If you have seen a performance of flamenco, since 1977, you may have noticed that one of the instruments was literally a box. In that year, the renown guitarist Paco de Lucia, performed in Peru and noticed a box-like instrument called cajón. He was so captivated by the sound that he incorporated the cajón as one of his accompanying instruments. Since then, el cajón has been part of flamenco music and if you happen to be in Lima, the ICPNA is staging its annual flamenco festival running between the 10th and the 25th of January. The photographs below are from the performance entitled Sentidos given by the Cuéllar sisters, Diana and Jimena on the 18th.
Showing posts with label flamenco. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flamenco. Show all posts
21.1.13
10.4.12
Where Lawrence of Arabia asked for lemonade
You may recall the scene from David Lean´s film, when Lawrence of Arabia walks into the Officer's Club in Cairo accompanied by his Arab servant, Ferraj and orders two large glasses of lemonade. Well, that scene was filmed in Seville, in the Plaza de España. This square has also featured in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. But Seville, is much more than a set for film locations. Let´s start by saying that Seville is not one city, it is in fact two, Seville and Triana across the Guadalquivir river, with a certain degree of competition between them. However, as a foreigner you will be forgiven for not taking sides.
Seville has always had a special allure for other Europeans and it is somewhat ironic that the city owes much of its international recognition to, amongst others, Bizet´s Carmen, adapted from the novel of Prosper Mérimée; and Mozart´s The Marriage of Figaro based on a play by Beaumarchais, who aso wrote The Barber of Seville.
There is plenty to do and see in Seville and if you go in April you will catch the Feria de Abril, a fair held every year for five days in April, and that this year runs from the 24th to the 29th. The whole city celebrates this festivity and many locals dress in typical flamenco dress. The best way to enjoy the fair is to pop into a few of the more than 1000 casetas (huts) where people dance, drink and eat. Unfortunately, entry into a lot of the casetas is by invitation only, but there are plenty of others where you can get into and have a feel for the fair. One of the drinks most favoured during the fair is sherry, mainly dry sherry in the varieties of fino and manzanilla (not to be confused with chamomile tea also known as manzanilla).
On the sightseeing front, the Cathedral with the remains of Columbus; La Giralda, which is the name by which the bell tower of the Cathedral is known; El Alcázar, from the 8th Century, the oldest of the European palaces still in use; the tower known as Torre del Oro and the Archivo de Indias which was built to keep all the official records regarding Spain's colonies in America and the Orient. I have already mentioned the Plaza de España, built for the Iberoamerican Exhibition of 1929 and besides it, the park Parque de María Luisa.
In between you will walk around the Barrio de Santa Cruz, the old Jewish quarters and cross the bridge of Triana to arrive at the other Seville or Triana, the cradle of flamenco, sevillanas, and where the processions of Semana Santa (Easter) are followed with devotion.
Seville has always had a special allure for other Europeans and it is somewhat ironic that the city owes much of its international recognition to, amongst others, Bizet´s Carmen, adapted from the novel of Prosper Mérimée; and Mozart´s The Marriage of Figaro based on a play by Beaumarchais, who aso wrote The Barber of Seville.
There is plenty to do and see in Seville and if you go in April you will catch the Feria de Abril, a fair held every year for five days in April, and that this year runs from the 24th to the 29th. The whole city celebrates this festivity and many locals dress in typical flamenco dress. The best way to enjoy the fair is to pop into a few of the more than 1000 casetas (huts) where people dance, drink and eat. Unfortunately, entry into a lot of the casetas is by invitation only, but there are plenty of others where you can get into and have a feel for the fair. One of the drinks most favoured during the fair is sherry, mainly dry sherry in the varieties of fino and manzanilla (not to be confused with chamomile tea also known as manzanilla).
On the sightseeing front, the Cathedral with the remains of Columbus; La Giralda, which is the name by which the bell tower of the Cathedral is known; El Alcázar, from the 8th Century, the oldest of the European palaces still in use; the tower known as Torre del Oro and the Archivo de Indias which was built to keep all the official records regarding Spain's colonies in America and the Orient. I have already mentioned the Plaza de España, built for the Iberoamerican Exhibition of 1929 and besides it, the park Parque de María Luisa.
In between you will walk around the Barrio de Santa Cruz, the old Jewish quarters and cross the bridge of Triana to arrive at the other Seville or Triana, the cradle of flamenco, sevillanas, and where the processions of Semana Santa (Easter) are followed with devotion.
21.10.11
...to endure its common-place after the poetry of the Alhambra
In the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Granada (Spain) you will find the Pass of the Moor's Sigh. Legend has it, that this is the exact spot where in 1492, Boabdil, the last Moorish Sultan of Granada, on the way to his exile, turned back to have a last glimpse at the city he loved. It was here too that his mother reproached him: "You do well, to weep as a woman over what you could not defend as a man"- maybe politically incorrect, but it was 500 years ago!
I suppose anyone would cry if you lived in the Alhambra and you had to leave forever. You would not be able to walk around the beautiful gardens, you could not smell the scent of the flowers, nor listen to the sound of water spouting from myriad fountains and running from cascades.
Some of the best views of the complex of the Alhambra are to be had from two neighborhoods that are attractions in themselves, namely, Albaicín and Sacromonte. The Albaicín was the Muslim district of Granada, with narrow streets and characteristic white houses with an interior courtyard or "carmen". At the highest point of Albaicín you will find the Mirador de San Nicolás for a breathtaking view of the Alhambra. Sacromonte is the district where the gypsies of Granada settled. Some did so in caves and, nowadays, you can still see houses literally carved out from a cave.
La Alhambra is alluring and in modern times, Washington Irving, who wrote "Tales of the Alhambra", whilst actually staying there, wrote when he left:
“My serene and happy reign in the Alhambra was suddenly brought to a close by letters which reached me, while indulging in Oriental luxury in the cool hall of the baths, summoning me away... to mingle once more in the bustle and business of the dusty world. How was I to encounter its toils and turmoils, after such a life of repose and reverie! How was I to endure its common-place, after the poetry of the Alhambra!”.
Whilst you may be tempted to spend all your time in Granada wondering around the Alhambra, the city and surrounding areas offers much more. Walk around the old Jewish quarters known as el Realejo; the square of Bib-Rambla where, among other delicacies, you can savor sugar coated "churros"; the Cathedral; visit the summerhouse of the family of the poet Federico García Lorca, who was born in the village of Fuentevaqueros just outside Granada; drive around the villages of the area of La Alpujarra, where the hispanist Gerald Brenan settled in 1920; enjoy the food, the night life and flamenco dancing and singing; or ski down the slopes of Sierra Nevada . Enjoy!
I suppose anyone would cry if you lived in the Alhambra and you had to leave forever. You would not be able to walk around the beautiful gardens, you could not smell the scent of the flowers, nor listen to the sound of water spouting from myriad fountains and running from cascades.
Some of the best views of the complex of the Alhambra are to be had from two neighborhoods that are attractions in themselves, namely, Albaicín and Sacromonte. The Albaicín was the Muslim district of Granada, with narrow streets and characteristic white houses with an interior courtyard or "carmen". At the highest point of Albaicín you will find the Mirador de San Nicolás for a breathtaking view of the Alhambra. Sacromonte is the district where the gypsies of Granada settled. Some did so in caves and, nowadays, you can still see houses literally carved out from a cave.
La Alhambra is alluring and in modern times, Washington Irving, who wrote "Tales of the Alhambra", whilst actually staying there, wrote when he left:
“My serene and happy reign in the Alhambra was suddenly brought to a close by letters which reached me, while indulging in Oriental luxury in the cool hall of the baths, summoning me away... to mingle once more in the bustle and business of the dusty world. How was I to encounter its toils and turmoils, after such a life of repose and reverie! How was I to endure its common-place, after the poetry of the Alhambra!”.
Whilst you may be tempted to spend all your time in Granada wondering around the Alhambra, the city and surrounding areas offers much more. Walk around the old Jewish quarters known as el Realejo; the square of Bib-Rambla where, among other delicacies, you can savor sugar coated "churros"; the Cathedral; visit the summerhouse of the family of the poet Federico García Lorca, who was born in the village of Fuentevaqueros just outside Granada; drive around the villages of the area of La Alpujarra, where the hispanist Gerald Brenan settled in 1920; enjoy the food, the night life and flamenco dancing and singing; or ski down the slopes of Sierra Nevada . Enjoy!
 |
| El Albaicín (view from the Alhambra) |
 |
| Courtyard of the Lions - La Alhambra |
 |
| La Alhambra (detail) |
 |
| Gardens in La Alhambra |
 |
| View of the Alhambra |
 |
| La Alhambra 1 |
 |
| La Alhambra 2 |
 |
| La Alhambra 3 |
 |
| La Alhambra 4 |
Posts
