Live music and theatre in Santander, September 2022

This is what I’ve seen in September:

• 7 September: The Silver Lining Serenaders @ Rvbicón, Calle del Sol, 4, Santander
  Trad jazz and swing band from New Orleans. Featuring Ella Inglebret (violin, vocals), Scott Stobbe (guitar, vocals) and Ben Redwine (clarinet). Watch the full concert here.

  

• 13 September: Bywater Call @ El Almacén de Little Bobby, Calle del Sol, 20
  Dave Barnes (guitar), Stephen Dyte (trumpet), John Kervin (keys), Bruce McCarthy (drums), Mike Meusel (bass), Julian Nalli (tenor sax), Meghan Parnell (vocals). The price of tickets bought in advance was €14; at the entrance, €17; and online, €17 plus €1.70 “gastos de gestión”, €18.70 in total — daylight robbery. Luckily, I was able to get the “advance” tickets half an hour before the concert in the bar across the road.

  

• 20 September: Devórate @ Escena Miriñaque, Calle Isaac Peral, 9
  Since its 2019 première, Mari Paula’s creation has matured almost to perfection. That “plasticky” part in the middle is still a bit too long for my taste; otherwise, I enjoyed the show even more than three years ago.

  

• 21 September: Nico Andino Quartet @ Rvbicón
  With Nico Andino (trumpet), Nicolás Alvear (guitar), Jesús Pérez (electric bass) and Daniel Pimenta (drums). Watch the full concert here.

  

• 27 September: Kirie, las voces del alma @ Paraninfo de La Magdalena, Calle de la Familia Real, 8
  A show by Espacio Espiral directed by Cristina Samaniego. I liked the singing but struggled to keep awake during the narration.
• 28 September: Sed @ Escena Miriñaque
  A play by Quásar Teatro, directed and performed by Mónica González Megoya. I found it a bit long for its message.

• 28 September: Carlos Pizarro Trio @ Rvbicón
  Later the same evening: melodic modern jazz trio playing mostly original compositions. Featuring Diego Gutiérrez (drums), Javier Mayor (double bass) and Carlos Pizarro (guitar). Watch the full concert here.

  

• 30 September: Las Migas @ Teatro CASYC, Calle Tantín, 25
  Could there be a better way to finish a rainy day than to see Las Migas? Featuring Alicia Grillo (guitar, vocals), Carolina Fernández ‘La Chispa’ (lead vocals, dance), Laura Pacios (violin, vocals) and Marta Robles (guitar, vocals), plus Oriol Riart (double bass) and Guillem Arnau (drums, percussion). Marta Robles joked that they were dreaming of playing in Santander for the last 18 years (that is, from the moment the band was formed). A mix of old songs and material from their new album, Libres.

  

The summer is truly over now.

Das Mädchen und die Spinne

a film by Ramon Zürcher and Silvan Zürcher

No, people normally don’t talk like if they were reciting poetic prose. Also, they don’t normally act as if they were recreating poetic prose. But that’s the way it is in this film. Then again, people normally don’t talk like they talk in movies anyway. The Girl and the Spider just takes it to the next level. Past, present and potential future loves are coming together and part again in tentative, non-committal ways. Not much is going on otherwise — and why should it?

I still don’t know what to make of this film. I doubt it will be a commercial success anywhere, even in its native Switzerland. Let’s revisit this page twenty years later and check if it’s completely forgotten or became a cult picture. I loved the recurrence and interplay of the main theme by Philipp Moll with, wait a moment, Voyage, voyage — I’m also aware that it could be annoying.

Carajita

a film by Ulises Porra and Silvina Schnicer

Another film that I watched as a part of Santander Film Festival. A coproduction of Argentina and Dominican Republic, Carajita is a powerful drama starring Magnolia Núñez as Yarisa, Cecile van Welie as Sara and Adelanny Padilla as Mallory.

Sometimes I wish they put subtitles in Spanish-language films here. This was certainly the case with Carajita. So if you’re going to watch it in the cinema, be prepared to miss some of the dialogue.

El hombre que plantaba árboles

by Jean Giono
translated by Palmira Feixas
illustrated by Simona Mulazzani
preface by José Saramago
afterword by Joaquín Araújo

According to Wikipedia, The Man Who Planted Trees is Jean Giono’s best-known work outside France. Maybe because it was first published in English even though originally written in French. I myself read it in Spanish, in a form of a precious little hardback by Duomo Ediciones with illustrations by Simona Mulazzani.

A deeply touching story that might make you quit your job and dedicate the rest of your life to something useful, like planting acorns. The passage about the state functionaries paying visit to Elzéard Bouffier in order to protect the “natural forest” is priceless.

Rather fittingly, I thought, at the end of the book there was a note:

Este libro está impreso con el sol. La energía que ha hecho posible su impresión procede exclusivamente de paneles solares. Grafica Veneta es la primera imprenta en el mundo que no utiliza carbón.

Islas Canarias: Nacidas del Fuego

a film by Pablo Tejeda

This documentary opens this year’s Santander Film Festival.

كوستا برافا، لبنان

a film by Mounia Akl

By a strange coincidence, the film I watched just after Paris, Texas was named in a similarly oxymoronic fashion: Costa Brava, Lebanon. I don’t want to give away any spoilers; suffice to say that Mounia Akl’s debut feature, starring Nadine Labaki (Caramel) and Saleh Bakri, did not disappoint. Watch it.

Paris, Texas

a film by Wim Wenders
score by Ry Cooder

I first saw Paris, Texas in the dying years of the Soviet Union, before the film became a cult classic. I loved its slow pace, the dreamy landscapes and, of course, the music. Rewatching it now in Filmoteca de Cantabria, I’ve realised how little I remembered of the movie though. The opening sequence, yes; a powerful performance by the great late Harry Dean Stanton (but not his name); the booth scenes with Nastassja Kinski (and her name); and the “rich father, poor father” bit. Since the version I watched in Moscow 30+ years ago was voiced-over, I didn’t appreciate at the time that the dialogue in the latter scene was a mix of English and Spanish. What a happy rediscovery.