#i swear i won't post many songs about madrid

[jackredfieldwasmyjacob]

ES ALBACETE (ROZALÉN)

okay so, since a few years ago, i have been compiling songs that talk about certain cities / regions of spain because they make me emotional for some reason and i really like them :) soon after starting doing that i wanted to share it here but i didn't know how. i might have found how to tho. i will be posting lyrics to some of these songs, and i will be explaining every reference they make to that particular city / area, so we all get to learn a bit about it !! let me know if i should change the formatting or whatever, this is all a wip lol. i will be tagging both here and in my masterpost with 'spain in songs', but again, that's also a wip lol

anyways, i wanted to start with a song about albacete cause that's where my mother's side of the family is from so i have a very strong tie to it and especially to rozalén (she's like. the family titular singer. i don't know how to explain it but she's very dear to us all) so i had to !!!!

before starting, just a bit of context; she made this song when she was chosen as the pregonera (spokesperson) in the albacete city festivities last year, and she sung it for the first time during the pregón (speech). the first time i listened to it was through and audio my mum's cousin sent her lol. also, it's a jota, one of the traditional musical styles in the peninsula - it's the most common as well. the album where this song is from is full of traditional sounds if you want to check it out, as every rozalén album it's full of songs with social messages and just. phenomenal stuff. i really recommend it, it's called matriz.

anyways, here's the translation in english of the lyrics (let me know if there's any mistakes!!!). i will do all explanations below the cut, so this doesn't get too lengthy.

as stated before, jotas are one of the traditional songs in iberia. they vary according to the region; the one sung in albacete, which is also the type of jota this song is, is a jota manchega. the most well-known jotas are, however, the ones from aragón, as they are known to be the original and oldest ones as well. this is how aragonese jotas sound, try to spot the difference with the manchegas!

all la mancha (the region albacete is part of) is famous for its steel work, and albacete in particular is known for its navajas or knife pockets! you can find them all over souvenir stores and roadside bars, and there's even a cutlery museum in albacete city.

3. albacete province is indeed a land of mountains and plains! most of the province is part of the meseta sur ('southern tableland'), part of the larger meseta central , but the southwest is full of mountains and river canyons, as it contains part of the sierras (mountains) of segura and alcaraz, in the cordillera prebética ('prebaetic system').

4. albacete sits halfway between madrid and the mediterranean coast, and that's what has granted it it's importance within the country. in fact, most people from madrid know it as the place where you stop by to eat on your trip to the coast (which explains the next line in the song).

5. okay, this is just a dumb dad joke and i feel mortified having to explain it, so sorry beforehand. when someone with a lot of confidence on themselves say they want to study in harvard when they grow up, or when someone cites a dubius study made in harvard, someone (usually a dad) will say, 'yeah, from "jarvacete".' In spanish, if you say 'harvard city' fast, it would be pronounced more or less like 'har-bah-seeh-teh', similar to albacete ('al-bah-theh-teh'). it's just a dumb joke idk.

6. funnily enough, this one isn't a joke but a real tagline of the city. really. the term 'the new york of la mancha' to refer to albacete was coined by the writer azorín at the end of the 19th century in a poem to the city, calling it like that because of its tall and modern buildings, its heavy industrialization, and its electrical workframe. it's also the largest city in la mancha (it has 172k inhabitants) by a wide margin (guadalajara, the 2nd largest, only has 87k), so that helps. here's a comparision between the two cities, so you can see the striking resemblance. albacete is on the right btw.

7. the atascaburras (literally 'donkeyclogger') is one of the traditional dishes from albacete province. it is usually eaten in winter after a snow, and it's made with dried and salted cod, boiled potatoes, olive oil, garlic, boiled eggs, and walnuts.

8. the miguelitos ('little michaels') are the most well-known dessert from albacete province, sold in every roadside bar and so very iconic, i love them. they originated in the town of la roda, and are a type of cream filled puff pastry. they're sometimes also filled with chocolate (the superior miguelitos imo).

9. the bota (literally 'boot') is a traditional spanish wine recipient found mostly in rural areas, such as albacete, made out of leather. it's a very iconic iberian tool, it is used in a lot of stuff for aesthetic purposes.

10. the feria de albacete ('albacete fair') is the main festivity of the city (the one for which rozalén was spokeperson for and the reason this song got made). it is celebrated every year from 7-17th september in honour of the Virgen de los Llanos ('Our Lady of the Plains'), and it's celebrated in this space called the recinto ferial full of attractions and stands, lots of drinks, free food, and people dressing up in the traditional manchego outfits and dancing and having fun and it's great :) within this recinto ferial, there's this tall pole called el pincho ('the spike') that is used as a meeting point for many albaceteñes, so it's become this iconic part of the feria.

11. the alpargatas are a traditional spanish shoes made out of wicker and esparto used (in a more modern form) all over iberia (i myself have a pair), and that happen to be part of the manchego outfit.