Pachumba Reggae Band, Tenerife – playing in Las Galletas as part of the free Diversity Multicultural Festival. They were the highlight of the night and if you get the chance to catch them – GO!
The vid is a bit buzzy which is a shame but you’ll get the idea of what a cool concert this was – and all for FREE.
Heavens above! I’ve never seen Gaga so excited. She’s gone bananas over this Rod Stewart concert and quite frankly I think I’ll be sitting as far away from her as I can get just in case she decides to do a Tom Jones and throw her knickers on the stage.
There’s a lot of buzz about free tickets and promotions so if you are interested in getting your sticky mitts on some here’s the deal:
Número 1 Stores : get a free ticket to the Rod Stewart concert on May 16th 2009 when purchasing more than 150€ in any of the Número 1 stores.
Adrian Hoteles: Book your 2 or more nights stay in Adrian Hoteles and get a free ticket per person
Dreamplace: Get 2 free general tickets when booking any of there Dreamplace Hotels:
Dream Gran Tacande 5*, 2 nights or more.
Dream Noelia Sur 4*, 7 nights or more.
Dream Villa Tagoro 4*, 7 nights or more.
Jardin Tropical: Book your 7 night stay in Hotel Jardín Tropical and get a free ticket per person
Paradise Park: Book your one week-stay in the Hotel Paradise Park and you get a free ticket per person
Spring Hoteles: Book a one week in one of the Spring Hotels and you get a free ticket per person
Raffle of 50 tickets
Register at the Canary Festival website to get information about concerts organized by Canarias Live Sun Festival, and you participate automatically in the raffle of 50 tickets for the Rod Stewart Concert.
For more information on the concert you can also vist the official event website at Rod Stewart Tenerife.
Despite being a hard-working travel writer and co-author of both Real Tenerife Island Drives and Going Native in Tenerife
From musing about the general uselessness of cats to a helpful guide on how to read between the rules in Tenerife, Jack shares his slightly mad outlook on life in the north of Tenerife. Seeing as I know nada about living in the north of Tenerife, Jack kindly agreed to donate one of his ponderings about the laid back lifestyle in Puerto de la Cruz.
Puerto de la Cruz – Cool, but not Cold
Sometimes I wonder why I live in Puerto de la Cruz. It’s cloudy all the time and its streets are populated by geriatrics who think of the town as an ideal holiday location because life here is so sedate and quiet. Well that’s what I keep reading on travel watchdog sites; usually written by someone who knows Puerto as well as I know the inside of the local bingo hall (I’ve never been but my neighbour, Jesús, insists it’s popular with young Canarios).
I pondered this on Saturday night as Andy and I were sitting on the harbour wall opposite the old custom house listening to an enthusiastic young band, clearly influenced by Radiohead and the Kings of Leon, giving it all they were worth at the last gig of the Canaries Alternative Music Festival.
We were surrounded by a mix of mainly trendy young Canarios and a handful of neo hippies. It was pretty much a crowd of the same ilk which had filled the streets at the street art festival a couple of weeks previously and the ‘Battle of the Bands’ in Plaza Charco a couple of weeks before that.
I absently scratched at some minor sunburn on my stomach; a result of a rare excursion to the beach last week and the effects of a fierce sun zapping my abdomen with its 27 degree strength rays.
Cloudy and sedate…hmmm.
As I kind of shuffled on the spot, more or less in time with the music, a girl tapped my arm.
“¿Como se llama?”
“No se,” I shrugged my shoulders, but her quizzical expression at my answer had me doubting myself. Maybe she wasn’t asking the group’s name, maybe she was asking mine. I thought I’d better clarify.
“¿El nombre del grupo?” I asked her.
“Si, claro,” she confirmed.
“No se,” I replied again. This time there was no mistaking her expression; it said ‘well why did you speak to me again, you already told me you didn’t know their name.’
The reason I mention this discourse is because it dawned on me immediately afterwards that all the fiestas and concerts which take place in Puerto aren’t put on for the benefit of the tourists; they’re staged for the benefit of the locals. On a Saturday, or any other night for that matter, many British visitors tend to head to a British bar where they can enjoy the company of people they understand.
The only thing is that the British bars are not where it’s happening in Puerto. Ergo, stick to them and the impression you get of Puerto is one of relatively quiet bars filled with a mature clientele.
The garage group were replaced by a modern punk band who, as far as I could see, just sang the same song over and over again (god, how old does that sound) and seemed to have an obsession with shouting ‘REDCAR’ every few seconds (well that’s what it sounded like to me). Still it was good fun and everybody was enjoying themselves. I leant against a post to watch the rest of the performance and passively breathed in a lungful of air that was thick with the unmistakeable scent of illicit substances. Sedate Puerto? Aaah…that’s what they meant.
In The Easy Listening Method of Learning Spanish I was joking when I said it was a truly effective and lazy way to learn Spanish. Of course listening to Spanish music is not going to teach you much of the language if that is all you do to learn it. But as a support to your Spanish studies, listening to Spanish music and conversation is a way to apply what you have learned.
Watching Spanish news and sitcoms need a commitment of time unless the tv is just on in the background and you are not concentrating on it. I prefer listening to Spanish radio stations. I like Los 40 Principales because there is a Spanish and International mix of music and you’ll be hearing the same music in every cafe in the town. The dj speaks perhaps a little faster than you would hear in normal conversation but it is good comprehension practice.
So click on to Los 40 Principales and give it a bash. Like singer Conchita, you have ‘Nada Que Perder’ and you will soon be singing your heart out like talented Esther, the star of the video below.
Nunca se me dió demasiado bien poner las cartas sobre la mesa,
nunca se me dió demasiado bien
Y ahora nos volvemos a encontrar y me preguntas que tal me va
Quisiera ser capaz, decirte la verdad,
decirte que me va realmente mal,
no te logré olvidar, ni lo intente quizás
Quisiera ser capaz mirarte y no temblar,
decirte que aun nadie me volvió a besar,
no te logré olvidar, ni lo intente quizás.
Y en lugar de eso, sonrio y tiemblo,
y te cuento que ya acabe la facultad,
me puse a trabajar y, me volvi a enamorar
Y en lugar de eso, sonrio y pienso
porque no seré capaz de decir la verdad.
Te pierdo una vez mas
Quisiera ser capaz, decirte la verdad,
decirte que me va realmente mal,
no te logré olvidar, ni lo intente quizá
Quisiera ser capaz mirarte y no temblar,
decirte que aun nadie me volvió a besar,
no te logré olvidar, ni lo intente quizás.
Y ahora me quedan dos opciones,
quedarme quieta o echar a correr,
y me pongo a correr ¿ya que puedo perder?
verás es que no me va demasiado bien,
no te logré olvidar, ni lo intente quizá
y me pongo a correr ¿ya que puedo perder?
verás es que ya nadie me volvió a besar,
no te logré olvidar, ni lo intenté quizá
Y ahora ya te toca a ti acabar con esta historia
ahora ya te toca a ti decir las cosas,
pon un punto y final o besame sin mas.
Y ahora ya te toca a ti, ya no vale callar,
esta vez no volveré a perderte una vez mas,
no me voy a marchar sin saber el final
Nunca se me dió demasiado bien poner las cartas sobre la mesa,
nunca se me dió, no, demasiado bien.
Y ahora nos volvemos a encontrar y me preguntas, que, que que tal me va,
y yo ya no se, ya no se ni que contestar
Mago de Oz are the Celtic metal band responsible for the Costa Del Silencio song that had half the world turning up on Tenerife Tattle’s doorstep a while back. Wondering why all these lost souls landed on the blog from search engines using ‘Costa Del Silencio’ a search phrase that would bring them to information and articles and yet seemed to leave almost immediately afterwards, I found that in fact they were searching for the Mago de Oz song.
As part of their El Leyenda de la Mancha tour the band will be playing Tenerife (at Plaza Maritim in Santa Cruz and not in Costa Del Silencio sadly) on 23rd, Lanzarote on the 24th and Gran Canaria on the 25th of April.
The last release the band made is called ‘Ciudad de los Árboles’ which is intriguingly described as “.. un disco lleno de armonías ninfómanas…”. I can’t quite get my head round that one but nymphomaniacal or not, the music is brilliant.
If you are not familiar with the band or with Celtic metal for that matter, you can click on the Amazon wotsit below and see if the music tweaks your fiddle strings. The concert starts at 22:00, seats cost €18 and you can book tickets at General Tickets though you’ll have to search for the event once you get there because they make it stupidly difficult to link direct to particular events. (Or maybe it is difficult because I am stupid? No se. )
Imagine honey dripping down a cheese grater and you get a visual impression of the voice of Franco de Vita. The man can cause goosebumps in a hot bath.
See him in person on Saturday 7th February at the Pabellon Ins. Tenerife “Santiago Martin”. Tickets are €22.
Karma has a lovely way of coming back to bite your bum. Given that I basically stole my husband’s iPod Shuffle after he was given it for his birthday I should not have been surprised to receive a special gift that I was fated not to use.
And so when my lovely friend and neighbour dropped by with four tickets to the Carmen Mota production AIRAM in the Piramide de Arona, they were for a night when I just wasn’t able to go.
Dutiful daughter as I am (or sook-ma-toorie depending on your POV) I passed the tickets along to my Mum so she could go along with a posse of her cronies. This is what she had to say about the evening…
What an experience! The first half of AIRAM is a flamenco spectacular. The costumes were out of this world and quick changes like you wouldn’t believe. The dances were thrilling with the thunderous clacking of heels and dramatic flourishes keeping the audiences attention glued to the stage.
During the interval Eddie, who had initially been an unenthusiastic member of our little group, admitted that his feet were sore from all the tapping he was doing in time to the music. Sheila, his wife chimed in that her hands were sore with all the clapping. Veronica and I were equally impressed with the dazzling show and agreed that at times you could practically feel the vibration of the clacking heels in your breast bone.
The second half of AIRAM was a story told in music and dance; Carmen Mota’s interpretation of the Broadway show Victor/Victoria. There was so much emotion poured into the songs that at times I had a lump in my throat and when they rang the final curtain down I was left both thrilled and drained.
We all had a marvellous evening and I would highly recommend both AIRAM and any Carmen Mota production to anyone visiting or living in Tenerife who is looking for a spectacular night out.
Though I have not yet made it to this production I did see last year’s Essence de Amor and it was spectacular. I absolutely agree with Gaga and add my whole hearted recommendation to anyone who is wondering if they should include a Carmen Mota show in their Tenerife itinerary.
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