Flamenco

The drive down to the concert this past weekend, with Africa in view

I’ve spent great Friday nights with the girls in Cadiz, looking for a flamenco performance, losing hours of the night to incredible musicians on a small stage. This has been the part that’s for ME. Finding new music on the other side of the world after a long day of work and getting to experience a culture’s music, especially one so important to the country’s history. Well this past weekend, Pablo Alboran played a packed auditorium in his “home” (he was actually born in Malaga, well done Spain…Picasso from there, now this guy…) My bus ride made me miss the first two songs but I enjoyed a good two hours so it worked out. I hadn’t even gotten comfortable in my seat yet when I was startled by a combination of the fans' ecstatic reactions and his incredible voice cutting through above all the praise. I was impressed with how he did introductions about each song, from living in Madrid on the streets to explaining how everyone could relate to the next sad ballad. After deviating from his songs a few times for impromptu solos – he has three guitarists accompanying him – he finally explained that the stage, audience, atmosphere, and this country were are so perfect together in that moment that he couldn’t help going off the set list because flamenco just ran through his veins. 

One of his songs, which he effortlessly sang with seduction…might have been that convenient mood lighting…went like this,

“Sabor a Caramelo

te adoro

te anhelo

sentir la pasión

te derrites con dolor

Sabor a Café es el sabor de tu piel

tus labios canela

tus besos en la mile”

-Pablo Alboran

Needless to say, this guy can probably sing his way out of an argument any day.

It talks about loving a woman and the scent that lingers when she’s gone, how he can taste it, and so on. I could ramble about each song, especially because I love finding out about another musicians along the lines of Ray LaMontagne, Jack Johnson, James Morrison, John Mayer, Adam J There was one song about the moon, another about just living life to the fullest, and honestly it was just enchanting to hear it sung in Spanish. Funny how the conversations lose me sometimes but I love how the accent really strings words together when there’s a guitar playing along. 

The other great thing about finally seeing a big concert here was the crowd’s interaction. You’d think it was choreographed or a flashmob. I didn’t even want to clap with them because for one, I was in awe and only wanted to hear HIM…but mainly everyone ELSE just seemed to know exactly what flamenco clapping rhythm went with the beat. It was also amusing to see the women dancing along in their own seats, trying to contain themselves and screaming “guapo!” in unison. They’d even sporadically wave hello in desperation like a teeny bopper (I know, I’m one to talk with Adam Levine) – it was nice to relate haha. Finally, they often said “ole!” in the midst of his performance, whenever he held an impossibly long note. He was just so honest in his delivery and quickly hit notes from high to low within seconds. One of the last songs was “Te He Echado De Menos”, which means “I’ve missed you so much” and changed the lyrics to “I will miss you” with the crowd that night. Then he did an encore with a story about his mom first and how she was actually French (cue the woman in the audience that screamed “an Ole for your mother from the crowd!”). Suddenly he started singing “La Vie En Rose” in French – good God. 

Performing La Vie en Rose in Barcelona (we saw him in La Linea de la Concepcion)http://www.youtube.com/embed/jqQ3HmeAQFE

The girls I went with told me how he just started a year ago and is quickly succeeding in reaching international attention, and I can see why.

Our evening ended with Argentinean tapas at a restaurant nearby and went on to Marbella the next day to explore of Spain’s most famous cities on the southern coast. It definitely catered to tourists more, so it was certainly well kept. The beaches were beautiful, even on that rainy day, and the Cazon en Adobo (local fried fish with spicy seasonings) was some of the best I’d had. For the seafood I can claim to have had to date here… I think at one point the girls and I agreed to meet up in Brazil to see Pablo in concert again next year, or something like that ;) 

Watching Titanic

Last Thursday afternoon, I proudly listened to my two students I have for a tutoring after class as they explained IN ENGLISH why land snails are a delicious part of Spanish cuisine…clearly they haven’t caught on to the fact that I still can’t stomach most sea creature adventures, let alone whatever category this is in. Once again, sorry for the letdown Cody haha. For the record, I sure have had delicious fish dishes here. Traditional Spanish cuisine uses snails, cooked in several spicy sauces or soups. Wikipedia also informed me that some are used such as the "arroz con conejo y caracoles" (a paella-style rice with snails and rabbit meat, from the inner regions of south-eastern Spain), "cabrillas" (snails in spicy tomato sauce, typical from western Andalusia), etc. Still doing research, 7 months later J

So the girls sit there and tell me how fun it is to bite down on the head and pull out the body – the same girls that often collect live ones to keep as pets…sigh. They also explained that it doesn’t taste like chicken. Glad that different cultures can still agree on that joke about the taste of food!

walking around the streets of "old part" Cadiz

The past week has been a great routine, consisting of my main employer school hours with kids that have truly developed a greater understanding of another language and tutoring hours I put in afterwards throughout the week as a side job. Sometimes I’m still taken aback by the conversations I’m able to have with kids at school now, as I realize how far they’ve come and the certain English they’ve picked up from me along the way. Also, as I’ve mentioned on my facebook a few times, our relationships have grown and the kids’ expressions of love are so heartwarming. On the flip side, I’ve just truly developed a “regular” friendship with the tutoring students, maybe because they’ve made the separate decision to pursue English one step further with me. From the girls my age to the doctor and wife, I’ve really enjoyed it all.

My roommates and I are almost finished with the SATC dvds I brought and it goes with our stay here. Time’s flying and it’s all bittersweet. We’ve had great traveling weekends as well as staying in; assuming mini trips to Cadiz don’t count anymore. In fact, this past weekend is a perfect example of feeling at “home” here. I finished up my longest work day on Friday and headed to Cadiz that evening to make dinner with some girlfriends and go out to see a flamenco event. I brought guacamole after successfully after FINALLY finding cilantro at the local grocery store and ingredients to make my mom’s rice. The girls made, sautéed peppers, homemade tortillas and surprised me with a Corona and lime. This may seem like just another dinner but it really was a great start to the night when we had a meal reminiscent of something back home. We headed out to the flamenco show around midnight after many hours of catching up about our latest adventures.

We didn’t make it to the show until midnight but it caused us to get a spot right up front, feeling like we’d made it to a backstage spot in a concert. We saw a woman move to the music as if she did this more often than just sit around. Then the man who’d been singing to her called a younger girl on stage and did a dance with her that I’d never seen. He stood next to her and then they moved across the stage side by side with perfect choreography. It almost seemed like Spain’s version of a father daughter dance and we were honored to bear witness. The beauty of going out at night in a city where most of our friends live, is that we can walk back to their piso and weave our way through several streets on a whim. As a result, we ran into some friends who were enjoying some late night tapas and we decided to stop by a Teteria for a glass of sangria. Bars tend to close whenever the owner feels like it, so it wasn’t until 5 am when we made it home but these nights have been rare and the memories of Cadiz awake at night make it worthwhile.

One of the flamenco guitarists at the bar enlightened us with his thoughts on this cultural aspect of Espana and it was really interesting, from his point of view. I insisted on writing this down on a post it, and that part’s important haha:

1.      Flamenco is first, then the music. Don’t assume they are one in the same; you can’t really explain the first unless you live it. Then you share it, like love, with those around you.

2.      The mandatory toast to a shot during Carnaval is “Pa’ riba, pa’ bajo, p’al centro, no hay aparcamiento.” This pretty much reflects how much the city puts up with, from the locals’ point of view, during Carnaval’s party period because the tourism numbers are insane. The toast normally is an instruction on when everyone downs the shot, but in this case it’s about the lack of parking but here’s a toast to how well our city’s economy is doing because of it all.

3.      Cultural norms newsflash: don’t point in Spain…

4.      Flamenco quickly changes routes, like walking around a new city and turning a different corner – that’s flamenco, no plans, just living life to the fullest.

This may not be as moving as it was, when explained from this old man’s version in Spanish, but it was moments like that, where I know I could have never stumbled upon such a conversation if I hadn’t stepped outside my comfort zone. Living in Spain. He mumbled a few more sayings like, “the questions have answers, but the answers arrive when they want to.” Or the best one being, ‘Eli (most Spaniards have taken to calling me what my dad does), when you become famous…no…forget it, just invite me to the party.”

The next morning, I met up with some other friends for a traditional breakfast at a Churros Bar of toast with olive oil, homemade tomato spread, coffee, and fresh squeezed orange juice. Incidentally, it actually felt like a morning scene from a SATC episode and I loved it. By Saturday, most of our friends had come around to meet up in one of the apartments to have a get together at an apartment and try out sangria and tortilla recipes. I was only witness but I certainly learned a lot!

I need to write about my second visit to Italy soon, as the pictures and my own words probably won’t ever do it justice. I can just say it again and again, this has to be on your bucket list.


 Oh, and of course, add Cadiz to that list too!!

Cadiz's coast reminding me of the windy weather back home :)

Hilarious little tapa