Free live music and stuff in Las Palmas, December 2025

Before reporting on what we’ve seen in December, let me tell you what we haven’t. That’s right, it was Christmas lights switch-on on 4 December. When we arrived somewhere close to Plaza de Santa Ana, we realised that we can’t get there because of the bloody barriers. It was supposed to be a family-friendly event but from what we could see, all the seats were taken mostly by adults. After circling the place clock- and then counterclockwise, we went home to read some indignant comments in social networks.

And then a great number of outdoorsy activities were cancelled thanks to Storm Emilia. Oh well.

On the other hand, I’ve been to three pretty good Christmas concerts in local churches which I probably wouldn’t attend if we haven’t moved to Isleta.

• 6 December: Concierto de Navidad @ Parroquia de Santa María del Pino, Calle Ruiz de Alda, 7, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria^†
  A concert of La Banda de música Barahona conducted by Zoraida Hernández Almeida. The programme included:
  • Mulan (Matthew Wilder, arr. Johnnie Vinson)
  • Selections from Moana (Lin-Manuel Miranda, arr. Jay Bocook)
  • Arabian Dances (Roland Barrett)
  • Hercules (Alan Menken)
  • Christmas in Mexico (traditional, arr. Michael Story)
  • Ukrainian Bell Carol (Mykola Leontovych, arr. Richard L. Saucedo)
  • Fantasy on a Burgundian Carol (traditional, arr. Michael Story)
  • A Holly Jolly Christmas Medley (arr. Stefan Schwalgin)
• 10 December: Performance colectiva «Rojo Descolonial» @ Casa de Colón, Calle Colón, 1
  This collective performance was the culmination of Rojo descolonial. Doscientos años de grana en Canarias, a project by the Mexican artist Gloria Godínez.

  

• 16 December: «Los Reyes siguen l’estrella. La Natividad en la tradición musical hispánica» @ Casa de Colón
  Las Hespérides feauturing Magdalena Padilla (soprano), David Batista (countertenor) and Carlos Oramas (vihuela). The programme included:

  Luys Milán: Fantasía del Quarto Tono* Tomás Luis de Victoria: O magnum mysterium Tomás Luis de Victoria: Ne timeas Maria Diego Pisador: Dezidle al caballero* Francisco Guerrero: Puer natus est Vincenzo Capirola: Ricercar ottava* Anonymous (from Cancionero de Upsala): Dadme albricias Anonymous (from Cancionero de Upsala): Gózate, Virgen Sagrada Anonymous (from Cancionero de Upsala): No la devemos dormir Francisco Guerrero: La Tierra s’está gozando Francisco Guerrero: Pastor, quien madre virgen Francisco Guerrero: Los Reyes siguen l’estrella Francisco Guerrero: Niño Dios d'amor herido Francisco Guerrero: Vamos al portal Luys de Narváez: Fantasía del quarto tono* Mateo Flecha “El Viejo”: Dindirindin

  

• 18 December: Concierto de Navidad de la Unidad de Música del Mando Aéreo de Canarias @ Plaza de Santa Ana
  The band of the Canary Islands Air Command braved the elements to deliver a delightful Christmas concert. The highlights included themes from Cinema Paradiso and Skyfall, Street Tango, A Night in Tunisia and Nutcracker Swing.

  

• 19 December: Recital Lírico de Navidad @ Parroquia de Nuestra Señora del Carmen, Calle Benartemi, 46^†
  With Inna Saavedra (soprano), Sun Park (organ), Cristina Gimeno Pérez (oboe) and Néstor Henríquez Domínguez (violin). The programme included:

  Franz Schubert: Ave Maria Johann Sebastian Bach: Magnificat Antonio Vivaldi: Gloria Johannes Brahms: Wiegenlied Georg Friedrich Händel: Lascia ch’io pianga César Franck: Panis angelicus Franz Schubert: Mille cherubini in coro John Francis Wade: Adeste Fideles (O Come, All Ye Faithful) Georg Friedrich Händel: Messiah Vladimir Vavilov: Ave Maria (misattributed to Giulio Caccini) Irving Berlin: White Christmas* Franz Xaver Gruber: Stille Nacht Adolphe Adam: Cantique de Noël Encore: James Lord Pierpont: Jingle Bells*

• 28 December: Concierto de Navidad @ Parroquia Nuestra Señora de la Luz, Calle Pérez Muñoz, 4^†
  A concert of La Banda Juvenil de Firgas (postponed from 7 December). The highlights were pasodoble Música y Vinos by Manuel Morales Martínez, a Pixar medley (including the theme from The Incredibles), and Jingle Bell Rock (encore).

And an exhibition:

• 4 December 2025 — 6 January 2026: Elia Verona @ Bar Tenesor, Calle Rosarito, 2
  Engravings by Elia Verona in a friendly bar environment.

Happy New Year, everybody.

*	Instrumental.
†	This concert was part of the cycle Sueña la Navidad en tu barrio (District Isleta-Puerto-Guanarteme).

Beloved Infidel

a film by Henry King
based on a memoir by Sheilah Graham

Another CinemaScope film starring Deborah Kerr, sailing on another ocean liner to, surprise surprise, New York, New York. But if An Affair to Remember had the whole first half of decent comedy, no such luck here. Gregory Peck, at times, is pretty good as one F. Scott Fitzgerald, who must have been a thoroughly unpleasant type. I liked Kerr’s portrayal of a cool-as-a-cucumber Ms Graham — not a melodramatic Ms Graham as seen in the trailer.

Beloved Infidel (as Días sin vida) was a closing feature of the cycle 90 años de la 20th Century Fox organised by Asociación de Cine Vértigo.

The Young Lions

a film by Edward Dmytryk
based on a novel by Irwin Shaw

This 1958 film may be (considered) a classic and an epic but it didn’t age well. Maybe it wasn’t that good to start with. Marlon Brando as a blonde German officer speaking (even to other Germans) in English with fake German accent is an embarrassment. Ditto the other protagonists. The only believable character, in my view, is cool and cynical Frau Hardenberg portrayed by May Britt.

The Young Lions (El baile de los malditos) was shown as part of the cycle 90 años de la 20th Century Fox organised by Asociación de Cine Vértigo.

La flor de mi secreto

a film by Pedro Almodóvar

The Flower of My Secret was the first film of Almodóvar I’ve ever seen, some 30 years ago, in the Hyde Park Picture House of Leeds^*. Yesterday, we re-watched it thanks to Spanish Television^†.

Turned out that I remembered this movie pretty well. The difference is, now I don’t need English subtitles to understand the dialogue. The great late Marisa Paredes is as elegant as she is in the role of Leo. The comic relief is provided by Chus Lampreave and Rossy de Palma as Leo’s mother and sister, respectively.

*	I’ve found the issue of Leeds Student with screening times for this film. To my surprise, the first page of the newspaper sports a photo of “the rare cloud phenomenon that ... is unlikely to be repeated during our lifetime” which I had a pleasure to observe with my own eyes on 16 February 1996.
†	It was shown as part of the cycle Historia de nuestro cine, to mark the anniversary of the death of Marisa Paredes.

An Affair to Remember

a film by Leo McCarey

I never understood the Hollywood’s obsession with remakes. That includes self-remakes. What’s the point? In 1939, McCarey directed Love Affair starring Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne. According to Wikipedia, it was Cary Grant who convinced McCarey to remake it starring himself in Boyer’s role. Why did McCarey agree, is anyone’s guess. The result “was almost identical to the original on a scene-to-scene basis” — quite a change for a director known for his improvisational approach.

Back in 1957, Bosley Crowther wrote in The New York Times that “something goes wrong with the picture, after the couple get off the ship”. And he was right, if too polite: practically everything goes wrong after that point. Which is a shame, because I quite liked Cary Grant — Deborah Kerr interaction onboard the liner. Considering that the titular affair wasn’t really an affair, even though the rest of the passengers were convinced otherwise (it would be so much nicer if it was the other way around, but c’est la vie, et cetera), the authors could have developed the comedy of errors further or, better still, concluded it right after disembarkment. That would spare the viewers, who might have remembered how the original Love Affair ended anyway, one full hour of sheer embarrassment.

The last funny scene in the movie which I think better should have been simply the last.

For a really good McCarey film starring Grant, I recommend The Awful Truth.

An Affair to Remember (as Tú y yo — why?!) was shown as part of the cycle 90 años de la 20th Century Fox organised by Asociación de Cine Vértigo.

Free live music and stuff in Las Palmas, November 2025

What we’ve seen in November:

• 6 November: «Con el Latido de la Madre Tierra» @ Castillo de la Luz, Calle Juan Rejón, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
  A concert of La Banda Sinfónica Municipal de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria conducted by Teresa Hernández Vega. The programme included works by Alfred Reed, Satoshi Yagisawa, Giancarlo Castro D’Addona, Jesús Agomar and Moisés Moleiro.

  

• 8 November: «Calles con Arte» @ Calle Taliarte and Calle Guaires, La Isleta
  A Saturday full of cultural activities, all just a block away from us. We went to see pole dance by No Limits Pole Dance Studios; tango dance by Abrazos en movimiento accompanied by Atorrantes Tango Club; Bollywood dance workshop with Lavina Saradangani; and «El coro de La Luz» by Chelys Odalis.

  

• 11 November: Taller de danzas folklóricas venezolanas @ Casa de Colón, Calle Colón, 1
  The first event from the cycle «Américas» organised by Casa de Colón and produced by Tájara producciones: a Venezuelan dance workshop by the Asociación Cultural Cambur Pintón.

  

• 13 November: Conciertos de música popular venezolana @ Casa de Colón
  Mestizo feauturing Marcel Montcourt (cuatro venezolano), Danny Martínez (guitar), Óscar Sánchez (flute), Kiko González (percussion), Winter Sánchez (double bass) and Adrián Brito (vocals), plus a special guest Claudia Álamo (vocals).

• 14 November: «Américas» @ Plaza del Pilar Nuevo
  With crowd-pleasers such as Libertango, Oblivion and Tico Tico, La Banda Sinfónica Municipal de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria conducted by Juan Roda Sapiña closed the cycle «Américas».

• 18 November: Arrorró solidario @ Casa de Colón
  Featuring Guada Márquez, Ángel Ravelo, Luis Quintana, Sixto Armas, Esther Rodríguez, Helena González, Sylvie Hernández, Daniel Lamb, Cinzia Mare, Marta Bolaños, Cira Rodríguez, Tite Fernández, Misael Jordán and others. Presented by Tonono González and Nanda Santana.

  

• 27 November: «Una noche vieja» @ Biblioteca Pública Municipal Josefina de la Torre, Paseo de las Canteras
  A very amateur comedy performed by Teatro Mínimo XXI. The audience was full of Rabbit’s friends-and-relations. Everybody was given a cup with twelve grapes, which was nice.

  

Is it the end of November already? Unbelievable.

The Köln Concert

by Keith Jarrett

Can you think of any jazz album that has not one but two films dedicated to it? I can’t either. Unless it’s The Köln Concert, that is.

Köln 75 is a German drama focused on Vera Brandes, a (then 18-year-old) German producer who was responsible for the concert taking place at all. The film was actually shown in mainstream Spanish theatres, sometime in July, but it passed me by. Damn.

And Köln Tracks, aka Lost in Köln, is a French documentary tracking (or losing?) that notorious Bösendorfer piano played and hated by Mr Jarrett on 24 January 1975. It is supposed to be released about now.

So these are tributes that I didn’t see. What about The Köln Concert itself? I discovered it about 30 years ago, thanks to The Penguin Guide to Jazz which I used to borrow from the Leeds Central Library on a regular basis. The Guide gave the album four stars of four and said ^*:

This is perhaps Jarrett’s best and certainly his most popular record. ECM has been dining out or, to be fairer, recording others on the proceeds for over a decade^†. Made in conditions of exceptional difficulty — not least an audibly unsatisfactory piano — Jarrett not for the first time makes a vurtue of adversity, carving out huge slabs of music with a rare intensity. His insturment does sound off-puttingly bad-tempered, but his concentration on the middle register throughout the performance has been a characteristic of his work throughout his carreer.

Armed with this knowledge, I embarked on a search — and found the CD in the very same library. The concert didn’t disappoint. And the piano didn’t sound half that bad. Some years later, I bought my own copy directly from ECM, further contributing to the album’s bestselling status.

It so happened that on the 50^th anniversary of the concert, Friday 24 January, I was listening to the Sólo Jazz programme of Spanish Radio Clásica. Curiously, the authors of this golden jubilee programme chose to play the concert in the following order: Part II c; Part I; Part II b. The result? I heard the old concert with new ears, and it was as beautiful.

I can understand why Jarrett himself is not a fan: a true artist rightfully refuses to be defined by a half-century-old LP as if he didn’t record anything decent since. But I am not Keith Jarrett. I love this “huge slab of music”. If the author wants to disown it, let him do it. I’d put it on the next Voyager Golden Record as an example of what an (anonymous) human musician can do.

*	Cook, R. and Morton, B. The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, LP and Cassette, 2nd Ed. Penguin Books, London, 1994, p. 682.
†	In later editions, “for over a decade” was changed to “for two decades”; see e.g. The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings, 8th Ed. Penguin Books, London, 2006, p. 697.