{"id":232,"date":"2019-07-28T20:06:11","date_gmt":"2019-07-28T19:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/?p=232"},"modified":"2019-07-30T20:53:27","modified_gmt":"2019-07-30T19:53:27","slug":"cesars-song-will-be-sung-ever-on-100-years-lanzarote-and-manrique-arrecife-week-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/2019\/07\/28\/cesars-song-will-be-sung-ever-on-100-years-lanzarote-and-manrique-arrecife-week-two\/","title":{"rendered":"CESAR’S SONG WILL BE SUNG EVER ON:- 100 Years: Lanzarote And Manrique, Arrecife, week two"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On\nthe afternoon of Sunday 28th<\/sup> April the 100 Years: Lanzarote and\nCeasar began its second week with a change from the rock attitude that had\nclosed the first week. We were introduced, instead, to the stronghold of\ntraditional music of the Canarian folklore, with beautiful sounds crafted by\nthe hands of the timplistas, To\u00f1in Corujo, Alexis Lemes, Jos\u00e9 Vicente P\u00e9rez,\nBenito Cabrera, Domingo “El Colorao” and Juan Carlos “The\nPalm”. The Skills and excellence of this exceptional cast promised an\nevening full of timples and compositions, accompaniments and demonstrations of\nhow that instrument reinvents itself with every generation. This evening, we\nwere promised, would be marked by the variety of tastes, influences and talents\nof these featured musicians. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nconcert ran beyond its promised eighty minute duration by several hours. Nobody\nminded, though, as a stream of artists, many seemingly unscheduled, took to the\nstage in various templates to play timple based music. The Manrique Stage at\nPlaya El Reducto in Arrecife had held some fabulous events in the previous week\nas part of 100 Years: Lanzarote And Ceasar celebrations, but the second week of\nthe series of events began in warm afternoon sunshine on Sunday April 28th\n<\/sup>and didn\u00b4t come to a close until, in the darkness, the chill evening\nwinds must have been numbing the fingers of the musicians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\nwere there for the duration, in the middle of the front row, with two friends\nsharing a picnic. Margaret, I think, was so busy jumping to her feet to applaud\nand shouting \u00b4bravo\u00b4 that I\u00b4m not sure she had anything to eat at all and my wife\nDee was busy taking photographs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And\nthere was much to take snaps of, with not only the musicians on stage but also\na large screen behind them showing live and close up shots of their playing,\nand a fantastic light show in a professional set piece that any major festival\nwould have been proud to carry under its banner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nfirst act on the stage featured Jos\u00e9 Vicente P\u00e9rez Gonz\u00e1lez as a four piece\nline-up of percussion, electric bass guitar, timple and a woodwind instrument,\nproducing a lovely sound of its own. This all produced a tight, funky jazz\narrangement and was a perfect opener for a night that would bring us a whole\narray of different genres and fusion. Some of their pieces involved intricate\npicking on the stringed instruments, and one of the most beautiful of these was\na piece by Argentinian composer Pia Zola, a work Iain said I should surely be\nfamiliar with from Classic FM Radio. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They\nalso gave us a woodwind and timple conversation about a place Somewhere Over\nThe Rainbow that was exquisite, but instead of being blown back to Kansas they\nlanded in the Hotel California. It seemed incredible to hear a line up like\nthis recreate that Eagles track in such a recognisable but unfamiliar way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As\nthey left the arena to a warm ovation these four players, Jose and his band,\nwho must have a name I am not aware of, were replaced by The Benito Cabrero\nQuartet with a new delivery from a percussionist providing occasional vocals,\nthe timple of course, and guitar and bass that combined to create a heavier\nline than we had become used to from the first act. This was a group with a\nFestival \u00b4attitude,\u00b4 quickly sketching light and shade over every number, with\nsudden and surprising changes of pace and instrumentation from  an array of different percussive instruments\nbrought into play. All this was against appropriate back shots depicting the\n\u00b4message\u00b4of the songs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\nis perhaps because of my lack of real knowledge of this kind of music that I\nhear faint echoes from styles I do know more about, but I certainly found here\nsome delightful reminders of the picked instrumentation of Bombay Bicycle Club.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore,\none beautiful number, featuring a lengthy timple solo, put me in mind of a\nwonderful song, Beautiful Dreamer, by Stephen Foster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ninstrumentalists played off each other superbly, and although I have heard\nharmonics played on a guitar, I have never heard them from a timple, but Benito\noccasionally did so as his guitarist picked the melody. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over\na backdrop of beautiful videos of Lanzarote landscape, flora and fauna the\npercussionist then took the lead with irresistible beats and an incredible\nkeening vocal, until things changed again and we were suddenly overtaken by\nrhythms we might associate with music like La Bamba as the audience whooped and\nhollered and clapped along.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\nsaw the quartet cede the stage to a trio as Alexis Lemes brought on two\npartners, one with guitar and the other with an upright bass. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alexis\nhimself was of course playing a timple, albeit it one that seemed on screen to\nhave a slightly wider neck than the instruments I have become familiar with. He\nis one of the islands\u00b4 favourite players and he picked and strummed not only\nwith great dexterity but also with an obvious passion and ear for his music.\nSome of that music, especially when bass led, sounded faintly Cuban to my\nuntrained ears, but despite the skills of Alexis and his partner on bass, the\nguy on Spanish guitar managed to also stand out for reasons other than his\nflamboyant red shirt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\ndelivered, despite being in almost constant conversation with his sound\nengineer, some heartbreakingly beautiful solo spots. His instrument had a\nmicrophone clipped over its top string, and despite whatever fears of his sound\nsystem the player might have had, the audience could hear every note clearly\nand precisely. This was the quietest, gentlest group of the event so far, but\nwas certainly no less passionate than the others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alexis\nseemed to have a sheet of what looked to be rice paper tucked into the shoulder\nof his instrument that might have played a part in creating the sound of an\noccasional jazz shuffle and this, with the bass player sometimes hitting the\nback of his instrument as if it were a drum, lent a slight avant garde sense to\nthe music. I was hearing Somewhere Down The Crazy River by Robbie Robertson of\nThe Band and even those slinky voodoo sounds of Dr. John until the bass player\nreturned to more traditional playing and we were all lifted again by the\nstrength of strings, before the Alexis Lemes Trio exited the stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nfront of an audience still five or six hundred strong, the area at the foot of\nthe stage was suddenly peopled by three or four of what American singer writer,\nthe late John Stewart, would have called the \u00b4loyal friends and front row\ndancers\u00b4 of The Quarter Band, featuring Tonin Corujo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\namazing line up was a tight ensemble concocted from the massive individual\ntalents of each of its members. The saxophone wailed in the sultry, sexual\ntones it is supposed to and there was an incredibly soulful player on a full\nbodied guitar. Neither, by the way, did the timple appear to have a \u00b4sound\nhole\u00b4 in its body.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nwas rock by any other name and superbly hard, pounding rock at that. The rhythm\nand energy was provided by a young man playing the beat box, although \u00b4playing\u00b4\nit is far too simplistic terminology. He stroked, he chocked and he strummed it\nand drummed it as he caressed it and kicked it and each action, whether gentle\nor violent, created a distinctive sound of its own. His hands flew at amazing\npace, his fingers more rapid than those of a shorthand typist or a\nloom-shuttler in the old Lancashire cotton mills of the UK, and we knew he was\ngood. He knew he was good, too, but such was the empathy between all the\nmusicians we had seen so far, he never let his skill or his instrument get in\nthe way of, or overshadow, his colleagues, who each had unique skills of their\nown,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their\nfemale following down below obviously loved them and kept up an almost constant\nbetween song chat with them. It all added to the wonderful atmosphere created\nby The Quarter Band and as they left the stage, we thought surely the evening\u00b4s\nentertainment had come to an end. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not\nonly was the time approaching nine thirty, some two hours and a bit after the\nconcert\u00b4s scheduled conclusion, but also it would surely prove foolhardy to try\nto follow what we had seen. No music could ever be more melodious, or more\ntender, and nor could anything be more powerful or any faster, than that we had\nalready heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those\nfears increased as I saw two men walk on stage who were, let\u00b4s politely say, of\nan older generation than those we had seen. One trod gently with a timple, the\nother slipped on quietly with a tiny Spanish guitar. The timple player, a bit\nof a Leonard Cohen lookalike in his fedora, and his relaxed guitarist began\npicking some of those fantastic tunes we hear played so regularly in Canarian\nfolk lore, with their irresistible enticements to finger click, foot tap and\ndance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\nwas easy to see why the fastest beat box player in the west spoke to me in\nhushed tones when I later asked him their names. He told me how much young\nmusicians look up to these two guys he called \u00a8the fathers of it all.\u00b4 Their\nnames, he told me after the show, were Domingo El Colorao and Juan Carlos, and\nhe added how much he had enjoyed watching them from the wings. His emotions\nmust have been in overdrive then as he, and just about all the musicians who\nhad taken part in tonight\u00b4s concert, returned in the fantastic lighting on the\ndarkened stage, to join Domingo and Juan Carlos in a jam session in which every\nmember challenged and then resigned to a colleague. There was obviously as much\nappreciation between these players as there was admiration for all of them from\nthis huge audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
ALEXIS LEMIS TRIO. TIMPLE ON LEFT<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As\nit all finished in a huge crescendo we could just about make out Cabildo\nPresident Pedro Gines scrambling on stage through the shadows to hug and\ncongratulate each player. He didn\u00b4t take to the microphone to make any great\nclaims but I hope he looked around him with pride. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nshow was full of marvellous players but the audience had been full, too,  of some marvellous spectators, Engaged and\ninvolved, but always respectful, they put their litter in bins, packed up their\nrugs and their picnics and left the place as spotless as they had found it,\neven as workers were stacking away chairs and guiding people off the beach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\nthe time we drove out of the underground car park the roads were all re-opened\nand we were home in Playa Blanca in time for Match of the Day. The concert had\nbeen incredible and I knew already my sporting day had been pretty successful\ntoo. Yaiza had won earlier to perhaps stave off relegation and Lanzarote had\nwon to move towards the promotion play offs. All I needed now was to learn that\nManchester United had beaten Chelsea. Ah well,\u2026..you can\u00b4t have everything !<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the afternoon of Sunday 28th April the 100 Years: Lanzarote and Ceasar began its second week with a change from the rock attitude that had closed the first week. We were introduced, instead, to the stronghold of traditional music of the Canarian folklore, with beautiful sounds crafted by the hands of the timplistas, To\u00f1in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[48],"class_list":["post-232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-timple-manrique-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}