Malagueña

Malagueña (pronunciation here) is a very famous piece, written by the Cuban composer and pianist Ernesto Leucona (1896-1963) as part of the Suite Andalucia, and originally copyrighted in 1928.  Leucona's Wikipedia page tells us that the piece was originally composed for piano, and that the composer's music was brought to American attention largely through the efforts of Desi Arnaz (a Cuban musician, actor and tv producer you may know from I Love Lucy).

The piece has been recorded many times over the years (here's a partial list).  It has been especially popular with guitar players.  Here are some interesting, and surprisingly different versions.

This one is by Roy Clark, famous from the comedy/country music show Hee Haw, playing a 12 string guitar.  Rather passionate.

Here is Canadian classical guitarist Liona Boyd with a more tender version.



And here's a surfer version by the Argentinian band Los Kahunas.



This one's a jazz version by the Stan Kenton Orchestra.



If you search YouTube for Malagueña, you'll get many pages of results.  It is a very popular piece for marching bands.  I wasn't able to find any performances of the Paul Lavender arrangement, which we are playing.  Leave us a note in the comments if you can find one.

Malagueña is clearly a versatile piece of music, with much room for interpretation.  Yet, each version is very stirring.  What do you think?