Blog de Manzanita

Am I getting to old, or what?

Jul 20 2007, 11h14 por Nillo86

I am starting to get depressed about the recent splits I am hearing from.

I announced in previous posts the split of band Molotov. Therefter, the death of El Fary,Manzanita, Rocío Jurado.

Today, I have to announce the split of Mártires del Compás, definately one of my favourite bands ever.

They claim in this post, and also here that the band has decided to go forward without Chico, the singer and now former leader of the band.

They also claim this is all due to the irresponsibility of Chicho... I kind of believe this. The more artist you are... the more cabrón you become?

Ler mais Adicionar comentário
RIP Horteradas Billy

Jun 21 2007, 23h01 por Nillo86

The term horteradas has been an argument in several meals in company of my family: how to translate it to English? Well, in actual fact, you simply cannot. Something like mainstream, or common, perhaps.

In Spanish music, "las horteradas" have a place of their own. When summer time approaches, record companies launch quite a few dancing horteradas, so that all happy Spaniards can all sing them in the cars, pubs, at the beach, ipods, while having a shower. Every Spaniard has a Summer milestoned with a canción hortera.

Yesterday, El Fary died of a lung cancer. He was a media phenomena, brought to fame by his smile and the performance of la copla, a Spanish genre. No Spaniard will forget his song from his post-Copla era Torito Bravo (the translation is easy to work out, oder?

And not so long ago - best to see their biographies in last.fm pages -, Manzanita and beautiful Rocío Jurado also left us for better life. Both come from real flamenco roots, the first one from Malaga, the latter one from Chiclana.

Why do I post about these guys? Well, it shocks me how real masters of the most complex music genre, jumped to the horterada genre. It is obvious that they were seeking money, but there is more than that. The way they sing horteradas and flamenco just inspires something that the rest of the singers simply cannot immitate. The "quejío" they stick out their voices, no matter the song, is something exceptional that no other artist can improve.

Also, they are well known for their extreme sensitivity of their philosophy, as well as for a controversial private life (just for the sake of comparison, think of James Brown). Yet, you will find real horror songs of these guys, as well as fantastic ones.

Definately, something inherent in their genes. Masters of all masters, I sincerely admire them all, and have them in my personal musical olympus.

To give you an idea, Alejandro Sanznowadays would be the equivalent to these guys. However, he belongs to a globalized era, which stops him from having the flare of the other artists mentioned in this post.

Ole!

Ler mais Adicionar comentário
This Week I Have Mostly Been Listening to Post-rock

Ago 18 2006, 22h31 por Ephief

I went and saw the new Miami Vice movie on Tuesday. It was great, much better than I had expected. Actually, what I was expecting was this, and that it was. Moody scenes, dark even, with the focus not on the words or actions or the characters themselves, but on the atmosphere the general mood and feeling of the whole story.

The soundtrack of the movie is packed with post-rock and other, very effectively mood-creating tracks. It is almost magical how strong a grip the soundtrack has on you, you just can't stop listening. The mood, the atmosphere changes and shifts from dark to light, from sorrow to love, and it all blends into a perfect mix. And the music created most of it.

The movie ends with a version of In the Air Tonight, but the soundtrack begins with it. It's like the listener is dragged back into the movie. I don't really remember during which scenes the given tracks were played, except for a couple of the tracks, but I can still sense the atmosphere and the general feel of the movie. And this is not that common when you think of it.

I still have to wait until the charts for this week are done, but I already know that Mogwai and Blue Foundation are going to be in the top 10. Nina Simone, India.Arie and Moby I have also listened to more than the other tracks. And to my great surprise, Manzanita's latin rhythms also. The latin music genre is one of the few genres I had no music of, before this. One wall might have been breached again.

All I can really say is "Go see the movie, listen to the soundtrack". I was only pleasantly surprised by them both. But still, most of the people I have spoken to weren't.

Ler mais 2 comentários Adicionar comentário

Blog

Am I getting to old, or what?

RIP Horteradas Billy

This Week I Have Mostly Been Listening to Post-rock