Fuerteventura en Música 2012

No, this is not Glastonbury, WOMAD or Cambridge Folk Festival. Although I never been to any of these myself, I am sure that Fuerteventura en Música festival is something else altogether, judging from the following:

1. I was able to attend it
2. It is a free event (no tickets)
3. It was not raining

The festival is one of Fuerteventura’s many “best-kept secrets”. It’s not that anyone is paid to keep it secret, it’s just not publicised well. So, take a note: Fuerteventura en Música happens every year about this time in El Cotillo, on Playa de la Concha. It takes about quarter an hour to walk from the bus stop, and the stage is difficult to miss.

The first day, or should I say night, I came to El Cotillo with Yuri. Opening the festival were majorero sambistas Crazy Drummers, drumming crazily all way from the beach and finishing in front of the main (and only) stage. The first band on stage was a rock trio Electrolapas, also from Fuerte. Afterwards, Yuri said that he enjoyed this band the most.

The programme continued with Senegalese-Canarian reggae outfit Nayaband. That was my favourite band of the evening. I love African music and dance, and Nayaband provided the treat.

Cuban Chila Lynn has great voice, and her piano playing is not bad either. It’s just not the kind of music I like to listen to: well-crafted, commerical-sounding neo-soul sounded out of place here, and the (lack of) public reaction confirmed that.

We went to catch the midnight bus to Corralejo. Special bus services were organised, departing to Corralejo and Puerto del Rosario from Campo de Fútbol, about 20 minute walk from Playa de La Concha. Five or six policemen were busy diverting traffic in the centre of the village. I asked them where exactly the bus stop was. They assured me that at this time there are no buses to Corralejo or anywhere and suggested to take taxi. Thinking that this is just another manifestation of the festival best-kept-secretness, we went to the bus stop opposite of the Campo de Fútbol and found there two ladies waiting. The bus duly arrived and departed exactly on-time.

On Saturday, all four of us went to El Cotillo. The second evening kicked off with Los Jables del Timple, the majorero jazz-funk band featuring the timple virtuoso Althay Páez, pianist Domingo Saavedra, bassist Carlos Cabrera and drummer Leo Olivares. I was considerably less impressed by Marujita, maybe because of their singer’s voice. Once the band was playing an instrumental, with Althay Páez joining on timple, it started to sound much better.

They were followed by the Belgians Krema Kawa — kind of Manu Chao meets Gogol Bordello uptempo reggae-ska-gypsy-Afrobeat fusion, very energetic and danceable. (By that time, Tamara and kids left, first to look for more civilised cafeteria and then for bus.) I would enjoy Kawa even more if not for annoying branding (I mean, we got the message, no need to repeat the band’s name ad nauseam).

Both nights, Guatemalan DJ Meneo was filling the gaps between the acts with electronica ranging from mildly amusing to mildly irritating, but never really good. Even so, some people were spotted dancing to it while the others made their way to the refreshment stalls. I wish these breaks were shorter though.

The last band I saw were my copyleft heroes Canteca de Macao. No gimmicks, no chitchat, no pauses, just pure music from start to finish the moment I, sadly, had to leave to catch the 1:30 bus (and if I didn’t, I would have to wait until 4:30 am). I hope to see their performance in full another time.

Even though by now we know that one can rely on buses, next time I would prefer to stay in El Cotillo for both nights. I like the idea of camping on the beach (didn’t like the act, went to the tent) but I also need little luxuries such as proper bathroom. Well, I have a year to sort the accommodation out.

More photos of El Cotillo @ Shutterstock.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

a film by Guy Ritchie

Sequels are rarely better than originals, and A Game of Shadows is not an exception.

Debit

1. Holmes does not do much “deducing”
2. An embarrassingly long list of anachronisms
3. Unimpressive Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris)
4. Schubert

Credit

1. If in the first movie the slow-motion fight scenes were explaining exactly what is going to happen, here the “reality” goes not as expected — I quite like that
2. Sherlock’s disguises are getting even more hilarious
3. Stephen Fry as Mycroft “the other” Holmes (“You mean there’s two of you?”) is simply brilliant
4. Gypsy music!

All in all, it still makes a damn good viewing. Good night.

Knights of Argoth

by Timur Kulikov

Knights of Argoth is a video game that is being developed endlessly discussed by Timur and Yuri. If/when it is eventually realised as a game, it will be awesome. Or so I think. I know nothing of video games, I just look at Timur’s graphics.

I especially like this drawing of a rather menacing dude in wizard’s hat and trench coat. It looks like the cover art for a yet-to-be-recorded prog-rock album.

Двенадцать стульев

by Ильф и Петров

I don’t think there is anybody who was born in the USSR and never read this book. I thought I knew it rather well. I was wrong. Re-reading it recently, I came across the passage from which I only remembered the famous slogan #3.

Старухи, неся впереди себя в обеих руках жестяные мисочки с кашей, осторожно выходили из кухни и садились обедать зa общий стол, стараясь не глядеть на развешанные в столовой лозунги, сочиненные лично Александром Яковлевичем и художественно выполненные Александрой Яковлевной. Лозунги были такие: «ПИЩА — ИСТОЧНИК ЗДОРОВЬЯ» «ОДНО ЯЙЦО СОДЕРЖИТ СТОЛЬКО ЖЕ ЖИРОВ, СКОЛЬКО ½ ФУНТА МЯСА» «ТЩАТЕЛЬНО ПЕРЕЖЕВЫВАЯ ПИЩУ, ТЫ ПОМОГАЕШЬ ОБЩЕСТВУ» и «МЯСО — ВРЕДНО» Все эти святые слова будили в старухах воспоминания об исчезнувших еще до революции зубах, о яйцах, пропавших приблизительно в ту же пору, о мясе, уступающем в смысле жиров яйцам, а может быть, и об обществе, которому они были лишены возможности помогать, тщательно пережевывая пищу. Ильф и Петров, Двенадцать стульев
Holding iron bowls full of porridge in front of them with both hands, the old women cautiously emerged from the kitchen and sat down at a large table, trying not to look at the refectory slogans, composed by Alexander Yakolevich and painted by his wife. The slogans read: FOOD IS THE SOURCE OF HEALTH ONE EGG CONTAINS AS MUCH FAT AS A HALF-POUND OF MEAT BY CAREFULLY MASTICATING YOUR FOOD YOU HELP SOCIETY MEAT IS BAD FOR YOU These sacred words aroused in the old ladies memories of teeth that had disappeared before the revolution, eggs that had been lost at approximately the same time, meat that was inferior to eggs in fat, and perhaps even the society that they were prevented from helping by careful mastication. Ilf and Petrov, The Twelve Chairs (translated by John Richardson)

According to Wikipedia, there were no less than twenty adaptations of this novel. For me, the one and only Ostap Bender is Andrei Mironov in 1976 film directed by Mark Zakharov.

Windswept Tree

by Tamara Kulikova

Canvas, acrylic paints.

Fetén Fetén

A few days ago, a rather mundane act of flipping through the Spanish TV channels was rewarded by a discovery. I never heard of Fetén Fetén (Jorge Arribas and Diego Galaz) before. The music is original and surprising yet sounds intimately familiar. Street party? Cabaret? Soundtrack of Fellini movie? It is nostalgia purified but it’s bound to make you smile. Waltz, tarantella, foxtrot, bolero, tango, csárdás; something Celtic, something Balkan, and something unmistakeably Spanish: “música para sonreír, para bailar o para emocionarse”. Thanks to RTVE, one can watch this program online in its entirety.

So do it already!

The Best of Harry Belafonte

by Harry Belafonte

This rather misleadingly named two-CD set in fact includes two early Belafonte albums, Calypso (1956) and Belafonte Sings of the Caribbean (1957), in their entirety, plus several bonus tracks, some of which could be better left out. In a way, this compilation continues the tradition of misleading names started by Calypso, which is not a calypso but mento album. To add even more confusion, the CDs themselves are labelled The Best of Harry Belafonte — Calypso — Disc 1 and The Best of Harry Belafonte — Calypso — Disc 2. But who cares! Calypso became the first LP ever to sell over one million copies. According to the liner notes,

<Irving> Burgie was credited with the majority of the songs, which had been well rehearsed before Belafonte entered the studio... Ironically, then, it was the one piece of improvisation, Day-O, that would give the album its opening signature track and inspire a plethora of imitators.

Even if it is not really “the best of” Harry Belafonte (thank goodness for that! I can’t stand “the best of” albums), it is worth having for the sake of Day-O alone. Other highlights include Love, Love Alone and Scratch, Scratch.