MUSIC AND FAMILY

Hi you all! Before getting into this post, I feel it's time for you to meet my family. This picture was taken 2 years ago, when we traveled to Germany. What makes this picture good is that there is a special guest, and that is KV! I', with my dad Carrlos, my mom Inma, my sister Lucía and my grandmother Conchi.

I used my dad's help to get this post done(he likes to talk). Since there was a lot of information given by my dad, the way I am going to do this is classifying the questions into 4 series of questions that are related and grab all the answers and make them into one, that way you can follow easier.

1. How would you define music?

As our beloved uncle José María says every time we see him and ask him questions about his prodigious memory (he is now 95 years old), music is the art of combining sounds and time, and I find that very clear and precise. 

2. Have you been a musician? What instrument did you play? Do you still play it? What is a song

you have dreamed of playing?

I studied elementary level at the conservatory in Albacete, with guitar as my instrument, where I was able to learn about works by great Spanish composers such as Sor, Tárrega, Albéniz, Barrios, and the maestro Rodrigo, for example.

I mainly played on my own for pleasure, but I also played with a small group of friends in churches for weddings, for example, and then in high school I also joined a tuna/rondalla that was created there, and all of this allowed me to earn some good money for a few treats. With the tuna I also learned many

Boleros, which is a very romantic style of music.

Another time, I was able to replace a bassist in a local pop/rock band that some friends had for a concert, where they called me to see if I could fill in for him. Unfortunately, the band didn't last long, but it was great fun and we had a great time at rehearsals. One of the band members did make a lot of progress with an indie band that became quite famous and a reference for other bands later on, Surfin' Bichos.

Also, after finishing the school year very well, I asked my parents for a small electronic organ, which made me very happy. Unfortunately, at university and later in the working world, I was hardly able to practice any instrument at all, although I have an electric guitar that was given to me a few Christmas ago that I hope to play again soon. 

Some songs I wish I could have played at some point are, for example, “Stairway to Heaven” or “Ramble On” by Led Zeppelin, or “Sultans of Swing” by Dire Straits, or “Won't Get Fooled Again” by The Who, or “Comfortably Numb” by Pink Floyd, or "Purple Haze,“ ”The Wind Cries Mary,“ or ”All Along the Watchtower" by Jimi Hendrix, or... really, many others. A few by Paul Simon, for example, as well as others by The Smiths, ACDC, REM, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Hall & Oates, etc.

Other styles that I've always liked a lot are: of course, the classics for Spanish guitar, such as “Recuerdos de la Alhambra,” “Lágrima,” “Capricho Arabe,” “Concierto de Aranjuez,” “Asturias(leyenda)” etc.

I also really like flamenco guitar with greats like Paco de Lucía (“Bulerías,” “Entre Dos Aguas”) or Vicente Amigo (“Tres Notas para decir Te Quiero,” "La Tarde es Caramelo“ or ”Roma," which my mom likes so much). And French jazz-flamenco, “Manouche” style, with Django Reinhardt, Stochelo Rosenberg, etc. And I also really like the Bossa Nova rhythm for guitar (“Garota de Ipanema,” “Aguas de Março,” “Wave,” or “Voce e Eu” with Joao Gilberto, which you(Manuel) and I used to whistle). 

3. What bands do you remember being very popular in your day? And what are some songs you've listened to in your life? When you were a child, when you were a teenager, when you were older, and now.

I think the best thing about my era is that many different styles emerged with great bands that made me like many things that were seemingly very different. It was all about coming out of a dictatorship that was very closed to the outside world and moving towards total openness to the world with democracy, which coincided with my childhood.

From jazz and blues to pop, rock, heavy rock, symphonic rock, indie, punk, rockabilly, mod, grunge, ska, electronic music, flamenco fusion... with good bands representing each of them, which I mentioned earlier.

An important movement of musical openness in Spain when I was a child was what was called “La Movida Madrileña,” which later spread to many regions, as did great protest singer-songwriters such as Joan Manuel Serrat and his immortal song “Mediterráneo.”

Notable Spanish bands included Duncan Dhu, La Unión, Loquillo y los Trogloditas, Ketama, Alaska y los Pegamoides, Mecano, Tequila, Leño, Siniestro Total, Triana, Barón Rojo, Obús, Medina Azahara, Los Ronaldos, etc. 

Now I still listen to all that, along with a lot of classical music and opera. There are songs and arias that literally move me deeply. Just yesterday I put on the TV the aria of Mimí from the opera La Boheme, where she describes her happy and humble life but where she lives in very harsh conditions in a sad and very cold attic. But when spring arrives and the thaw sets in, she says she is lucky to see the first rays of

sunshine before anyone else, that the sun is hers, and that moment in the aria always gives me goosebumps:

"Ma quando vien lo sgelo

Il primo sole è mio

Il primo bacio dell'aprile è mio!"

(But when the thaw comes

The first sun is mine

The first kiss of April is mine!)

4. What is your favorite musical memory? And what is your oldest musical memory that you can recall?

Well, many. Music has accompanied me throughout my life and during many key personal moments. I have also been fortunate enough to have seen many concerts and personally met phenomenal artists, such as the great Narciso Yepes on guitar and Joaquín Achúcarro on piano, who, at over 90 years of age, still gives concerts and is very involved in helping young performers through his foundation in

Dallas.

But what I remember most fondly is seeing my children Lucía and Manuel on stage, which fortunately has been many times, and I still enjoy it very much because he continues to make great progress and it makes me very proud to see him from time to time in the recordings at Converse University. I'm always

asking him to get me the recordings of everything he does there!

My earliest memory is probably of my mother, who sang a lot at home and had a really good voice, or of my father, who played the saxophone and had a band with good friends where he played at village festivals. Listening to my mother many times, I learned many fabulous Spanish songs, such as "Ay pena, penita, pena!“, ”Suspiros de España,“ ”La bien pagá,“ ”Ojos verdes,"... 

And that was all, I hope you had fun with my dad. See you next time!