O que arde

a film by Oliver Laxe

A powerful and touching drama starring Benedicta Sánchez in her cinematic debut at a tender young age of 84.

PlayTime

a film by Jacques Tati

A futuristic absurdist comedy predating Monty Python, Playtime is considered one of the greatest films of all time. In my opinion, it could have been even greater if it was shorter. The Royal Garden sequence (one hour of screen time) has its highlights but quickly grows too predictable.

Live music and stuff in Santander and Valencia, November 2022

This is what I’ve seen in November:

• 2 November: Xur Estévez Quartet @ Rvbicón, Calle del Sol, 4, Santander
  With Xur Estévez (double bass), Pablo Costas (piano), Ancor Miranda (drums) and Pablo Maza (tenor sax, flute). Watch the full concert here.

  

• 5 November: La Chica @ Centro Botín, Muelle de Albareda, Paseo de Pereda
  One hell of an artist and one hell of a concert.
• 6 November: Jazz Jam @ Rvbicón
  The base band of Javier San Miguel (sax), Carlos Pizarro (guitar), Diego Gutiérrez (drums), Manuel Cavero (double bass) with the guests Pancho Arredondo (trumpet), Nadir Ibarra (tenor sax), Adela San Miguel (drums), Rafa Santana (piano) and others.
• 9 November: Marz García 4tet @ Rvbicón
  A quartet featuring Nico Alvear (guitar), Iván Ceballos (electric bass), Marz García (drums) and Juan Saiz (sax, flute). Themes of Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard and, closer to the end, a wonderful rendition of Nature Boy. Watch the full concert here.

  

• 12 November: Día Internacional del Flamenco @ Plaza del Ayuntamiento
  There were shows at the Plaza del Ayuntamiento both Friday and Saturday; I only came to see these two Saturday evening:
  • Another “not-quite-flashmob” choreographed by Lucía Serrano, accompanied by Jose Hernández (cante), el toque de Antonio León (guitar) and y la percusión de Dani Peña (percussion).
  • Tablao by Compañía Paula Rodríguez, featuring the very Paula Rodríguez (baile), Jose Luis Medina (guitar), Roberto Lorente and Niño Ginés (cante).

  

• 18 November: Luna Sefardita @ Salón de Actos E.T.S. de Náutica de la Universidad de Cantabria, Calle Gamazo, 1
  Ana Alcaide (vocals, nyckelharpa), Bill Cooley (percussion) and Rainer Seiferth (guitars).

What I saw during my (way too) short holidays in Valencia:

• Four exhibitions at Museu Valencià de la Il·lustració i de la Modernitat (MuVIM), Carrer de Quevedo, 10, Valencia:
  • Disseny + Salut (“Design + Health”)
    A fascinating exhibition covering various aspects of design applied to health, from medical illustration and pills to CoVID-19 propaganda and sex toys.
  • Elena Francis. Franquisme i subordinació de la dona
    Consultorio de Elena Francis was a Spanish radio programme broadcast between 1947 and 1984. In spite of her utter non-existence, the fictitious agony aunt Elena Francis was tremendously popular: every month, women from all over Spain were sending her some 20,000 letters. Invariably, Ms. Francis recommended patience and submission. From 1966 and till the programme’s demise, it was actually a man, one Juan Soto Viñolo, who single-handedly dispatched those advices to anxious radio listeners. The booklet of the exhibition (in Valencian and Spanish) is available here.
  • Joan Martí: l’ofici d’escultor
    A sample of the creative process of Joan Martí (1946—2004), the author of Els Guardians del Pont (“The Guardians of the Bridge”) of the Pont del Regne de València.

    

  • València segons el Pare Tosca
    A three-dimensional recreation of the Father Tomás Vicente Tosca’s map of Valencia (1704). The detailed description available as a PDF file in Valencian, Spanish and English.

    

• Four exhibitions at Centre Cultural La Nau, Carrer de la Universitat, 2:
  • No tan invisibles: Dones en la impremta Valenciana. Segles XVI al XXI.
    Documenting the role of women in Valencian printing industry from 16^th centrury till now.

    

  • València 1972: Cap a la ciutat monstre (“Valencia 1972: Towards the Monster City”).
    The transformation of the urban space of Valencia during the last 50 years.
  • Sanchis Guarner, il·lustrador. Els dibuixos del llibre (1972) sobre la ciutat de València.
    The drawings by Manuel Sanchis i Guarner for his fundamental book La Ciutat de València. Síntesi d’història i geografia urbana (1972), none of which, however, made it into the final edition.

    

  • Negro Espanto
    Presentation of comic books Espanto by Laura Pérez and Goya. Saturnalia by Manuel Gutiérrez and Manuel Romero.

    

• 24 November: The Hillbilly Moon Explosion @ 16 Toneladas, Carrer de Ricardo Micó, 3
  The only concert I attended in Valencia had to be this one! Some new songs and old favourites that I first heard (and fell in love with) five years ago. Featuring Oliver Baroni (double bass, vocals), Emanuela Hutter (vocals, guitar), Duncan James (lead guitar, baritone guitar, vocals) and Sylvain Petite (drums).

Back to Santander and counting the days to go home.

Amarcord

a film by Federico Fellini
score by Nino Rota

It’s been a while since I watched Amarcord last time, still in Soviet (or maybe early post-Soviet?) era. Just like Cabaret, it was (brilliantly) voiced-over in Russian by Victor Tatarsky who sadly passed away this year. Now, watching it at the Filmoteca de València (and subtitled in Valencian!), I was able, for the first time, to enjoy the original Italian version in its full glory. It didn’t disappoint.

Dos vidas

by Emanuele Trevi
translated by Juan Manuel Salmerón Arjona

From an Italian writer I never heard about comes this homage to his friends, two other Italian writers I also never heard about. It may not sound terribly exciting, but the book it totally worth reading. For those who hates biographies: it’s not a biography. (Ditto for those who loves biographies.) A memoir? An essay? A novel? Who cares? I got intrigued with the protagonists, Rocco Carbone and Pia Pera — no, these are not made-up names. Especially with the latter, who translated to Italian works of Pushkin, Lermontov, Chekhov and even protopope Avvakum, among others, and whose Lo’s Diary is now on my to-read (when?!) list.

Tendría que haberme apresurado a tomar notas, a retener algo antes de que fuera demasiado tarde. Como flores de manzano que la brisa se lleva, también los requerdos de las personas a las que conocimos tan bien que la costumbre se volvió un reflejo condicionado vuelan y se alejan con una rapidez inconcebible. Pensamos que hemos acumulado muchos, que son tan numerosos y vívidos que no se extinguirán nunca, y de pronto vemos que no nos queda en la mano más que un revoloteo de imágenes inciertas y fugitivas. Formas de memoria tan insignificantes y menudas que equivalen al olvido.

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.

Filibus

a film by Mario Roncoroni

It’s been a while since I watched a film that old. A delightful silent — but not exactly black-and-white, as many scenes were toned — proto-steampunk adventure movie starring Valeria Creti as a cross-dressing (and potentially non-binary) Baroness Troixmonde/Count de la Brive/Filibus and Giovanni Spano as an esteemed but easily sedatable Detective Kutt-Hendy. The special effects which were not impressing anyone already in 1915 now only add to the charm.