Career
Jurado began performing flamenco at a very young age, debuting on the big screen in 1962 with Los guerrilleros, acting alongside Manolo Escobar. She also played a main role in 1966's Proceso a una estrella and 1971's Una chica casi decente. While temporarily living in Argentina, the Spanish diva participated in a successful musical called La zapatera prodigiosa, based on Federico García Lorca's work. After teaming with composer Manuel Alejandro, Rocío Jurado became a major and beloved figure on the Latin music scene, acclaimed throughout America and Spain after releasing Muera el amor and Señora, among other hits.
Illness
In 2004, Jurado was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer for which she was treated in Houston, Texas in 2006. In April 2006, she was also treated for acute liver failure in a hospital in Madrid, Spain. On May 26, 2006, Spain's Culture Minister Carmen Calvo announced that Jurado had suffered a stroke, an assertion denied by Jurado's personal physician Dr. Domingo and by her brother and manager Amador Mohedano. She died at 5:15 in the morning on June 1st, 2006, at her home in La Moraleja, Madrid, aged 61. She is buried in her hometown, Chipiona, Cadiz, in the San José Cemetery.
La Pena por Soleá
Rocío Jurado Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Las penas no se reparten, (bis)
Que solo y con media pena
No se va a ninguna parte.
¡Ay, esta guitarra, plaza sonora de mi dolor!
La prima le quiere dar un capotazo al bordón,
Va repartiendo profunda cornada al corazón.
De tu cárcel de seis rejas,
Sal si puedes, soleá,
Para ver si puedes darle
Compañía a mi soledad.
A tu puerta está llamando
Un río de agua y de pena,
Ábrele, guitarra, y dile
Cómo se matan las penas. (bis)
Y tú, despierta, despierta,
Y ponte a considerar
Si tiene remedio el llanto,
Cantando por soleá. (bis)
The song "La Pena por Soleá" by Rocío Jurado is a beautiful tribute to the pain and heartache that accompanies emotional suffering. The lyrics evoke a sense of sadness and loss, as the singer laments the weight of her troubles and the difficulty of carrying them alone. The repetition of the word "pena" throughout the song emphasizes the all-encompassing nature of the singer's pain, as if it is a heavy cloak that she cannot shake off.
The first stanza warns against trying to share one's sorrows with others, as true solace is only found when one fully embraces their own suffering. The second stanza uses vivid imagery to describe the power of music to amplify and express intense emotions, as the guitar becomes a metaphor for the singer's heart. The third and fourth stanzas speak directly to the listener, urging them to face their own troubles and find comfort in the melancholic strains of the soleá.
Overall, "La Pena por Soleá" is a poignant and stirring reminder that heartache is an essential part of the human experience, one that should be acknowledged and fully felt in order to find solace and eventually heal.
Line by Line Meaning
Pena, pena, pena, ¡ay, qué pena!
Expressing the overwhelming sorrow and pain felt in the heart
Las penas no se reparten, (bis)
Misery and pain cannot be divided among others
Que solo y con media pena
One cannot go anywhere with just a little bit of pain
No se va a ninguna parte.
Stagnation of one's life without a release of pain
¡Ay, esta guitarra, plaza sonora de mi dolor!
The guitar, a place where the singer expresses all their pain
La prima le quiere dar un capotazo al bordón,
The high string wants to silence the low string, like a matador taming a bull
Porque el bordón, como un toro del sentimiento mayor
The low string, like a bull of intense emotions
Va repartiendo profunda cornada al corazón.
Constantly inflicting deep wounds upon the heart
De tu cárcel de seis rejas,
From the prison of solitude
Sal si puedes, soleá,
Escape if you can, Solea (a style of flamenco song)
Para ver si puedes darle
To see if you can provide
Compañía a mi soledad.
Company to my loneliness
A tu puerta está llamando
At your door, there is a knocking
Un río de agua y de pena,
A river of water and sorrow
Ábrele, guitarra, y dile
Open up, guitar, and tell him
Cómo se matan las penas. (bis)
How sorrows can be vanquished
Y tú, despierta, despierta,
And you, wake up, wake up
Y ponte a considerar
Think deeply about
Si tiene remedio el llanto,
If there is any remedy for crying
Cantando por soleá. (bis)
Through singing the Solea
Contributed by Jonathan F. Suggest a correction in the comments below.