Free live music and stuff in Las Palmas, August 2023

Culture-wise, August here is dead. Dead. And after the incredibly busy July, it felt especially dead. Enter LPA Groove Summer, a two-day (or should I say three-night?) mini-festival organised by Miguel Ramírez. This is a second edition of the cycle: the first was last summer in Miller. Thankfully, this year they moved LPA Groove Summer outdoors, to Parque Doramas: better ambience and closer to me.

• 11 August: Los Jinetes del Groove / Mirla Riomar @ Auditorio José Antonio Ramos, Parque Doramas, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
  According to our City Hall notice, Los Jinetes del Groove were “born in La Laguna as a response to the lethargy caused by the health crisis”. A healthy dose of jazz-funk interspersed with humorous intermissions. I really liked all the songs but if I had to choose my three favourites, they would be Freedom, No More Passport and Slow, Bro. Featuring Pablo Galán (drums), Pablo González (keyboards), Diego Jiménez (sax) and Jonay Mesa (guitar).
  The second part did not disappoint: an exuberant celebration of Afro-Brazilian music and dance by Mirla Riomar (vocals, percussion, dance) accompanied by Antony da Cruz (bass), Marcelo Montenegro (drums), Cra Rosa (percussion) and Marcel Valles Perpinya (guitar).
• 12 August: Nymura / Gisele Jackson & The Shu Shu’s @ Auditorio José Antonio Ramos
  Nymura is a solo project by Ruyman Franco (DJ, rap, keyboards, bass guitar), on this occasion accompanied by Tana Santana (bass guitar, keyboards), Pablo Queu (guitar), Juan Pérez (drums) and Alba Gil Aceytuno (alto sax, flute, rap), plus a guest Devitha Pradinda (vocals, keys).
  And a cherry on the cake: the concert of Gisele Jackson, supported by Dave Wilkinson (guitar), Abel Boquera (Hammond) and Caspar St. Charles (drums). Mixing her own songs with standards such as I Put a Spell on You, Son of a Preacher Man and Chain of Fools, she made everybody dance.

And a bit of art:

• 10 August — 7 September: «Concurso Gran Canaria de Series de Obra Gráfica 2022» @ Centro de Artes Plásticas (CAP), Calle Colón, 8
  A small collective exhibition of winning and selected works of the last year’s contest. My favourites were Equilibrio. Simetría. Armonía by María Carmen Eizaguirre Santana and Memoria del Suelo by Nadia Brito Melado.

  

Looking forward to more life in September.

Life Lines: Poets For Oxfam

by Various Authors

This was the only non-second hand CD I ever bought from Oxfam, back in 2006. I’ve been coming back to it ever since.

There are poems OK, good and brilliant. As I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, I’m not a fan of vers libre, so I tend to skip those, except perhaps of Look at These by Helen Farish. My absolute favourites are Sexy at Sixty by Pam Ayres, No Ball Games by Sophie Hannah, No Ball Games, and that ultimate pièce de résistance by John Hegley with Keith Moore on tuba: St George’s Day.

Life Lines: Poets For Oxfam Dannie Abse, The Stethoscope Fleur Adcock, A Rose Tree Patience Agbabi, Countdown to Zero Al Alvarez, Anne Dancing Simon Armitage, Two Clocks Pam Ayres, Sexy at Sixty Sebastian Barker, The Walkway Charles Bennett, A Woman Made of Bees Ashok Bery, A Very Short History of British India Alan Brownjohn, Talking Animals Melanie Challenger, Limb Polly Clark, Hedgehog Olivia Cole, Breaking the Ice Wendy Cope, Spared Tim Cumming, The Knowledge Charlie Dark, Airborne Isobel Dixon, And Carol Ann Duffy, Prayer Ian Duhig, From the Irish Frank Dullaghan, Man On The Moon Helen Farish, Look at These Peter Finch, Ben Lomond Annie Freud, Canaletto Orange Anne-Marie Fyfe, Signallings Giles Goodland, Corrections Lavinia Greenlaw, Spirit of the Staircase Sophie Hannah, No Ball Games, etc. David Harsent, Toffee John Hegley, St George’s Day Kevin Higgins, A Brief History of Those Who Made Their Point Politely and Then Went Home Alan Jenkins, Inheritance Mimi Khalvati, Ghazal after Hafez Nick Laird, Cuttings Roddy Lumsden, My True love Chris McCabe, Axis of Evil Roger McGough, Half Term Jamie McKendrick, Ancient History Lachlan Mackinnon, Marfa, Texas Adrian Mitchell, Human Esther Morgan, Bone China Andrew Motion, Anne Frank Huis Daljit Nagra, Darling and Me Cath Nichols, Corona Eric Ormsby, My Mother in Old Age Ruth Padel, Tiger Drinking at Forest Pool Pascale Petit, Self Portrait with Fire Ants Mario Petrucci, On the Onset of Tinnitus Clare Pollard, A London Plane Tree Peter Porter, Chorus At The End Of The First Act Sally Read, Mastectomy Denise Riley, Shatung Maurice Riordan, The January Birds Henry Shukman, Piano Solo George Szirtes, Water Jo Shapcott, Of Mutability Owen Sheers, Not Yet My Mother John Siddique, Cheap Moisturizer John Stammers, Mary Bruton Greta Stoddart, You Drew Breath Liane Strauss, Ça ce n’est pas Todd Swift, Lost at Austerlitz Heather Taylor, Trouble Tim Turnbull, New Romantic Jonathan Ward, Anna and the Swan John Welch, Taking Refuge Jackie Wells, Only a 9-Year-Old Briar Wood, Tent Tamar Yoseloff, Barnard’s Star Benjamin Zephaniah, A Picture of a Sign

Piranesi

by Susanna Clarke

‘It’s all in the book I wrote. I don’t suppose you happen to have read it?’ ‘No, sir.’ ‘Pity. It’s terribly good. You’d like it.’ Susanna Clarke, Piranesi

It took ten years for Susanna Clarke to write her debut masterpiece. Another sixteen years passed before she published her second novel. And it was totally worth the wait. Because, you see, Ms Clarke has written a book that’s even better than Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. That’s what I call quality.

I don’t think the sixteen year gap was deliberate but the number 16 seems to be important to the author. As in the name of one of the characters. Or the number of etchings in Imaginary Prisons by Giovanni Battista Piranesi (2^nd edition; the first edition contained 14). Anyway, it’s a good number.

‘I was the greatest scholar of my generation. Perhaps of any generation. I theorised that this ...’ He opened his hands in a gesture intended to indicate the Hall, the House, Everything. ‘ ... existed. And it does. I theorised that there was a way to get here. And there is. And I came here and I sent others here. I kept everything secret. And I swore the others to secrecy too. I’ve never been very interested in what you might call morality, but I drew the line at bringing about the collapse of civilisation. Perhaps that was wrong. I don’t know. I do have a rather sentimental streak.’

もののけ姫

a film by Hayao Miyazaki

I think Princess Mononoke was the first Studio Ghibli film I saw, yet somehow it never became my favourite. Rather the opposite. Still, I endured it quite a few times when the kids were little. Yesterday, we sat down to revisit it.

It’s amazing how much I’ve forgotten in, um, fifteen years or so. I definitely enjoyed the movie now, yucky stuff notwithstanding, maybe because we watched it (for the first time!) in original Japanese, maybe just a nostalgia effect. There are many parallels with Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. Lady Eboshi, of course, is a mediaeval version of Princess Kushana, as San (aka princess Mononoke) is a (p)reincarnation of Nausicaä. Kodama the tree spirits are almost unbearably cute; of human characters, the Iron Town women are the most appealing.