching the traditional version of the song with the accompanied dance.