FLAMENCO
/ SANLUCAR 1
(2004)
more
flamenco/sanlucar 2 (2004)
more flamenco/sanlucar 3 (2004)
the nightlife is indescribable... the culture of Spain means very late dinners, followed by a fiesta (or two...or three) lasting all night, with dancing to guitar & cajon, singing & clapping, mezmerizing...fiestas were in different places every night (e.g., private flamenco clubs, a wine cellar in an old hotel, bodegas & bars)...i cannot describe what it is like to be there in those moments, it's something you must experience for yourself!
cante
class performing
MANZANILLA!!! this white wine made only in Sanlucar is amazing. very dry, very strong. i took a tour of an enormous bodega where they make it and brought back a few bottles - as much as i could carry!
me
+ Julio (El Doctor!) y mucha manzanilla\
...my cante class with Rafael de Utrera was intimidating at first...there were about sixteen students and i was the only one who didn't speak Spanish well enough to follow what he said. Also, the melodies and rhythms of flamenco were alien to me, but the second day i brought a tape recorder so i could later listen to Rafael sing the pieces over and over again - that made it much easier for me to follow...another challenge was the lyrics which Rafael was kind enough to write out for me in my notebook, but which bore very little resemblance to the sounds of the words as they were actually sung...i had to "translate" the Andalucian Spanish into phonetic phrases that more closely matched what i heard on the recordings i made of Rafael singing. for example: the actual lyric is "que al castillo," but it's sung like "caca tio," so that's what i would write down and practice...still, i got so much out of it that i cannot F#$%ing wait to go back next July!
rehearsal class
me
+ Rafael
TAPAS WERE SO GOOD...Lance loved this marinated white fish in called boquerone en vingre that i liked too, but i think my fave this trip was the jamon, & also ensaladilla ruso....i found out that this restaurant we were going to was just voted "Best Tapas In Spain" or something.....it's easy to see why!...i will try to find this stuff in NYC so my friends can enjoy it too...
" Un
dia sin helado no es un dia."
("A
day
without ice cream is not a day.")
-Lance Quinn, Sanlucar
de Barrameda,July 2004
people i met ....
there
were people i knew already, like Lance & Yiwen, Gerardo
Nunez, etc. and it was great to hang with old friends. i had not met
(nor heard) Rafael de Utrera, my voice teacher...Joanna
in Jerez is really cool: she has an old house with beautiful interior
garden
spaces (she
calls
it
her "ruin"),
where she rents out apartments & rehearsal studios to flamenco
musicians& dancers...she can whip up some mean tapas too...in
Sanlucar, Lance's friends Julio (El Doctor!) and Peter, + most of the
people in my
cante
class were
so nice and so patient with me, even though i'm such a flamenco neophyte.
i hope to see all of them & Lise, a dancer from Paris, & Richard
Marlow, an amazing flamenco guitarist from DC, in Sanlucar next year.
taxi drivers
played Cameron de las Islas (DEAD from drug OD), Antonio Molina (alive
& kicking in Jerez) + others....
thank you to everyone for making my experience so extraordinary!
lance + peter + monolo + me
....i picked up LIES & THE LYING LIARS WHO TELL THEM by Al Franken (paperback edition, "with more lies & new lying liars!)....it was hilarious, + very well written, funny and smart...should be required reading for anyone considering voting Republican in the next election....i also read a novel: THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA....it didn't really push my button... reminded me way too much of that @$$hole RG i used to work for!!!
(Darice - what does this
title remind you of???)
THANKS to Lance Quinn for showing me this world & sharing it with me...it's not the first time you have brought magic into my life, ....if i'm really fortunate, it won't be the last.
me
& lance
Does anyone know a good CD/DVD Spanish course? PLEASE E-MAIL ME IF YOU DO!!!
be
blessed,
XO,
Web
by Pixelbitch™ © 2004, 2005.
all rights reserved.