Waltz Caramelo - Trad. Arr. Hellard

Jez- Harmonica
James Patrick Gavin - Guitar
Nye Parsons - Double Bass
James Hegarty - Pandero

This waltz was adapted from Jay Terrestrial’s version of the popular Spanish antifascist rhumba, Ay Carmella, from Firepit Collective’s 2014 album, “To The Lost”.

He asked me to play a couple of gigs with them, as I’d recorded harmonica overdubs for the album, so I set about learning some of the tunes. I still can’t match Chezney for speed on one part of the rhumba, much to Jay’s amusement (there are certain phrases that’ll tear my lips off before they’ll sound as slick as a bouzouki) but I half-inched the tune and made a waltz. I’ve since learned that whilst the lyrics commemorate the disastrous 1938 Battle of The Ebro, the tune is much earlier, harking from Napoleon’s “Peninsular War” of the early 19th century.

“Their bombs can do nothing rhumba-la-rhumba-la-rhumba-la!
Where there is so much heart, Ay Carmella, Ay Carmella…”