4th Edition – Malagueña de Jotrón with Los Romeros

by Pepe Romero

Special thanks to our supporters: Susan Fowler & Drea Zigarmi, L. John Harris and the Harris Guitar Collection at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Brian Hays, Strings By Mail, Savarez Strings, Angie Hougen, Juan Carlos Rodríguez, Matthew Denman, David Crabbs, Donna Zitzelberger, Deborah Anderson, Kathleen Sax and Hermanita Laurel Ornish. We couldn’t have done it without you!Produced by: Uros Baric
Virtual Guitar Orchestra director: Mak Grgic
Music by: Pepe Romero
Assistant Editors: Doris Cosic, Julián Ardila, Gary Campbell, Roberto Kuhn
Audio Mixed by: Uros Baric, Julián Ardila
Video Editing: Uros Baric

Check out Walter Aaron Clark’s book Los Romeros – Royal Family of the Spanish Guitar, available in Hardcover, Paperback and on Kindle

Virtual Guitar Orchestra (VGO), a global guitar community initiative, was born originally out of an idea to create a new audience development tool, and ended up being a necessity to keep the guitar community alive and active during the Covid-19 pandemic.

PERFORMED BY:
Pepe Romero, Celin Romero, Celino Romero, Lito Romero, Jacob Romero Kressin, Angel Romero, Carissa Romero, Angelina Romero, Gwenyth Aggeler, Deborah Anderson, Sergio Assad, Eva Beneke, Blake Bricker, Jack Cimo, John Dearman, Matthew Denman, Alexander Dunn, Jorge Calaf, Abel García Ayala, Matthew Greif, Brian Hays, Brian Head, Matthew Hinsley, Collin Holloway, Bruce Holzman, Wilgard Hübschmann , William Jenks, William Kanengiser, Pat Kerber, William Krause, Albert Kunze, David Leisner , Tina Karen Lo, Stephen Lochbaum, Julia Malischnig, Martha Masters, Heike Matthiesen, Kareem McCullough, Tim Miklaucic, Yoshi Oshima, Mia Padilla, Andrey Parfinovich, Randy Pile, Denis Poliquin, Kathleen Sax, Pepe Tashiro, Marc Teicholz, Scott Tennant, John Paul Trotter, Ana Vidovic, Robert Ward, Thomas Wheeler, Andrew York , Derun Zhang, Uros Baric, Mak Grgic, Gary Campbell, Doris Cosic, Roberto Kuhn, Hanin Al Endari, Raian Altaweel, Alfredo Amaquiña, Johnny Ashburn, Stanley Barragan, Theophilus Benjamin, Joanne Castellani, Carlos Alberto Castro, David Chidsey, Ine Clerckx, Eddy Constantino, David Crabbs, Marbelly Davila, Francesco Emmanuel, Tomasz Fechner, Andy Graziano, Tarra Guerra, Jaime Guerrero, Karla Guichard, Rocío Heinrich, Ricardo Hernández Reyes, Grace Soh Huey Ching, William Johnston, Bill Jones, Ilay Kenes, Kai Lonergan, Qianli Lyu, Nicholas Martin, Devyn McCrea, Eric Moreira, Mita Nussa, Michael O’Brien, Laurel Ornish, Marius Otto, Fabrizio Pirovano, César Quijada, Jörg Risius, Riccardo Rocchi, JC Rodríguez, Steven Sabet, Sara Lucía Saboya Avila, Andreas Sourgkounis, László Szabó, Isabel Szanto, Chinnawat Themkumkwun, Matthew Treagus, Gokce Turkmendag, Donna Zitzelberger

Lyrics in Malagueña de Jotrón

“Welcome to this project honoring my grandmother and her hometown above Malaga — where my young father first taught himself how to play the guitar!
The lyrics came to me in two parts:
My father Celedonio wrote a short poem for my mother, Angelita, which I used for the final closing section of the piece. But when I created the central duet (a call-and-response between guitar and the singer), I was moved to write my own poem to honor the memory of both of them.”
Pepe Romero

The Lyrics to the “Lento” middle section, by Pepe Romero:
Ay, Porque no pueo
Ay, Porque mirarte no pueo Ay, Te llamo con un suspiro. Ay, Mientras tu guitarra suene Mientras tu guitarra suene
Tu seguirás siempre vivo.
Ay, Te llamo con un suspiro. Ay!

The Lyrics to the final section, (original poem by Celedonio Romero):
Los pinos no cantarán, Ay, canciones de primavera. Los pinos no cantarán. Ay, las flores no se abriran, El día que tu te mueras.
Los pinos no cantarán…
Ay!

English translation:
Ay, Because I cannot…
Ay, Because I cannot see you, Ay, I call you with a sigh.
Ay, While your guitar rings out… While your guitar rings out,
you will forever be alive.
Ay, I call you with a sigh.
Ay!
The pines will not sing, Ay, their spring songs.
The pines will not sing, Ay, and the flowers will not bloom… the day that you die.
The pines will not sing…
Ay!