I need to do this country in pieces, starting with music:
Classical guitarist: Segovia, starting with his recordings of Bach. It’s not just amazing technique, these are some of the best musical interpretations of Bach by anyone playing any instrument. They are what I call lifetime choices for one’s collection.
Spanish pianist, playing Spanish music: Alicia de Larrocha is the obvious choice. Her Albeniz and Granados recordings remain unsurpassed.
Composer: Varese sounds much better live than on disc. I’ve seen Amèriques twice and both were experiences to remember; here is a bit on YouTube. Chailly and Boulez understand the music very well but the sounds and textures and rhythms simply don’t all come through if you’re not there. (Addendum: Whoops! Varese was born in France.) The number two pick is tough but Rodrigo is underrated by many serious listeners, in part because of his exposure through classical pops. Try his solo guitar pieces and throughout keep him in mind as a precursor of ambient music. Tomás Luis de Victoria is an underrated Spanish Renaissance composer.
Cellist: It’s hard not to pick Pablo Casals, who had extraordinary depth in his phrasing. I still feel duty bound to point out that most of his recordings are unlistenable, if only because of the scratching. The Bach is of historic importance but for actual pleasure his Schubert is your best bet. Most of all the recording of the String Quintet.
Album about: Miles Davis, Sketches of Spain. One of my three or four favorite Miles CDs, so an easy pick. Admittedly the move toward an "acoustic-electric" sound does not appeal to all jazz fans, so this album remains underappreciated.
Opera singer: Lots of riches. Placido Domingo is a good pick though you could argue for many other names as well.
Popular music: Help!
Flamenco: I love it in small clubs but not on disc or even in mid-sized university music halls.
The bottom line: There are plenty of peaks but overall I am struck by the unbalanced nature of the distribution.
Placido Domingo was born in Spain, but grew up and studied (i.e.became a tenor) in Mexico. Is he a product of Spain or Mexico?
Or is it one of those cases as with Daniel Barenboim, who is claimed by both his native and his adoptive nations?
Popular Music: C’mon. “The Macarena”!! Any of the 6 versions by Los del Rio, or the version by Los del Mar.
Worst-best song ever. In any country.
Popular :
Luz Casal’s ‘Piensa en Mi’ as #1 (couldn’t find a video clip from Almodovar’s movie with Marisa Paredes, copyrights…)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJSnrrp1smc
Jeanette’s ‘Porque te vas’ as #2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25ckdkg1xCw
After taking a look at TC’s favourites in his web page’s music section… well, I think Spain is not exactly the place to be as far as popular music is concerned, there are much nicer things here.
Some people (I’m not really a fan myself) claim this is maybe the closest we ever got to having a standard rock and roll band — Héroes del Silencio (skip the brit guy talking):
http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=cjJOR97nnbs
But, hey, we’ve got a great rock and roll magazine (http://www.popular1.com/), Marah and Mars Volta will soon be touring around…
After taking a look at TC’s favourites in his web page’s music section… well, I think Spain is not exactly the place to be as far as popular music is concerned, there are much nicer things here.
Some people (I’m not really a fan myself) claim this is maybe the closest we ever got to having a standard rock and roll band — Héroes del Silencio (skip the brit guy talking):
http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=cjJOR97nnbs
But, hey, we’ve got a great rock and roll magazine (http://www.popular1.com/), Marah and Mars Volta will soon be touring around…
Not sure if he is still popular in Spain, but Joaquin Sabina would come to mind.
So, would I be correct in hoping that this is part of a longer ‘About Spain’ series? I am traveling there next month, and would love to see some suggestions on things to eat, places to visit, and so on and so forth. Quite the timely post, thanks!
The best popular music is La Oreja de Van Gogh.
Mecano is a good choice, and I’d add Miguel Bosé and Jarabe de Palo. For the more nostalgic crowd, Joan Manuel Serrat is a classic.
For popular music, my favorites are Melendi, Estopa and Joaquin Sabina; also try La Oreja de Van Gogh, La Cabra Mecanica and for “oldies” (80′s) popular music try Mecano or Los Hombres G.
I took a Spanish film class in college, and six years later, “Porque te vas” is still stuck in my head.
Spanish popular music can be summed up in two words: Las Ketchup.
Okay, probably not fair. Their generic Europop is the worst of the worst. Their less-generic stuff isn’t bad. The Pinker Tones, out of Barcelona, are good if that’s your thing.
But some of the flamenco-infused stuff is quite good. q.v. Ketama, which geodotto mentioned.
Julio Iglesias
La Quinta estacion
El sueño de Morfeo
Mecano
Camilo Sesto
Monica Naranjo
La Oreja de Vangoh
El Ultimo De La Fila
Tyler, see if you can find the VOX BOX set of Manuel Barrueco “300 Years of Guitar Masterpieces — first disk is all Bach. It’s a steal for 3 CDs and you have never heard Bach played like this on the guitar. I predict you will listen to your Segovia a bit less after hearing this.
There is also a famous recording on EMI of Barrueco playing the violin sonatas — it’s unbelievable. Not sure it can still be found.
-Kinnerton
Just to say I look forward meeting you on Friday!
Pablo Casals is not Spanish – he is Catalonian.
Sketches of Spain is one of your top 4 Miles Davis CDs? I can understand trying to make a case for it, if for no other reason than to tweak jazz snobs, but top 4?
El Koala!! “Opa! Vamos por el mundial!” Look it up on You Tube. Seriously.
I’ll second ‘Porque te vas.’
I also like some 1990′s Spanish indie rock. The band Beef has some great post-Sonic Youth stuff (think: Blonde Redhead, before their influences became more pop). Their best album is probably La Boheme, or maybe Misery and Lies. Astrud is also a great band, mroe on the stynthpop end of indie; I really like Mi Fracaso Personal. Los Planetas have a great album called Una Semana en el Motor de un Autobús that’s one of the better Spanish indie albums.
If all of these are late 1990′s Spanish indie records, that’s only because I lived in Spain at the cusp of the millennium.
Re: “popular.”
No one has mentioned the Acuarela record label, which describe themselves as “alternative/folk/indie.” I don’t know if they still exist, but Mus are/were very good. From Xixon. (Which I gather from Wikipedia is the Asturian language name for Gijon). Think Shannon Wright/Yann Tierson, maybe Lisa Germano territory….
i like estopa a lot after listening to them for the first time, i cannot seem to stop. i also started listening to melendi and joaquin sabina. im from the philippines by the way.
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