Want to take breaktime in southern Spain today? Just watch (and hear) Isreali musician Anat Navarro playing “Malaguena.”  [photo courtesy Anat Navarro]

To see it and listen, you’d think it was easy. The hours of practice she probably put in on this piece end up looking  like a passionate joyride up and down the keyboard.

But she doesn’t leave out any of the intensity that Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona put into this music. It’s right there, as a little escape into another world.

For a less light-fingered approach you can listen to Thomas Tirino’s intense, terrific rendition of the same piece.

And for those who like to know more: “Malaguena” is a part of Lecuona’s 1933 Suite Andalucia. There’s more to the story of the melody known as Malaguena, its origin, and its relationship to those famous, racy Andalusian dances from Spain. If you’re curious, you can search online.

After some looking, I was surprised to find that “Malaguena” isn’t so much about nationality or ethnicity or even history: it’s all about worlds of the imagination. This song is one world people seem never to get tired of going to visit.