Live music in Santander, September 2021

I don’t get to Facebook much lately. Yet, without it I’d probably miss all the live events I’ve been to this month.

• 9 September: Queralt Lahoz @ Teatro CASYC, calle Tantín 25, Santander
  Some time ago, a friend of mine shared with me a video which I liked very much. I went to the artist’s Facebook page and saw this poster:

  

  A couple of weeks later I decided to feature the aforementioned video on my other blog and did a bit of research, only to discover that Queralt is playing in Santander as a part of the cycle Excéntricos 2021. That was one of the “to be announced” dates of the poster. In a company of Pau García (keyboards), Marc Soto (drums) and Fede Jahzzmvn (DJ), Queralt was presenting her debut LP, Pureza, that mixes flamenco, hip-hop and electronica in a fresh and unexpected manner. Well worth the €5 I paid for the ticket.
• 23 September: La Otra @ Rvbicón, Calle del Sol 4
  Finally, live music in Rvbicón — and I learn about it from La Otra’s Facebook page a day before the event, by which time all the (free) tickets for both 19:00 and 21:00 sets are long gone. And so, Thursday after work, while I was thinking whether it’s worth it to try my luck and wait for the last-minute cancellations, should I go home first etc. etc., my feet brought me to calle del Sol... Not-so-long story short, I found myself inside, at my favourite seat next to the scene, enjoying the show. On this occasion, La Otra was accompanied by Pablo Levin on percussion.

  

• 24 September: Chebú @ Escenario Santander, Avenida de la Constitución 39 (Parque de las Llamas)
  I only learned about this concert celebrating the tenth anniversary of Chebú’s debut album thanks to the personal invitation by the band (via Facebook); otherwise, the publicity for the event was non-existent. A magnificent performance by Zhenya Popova (vocals), Nahúm Cobo (piano, guitar), Iván Velasco (guitar), Dani Simons (bass), Miguel San Emeterio (cello) and “Charly” Pérez (drums), with a special guest Phil Grijuela (guitar, vocals).

  

• 25 September: Flaca and the Beat @ Escenario Santander
  Were it not for Chebú, I wouldn’t return to ES the following evening to see Flaca and the Beat, and still live happily. The line-up is Miriam Manzanares (vocals, guitar), Matt Green (drums) and Tomás Monago (bass), all ex-Havana Moon, plus Jaime C. Montes (sax) and Pablo Alvear (guitar). It’s not that they were bad, but rather underwhelming, and played way too long. Still, it’s a shame that so few people turned up for a free Saturday night rock’n’roll.

Looking forward to more live music in October.

Meridiana

by Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino

I learned about this fantastic album — and the band that created it — from the Songlines review. Co-produced by Justin Adams, who also plays guitar on a couple of tracks, Meridiana (“sundial” in Italian) is supposed to be a concept album about (different aspects of) time. But you don’t need to understand Italian to thoroughly enjoy the music; the order of the songs is not particularly important either. Collaborations include Pizzica bhangra with Red Baraat and Tic e tac with Enzo Avitabile (of Enzo Avitabile & Bottari, another band I first heard about, many years ago, thanks to Songlines.) If I had to name three favourites, they’d probably be the opening track Balla Nina; no less goosebump-inducing Lu sittaturu that somehow makes me think of an Ukrainian folk song; and wonderful Vulía.

You can listen to the full album on YouTube, complete with contributions of a number of Italian scientists and philosophers and quotes from Lewis Carroll, Marcel Proust, Friedrich Nietzsche and, surprise surprise, Carlo Rovelli.

Meridiana Balla nina Orfeo Pizzica bhangra (feat. Red Baraat) Lu sittaturu Ninnarella Stornello alla memoria Vulía Quannu camini tie Tic e tac (feat. Enzo Avitabile) Ntunucciu Ronda Meridiana

Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino Mauro Durante: frame drums, violin, vocals Giulio Bianco: recorders, whistles, clarinet, harmonica, zampogna Emanuele Licci: vocals, bouzouki, guitar, battente guitar; tamburello (11) Massimiliano Morabito: diatonic accordion Giancarlo Paglialunga: vocals, tamburello, calebas Alessia Tondo: vocals, castanets; tamburello (11) Silvia Perrone: dance

Featuring Red Baraat (3) Sunny Jain: dhol, effects Lynn Ligammari: soprano saxophone Sonny Singh: trumpet John Altieri: sousaphone Enzo Avitabile: voice and pentarpa (9)

Guests Justin Adams: electric guitar (4, 9) Giacomo Greco: synth, sound design; additional production (1, 3, 4, 5) Valerio “Combass” Bruno: electric bass (1 Antonio “Dema” De Marianis: additional percussions (9)

Contributions Maura Gancitano and Andrea Colamedici, philosophers and communicators Gianfranco Salvatore, anthropologist and ethnomusicologist Massimiliano Morabito, musician and ethnomusicologist Francesca Corbo, Amnesty International Italia Roberto Vacca, engineer, mathematician and science communicator Domenico Licchelli, astrophysicist

Produced by Justin Adams & Mauro Durante Mixed by Francesco Aiello at Boombox Recording Studio Mastered by Tim Oliver at Top Cat Studios Executive production by Titti Santini

Live music in Las Palmas, July 2021

I was hoping to hear more live music this July but, with this and that, I couldn’t. The only outdoor concert was the Música en el Parque one on 25 July and, to my annoyance, they still insisted on everybody wearing face masks.

• 15 July: Benavent/di Geraldo/Pardo: Flamenco Leaks @ Teatro Guiniguada, Plaza F. Mesa de León, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
  This was the only concert of the 30^th edition of Canarias Jazz & Más festival that we’ve attended. But what a concert! Featuring, of course, Carles Benavent (bass), Tino di Geraldo (drums, tabla) and Jorge Pardo (tenor sax, flute).

  

• 21 July: The Planets @ Edificio Miller, Parque Santa Catalina
  Banda Sinfónica Municipal de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, conducted by Daniel Abad Casanova, interpreted the famous suite by Gustav Holst. I wish the conductor (or somebody else, why not) said at least a few words. I couldn’t identify the mambo-style piece they played as an encore.

  

• 25 July: Elida Almeida @ Auditorio José Antonio Ramos
  An electrifying performance by a Cape Verdean singer accompanied by Dodas (guitar), Kalu Ferreira (keyboards), Mayo (bass) and Kau Paris (drums).

So long, Las Palmas. I’m off to Santander, shall be back by the end of the year.

El orden del tiempo

by Carlo Rovelli
translated by Francisco J. Ramos Mena

I remember how excited I was, when I first read A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking, to learn about light cones. Then I forgot almost all about them, apart from that there is a place outside of a light cone called “elsewhere”. Now, reading this book, I had a happy reencounter with light cones. This time, what surprised me most was the illustration showing that the orientation of the cones could even be like this:

The Order of Time is a bit longer than Seven Brief Lessons but still quite short and almost as easy to read. I cannot say I’m convinced by everything Rovelli says, but that’s the reality — and, for me, the beauty — of science. The way he explains some of his ideas, like the one that the world is not a collection of things but of events, is sheer poetry.

La differenza fra cose e eventi è che le cose permangono nel tempo. Gli eventi hanno durata limitata. Un prototipo di una «cosa» è un sasso: possiamo chiederci dove sarà domani. Mentre un bacio è un «evento». Non ha senso chiedersi dove sia andato il bacio domani. Il mondo è fatto di reti di baci, non di sassi.

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La diferencia entre cosas y eventos es que las cosas permanecen en el tiempo. Los eventos, en cambio, tienen una duración limitada. Un prototipo de «cosa» es una piedra: podemos preguntarnos dónde estará mañana. Mientras que un beso es un «evento»: no tiene sentido preguntarse adónde habrá ido el beso mañana. El mundo está hecho de redes de besos, no de piedras.

(Translated by Francisco J. Ramos Mena)

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The difference between things and events is that things persist in time; events have a limited duration. A stone is a prototypical “thing”: we can ask ourselves where it will be tomorrow. Conversely, a kiss is an “event”. It makes no sense to ask where the kiss will be tomorrow. The world is made up of networks of kisses, not of stones.

(Translated by Erica Segre and Simon Carnell)

⧖ ⧗ ⧖

The book is written to intrigue you. Or, at least, this seems to be its main purpose. I’d say The Order of Time is more concerned with history and philosophy of time rather than (hard) physics or math of time. For more in-depth (but still accessible) treatment of physical aspects of time, you’ll need to look, er, elsewhere. I recommend The Arrow of Time by Coveney and Highfield as well as the aforementioned Hawking’s classic.

For those who prefer listening, there is an audiobook read by the man who played Hawking in Hawking, the one Benedict Cumberbatch.

El Ángelus

by Josep Homs and Frank Giroud
translated by Manel Domínguez

This gorgeous book (“nueva edición ampliada”) combines the two parts previously published as separate volumes. I loved the illustrations; less so the plot. The original French title is Secrets: L’Angélus. What secrets? The complicated family history of Clovis is a secret only to Clovis himself; the rest of the town seem to be well informed. The miraculous appearance of an unaccounted for relative is as believable as a Bollywood movie. And then there is this annoying symmetry between the parts (volumes) where (a) Clovis leaves home as his wife Isabelle is convinced that he is cheating on her and (b) Isabelle asks Clovis to move back in, knowing that he is not cheating on her. (On both occasions, she is mistaken.) The painting of the title (the one by Millet, followed by a few more by Salvador Dalí) turns out to be, indeed, a far-fetched pretext for Clovis to see Evelyne — just as the latter suspected from the start.

Now Evelyne, a free-spirited art teacher, kind of modern-day Pippi Longstocking, is much more interesting. Why don’t we get to know her story?

Frances Ha

a film by Noah Baumbach

Frances: Do I look old to you?
Benji: No. Yes. How old?
Frances: Older than I am. Older than twenty-seven.
Benji: No. Twenty-seven is old, though.

Is it? Is it? The year I turned 27, I left my home country and moved to Italy. (Now I am twice that age, so I was leaving abroad, so to speak, for the most of my life. Whatever the words “home” and “abroad” mean.) Maybe it was not the happiest year of my life, but, when I think about it, surely the most strange, amazing, difficult, promising, frustrating and ultimately rewarding one. I didn’t feel old. Or wise. Well. Maybe a little wiser than when I was 26.

Frances: What do you do?
Andy: Eh?
Frances: What do you do? It’s such a stupid question, I thought I’d ask it.
Andy: Oh, no. I’m a lawyer. What do you do?
Frances:That’s such a stupid question! Just kidding. Um, it’s kind of hard to explain.
Andy: Because what you do is complicated?
Frances: Um, because I don’t really do it.

Greta Gerwig shines in this charming and unexpectedly subtle comedy. To quote its heroine, it’s kind of hard to explain what it is about and why it is a comedy. Watch it, and you’ll see.

Ah, to be 27 again.

Kusama: Infinity

a film by Heather Lenz

Another documentary thanks to Filmoteca Canaria, about amazing life and work of yet another world-famous — and now, thankfully, top-selling — artist I never heard about before: Yayoi Kusama. Highly recommended.