For lack of any real Scotch here, I toasted Robbie Burns last week with some Sortilège, which I had brought over to my Barcelona hostess as a “uniquely Québécois gift”. It’s liqueur that mixes Canadian whisky and maple syrup — normally I don’t go for that kind of thing but it’s actually pretty decent. Now, it smells pretty much like rubbing alcohol, but when you take a sip you’re very pleasantly surprised to find the delicious taste of maple syrup and whisky.

Oops, I got off-topic… With Robbie Burns’ Day long gone, and my father relating his tales of “addressing the haggis” at a Burns Supper, I got thinking about the bagpipes. (I do that from time to time, you know.) In fact, I know a few pipers and am here to say that the pipes can be a very beautiful and moving instrument. And no — ha ha, yes, good one, very funny — not just “moving” as far away as you can. If you’ve ever been to a Highland Games, like the ones in Montréal, where they have hundreds of pipers and drummers all playing together in sync…well, let me tell you it is quite literally (and also emotionally) moving. The ground thunders, and every “rattle-able” thing you have (above or below the kilt) rattles.

The gallegos (people from Galicia) have Celtic roots — although, like the Asturians and unlike the “official” Celtic nations, they did not keep the language. But they do have bagpipes, fiddles and the bodhran (drum). I wonder if they also have haggis…and a Día de Robertito Quema? Some interesting musicians — Galician piper Carlos Núñez may have been one of the first — have experimented with cross-breeding flamenco and Celtic music (Núñez, in particular, beginning with his second album: Os amores libres).

So, strange though it may seem, there is a Spanish word for bagpipes: la gaita. And they also have some great expressions that use it!

It can mean “a drag or nuisance”…
Es una gaita tener que ir al trabajo. — It’s a real drag having to go to work. Literally: it’s bagpipes to have to go to work. I see they have the same opinion of bagpipes as much of the non-Scottish world (and, let’s face it, some of the Scottish world, too). It is very telling that I’ve never heard pipes on the tartanpodcast. But you’ve got to see Shooglenifty perform live if you want to have some piping good fun! Oops, wait a sec — now that I think of it, there is no piper in Shooglenifty, either. Sigh… All right, then, Afro-Celt Sound System — they have a great mix of Irish uilleann pipes and African tribal percussion that is also a fantastic live show.

Anyhow, back to Spanish. La gaita can also colloquially refer to the neck…
Sacaba la gaita por la ventana. — He craned his neck (”the pipes”) out of the window. I guess this is better than craning your “plumbing” out the window, which some drunk young people have been known to do.

Another funny use is templar gaitas, which means to be conciliatory.
Tuvimos que estar templando gaitas con su padre. — We had to tread carefully with his father. Used with musical instruments, the verb templar means “to tune”…so, translated literally, this is a great expression: Every time we had to deal with his father it was like tuning the bagpipes.

So… Tread carefully and keep in tune, eh?

Last night we went to see a great show at Barcelona Teatre Musical, one of the biggest theatre venues in Barcelona (which unfortunately means we weren’t particularly close to the stage, but still…). Renowned flamenco starlet Sara Baras and her company presented their show Sabores, as part of the VII Festival del Mil.leni de Barcelona. I think it’s safe to say it was the best flamenco show I’ve seen in my life. It really made you want to move and dance. In my case I just had to give the guitar a few rasgueados when I got home, even though it was late.

In fact…their energy made you want to move and dance perhaps a bit too much. Sitting down the row from me was a teenager who had some kind of mental illness that (in my layman’s terms) caused him to wave his arms frantically and erratically when he got excited. I must say, the performance was very exciting — to the point that, at times, my heart did somersaults in my chest. This fellow really got into it; it was exhausting to him move his limbs faster even than Sara and her dancers on stage. I’m glad he seemed to be enjoying himself, but I have to admit I’m very glad I was not sitting directly behind him…it would have probably caused an epileptic seizure trying to watch the stage through the stroboscopic fluttering of his arms!

Speaking of musical inspirations…a big “Happy Birthday” shout-out to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who turns 250 today. Wigs off, gentlemen, a genius!

Just to prove that I am (slowly) learning to play the guitar, the djembe and the cajón (and dusting off my keyboard “skills”), here is a little Christmas ditty…estilo jardinero zurdo… All instruments are played by me (but over many takes, as you can imagine!).

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It’s not perfect, nor finished (these little projects never are) — but a fun afternoon project nonetheless!

Well, a few musical moments to pass along. On Tuesday evening, we went to see Marlango (a Spanish group fronted by singer Leonor Watling which — for some reason — performs mostly in English!) at the beautiful Palau de la Música Catalana. I’ve wanted to see inside that UNESCO World Heritage Site for a while, so it was great to finally see it…even better, the concert was full of energy and humour (and they just wouldn’t stop playing!). It was much more than just an excuse to see the interior of a beautiful building! (-;

Secondly, I wanted to have a guitar to practice while I was here, and had been looking into renting one. I thought that since it is quite easy to rent instruments in Canadian cities, it likely would be here. Well, you can rent guitars and such, but to rent a flamenco guitar, and one that is strung for “zurdos” (lefties), is a bit trickier. So I thought I could buy a super-cheap (crappy) one, just to use here. But I knew I wanted a “real” flamenco guitar at some point… Okay, so the end of this story is predictable: I went to this great classical and flamenco guitar shop in Barcelona, Casa Luthier, and was easily convinced (or rather, convinced myself) to buy a nice (not too expensive but also definitely not the cheapest one you can get!) flamenco guitar. I ended up with an Alhambra, model 3F. To transport it, I “splurged” and got an estuche duro (aka flight case), which I hope will protect this investment for years — and trips — to come.

The service at Casa Luthier was excellent, and I managed just fine in Castellano for the hour or more that I was there, discussing, learning, trying, hemming and hawing — and eventually purchasing.

¡Qué energía! Tonight I went to see Noche Flamenca, from Madrid. It was well worth the trundle through the drifting snow, the -18 degree (Celsius) windchill and all the rest (hey, what kind of November is this, anyhow?). At least the show was hot — it was at Kola Note, a fairly intimate venue in Montréal, but sadly it wasn’t totally packed… Still, it was full enough, and the audience was very appreciative of this incredible opening-night show. Apparently this is the seventh time they’ve been in Montréal since 2000!

There were two cantaores (singers), two guitarristas, a percussionist (mostly on the cajón and djembe — I notice he didn’t hit it so hard as to bruise his fingers…I hope I picked up a few techniques just from watching). Besides the musicians, there were also two male dancers y una bailaora. Normally in Montréal we don’t see a lot of male flamenco dancers; here it seems women are more interested in learning and performing flamenco. But these guys were incredible. And so was she. They were so precise, so “in sync”, and their feet moved…um…so fast… (”How fast were they?” “Just, you know, very fast.”)

The audience definitely consisted of some of the “usual crowd” of Montréal flamenco groupies (like me?), but also a lot of people who (I’m guessing) don’t see that kind of thing very often…like the couple sitting at the table with me. They were absolutely blown away. We were just glad we didn’t sit at the front tables or we would have been showered in sweat for most of the evening. As I said, it was hot!

¡Olé — vamo’ chikillos!

Well, maybe for no one but me, but let me lay out the evidence. First (exhibit A), today I got a box of clementinas flamenkitas…from Barxeta, Valencia! (Well, they’re originally from there, though most recently they’re from a giant pyramidal display at the entrance to Provigo St-Urbain in Montréal.) You can tell it’s the Holiday season, because the grocery stores are big on mandarin oranges (and clementines), and also the egg-nog cartons have finally hit the shelves! Now…the oranges have nothing to do with flamenco except the name and the fact they are from Spain. And…maybe they remind you of orange polka-dots? Is that pushing it?

Also (exhibit B), on Thursday this week I’m off to see the Spanish troupe Noche Flamenca. Also (C), a few days ago I got a serious bruise on my finger from over-zealously playing my new cajón (a box-drum of Peruvian origin, but adopted by flamenco quite widely in the past thirty-ish years). Also (D), I am still very slowly learning to play a flamenco tango on my guitar… Painfully slowly, but getting there. I find that my dedo anillo (ring finger) is not very co-operative when it comes to doing multi-finger rasgueados!

Finally (exhibit E) — soon I’ll be off to Spain (again, ¡sí!) for a wee bit, where I imagine I may have a chance of seeing something flamenco-related… You think? Besides the usual Barcelona-loitering, I’m also planning to see Almería on this trip, and in particular Cabo de Gato national park (where a hotel that was being heavily protested against amazingly will be torn down! — mostly, anyhow). Back on topic — Almería is part of Andalucía so there’s sure to be some good flamenco to see there (though not in the park, ¡claro!).

Maisons de la culture! Free (and, créele o no, good) shows!

Sure, this city is known for its festivals, its cultural vibrancy. There’s theatre, music, dance, gallery exhibitions — so much happening year-round. But some of the best deals in town are free, and going down at the Maisons de la culture (though their online searching interface leaves much to be desired!). There are some great shows, and often all you need to do is pick up a laissez-passer a few days before the event — and if you’re lazy (like me), often you can get last-minute seating at the door (no, jokers, the seats are not at the door, but the tickets are). Did I mention most of these shows are free? My grandma would be proud.

That’s what I did yesterday, I went up to the Maison de la culture Ahuntsic-Cartierville to see a show by a group of quatre gars québécois playing tango (the works of the great Astor Piazzolla, plus many of their own compositions). They’re QueTango. Cellist, bassist, guitarist and drummer. The show was packed (mostly with seniors, since this was an afternoon show) and the sound was excellent, it was very intimate because I was only a few rows back. I have to say that the old ladies next to me were saying “moé j’n'aime pas ça, la musique moderne!” after some of the pieces, but I really enjoyed them. I especially liked the more “tango” moments (versus their more “jazz” moments), their rhythms and the bass player, who was fun to watch thumping his hand against the back or side of his double bass, then trying to whip his hand back in position to play the next note!

This is a better site for seeing what’s on (all over the city, though not the MdC shows). But you have to pay for most of these things, sorry… I just noticed that Noche Flamenca (de España) is doing a series of shows at Kola Note from November 24 to December 4. (to my Berkeley friends, they’ll be at Zellerbach Hall on February 19-20) I have to admit that when I saw this, I just snached a ticket for myself for the opening night. But, ouch…$40 tickets…who do they think they are, Céline Dion? We can regularly see good or great flamenco for less dinero, so they’d better be spectacular!