Queen Symphony in Las Palmas

I hever heard about Tolga Kashif’s magnum opus, Queen Symphony (2002), until the concert of GCWO earlier this year. And there you go, two months later they’re back to Auditorio Alfredo Kraus together with the Choir and the Children’s Choir of Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria. Timur and I went to see the show. (Tamara excused herself saying that “It won’t be real Queen anyway”.)

As symphonies go, this is on a longer side, about one hour. It is as epic as one would expect, to the degree that at times I wished it was less so. Who Wants To Live Forever appears in three movements. The first time, in the third movement, as a beautiful interplay of violin (Preslav Ganev) and cello (Marisa Roda). It comes back in the fifth movement and lasts, well, forever (or so I thought). Then, when you’d think you’ll never want to hear it again, it is reprised in the final movement.

Gran Canaria’s Women Band live

Women sing.
Women dance.
Women play harp.
They also play piano.

According to Lise Karin Meling, “The foundations for which instruments women and men should play are laid already in the Middle Ages”. The flute, the violin, the oboe the horn, the cello, the double bass, the bassoon, and the trumpet all were considered unsuitable for women. And guess what, they still are. Can you name any female bassist/drummer/saxophonist/trombonist/trumpeter? I can, but all of them are jazz players, and also are exceptions, for jazz remains a men’s world. And what about women conductors?

Yesterday, Timur and I went to see this all in the shape of the Gran Canaria’s Women Band in the Auditorio Alfredo Kraus.

GCWB was founded in 2016 by Pilar Rodríguez and consists of fifty Canarian women. According to La Provincia, this is the first all-female symphony orchestra in Canarias (and second in Spain). In fact, just like Gran Canaria Wind Orchestra, GCWB is a concert band: no violins or violas (and a good thing too), just one cello and two double basses. Also, neither piano nor harp. But plenty of percussion, including a drumkit.

It was an interesting and varied programme, starting with world permière of Atman by Canarian composer Nisamar Díaz. I liked Second Suite for Band by Alfred Reed and Ruckus by Randall Standridge the most. In my view, there was not enough chemistry between the guest vocalist Eli Guillén and the band during the first two songs. The choir Coral Chelys Odalys, directed by Maite Robaina, came to the rescue. Can’t Take My Eyes Off You sung by Eli and a choir was a success. And then there were encores: a paso doble (I don’t know the name) and I Will Survive!

It looked like the show was sold out: I bought the tickets on Thursday and there was just a handful of seats left. Now how great could it be if the band could perform not just once a year, to celebrate the International Women’s Day...

Unfortunately, the programme booklet does not list the musicians of GCWB. Also, for a few songs, they credited the arrangers but not the composers.

Gran Canaria’s Women Band

Musical director: Pilar Rodríguez Auditorio Alfredo Kraus, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Sunday, 4 March 2018, 12:00 Part I

• Nisamar Díaz (Gran Canaria, 1980)
  Atman (world première)
• Steven Reineke (Tipp City, Ohio, 1970)
  Main Street Calebration
• James L. Hosay (Nashville, Tennessee, 1959)
  Persis
• Alfred Reed (New York, 1921 — Miami, 2005)
  Second Suite for Band (Latino Mexicana) (1978)
  1. Son Montuno
  2. Tango
  3. Guaracha
  4. Paso Doble

Part II

• Randall D. Standridge (Little Rock, Arkansas, 1976)
  Ruckus
• Justin Hurwitz (Los Angeles, California, 1985), arranged by Michael Brown
  Highlights from La La Land
Mecano, de Germán Arias
• Germán Arias
  Mecano
  Eli Guillén: vocal
  
• Arr. by Frank Bernaerts
  What I’m Feeling
  Eli Guillén: vocal
  Coral Chelys Odalys
• Bob Crewe, Bob Gaudio, arr. by Johan de Meij
  Can’t Take My Eyes Off You
  Eli Guillén: vocal
  Coral Chelys Odalys
• Franck Pourcel, Paul Mauriat, Norman Gimbel, arr. by Jan van Kraeydonck
  I Will Follow Him
  Coral Chelys Odalys

Pasión Española

I only learned about this concert a few days ago. I did not even know that we have a wind orchestra (aka concert band) in Canarias. Wind orchestra is basically a symphony orchestra without the string section, save for double bass. GCWO were formed in 2014 and played their anaugural concert three years ago, also in the Auditorio Alfredo Kraus, in February 2015. Nor did I know any of the composers in the program apart from Isaac Albéniz. The new works of Valencian composer Luis Serrano Alarcón were performed for the first time in Canarias. So, a few discoveries in store for me.

WOMAD Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

This year, WOMAD came (back) to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. It took place in Parque de Santa Catalina, 10—12 November. Exactly when I wasn’t there. Well, I can’t be everywhere. It must have been great.

Fortunately, on 3 December RTVE aired a two-hour program with highlights of the event. The video will be available until 3 May 2018.

Participants (in order of appearance) Papaya (Canarias) 101 Brass Band (Tenerife) Tu Otra Bonita (Madrid) Miroca Paris (Cape Verde) Orkesta Mendoza (Tucson, Arizona) Beating Heart (London, UK) Horace Andy (Jamaica) Profecía Crew (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria) Kuarembó (Canarias) Hindi Zahra (Morocco) Niño de Elche (Spain) Bombino (Niger) La Dame Blanche (Cuba) The Brand New Heavies (London, UK)

Rigoletto

by Giuseppe Verdi as interpreted by Les Grooms

As far as I remember, Rigoletto was the first opera I’ve ever seen. Was it in Bolshoi, or somewhere else in Moscow, I can’t tell you. I liked the music but had no faintest clue what it is all about, although I recall that it did not end well. Now, consulting the Wikipedia, I am not sure at all that the theatrical programme back then explained the (fairly complicated, I say) plot in sufficient, or any, detail.

Fortysomething years later, enter Les Grooms with their strange and irreverent version of Verdi’s classic. A far cry from dead serious Soviet-era production. Come to think of it, maybe not that strange. Maybe that’s how the opera should be, free for all, performed on the street — well, tonight it was on the square, bang in the heart of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. On this occasion, the French theatrical brass band was joined by 25 Canarian singers. The best bit, at least for me, was after the end of the show: an encore and then some music that has nothing to do with great Verdi, with what remained of the audience dancing, forming a circle, making a conga line... it could have been a scene from a Fellini film.

Live music in Santander, April 2015

I spent first ten days of April in England. I had a great time meeting my friends. I went busking with Arco Iris in Cambridge city centre and to a class of kizomba in Nomad club, London. I also had an overload of nostalgia. I think there should be a law forbidding visits to nostalgia-inducing places. I was glad to be back to Santander and go to my favourite live music spots.

• 11 April: The First Anniversary of Desafinado Wine & Jazz, Barrio Las Mazas 15, Liencres
  This was an amazing concert featuring many bands and musicians who were performing at Desafinado throughout its first year of life: Adriana Blue, Chucho Manoucho, Saul Crespo, Eder Paiva Jazz Quartet, El Tumbao, Denise, Mabel Sierra... The party went from 7 pm beyond midnight.

• 14 April: Fiesta de la República @ Rvbicón, Calle del Sol 4
  Politically charged, and at times very funny, songs from Cantabrian cantautores.
• 15 April: César Latorre Trio @ Rvbicón
  César Latorre (piano), Petros Klampanis (bass) and Iago Fernández (drums) play innovative and melodic jazz full of interesting twists and pauses. Rvbicón is probably the only bar in Santander were one can play this kind of music and expect the audience to listen in silence.
• 16 April: Bolero Night @ Desafinado Wine & Jazz
  With Lázaro Álvarez Fuentes (vocal, congas) and Eduardo Nápoles (piano).
• 24 April: Chebú @ El Café de Noa, Calle Alcázar de Toledo 1
  Chebú is a duo of Yenia Popova (vocal) and Nahúm Cobo (guitar and piano), this time accompanied by Dani Simons (double bass) and “Charly” Pérez (drums). An evening full of magic and surprises. La Celestina by Lhasa de Sela was the first one; also, it was the only Spanish-lyrics song. Most of the songs are sung in English, with some bits in Russian. I wonder how many people in Santander know the meaning of “достать чернил и плакать”.
• 26 April: Fiesta de Primavera @ Calle del Sol
  Great street party, with market, workshops, traditional and not-so-traditional food, and, of course, live music. Discoveries of the day: Korokotta Dixie Band (traditional jazz) and, all the way from France, Rolland Merguez (funk/brass/soul).
• 28 April: Saul Crespo Standards Group @ Canela Bar
  Saul Crespo (violin), Fer Serrano (piano), Dani Simons (double bass) and Rubén Ortiz (drums) play swing and modern jazz standards including Donna Lee, Footprints, So What and Some Day My Prince Will Come. Magnificent.
• 29 April: Pablo & Lola @ Rvbicón
  The Argentine duo Pablo Garaffa and Dolores Torre play songs based on traditional rhythms such as chacarera, zamba, cueca and candombe. Catchy tunes and great sense of humour.

One more month to go, Santander. It’s better be good.

Masterpieces: The Powerhouse Sound of the 70s

by Peter Herbolzheimer Rhythm Combination & Brass

I thought this name rang a bell. It turns out, I first heard RC & B on the very The Jazz Rock Album which introduced me to the music of Return To Forever. It’s funny that I went to become a fan of the band that was opening the album and completely forgot the guys who were closing it. However, I did remember the song names, Jive Samba and The Mixolydian Highlander; luckily, both of them are featured here on Masterpieces.

Even though I just started to (re)discover this amazing musician and bandleader, it’s clear that this 1995 compilation is far from presenting a balanced overview of Herbolzheimer’s music of the 70s. Nor is it “the best of” album: for example, five tracks (out of 11) are taken from 1976 album Hip Walk. Deservedly so, I should add, but still. Can one call this collection Masterpieces? Absolutely.

My favourite track is My Kind Of Sunshine, from the album of the same name, with groovy solos by “the fat man with the trombone” himself, Ack van Rooyen on trumpet, Dieter Reith on organ (ye fans of Deep Purple, listen up!) and Tony Inzalaco on drums. My kind of music.

Carnival Conspiracy

by Frank London’s Klezmer Brass Allstars

I first learned about Frank London’s Klezmer Brass Allstars thanks (once again) to Songlines. To be precise, it was Our Ancestors Forty Thousand Years Wide which appeared on Top of the World CD back in 2006. It took me only eight years to get hold of the album. And it is one worth listening to, during the carnival or otherwise. The music is crazy. The liner notes are hilarious and as relevant now as they were then.

Carnival has power to elicit cathartic laughter in even the most constipated. Not the “Heh-heh-heh we stole the election and made billions of dollars pillaging the environment and launching an illegal war” laughter so fashionable in these times; but true Ambivalent and Universal Laughter which does not deny Complexity but affirms it. Laughter that purifies from dogmatism; liberates from fascism and pedantry, from fear and intimidation, from didacticism, naiveté and illusion, from the single meaning, from sentimentality. Laughter which Restores the Almighty Ambivalent Wholeness of our Existence.

Esteemed reader, you have purchased the greatest recording of all time, a CD so powerful that it will cure you of all ailments from impotence to flatulence. Let my bowels be ripped out and roasted if I am exaggerating. Simply carrying this disc on your person will lead to untold fortunes! Wrap this compact disc in warm, moist linen and apply it directly to any afflicted area of your body. It has the strength to cure Toothache, Ulcer and STDs. Is this nothing? Find me any Klezmer recording which possesses such virtues and properties! It relegates to the dung heap of history all the other Radical-Jewish-Soul-Music-Brave-Old-Klezmotic-Golemic-Conservatory-Kaplyen-MadAsYahoo-Klezwhatever recordings, surpassing even Beethoven, Bird and Beatles. If anyone contradicts me, let her be herewith denounced as a false prophet, a Jew for Cheeses, a seducer of the people. Of all the recordings made by Frank London’s Klezmer Brass Allstars, this is the Third!