Most of us have heard the Buena Vista Social Club tune "El Quarto de Tula" in which the chorus goes something like this:

"El cuarto de Tula, le cogió candela.
Se quedó dormida y no apagó la vela."

Translation:

"Tula's Bedroom, it went up in flames
She fell asleep and didn't blow out the candle"

There you have both words in one chorus. Sounds a lot better in Spanish, where "candela" and "vela" actually rhyme...

Incidentally, there's also a song called "Candela" on the album but no "velas" in it. 


Joe Roberts
Dept. of Anthropology
College of William and Mary