POETRY AND MUSIC a force of nature

POETRY AND MUSIC a force of nature

Duende Josele and friends at Museo del Timple, Teguise,

by Norman Warwick

The Timple Museum in Teguise recently hosted the presentation of Duende Josele’s latest album, “Versos con lengua”.

On Friday 1^st July we turned up at the concert, having bought tickets for this event that seemed to have been given very little promotionso we had no idea what to expect. However, safe in the knowledge that we have seen so many wonderful concerts in this incredible museum of timple music we had decided to give it a go. And what a wise that decision that turned out to be.

The lights dropped and our favourite master of ceremonies stepped on stage to make the introductions. He only speaks Spanish and although we can´t understand a word of it we are absolutely certain that he  always respectful about the acts he introduces and indeed pays the courtesy to the audience of providng all that relevant information.

And then came the force of nature that is Duende Josele. From the rear of the theatre we could hear a rhythmic vocal deliver, half sung have orated and it grew louder as he walked down the aisle, between the rows of seats. There was percussion, too, it sound like but as he walked past our row we realised it was him beating his chest as he spoke. He reached the stage and concluded his recitation to complete surely one of the most dramatic entrances this Musem del Timple had ever seen.

The concert had been advertised to be taking place in the courtyard but instead, perhaps to accommodate fuller audience than expected, we were all show inot the theatre indoors

The Duende Josele Triopresented this Friday his latest album “Versos con Lengua” at the Casa-Museo del Timple in Teguise.  The singer and poet from Extremadura was accompanied by two great professionals, the pianist Alberto Terrón and the guitarist Alfonso Seijo (left) .

They were the perfect accompaniment, being excellent players who nevertheless played only to complement the central performer. They were perfectly in synch with each other throughout as a perfect platform for Duende´s material. He actually sand a lot of his poetry, but would drop to the spoken word when appropriate.

He had a natural relationship with his audience, and obviously carried a great deal of respect for the musicians.

The album (right) consists of 12 compositions and has the collaboration of singers of the highest reputation  such as the Argentine Sofía Viola, Ismael Serrano, Pablo Guerrero, Zenet, Capitán Cobarde or El Canijo de Jerez among others.

Josele conquered the public that filled the capacity of the House-Museum. His show was developed for two hours with his songs intertwined with poetry that became a one-on-one between the audience and singer. Duende Josele in his visits to Lanzarote has earned the friendship and affection of musician friends such as Toñín Corujo and Manuel Gopar.

“Versos con Lengua”, is a work that has emerged over the last two years taking advantage of the break of the pandemic and addressing themes and sounds already common in his music such as swing, tango, cumbia and reggae. The show ended with a staging with very festive airs also with the participation of Toñin Corujo, Manuel Gopar with the audience clapping.

Duende and his musicians beneiftted from the excellencnt attention to detail of the master of cermonies, a professional who hosts so many of these eventd and doe so perfectly: always informing, never intruding. However, i feel dreadful that i still don´t know his name. If any reader recorgnises him in this phot with Duende, please let me know at normanwarwick55@gmail.com

The Councilor for Culture of the city of Teguise Nori Machín present at the event, gave the singer the framed poster commemorating the concert, a quaint idea that never saw in the UK. It is, though, patently obvious how much the artists appreciate the sentiment.

As some of you might know I worked in a poetry music duo, called Lendanear, back in the UK recording four albums in a ten year caeer. I don´t remember any venues giving us a plaque to commemorate our performance. We were give a P45 once or twice, though.

With sometimes as many as four great instrumentaliss on the stage the music delivered tonight was brilliantly but tenderly played. No showmanship, no one-upmanship. Duende, like Jools Holland, conducted all this almost invisibly. He seemed to be a character comfortable working amongst this musical excellence, sure in the knowledge that his writing and performing fit in perfectly.

We had a quick chat with him at the end, buying a copy of what he said is his sixth album, and one his beautifully-designed books of poetry.

We left him one of our Lanzarote Information cards and he promised to get in touch to arrange an interview. So watch this space.

Meanwhile on the way home, in saying how much she had enjoyed the event, my wife Dee likened him to Elvis Presley whereas I though he had reminded me of Buddy Holly. How strange that such rock and roll names should be invoked by a Spanish poet and acoustic instruments. But I guess that, like Elvis, he showed he could lead an orchestra, and of course, Elvis would often deliver a spoken verse within a song, and in that closing ´jam session´ tonight Duende had whipped his musicians along in exactly the way Buddy used to drive the Crickets-

Without a review put out over the weekend by Voz we wouldn´t have had the names of all the players and other supporting information, and yet this had been as good as any concert we had ever seen. And the acoustics of Jameos Del Agua could prove perfect for when he comes back to Lanzarote.

Hot Biscuits features Polish/German influenced saxophone playing from Slawomir Dudar Quartet where we feature his CD, `Inside City.` Also included will be new music from Russ van den Berg, jazz from Valencia., Jorge da Rocha, the Afro Blue Persuasion, Tomos Williams` Borum. Finishing with Jerre Forde’s New Phoenix Jazz Band with Fats Waller  music.

https://www.mixcloud.com/stevebewick/listen-to-the-slawomir-dudar-quartet-with-their-inside-city-cd-on-hot-biscuits/number.

Don´t forget, too, that AJ The DJ, fresh, or more likely depressed, from an interview last week with that Norman Warwick guy who thinks he´s a writer, tonight interviews two of the founder members of Prelude who delivered one of the seminal albums of their era. You can find it  through the facebook page of Monbster fm 99.9 radio live tonight at 5.00 pm on Monday 18^th July, and it will then appear in their archives the following day.

AJ´s programme is called The Perfect Storm, so why not take shelter with your radio and have a listen?

My guest at 5pm on The Perfect Storm with AJ on Monster Radio is the brilliant Singer / songwriter and musician Brian Hume. As a founding member of the band Prelude whose version of ‘ After the Goldrush’ was a huge hit for the band in the seventies, Brian has continued his musical career, playing alongside some of the most iconic artists such as Joan Armatrading and Don McLean. Do tune in and enjoy the chat and the tunes. Monster radio Lanzarote 99.9fm or listen via the radio garden app