Re: la rosa and Richard Farina

[Robert A. Rothstein <rar...>]

Judith Cohen wrote:

> hi, Lucy mentioned that contrafact of "Los Bilbilicos" (La rosa enflorece)
> by Richard Farina, known as The Swallow Song. ... I've always wondered where
> he
> GOT the tune to begin with...

My guess was that he might have picked it up from Theodore Bikel, who sang it
on one of his records, and I found the following partial support at
<www.richardandmimi.com/sources.html>.

>A Swallow Song

>Farina borrowed the melody from the Sephardic song, "Los Bibilicos"
(alternative
>spelling: "Bilbilicos"), which is in turn related to the Hebrew prayer, "Tsur
Mishelo
>Akhalnu." Farina may have learned "Los Bibilicos" from Carolyn Hester, as he
was in
>the studio when she recorded the song for her 1962 self-titled album on
Columbia (the
>song is also available on her highly recommended two-CD set, Dear Companion,
on
>Bear Family Records). The lyrics go something like this:

>    Los bilbilicos cantan
>    En los arboles de la flor
>    Debajo se asientan
>    Los que sufren del amor.

>A similar version of "Los Bibilicos" appeared in Theodore Bikel's songbook,
Folksongs
>and Footnotes (1960), but Carolyn says she learned it from a song-swapping
group
>she was in.

            Bob Rothstein

---------------------- jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org ---------------------+