Reykjavík – Rotterdam European cinema in Madrid

The other day I had a great time watching a film I had never heard of, directed by someone I had never heard of, and starring actors I had never heard of. This was all thanks to the European institutions in Madrid, that is to say the offices of the European Parliament and European Commission. 

For the fifth year, during the summer, they fill the ground floor outdoor space behind their offices in central Madrid with plastic chairs, a huge screen and a mobile projector, and offer a once a week open air film session. It’s all free, and on top of that you get a bag of popcorn and a bottle of water.

This week’s film was Reykjavík – Rotterdam, a thriller based on smuggling between Holland and Iceland, populated by lots of people you’d be happy to keep away from on a dark night.

Reykjavík – Rotterdam is a  film by Oskar Jonasson, with screenplay by Arnaldur Indridason and Oskar Jonasson and starring Baltasar Kormákur and Ingvar E. Sigurdsson.

It’s great fun, a really tight rhythm, a gripping story and full of nasty people, some of them pushed to the limit by life’s bad luck, some pushed to the limit by plain greed. I went to Iceland a few years ago and all the people I met were lovely and very kind, including Karen S and her husband, and the coach tour I took on my free day gave me a look at  active geysers, non active volcanoes, continental plates – yes you can stand with one foot on each of two continents – and the site of the West’s most ancient parliament. I’m glad to say I didn’t come across anybody remotely like the baddies of this exciting film.

Anyway, it’s great to see a film you would never see in the cinema, and to enjoy a film not a movie – translation, art made in Europe and not in Hollywood.  

If you want all the details, here they are: http://www.blueeyes.is/Films/Reykjavik-Rotterdam/

Thanks to the European institutions in Madrid: very nice to be at this building to relax instead of leading groups of students as I have on so many previous visits. http://www.europarl.es/view/es/index.html

Kike Perdomo Quintet at Café Central, Madrid

Kike Perdomo: saxophones

Audun Waage: trumpet

David Quevedo: piano

Martin Leiton: bass

Borja Barrueta: drums

This is the line up of a recent concert I saw at the Café Central jazz bar in Madrid, led by Kike Perdomo who  was born in Tenerife in the Canary Islands.

Kike Perdomo’s style now is a bold funky and jazz rock fusion. I read the programme half way through the  show and was not surprised to see a reference to fellow saxophonist Bill Evans. Bill Evans has been in Spain several times in the last few years, and his bright, brash style, I mean that in a positive sense, was certainly reflected at this concert. According to the notes, the American played on Kike Perdomo’s 2003 cd Transición.

I really enjoyed this concert: the music was mainly original compositions as far as I could tell. I confess I couldn’t hear the announcements too well: never mind, Kike Perdomo  is a musician and not a radio announcer.

On this occasion he featured Norwegian trumpeter Audun Waage who has a lovely sound and uses the whole range from low to high very effectively.

Thank you Kike Perdomo and band for a great evening’s music.

http://www.myspace.com/kikeperdomo

To find more about Café Central, one of Europe’s leading jazz bars, visit: http://www.cafecentralmadrid.com/

Schweppes: delivering the message

Here’s an example of how a drinks distributor in Denia, Spain, is delivering the Schweppes message…  

Or you could say they are driving home their point ...

Chasing bulls into the sea in Spain

This is not Hemingway; not high drama with death, courage and honour in a heady cocktail.

Today I say the local fiestas in Denia, Alicante, Spain, which include the traditional sport of chasing bulls so that they fall into the sea. Yes this is today, July 2011 and yes this still happens… more of the argument later.

 Basically there is a bull ring constructed so that the fourth side is the harbour. There are stands where I was joined by about 4,000 more spectators, paying the magnificent sum of I euro to watch the spectacle. Others chose to watch from the water, basking in the sun on a luxury motor boat or simply relaxing in the water on a float.

Another group watched from ground level, protected by iron bars a couple of palm widths apart: these turn out not to be 100% safe, as a teenager found to his peril when he was gorged by the third bull and  had to be taken way in an ambulance.

Those who are really keen don’t sit on a boat or up in a safe seat, like me: the really keen ones stand in the arena and wait for the bulls to be released from their pen, one at a time. The object is then to chase and taunt the bull so that it falls into the water, where a boat recovers it and returns it safely to dry land. Right, you’re asking: if that’s the point, what’s the point?

If you ask that, you also expect the whole thing to be called off when someone gets injured, right? Wrong.  When the teenager was carried away to the ambulance, the whole thing resumed as if nothing had happened. Health and Safety is a concept that has yet to invade these traditional fiestas, so the young men, and a tiny number of young women, take part wearing mostly just shorts and sneakers. Their bare torsos make them very vulnerable to the sudden twists and turns of the bulls, but they seem to enjoy the excitement of chasing and taunting the bull. Truth is, 90% of the “mozos”, the men who chase really do nothing but stand next to the water, and jump in as soon as the bull gets anywhere near. I expect this does not stop them telling great tales of bravura to their friends over a few beers later in the day.. and the next day …. And many days after, until next year’s fiesta.

On 15 July I wrote about a ground breaking design shop in the super-cool Barcelona. I have written other posts about events in Madrid, including concerts and opera shows. How can you reconcile the sophistication of Spain’s leading cities with these traditional fiestas?

On a positive side, I suppose you could say that Spanish creativity grew out of its traditions, the bravura and risk taking that is played out year by year in village after village and town after town around the country. On a negative side… well it’s fiesta time, let’s not be negative.

It is very significant that when the regional government of Catalonia passed a law banning bull fights, they stopped short of banning these typical fiesta events, like chasing bulls through the streets and the seaside version like the one I saw today. In the rest of Spain both bullfights and these typical events are here to stay. There is an almost 100% chance that I will be able to see the same scene acted out in July 2012 here in Denia, Alicante, Spain

…. Hemingway did not eat here….

I have written about the Easter procession in Denia:

http://www.interculturaldialogueandeducation.org/2011/04/easter-procession-in-denia-spain.html

http://www.interculturaldialogueandeducation.org/2011_04_01_archive.html

Here are some links to tourist info about Denia:

http://www.denia.net/

http://www.facebook.com/deniacom

Live painting by Yoshi Sislay at Vinçon in Barcelona

Vinçon is an amazing shop the Eixample district of Barcelona, the golden mile of style and chic in one of Europe’s coolest destinations.

 The building itself is amazing, running as it does through long corridors which connect  streets on several sides of the block, though with the main entrance on Passeig de Grácia, the street lined with fascinating and original architectural wonders.

At Vinçon you can buy everything from a child’s toy to a spoon to a Kenwood Chef mixer, and upstairs there is a furniture and decoration section which must be among the most striking in Europe. Truth is that almost all the people who work at this shop are artists, as seen by the originality of just everything, but there is one nominated artist, Yoshi Sislay, who has been handed an empty room with bare white walls and given two weeks to paint it. Hmmm, not bad, and he even has time to chat to customers who wander in to follow his progress.

Yoshi Sislay was born in Osaka in 1974 and has now settled in Barcelona. He calls the exhibition Ambitious and Natural and the spiraling, intertwining figures were taking beautiful shape the day I was there. 

So far it was mainly black and white, but some colour had started to appear: not sure whether at the painter’s hands or generated by the magical figures he has created.

Well, take a look for yourself, go there or go here: http://www.vincon.com/web/en/sala/275.htm

http://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/sp/barrio/eixample-barcelona.html

Ara Malikian dazzles – Paganini lives!

Ara Malikian is a brilliant musician and a great showman. His violin technique is so superb that he can afford to jump up while playing without missing a note, and spend a few minutes entertaining the audience about how much he has practised a difficult 30 second section of music just to draw their attention to how easily he is able to play it.

When I saw him at the Clamores jazz bar in Madrid he played with an open waistcoat, baring his hairy torso to the absolute delight of the predominantly female audience. If anyone still knows what the word swoon means, these women were certainly swooning over Ara Malikian.

And there was Fernando Egozcue. He is one of the most beautiful musicians I have ever heard. I don’t mean beautiful physically, I leave that judgment to the women packing the place out, I mean, musically. I have heard this Argentinian guitarist several times over the years, usually fronting the Nuevo Tango Ensamble, faithfully and movingly performing written arrangements of the great master Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992). I have been mesmerized by the Ensemble’s virtuosity and by the passion and emotional power of Piazzolla’s music. Egozcue’s expert guitar playing and deep understanding of the tango style was clearly the heart of the Ensamble, and I have admired his faithfulness to the master and have been grateful that he brought Piazzolla’s tango music to Madrid in all its authenticity. 

Imagine then, the combination of Ara Malikian’s virtuoso violin playing, with Fernando Egozcue’s wonderful guitar playing, and add to that combination original compositions by the guitarist, and you get an explosive cocktail of musical creativity, an emotional rollercoaster and sheer spectacle. This project, which also involves three more  excellent señores, pianist Moíses P. Sánchez, plus string bassman and drummer.

The music we heard at Clamores jazz bar was taken from 2 cd’s, all original compositions based on the tango style, but with arrangements in the live version that far surpass the cd version. The power of this music is in the arrangements, carefully composed to retain the essential character of Egozcue’s personality, and with generous scope for improvisation.

By the way, Nicolo Paganini (1782-1840) was an Italian violinist (dates): the legend says he made a pact with the devil to achieve greatness. I think Ara Malikian and Fernando Egozcue have just made a pact with each other to make great music, entertain their audience and enjoy themselves.    

Thank you, Ara Malikian and Fernando Egozcue for a truly great night. I’m sorry my photos don’t really do you justice, but your fans will soon find better ones on your web pages:

http://www.myspace.com/aramalikian  http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=54446240107&ref=mf

Here’s another review of the same event: http://www.suite101.net/content/ara-malikian-hace-vibrar-la-clamores-de-madrid-a15581

If you are in Madrid and want to hear more great music, here’s the programme at Clamores bar: http://www.salaclamores.com/agenda.php