Paco de Lucia, greatest flamenco guitarist of our times, dies

Paco de Lucia died last night whilst on holidays with his family in Mexico. He was 66. Together with the great vocalist Camarón de la Isla, Paco is -was- considered to be the leading light of flamenco, and the reason it firmly took its place on the world stage alongside Jazz or bossa nova. Born in Algeciras (Cádiz) on the 21st of December 1947, Paco has won every major international music award going (even a Continue reading Paco de Lucia, greatest flamenco guitarist of our times, dies

Guitar museum opens in Almeria

A major new guitar museum, the “Antonio de Torres”, has opened in Almeria city. This despite the fact that we don’t make guitars, don’t really play them, and have no tradition of flamenco in this area. Anyway, it seems that the famed guitar maker “Antonio de Torres” (1817-1892) was originally from Almeria.  His Wikipedia entry says that “Torres is as revered among guitarists as Antonio Stradivari is revered among violinists.” Can’t say I’d ever heard Continue reading Guitar museum opens in Almeria

A letter arrives from Mr Zapatero…

Oh, it’s a form letter. Thought he’d finally seen sense and called upon me to help him through the next economic crisis. Something about an election. Is there an election soon? It’s in English, which is nice, and on about ole “strong chin” himself, Juan Fernando López Aguilar, the PSOE socialist candidate to the European Parliament, a man whose chin puts Arnie himself in the shade. As spotted by the PSOE website designer who did Continue reading A letter arrives from Mr Zapatero…