Chick Corea has left us, I learned yesterday. I know, 79 is a respectable age. Yet it is too early, for Chick anyway.
I was lucky enough to see him live in 2017, performing with Béla Fleck. It was one of those concerts that will stay with me — excuse the cliché but Chick was very fond of this word — forever.
Here’s my Corea playlist. It is by no means representative; on the contrary, it’s very personal and biased.
In October, things perked up here. (Postponed from August) TEMUDAS fest, MASDANZA, concerts rescheduled from spring — some days we were really spoiled for choice. And the tickets were flying!
By now, we’ve got used to cancellations: festivals, concerts, anything really. So imagine my surprise to discover that the second edition of the Rock & Books festival, organised by Biblioteca Insular de Gran Canaria was taking place bang in the heart of the city, from 15 to 25 of October! And for free entrance and even without customary pre-inscription — how cool is that?
So I couldn’t miss the chance to see my favourite Canarian band, this time with the artist Miss Mensi (Laura Castilla) who was painting “live” while Flor de Canela were playing. The programme was familiar — I watched streaming of their concert in Edificio Miller on 26 September — but you cannot compare that with live music. I liked their new(er), harder, funkier sound even more.
Gautama del Campo (saxophones), Ezequiel Reina (guitar and vocal) and our very own Germán López (timple), with bailaora Rocío Pozo, paid their musical tribute to Paco de Lucía. Fantastic rendition of such themes as Canción de Amor, Zyryab, Gitanos Andaluces (bulerías), Río Ancho, Buana Buana King Kong and, of course, Entre dos aguas; plus Camaron’s La Leyenda del Tiempo — wish you were there.
The new Musicando season was opened by Hirahi Afonso (timple) presenting his debut album Memento, with the band featuring Pau Figueres (guitars), Arnau Figueres (percussion), Darío Barroso (guitars), Ismael Alcina (bass) and Rita Payés (voice, trombone), plus guest musicians Belén Álvarez Doreste aka LAJALADA (voice), Claudio Marrero (sax) and Iván Quintana (voice).
With more events coming in November, it’s a shame that I won’t see them. I’m off from Las Palmas for a couple of months to the gloomy mainland.
Although both flamenco and violin have long association with Romani music, the violin never was your typical flamenco instrument. Well, this young man is about to change that. Wikipedia credits Paco Montalvo as “creador del violín flamenco como voz principal” (“creator of flamenco violin as the main voice”). I have to say that for at least a year or so I was diligently ignoring the videos of Paco Montalvo that were invading my newsfeed. Then, last December, I read that the man himself is coming to Canarias. So Timur and I bowed to the inevitable and went to see him in the Auditorio Alfredo Kraus.
We were treated to an hour and a half of wonderful music, blissfully devoid of cante (which is always a plus, in spite of sounding like a minus, as Tamara has put it). As one could guess from the name of the show, Paco played many songs from his debut album, Alma del violín flamenco, but also from his latest offering, (unfortunately, not-so-imaginatively named) Corazón Flamenco. And, if I must to give any highlights... naturally, homage to Paco de Lucía: Río Ancho [1] and La Barrosa; Tamacún by Rodrigo y Gabriela; Camarón’s Rosa María... And I was really impressed by 20-years-old Marta Guillén’s dance in El Vito Cordobés and Sevilla por Bulerias.
For encores, Paco & the band played My Way (the only one I honestly could live without) and another of Paco de Lucía’s hits, Entre dos aguas [2]. The audience, as it is usual (in my experience) in the Auditorio, were incredibly quiet and well-behaved throughout the whole performance, and only clapped along that last song... then gave a standing ovation.
Marta Guillén: dance, castanets, handclaps Paco Montalvo: violin Alberto Romero: handclaps Miguel Santiago: percussion |
Yesterday, I went to see the Ariadna Castellanos Trio in the Auditorium of the ULPGC (University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria). The most shocking thing about this concert was that the Auditorium was not even half-full. It wasn’t even one-third-full. They really could should have advertised it better. Anyway, I was there, and that’s what counts. And the music was pure magic.
By the time the concert finished, I realised that I had a camera with me. Damn. Luckily, the (small but devoted) audience managed to deliver a standing ovation and the trio came back for an encore.
Ariadna’s album Flamenco En Black & White is out now.
Francisco Sánchez Gómez, better known as Paco de Lucía, the greatest flamenco guitarist of all time, died this morning aged 66.
I was lucky enough to see the man himself performing with his sextet, plus a dancer, almost twenty years ago, when I was living in Trieste. To be precise, the concert was on 27 October 1994, in the (long gone) venue called Discoteca Hippodrome di Monfalcone. I am sure one day somebody will compile a complete list of Paco’s concerts, but today it is all that I can find. I went there with several friends and colleagues, none of whom knew anything about Paco de Lucía. We were a bit late, driving all the way from Trieste and waiting in a long queue, but it was OK because the concert started late anyway, almost one hour after the announced time, by which point I thought my friends are going to murder me. It was noisy as in a real hippodrome and everybody was smoking. And then the lights went off, and Paco was on stage. He started the concert with two or three pieces performed either solo or with hand-clapping as the sole accompaniment. One of these songs was La Barrosa.
The second and last time I saw Paco was in Liverpool in 1996. (Can’t remember or find neither the name of the venue nor the exact date. Sorry!) It was a weekday, so I took a day off. Tamara and I were travelling from Leeds. We arrived way too early, spent a few hours walking around the city and did not like it much, and (very wisely) timed how long does it take to get to the bus station. The concert started... you got it, one hour after the announced time. It was as great as the Monfalcone concert, although I think the band had better rapport with the Italian audience. We had to leave during the encores to catch our late night bus back to Leeds.
Today, searching for Paco’s music at YouTube, I came across this 1986 Soviet documentary containing the live performances in Moscow earlier that year. I hope my Spanish-speaking friends can filter out the (rather embarrassing) Russian voice-over and enjoy the music of Paco & The Sextet at the peak of their powers.
The third studio album by the Mexican dynamic duo is quite remarkable. Not only give they a rest to Metallica (or any) covers. For the first time, Rod y Gab came up with something like concept album. Each of the eleven original compositions is dedicated to a musician or a band — OK, that could have been boring if it were not so frighteningly brilliant. I don’t know if they still maintain that “we don’t play flamenco” attitude but it is awfully nice of R&G to pay respect to the artists who influenced them. In the liner notes, they even list their favourite albums! Like this:
Paco de Lucía
We have met people that still don’t know who he is! The worst part is that a lot of them “work” in the music industry... Shame on them... Paco de Lucía is the music itself.
Recommended albums:
All of them!!!
The deluxe edition comes with a bonus DVD which, frankly, adds very little, especially if you’ve seen Rodrigo y Gabriela playing live. And the tutorial for Buster Voodoo? Good luck with that one.
