Free live music and stuff, March—April 2026

Some stuff that I saw in Valencia, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Vitoria.

• 15—19 March: Las Fallas de Valencia, various locations
  This year, compared to the first time I’ve been to the Fallas, I was able to see more and better, thanks to the weather. Even so, I spent most time away from the crowds in the centre, lost in the barrios of Benimaclet, Cabañal and Malvarrosa.

  

  More photos of Las Fallas @ Shutterstock.
• 31 March: «Grito de Mujer 2026» @ Casa de Colón, Calle Colón, 1, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
  A part of the worldwide festival Grito de Mujer. With the participation of Proyecto Interculturalízate, a group of migrant women (with musical collaboration of the Thioune Brothers); writers M.ª del Pino Marrero Berbel, Rosario Ibrahim, Rubén Mettini, Pepa Molina, Carolina Landino, Bönaí Capote and Aghlahoum-Poeta saharaui-Tinduf; singers-songwriters Sara Brito, Daniel Cano, and Virginia Ruiz “La Niña de la Calle”. Presented by Ana Cendrero González.

  

• 8 April: «Somethin’ Stupid» @ Palacete Rodríguez Quegles, Calle Benito Pérez Galdós, 4, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
  If you want to hear Billie Jean, Don’t Worry, Be Happy, The Entertainer, La Fiesta, Let It Be, Meet the Flintstones, Tears in Heaven and yes, Somethin’ Stupid in one concert, look no further. A splendid performance of Yul Ballesteros (guitar) and Germán López (timple).

  

• 10 April: «Sinfonía de sinfonías» @ Plaza del Pilar Nuevo, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
  The final performance of the graduates of the Advanced Conducting Programme (the class of Dr. Ignacio García Vidal) based in the Canary Islands, with La Banda Sinfónica Municipal de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Unfortunately the show was interrupted by rain just when the second part started. This is what we heard:
  • Ludwig van Beethoven, Egmont: Overture — conducted by Óscar Manuel Sánchez Benítez
  • Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Scheherazade I. The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship — conducted by Anna Kucherenko Parikova
  • Rimsky-Korsakov, Scheherazade III. The Young Prince and the Young Princess — conducted by Javier López Peña
  The full programme of the concert as it was intended is available here.

  

• 18 April: «Puto amor» @ Centro Cívico Langraiz-Oka, Tres de Marzo Parkea, 1, Nanclares de la Oca / Langraiz Oka
  A monologue by Dora Gálvez.

  

• 25 April: A Contra Blues @ Plaza de la Provincia, Vitoria-Gasteiz
  A fantastic band featuring Jonathan Herrero (lead vocals, acoustic guitar), Víctor López (drums), Héctor Martín Díaz (electric guitar), Matías Míguez (electric bass) and Alberto Noel Calvillo (electric guitar) was performing as part of the Fiestas de San Prudencio. I liked their originals but I was most impressed by the covers of Sinnerman and Triana’s En el lago.

  

And exhibitions, all in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria:

• 27 February — 27 March: «Hacer(se) Tierra. Arquitectura del arraigo» @ Centro Cultural CICCA, Alameda de Colón, 1
  Paintings from the collection of La Fundación La Caja de Canarias, including works by Miró Mainó, Alberto Manrique, José Comas Quesada, Pedro del Castillo Olivares and Juan Betancor.

  

• 5 March — 10 April: «Prohibido Escuchar» @ Centro de Artes Plásticas (CAP), Calle Colón, 8
  A project by Anarcos and Rosa P. Almeida, with invited artist Pedro Déniz.

  

• 19 March — 30 August: «ART AL QUADRAT. Memorias colectivas / Represiones cotidianas» @ CAAM — San Antonio Abad, Plaza San Antonio Abad
  Works by the Valencian arists Mónica and Gema del Rey Jordà, aka Art al Quadrat.

  

Bring on May.

A Dry White Season

a film by Euzhan Palcy
based on a novel by André Brink
music by Dave Grusin

Donald Sutherland, Susan Sarandon and Marlon Brando notwithstanding, A Dry White Season was a box office flop. As the director put it, “That’s the terrible thing about being a pioneer”. I have to admit that I never heard about this film until now. So thank you La Filmoteca Valenciana for enlightening me.

It’s not an easy watch, and why should it be? But watch it, you won’t regret it. Featuring the flugelhorn of Hugh Masekela and songs by Ladysmith Black Mambazo; also starring Zakes Mokae, Thoko Ntshinga, Winston Ntshona, Jürgen Prochnow and Janet Suzman.

Live music and stuff in Las Palmas and Santander, October 2024

This is what I’ve seen in October:

• 1 October: «Bach & Rameau» @ Casa de Colón, Calle Colón, 1, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
  Capilla de Santa Anna featuring Vicent Bru (harpsichord), Yurena Darias (viola da gamba) and Anabel Estévez (Baroque violin). The programme included:
  • Johann Sebastian Bach: Sonata in G major for violin and basso continuo BWV 1021
  • Jean-Philippe Rameau: Pièces de clavecin en concerts: III concert
    La Lapoplinière
    La timide: 1er Rondeau, 2e Rondeau
    Premier tambourin, Deuxième tambourin en Rondeau
  • Bach: Sonata in G major for viola da gamba and harpsichord BWV 1027
    Adagio
    Allegro ma non tanto
    Andante
    Allegro moderato
  • Rameau: Pièces de clavecin en concerts: V concert
    La Forqueray: Fugue
    La Cupis
    La Marais

  

• 3 October: «Trayectoria del polvo VII» @ Casa África, Calle Alfonso XIII, 5
  The opening performance of the Masdanza 2024 festival. Featuring Nshoma Nkwabi (dance, vocal) and Anahi Acuña (violin, vocal); directed by Aïda Colmenero Dïaz. The programme included projection of four short films from the cycle Ella Poema directed and choreographed by Dïaz: Éxodo, Abismo, El Quitador de Miedos and Cicatriz de Luz.

• 3—31 October: Exposición de Acuarelas @ La Casa de la Cultura, Villa de Moya, Gran Canaria
  Watercolours by la Asociación Canaria de Acuarelistas, with a work by Tamara.

  

Goodbye Las Palmas, hello, Santander!

• 11 October: Luca Filastro Trio @ El Centro Botín, Muelle de Albareda, Santander
  An evening of stride jazz featuring Luca Filastro (piano, vocals), Vincenzo Florio (double bass) and Andrea Nunzi (drums).

  

This year, I managed to see all (four) plays of the XIV Festival de Teatro Amateur organised by Federación de Grupos de Teatro Aficionado de Cantabria (FETEACAN). As in other years, it took place at Paraninfo de Las Llamas de la Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo (Avenida de los Castros, 42).

• 19 October: «La Visita»
  A play by Javier García-Mauriño performed by Carpe Diem Teatro (Tomelloso, Ciudad Real); directed by Miguel Ángel Berlanga.

• 20 October: «La Ratonera»
  Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap (with a twist!) performed by Itxartu Antzerki Taldea (Getxo).
• 26 October: «Los locos de Valencia»
  A rather silly farce by Lope de Vega, performed by UGTeatro (Murcia). Directed by David Terol and Mariángeles Rodríguez.

• 27 October: «Pluto. Dios de la riqueza»
  A comedy by Aristophanes, performed by Teatro Kumen (Asturias). Directed by José Ramon López Menéndez.

  

More exhibitions in Santander:

• 11 May — 20 October: «Silvia Bächli: Partitura» @ El Centro Botín, Santander
  Works by Silvia Bächli (1956, Baden, Switzerland).

  

• 5 October 2024 — 9 March 2025: «Shimabuku: Pulpo, cítrico, humano» @ El Centro Botín
  Works by Shimabuku (1969, Kobe, Japan).

  

• 10 October — 7 November: «Colores del mundo» @ Plaza Porticada
  Open-air exhibition of large-format images from the National Geographic archives.

  

• 11 October — 7 December 2024: «De Orallo a Okuda: un diálogo intergeneracional» @ Balta Gallery, Calle Lope de Vega, 29
  Works by Roberto Orallo and Óscar San Miguel aka Okuda.

  

And that was it for October.

Live music and stuff in Las Palmas, July 2024

This is what we’ve seen in July. Sketches and photos by Tamara.

• 3 July: «Ecos de Canarias y Piazzolla» @ Palacete Rodríguez Quegles, Calle Benito Pérez Galdós, 4, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
  Trío Gabriel Rodó featuring Ana Marrero (piano), Liliana Mesa Montané (violin) and Berenice Musa (soprano).

  

• 5 July: Sofar concert @ Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno (CAAM), Calle de los Balcones, 9
  This is the very first time I went to a Sofar event and loved it, even at the cost of missing the last part of Spain—Germany football game. Featuring Kimera, Shango Dely and Nala Rami; each band played for about 30 minutes.

• 6 July: «Iron Modvm» @ Auditorio José Antonio Ramos, Parque Doramas
  A show by the Barcelona-based company Iron Skulls, plus some guest breakdance battles.

  

• 7 July: «De la ópera al jazz» @ Sala Gabriel Rodó
  The concert by La Banda Sinfónica Municipal de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Conductor: Pedro Vicente Alama. Soloist: Aitor Llimerá Galduf (oboe). Called “from opera to jazz”, it’s probably better described by “from Bach to Gershwin”.

  

• 10 July: «Orpheus» @ Sala Gabriel Rodó
  A live cinema event where Insectotròpics (Barcelona) reinterpret the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice by reviewing the concepts of love, life and death via the virual reality glasses. With guest (on-screen) appearance of Mr. B., Mr. G., Mr. M. and Mr. Z.

  

• 11 July: «Los Pfeiffer» @ Sala Gabriel Rodó
  A show by La Troupe Malabó (Castellón) featuring Laura Agustí (violin, soprano), Quique Montoya (clown), Mae Puchalt (violin), Sonia Tabares (viola) and Alberto Zente (cello).

  

• 12 July: «R.E.M.» @ Sala Gabriel Rodó
  A show by La Trócola Circ (Alicante).

  

• 13 July: «Invitación a la danza» @ Terminal de Contenedores del Muelle de La Luz (Grupo Boluda)
  Music by Tchaikovsky (Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake), Prokofiev (Romeo and Juliet), Johann Strauss (Voices of Spring, Czardas), plus encores: Aquarela do Brasil and Cancan, performed by La Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria. Conductor: Karel Mark Chichon. Dancers: Sae Maeda and Harris Bell, The Royal Ballet.

  

• 19 July: «Ovvio» @ Auditorio José Antonio Ramos
  I saw this show by Kolektiv Lapso Cirk some five years ago in Santander and thoroughly enjoyed it. But I can’t be in two places at the same time. So Tamara and Timur went to see Ovvio and I went to see Rubén Rodríguez.



• 19 July: Notas de Verano en Colón: Rubén Rodríguez @ Casa de Colón, Calle Colón, 1
  A concert of the Canarian singer-songwriter Rubén Rodríguez (guitar, vocals) accompanied by Abraham Ramos (timple).

  

• 19 July: «Echassiers du Togo» @ Parque Doramas
  A fantastic performance by the Togolese stilt-walkers collective Afuma.

  

• 19 July: Sylphes @ Plaza de Santa Ana
  An incredibly beautiful aerial ballet from Italy provided a fitting closure of this year’a TEMUDAS Fest.

  

Three double bills from 33^rd Canary Islands Jazz Festival:

• 25 July: Perinké Big Band & Adédèji @ Plaza de Santa Ana
  Perinké Big Band led by Ximo Martínez presented their show Fiebre de Mambo feauring vocals of Marieme Herrera and Sofiel del Pino.

  

  Adédèji is an Afro-beat band from Nigeria featuring Adédèjì Adetayo (guitars, lead vocals), Ebun Arowosegbe (vocals), Mary Sobowale (vocals, violin), Abiodun ‘Wura’ Oke (percussion), Oluwasegun Adebuyi (bass), Ralph Lasisi (tenor sax), Victor Ademofe (trumpet), Samuel Obinna (drums) and Samuel Olawale (keyboards). I should have stayed longer for that one!
• 26 July: Theo Croker & Ana Popovic @ Plaza de Santa Ana
  Theo Croker (trumpet) accompanied by Idris Frederik (piano, keyboards), Miguel Marcel Russell (drums) and Eric Wheeler (double bass); Ana Popovic (guitar, vocals) with Claudio Giovagnoli (sax), Davide Ghidoni (trumpet), Corey LaDell Burns (bass), Michele Papadia (keyboards) and Jeremy Thomas (drums, vocals).
• 27 July: Jonathan Kreisberg Quartet & Polo Ortí New Project @ Plaza de Santa Ana
  Jonathan Kreisberg (electric guitar), Marko Churnchetz (piano), Luca Alemanno (double bass) and Colin Stranahan (drums); Polo Ortí (piano, keyboards), Chipi Chacón (trumpet), Samuel Kèri (electric bass) and Naíma Acuña (drums).

And an exhibition:

• 25 July — 16 August: «Exposición Gran Canaria de Series de Obra Gráfica 2023» @ Centro de Artes Plásticas (CAP), Calle Colón, 8
  ...where you can see some engravings by Tamara.

  

All the events listed here were free of charge apart from «Invitación a la danza» which cost €15 a ticket.

Free live music and stuff in Las Palmas, March 2024

This is what I’ve seen in March:

• 2 March: Kya Loum @ Biblioteca Pública Municipal Josefina de la Torre, Paseo de las Canteras, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
  This concert was a part of two-day workshop «Mujeres, migraciones y derechos humanos» organised by Karmala Cultura. In fact, I turned up on Friday 1 March to see the performance of Kya Loum planned at 7 pm only to discover that it was already over because the other parts of the workshop have finished earlier. Next day, I came by 7 pm to hear a bit of poetry by Biselé, Karessa Malaya, Gabriella Nuru and Hilda Pérez Rodríguez, followed by the rooftop concert of Kya at 8 pm.

  

• 6 March: «Guante blanco» @ Palacete Rodríguez Quegles, Calle Benito Pérez Galdós, 4
  This happened to be a two-in-one evening: presentation of the award of the IV Premio Internacional de Novela de Misterio e Intriga to Juan Muñoz González, the author of the winning novel, El informante; and the concert of Guante Blanco, which was why I went there. The trio of José Carlos Campos (vocals), Antonio Brito (piano) and Paula Conde (electric bass) performed such hits as Armando’s Rhumba, Luz de Luna, Rata de dos patas, Una canción para la Magdalena, Una Notte a Napoli, and Wilkommen and Mein Herr from Cabaret.

  

• 7 March: «Magua» @ Casa de Colón, Calle Colón, 1
  The Canarian singer-songwriter Sylvie Hernández presented her debut album Magua, accompanied by Marta Bautista (double bass), Totó Noriega (percussion), Pablo Quintana (guitar) and Ner Suárez (guitar, tres cubano, cuatro venezolano, accordion).

  

• 14 March: Ari Jiménez @ Museo Castillo de Mata, Calle Domingo Guerra del Río, 147
  The third concert from the cycle «12 Noches de autor».

  

• 21 March: Miryam Quiñones @ Teatro Guiniguada, Plaza F. Mesa de León
  More a concert than a masterclass, but I enjoyed it all the same. Miryam Quiñones took us on an illustrated journey through the history of (mostly) Peruvian author song (trova peruana) and added some “Peruvianised” classics of the genre.

And that was it for this month. The sixth edition of Happy Piano Day, originally planned for 23 March, was cancelled due to rain and is now rescheduled to 6 April. Looking forward to it!

Live music in Las Palmas, June 2023

This month I was doing a course in the afternoon and so unfortunately missed all the weekday shows. This is what I’ve seen (on weekends, of course):

• 10 June: La Trova @ Auditorio José Antonio Ramos, Parque Doramas, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
  Closing this Musicando season, La Trova — who mark their 20th anniversary this year — treated us to Latin standards including such crowd-pleasers as Corazón Espinado, Idilio, La vida es un carnaval, Volare and inevitable Guantanamera.

• 17 June: «Volver. Tango Sinfónico» @ Plaza de Santa Ana
  The show was opening this year’s Fiestas fundacionales. Featuring Orquesta Sinfónica de Las Palmas conducted by Rafael Sánchez Araña; the singers Ariel Ardit (Argentina) and Francis Andreu (Uruguay), bandoneonist Claudio Constantini (Peru), pianist Andrés Linetzky (Argentina), actors Tony Báez and Yanara Moreno, and dancers Michelle Perello and David Prieto (see the gallery). The programme included A media luz, Cambalache, El día que me quieras, Milonga sentimental, Nostalgias, Por una cabeza and, naturally, Volver.

  

• 18 June: Momi Maiga @ Teatro Guiniguada, Plaza F. Mesa de León
  A great show by Momi Maiga (kora, vocals, percussion), Marçal Ayats (cello), Carlos Montfort (violin, bass guitar, percussion) and Aleix Tobias (drums, percussion), with Alba Gil Aceytuno (sax) joining for a final jam.

• 24 June: «Música en el corazón de Vegueta» @ Vegueta, various locations
  A lot was going on in Vegueta but in the end we went to see N’Trío featuring flautists Dalila Díaz, Gladys Pérez Molina and Paulina Niemczycka (Casa de la Iglesia 1, calle Doctor Chil, 17); trio of Pino Quimont (vocals), Miqui Delgado (piano) and José Carlos Cejudo (bass) next door (Casa de la Iglesia 2); and pianist Luis Sánchez (Fundación MAPFRE, calle Castillo, 6).

  

Really looking forward to July.

Live music and stuff in Santander and Las Palmas, October 2022

It was an unusually warm month. I enjoyed it a lot.

Three exhibitions that I saw in Teatro CASYC (Calle Tantín, 25) on 1 of October:

• Fotografía de lo sublime. Las marinas de Gustave Le Gray (8 September — 1 October)
  A collection of 15 albumen silver prints by Gustave Le Gray taken between 1856 and 1857. (It was the last day of this exhibition, so I made an effort to go there after a lazy day on a beach.) Read more here.

  

• Dances With Wolves (7 September — 10 October)
  An audiovisual exhibition featuring 64 black-and-white photographs by Antonio Aragón Renuncio.

• Cuadernos de Bruselas II
  A set of beautiful nude drawings (2000) from the portfolio of Mª Antonia Sánchez Escalona.

  

A lot of music — more than I expected!

• 5 October: Nusondia @ Rvbicón, Calle del Sol, 4, Santander
  African music meets jazz-funk. Featuring Sabari Kurra (kora, vocals), Chema (keyboards) and Dani Martín (drums). Watch the full concert here.

  

• 6 October: Maud the Moth @ Teatro CASYC, Calle Tantín, 25
  The Edinburgh-based composer, pianist and singer Amaya López-Carromero aka Maud the Moth opened her Spanish tour with this intimate concert, playing (mostly) the material from her last album Orphnē. A sumptuous and singular fusion of folk, electronica, classical music and prog-rock charmingly presented by a lady at the piano.

  

• 6—9 October: Sala del órgano @ El antiguo túnel de Tetuán
  An audiovisual show (lasting about five minutes) by Pablo Turanzas, at the Sardinero exit of the old Tetuan tunnel. A part of the festival Hágase la luz.

  

• 7 October: Tranki & Los Palos de Blues @ Plaza Pombo
  A local trio playing good old rock’n’roll; with collaboration dancing folk courtesy of Asociación Punto Swing Santander.
• 7—9 October: Sol de Otoño @ Calle del Sol
  I couldn’t attend all the activities but I went to see Deaf Dogs (Friday), Tomasito (Saturday) and Hendrik Röver & Los Míticos GT’s (that is, Goyo Chiquito & Toño López).

  

• 12 October: The Skin Tree Project @ Rvbicón
  A modern jazz trio featuring Sergio Rowles (electric guitar), Guillermo Suárez (double bass) and Mario Fuentes (drums). Watch the full concert here.

  

• 14 October — 9 November: Tierra de sueños @ Plaza Porticada
  A colourful exhibition of photos by Cristina García Rodero showing the daily life of the residents of Anantapur, India.

  

A short holiday in Las Palmas...

• 17 October: El Mundo de Van Gogh @ INFECAR, Avenida de la Feria, 1, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
  I missed (or rather ignored) this immersive experience all summer in Santander (26 May — 31 August), but it followed us to Las Palmas. We decided to give it a shot and were not disappointed. There was no need to buy tickets online as that involved paying €1.50 “gastos de gestión” per person.

• 19 October: Mariana @ Palacete Rodríguez Quegles, Calle Benito Pérez Galdós, 4
  This young singer-songwriter from Tenerife participated in the acoustic indie programme of Festival CERO, playing mostly the songs from her debut album A Partir del Final.

  

Back to Santander...

• 23 October: Phil Grijuela @ Rvbicón
  A proof, if any was needed, that Spanish is not the best language for blues and rock, effortlessly provided by Phil Grijuela (guitar, harmonica, voice) and some guests who, thankfully, did not sing.

  

• 27 October: Solana @ Rvbicón
  A world music fusion band featuring Tamsin Elliott (accordion, flutes, voice), Rowan Elliott (violin, viola, cajón), Elio Araúz de Marcos (drums, percussion, voice), Jp Wolfgang (guitars) and Henry Edmonds (double bass, electric bass).

  

• 29 October: Context @ Café de Las Artes Teatro, Calle García Morato, 4
  A creation by Alessandro Carboni performed by Sara Capanna. I found its 30 minutes excruciatingly long and at the same time not providing enough value for its €11.

• 29 October: Crash Normal @ Cafe/Bar Bolero, Calle San Celedonio, 35
  Later the same evening: the Paris-based musician mixing the Greek rebetiko rhythms with psychedelic rock and electronica sounds in his new project Hypno Rebetiko, plus a mind-blowing version of Tomorrow Never Knows. To quote his BandCamp page,

  I’m here to celebrate the music of the outlaws, the pot smokers, the jailbirds and the gamblers but also those who would be able to spend 15 years in prison just for the love of someone.

  Free entrance and very agreeable ambience.

  

• 30 October: MAR (Micrófono Abierto Rvbicón) @ Rvbicón
  Many familiar faces, nothing extraordinary. I was half-expecting something in a Halloween-ish mood but no such luck, apart from a face-painted couple next to me.

  

Goodbye, October.