FEMALE VOICES

The voice of a music band is an essential part of the group giving a unique personality to it. Although I am always been aware that the voice is just one instrument more of the band, it is the only one which carries words with it. The voice of a band gives a message to the public and uses their own tone and unique style.

I have been listening to male voices bands for many years; great bands with really talented lead singer or songwriters.  But not long ago I started to listen female voices bands a lot, I think it was after I discovered Amy Winehouse who for me was not only a great musician, she brought back quality music from the past like for example soul. She left the door opens for many others new artists. It seems that female voices have resurrected on music and I seriously cannot stop listening to them.

Here I left a list of some of them, just great!

IMELDA MAY: pure rockabilly

https://imeldamay.co.uk/

THE EXCITEMENTS: 

This guys are form Barcelona, they sound soooo good!

VALERIE JUNE:  my lastest discovery

THE SWEET VANDALS: a bit of funky

ALABAMA SHAKES: powerful!

CHEAP CINEMA

Having a look to the long queues of “The festival of The cinema” gave me hope. People still wants to enjoy movies at the cinema. The tickets were only 2.90 Euros which explains that is all about money, not lack of enjoying art. Maybe if the distribution companies have thought about this earlier not so many cinemas would have been closed all around Spain.

There are books at different prices, DVDs, theatre tickets and many other things... so why all cinema tickets have the same price? Of course if you are going on a Wednesday morning it will be cheaper than Saturday night. But why movies with different budgets cost the same for us? Going to see The Hobbit costs the same money that going to see Amour, for example; when the budget of the super production is always going to be higher than a small movie. And I will bet anything than increasing the tickets two or three pounds/euros for The Hobbit will not change much the benefits they will gain; on the other hand, small films will notice a big difference if they are a bit cheaper. I am talking about to give people(audience) and small movies options and opportunities.

Some people would think that if you are going to see a cheap movie means is bad; but here comes one of the main problems about values nowadays: quality is measured on quantity. In my opinion it should not be like that, at least with cinema. Not because it costs more would be better!

BOXING

For some strange reason in life, I was able to see a boxing competition live. To tell you the truth I did not enjoy anything of it but a short film they play to present the boxers. The movie was really well done; the editing, light and soundtrack were just great. Make me wonder why this violent sport looks so good on the screen.

I have always enjoyed most of the movies about boxing; aesthetically speaking they are just amazing. The scenes of fights have always been strongly visual and beautifully shot. In addition, most of their main character's personality and life goes perfectly with the way they earn their living. 
Here I leave you with some examples of the most recommendable and famous films about boxing:

Finally just to say I strongly recommend you to go to see boxing in cinemas; in my opinion it is far more enjoyable experience than seeing it live.

MAN RAY

Man Ray was one of those American artists who move to Paris in the early twenties to find inspiration and different ways of expression. Shortly he became part of the Dada movement where the surrealism and modernism was merged with photography.

He is well known for his portraits of many artists like Gertrude Stein, Picasso or Breton. He also took photographies of his lovers, muses and wives; he loved the shape of women’s body. Kiki de Montparnasse or Lee Miller were some of his models.

If you live in Edinburgh and want to see his photography, you still have time. The exhibition ends next week, so hurry up. If you are going, pay attention to his portraits their models never smile but their eyes mean worth a thousand words.

http://www.nationalgalleries.org/visit/floorplans-303/exhibitions/man-ray-portraits

MISTER MICHAEL HANEKE

For those who do not know him, it is a pleasure to introduce you to Mister Michael Haneke, an Austrian filmmaker.

First of all I must say that Michael Haneke’s movies are not made for all public. If you are used to easy films or you just want to be entertained by a happy story, do not dare to watch his films. His stories are beyond all this; full of violence, fear and psychological issues of the actual society.

He uses a style which is far away from Hollywood and commercial movies. He wants the audience to think, to reason about a particular matter; and the best of all he does not give you any solutions or answers, it is up to you to figure it out.

His movies are based on disturbing situations which among all are based on us, on how humans behave and on where is the limit of this behaviour. He does not even offer you the possibility to identify with characters; the opposite, he wants you to see it from outside like a proper audience.

Recently I have discovered a Greek director who reminds me a lot of Haneke’s styles: Yorgos Lanthimos. If by any chance you love Michael Haneke’s style, you will definitely enjoy Dogtooth.

GREECE

It is such a good feeling to discover a new country; its people, traditions and food.

This time has been Greece ( Santorini  & Athens- to be more precise) and the experience has been just amazing. I strongly recommend you to go there, probably May is a good month as the places are not too crowded and the temperature is perfect!

Santorini is a small island on white and blue where each corner has its charming. Santorini’s beaches are all completely different from each other: the red , the white, the volcanic and many more.

I did not spend much time in Athens, but my first impressions were that the Capital of the old Greece is full of life and art!

Greek people are extremely friendly, open and kind and, I insist the food is really good, fresh  and tasty.

I just can say Ζήτω η Ελλάδα! (Long Live Greece)

DALI

A Dali exhibition is open in Madrid from 27th April to 2nd September at the National Museum of Art Reina Sofia. This retrospective is the biggest released of Dali since 1983 at his native country.
This slim man with eyes full of craziness and an emblematic moustache who loved the surrealism and symbolism is one of most complex and talented artists of the history.

Dali is this kind of artist who could never go unnoticed that is the reason for the long queues every day at the museum. I hate queues myself but at this very moment I wish I could live in Madrid and be able to queue just for the fact of seeing his art.

Dali’s art explores the dark side of humans being even if his paintings are full of special lightS and tones of colours. The critics say his work is full of people’s fears, desires, frustrations and secret sins. 

OLD SOUNDS

Not long ago I was on a train when I took the last picture with my old SLR camera. Automatically the film started to rewind – an action that takes up to ten seconds and gives this specific sound recognized by many of my generation. There were a young girl and her grandfather in front of me; she looked at my camera with a surprise gesture on her face. I looked at her thinking than probably this was the first time she heard that sound and I wondered what was she thinking: what is that noise for?  Is the camera broken? She kept staring at my camera waiting for the sound to finish. Then I opened the camera and removed the film roll. Without knowing it, I gave to that little girl a small lecture of photography history and a bit of a technical knowledge.

The reaction of this little girl to a new sound (or noise), make me wonder how many sounds have disappeared from our lives, some of them have just vanished and we cannot even remember. 

This is the last picture I took from that train with my SLR camera.

Curiously, this image brings back another sound from older generations of mine, the magnificent noise of a steam train-probably that sounds brought the grandfather‘s girl a good bunch of memories!

SEARCHING FOR LOST TALENT

Watching Searching for Sugar Man make me realise once more that truth is stranger than fiction. The winner for Best Documentary at the Oscars 2013 explains an incredible story about recognition, life and music.

This realistic tale about the search for the talented and enigmatic character called Rodriguez reminded me a bit of the also mysterious voices of the couple’s personal song of Blue Valentin ( I have always recommended this movie to everyone)

Even if the song itself is amazing what really made it more interesting is the story behind it. ‘You and me’ was originally recorded by Penny and the Quarters in the 1970s. It was released on a compilation album which was unnoticed by the public. The members of the band were unknown; their names were not appearing anywhere, even when the movie was released and became a hit.

Finally, a year after the movie was out the daughter of the singer recognized her mum’s voice:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/jul/18/blue-valentine-mystery-singer-revealed

Four decades after this woman and her brothers created a beautiful song, she discovers that their voices are part of a new generation who sing out and loud a hymn about love ‘You and me’ 

AWARD!!

Uoohh!! Faranadulas got an award! 

I am so happy :) First of all I must say thanks  to Pinkiss!!

Winning an award requires somethings to be done:

1.Name and thanks the blog which gave you the award: thanks again PINKISS

2.Answer 11 questions

3.Give the award to 11 blogs with less than 200 followers.

4.Write 11 new questions for the awarded blog

5.Inform to the awarded blogs with a message

6. Visit the awarded blogs

7. Cannot award the same blog which gave you the award.

And now answering PINKISS questions:

-Why did you create a blog? Because I want to share my experiences with the world!

-Favourite colour: yellow

-Hobbies? drawing, reading, writing and mainly cinema

-Do you have a pet? Yes, monkey 

-Favourite place: the sea

-Somewhere you would like to travel for first time? New Zealand

-The people around me needs to... smile

-I cannot live without...music

-Favourite food...any seafood

-One person you admire...charles chaplin...jonh lennon...gandhi

-My biggest dream...travel around the world

My awards goes to:

http://relatoscortoshelenitaelizabeth.blogspot.co.uk/

http://mcbrinepainting.blogspot.co.uk/

http://cineireland.blogspot.co.uk/

http://mondo-cine.blogspot.co.uk/

http://mac-arte.blogspot.co.uk/

http://artestyling.blogspot.co.uk/

http://sewrecycled.blogspot.co.uk/

http://bloodmilkjewelry.blogspot.co.uk/

http://artjewelryelements.blogspot.co.uk/

http://caminantcaminant.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/grup-els-crancs.html

http://nuriavaque.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/reportatge-sobre-les-mongetes.html

Finally my 11 questions for the winners:

1.Favourite film:

2.First thing you do in the morning:

3.I will have dinner with...

4.Favourite song:

5.Somewhere you would like to travel:

6.Favourite book:

7.The people around me needs to

8.Favourite food:

9. I cannot live without

10.What would you take to a desert island?

11. Why did you create a blog?

THANKS, MERCI, GRACIAS!!

CLASSICAL CONCERTS

If you have never been in a classical concert and you love music, I strongly recommend you to do it one day. Even if you are not a big fan of classical music, the unique experience of watching a full orchestra performing is just brilliant! I enjoy seeing every instrument playing its part in such a big group of sounds -it really changes the perspective of music- and the conductor who guides every musician by his arms and movements in order to perform a perfect harmony.

I have chosen my top three classical pieces which I have enjoyed the most seeing them in live:

-Carmina Burana by Carl Off.

-Bolero by Ravel.

-Four Season: Spring by Vivaldi.

I feel really lucky because I can enjoy classical concerts every now and then, and since my first one I thought that a classical concert is one of the most beautiful experiences in life. Enjoy!

MYSTERIOUS ARTIST

Once upon a time in Edinburgh there was a mysterious artist who loves literature. This artist created pieces of art by carving from paper and constructing amazing sculptures with the leaves of books. This anonymous artist left different pieces of his/her work in various museums and libraries around Edinburgh. The artist always left a tag with a message defending literature:

“We know that a library is so much more than a building full of books… a book is so much more than pages full of words.… This is for you in support of libraries, books, words, ideas…”

I believe that many artists do not want to be famous but art is a strange term that needs to be exposed and seen by others, what is art without recognition? Of course there are many real artists who will live and die without being known by anyone, and of course it is still art. But in my opinion art must be shared and expose, then people like me can enjoy and admire their skills and creations.

This particular mysterious artist living in Scotland has demonstrated that you could attract audience and have a full city expecting your new creation without the need of showing up.

BEBO & CIGALA

Bebo Valdes -an octogenarian Cuban piano master- and Diego El Cigala -a Spanish flamenco cantador- collaborated  with Fernando Trueba -a Spanish film director- to release Lagrimas Negras(2002).

What a beautiful feeling is seeing two styles of art blending together! These two artists joined their talents in order to create a beautiful piece of music; nine tracks worthy to listen from the beginning to the end in one go. I enjoy very much when two different worlds are combined in a perfect way. I agree that most of the times the beauty is inside the mixture even if the purity of things is the most fascinating fact ever.

SNOW WHITE

The nominations for the Oscar 2013 are out!! I found some satisfying surprises as the nominations for Tarantino‘s and Haneke's movies, Adele's song or Robert de Niro; and other not quite good for example the fact that the Spanish movie Blancanieves did not have a nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.

I have not had the pleasure to see the abstract version of the famous story by Pablo Berger, but just seeing the trailer and reading the reviews I cannot wait to see it in a big screen.

There had been three movies based on the German fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm in 2012: Mirror Mirror, Snow White and the Huntsman and Blancanieves; each of them with a different style. I have a special feeling with the Disney version of Snow White mainly because it was my first VHS tape I purchased and I remember watching it loads of times.

To end this post just to mention that the nominations for the Spanish film awards called Goyas are also out and Blancanieves has 18 nominations. I imagine it will win more than one but to tell you the truth the simple fact of doing a silent movie in the 21^st century (like The Artist) deserves more than just awards. 

THE FIRST FILM OF THE YEAR

I have started 2013 with good energy, loads of positive thoughts and watching High Noon. Rarely this classic western with Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly has been my first movie of the year. Although I like watching good classics and some of my favourite movies are westerns, I do not consider myself a huge fan of the genre. One thing is for sure, any film lovers must have seen at least those westerns:  Wild Bunch - Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - Once upon at the time in west – Unforgiven (and probably many others I cannot remember right now)

High Noon is a black and white movie filmed on real time which gives a special touch to the picture. The audience goes with the characters one hour and thirty minutes before noon and from the first shoot you get hooked on the story of revenge, past and present.