La fête à Séville

Sigh. It's been a splendid weekend - the Diva exhibition on Friday, and two days of warm (if very windy) weather, potting-on, refreshing and generally pottering in the extensive gardens here at Dolores Delargo Towers. Now it's over, and the same old, same old joys of a working week resume.

There's larks and merriment on the horizon, however - we're off to Spain again in May! We'd already booked our apartment for a week in Benalmadena, but prior to that we are doing a little bit extra. Our hotels are now booked for day #1 in Seville, #2 in Cadiz, and #3 in Jerez! So, three cities (two of which we have never been to before) in a row, then off to city #4 (Malaga) on route to the Costa del Sol for our usual seven days of doing bugger-all by the Mediterranean...

Bliss.

In keeping with all that anticipated joy five weeks away, on this Tacky Music Monday I have just the thing...

I said when I posted this joyful number back in 2017: "...how can one resist the espectacular that is Raffaella Carra hosting a stage-full of crap flamenco dancers, children and safety gays, with a tribute to the music of Seville? Not me!"

Indeed!

Rafaella Carra - Popurri de Sevillanas

Have a good wek, dear reader.

Her name was Lola

Just two weeks to go, and we will be in Spain...

How opportune it is that today marks the centenary of the birth of one of Andalusia's greatest purveyors of the Flamenco tradition, "La Faraona" Señorita Lola Flores!

Here, by way of a tribute, is a mere sample of the great lady's repertoire...

Lola Flores - Ojalá que te vaya bonito

Lola Flores y Familia Flores - Pan y Chocolate

Lola Flores - La Zarzamora

Lola Flores - Mi Alegre Sombrero

¡Ella es maravillosa!

María Dolores "Lola" Flores Ruiz (21st January 1923 – 16th May 1995)

[click any pic to embiggen]

Sweet Suite Andalucía*

We're getting ourselves in the mood for our trip to Spain...

Another work week begins - but for a change, I am not in such a maudlin mood. We're counting down the days until we depart for our long-awaited week in sunny Benalmadena this Saturday - and it's another four-day week to boot, as I am off this Friday to finalise the bag packing!

I feel a little trip on this Tacky Music Monday into the dreamworld of our Patron Saint Sara Montiel and her safety gays might well be appropriate...

Sara Montiel - Malagueña

Oh, yes. Bring it on!

Have a good week, dear reader.

[* Malagueña originally formed the sixth movement of Ernesto Lecuona's Suite Andalucia.]

Desde el fondo de mi alma

Me, Madam Arcati and Baby Steve on one of our previous sojourns to Andalusia.

Ah, Flamenco - one of the most distinctive, yet undefinable in origin, folk music forms in the world. Its roots are said to be in a meld of the myriad musical types prevalent under the long reign of the Ummayyads and other rulers of Arabic al-Andalus, including Moorish, Jewish, native Iberian and Romany influences. It managed to survive the fanaticism of the Reconquista, the Inquisition, the economic decline of the Spanish Empire, Napoleon and Franco, and en route developed its musical accompaniment from Gypsy violins and Arab oud-style instruments such as the bandurria, to the more recognisable Spanish guitar in the modern era. With its unmistakeable cante gitano vocal style, Flamenco became wildly popular in the 19th century with the rise of cafés cantante, with their fare of music, dancing and tapas - many of which survive today.

Facts:

• The oldest written record of the word "Flamenco" to describe the musical genre dates to 1774, but it is probably much older than that.
• There are possibly hundreds of regional and stylistic variations, including Fandango, Seguiriyas, Malagueñas, Zapateado, Farruca and Rondeña.
• The recognisable frilly spotted dresses associated with Flamenco today are derived from a style of dress worn for the annual Feria in Seville.
• Such is its international appeal, in Japan there are more Flamenco academies today than there are in Spain.

And, after that little potted history lesson, and continuing our countdown to our own trip to al-Andalus on Saturday, we really need to hand over to one of the unavowed mistresses of the art - put your hands together and do that rhythmic handclap for Señorita Lola Flores!!

Lola Flores - Ojalá que te vaya bonito

I've been trying for years to do "that thing" with a tasselled scarf.

Bread and chocolate

It's bloody freezing out there - winter has arrived, it seems, just in time for us to return to the office. Groan.

Never mind, eh? It's only three weeks on Saturday till we jet off for our annual pilgrimage to Spain - and in keeping with that thought on this Tacky Music Monday, who better than today's birthday girl Señorita Lola Flores to warm us up a bit?

And she's brought her whole family along, too!

Lola Flores y Familia Flores - Pan y Chocolate

Have a good week, folks.

Moda, vuelta izquierda

Having just booked our February holiday in Benalmadena, I feel in the mood for a celebration...

I know this sort of thing is usually much more at home on a Tacky Music Monday, but how can one resist the espectacular that is Raffaella Carra hosting a stage-full of crap flamenco dancers, children and safety gays, with a tribute to the music of Seville? Not me!

Rafaella Carra - Popurri de Sevillanas

¡Hola, Raffaella! indeed!

¡Olé!

Sometimes, getting one's hands on (very) last-minute tickets brings us real joy!

Yesterday, I and Paul were delighted to get seats for a genuine slice of "kulture with a capital 'K'", as we trotted off to the marvellous Sadlers Wells Theatre for a one-woman show Danzaora starring one of Andalusia's finest modern flamenco dance virtuosi, Señorita Rocío Molina.

One of the stars of the annual Flamenco Festival London - a prestigious event to which I have (shamefully) never been before, and it is celebrating its tenth year... - Rocío Molina has been variously described as "one of the greatest flamenco dancers I have seen...at all points resisting stereotype, staleness, categorization" (New York Times) and "probably the most exciting young dancer in flamenco today" (TimeOut), she is a previous winner of the best dancer award at the Seville Biennial Flamenco Festival, and is generally considered to represent a "New Wave" in the traditional artform.

The show was indeed utterly astonishing, as the diminutive Señorita, ably accompanied by the beautiful vocals of Jose Angel Carmona, the superb guitar of Eduardo Trassiera and Jose Manuel Ramos' percussion (clapping and tapping mainly), twirled, stamped, tapped and leapt around the minimal stage. With a combination of traditional flamenco and bolera, Hollywood syncopation, ballet and contemporary interpretative dance moves of her own creation, she was inexhaustible! For an hour-and-a-half, she mesmerised us, and rarely (if ever) stood still throughout.

It is impossible to single out a particular segment of the performance for praise, as it was all so enchanting, but the experiments with sound and echo that form the crux of the finale were an experience I will certainly never forget in a hurry.

Danzaora was a feast for the senses. We were completely awe-struck.

Here's some snippets from Rocío Molina's show:

Rocío Molina - Danzaora

Flamenco Festival London continues until 27th March 2013.

Rocío Molina biography

I wish I was back in Spain...