Live Flamenco in an Andalusian Garden




The breadth of the beauty and the richness of the culture that I experienced in Andalusia is overwhelming. I took 732 photos on my DSLR, 200 on my point and shoot camera and 100 on my phone. It was hard to decide what to share first so I thought about the essence of Spanish culture. I observed a great respect and value for family, food and music. So I decided on one of my most memorable experiences, listening to live flamenco in the garden patio of Alcadima Hotel, in Lanjaron. It's a family run hotel that sits surrounded by the Sierra Nevada Mountains, in the Alpujarra region. We were treated to a nine course dinner prepared by the owner himself and served by his son.The lush gardens that encircled the patio are tended by his grandmother. He invited a local flamenco guitarist who was accompanied by his mother, who danced the stomping rhythms along with his playing. If you can imagine the heady sensations of a striking landscape, rich food, warm hospitality and hypnotic music all at once, then that was what Andalusia was like. Please watch my video and you can get a glimpse of this trans formative experience.

Comments

Andrew said…
That little taste of flamenco is so exciting, Rosalind. Looking forward to more on this trip.
May 23, 2014 at 9:58 PM
gandt said…
This is wonderful. I have a house near Granada at the base of the Sierra Nevada and am very keen to see the rest of this report
May 24, 2014 at 12:42 AM
Fly Girl said…
Andrew, thanks so much. There's loads more to come!

Gandt,that's so exciting! The region is incredible. I'll have lots more posts about my experiences. Thanks for dropping by.
May 24, 2014 at 5:43 AM
A Cuban In London said…
What can I say? You know what my comment will be. Flamenco, wow. One thing, though. As I have found out to my cost not ALL Spaniards agree to flamenco being the "essence" of Spanish culture. Go to the north (west), Galicia and you will be given short shrift for it, north (east), Basque country and they have their own very idiosyncratic culture. Barcelona is a world of its own. Still, I love flamenco. Like Gandt, I have stayed in the Sierra Nevada, in the Alpujarra mountains and the scenery is breath-taking.

Greetings from London.
May 26, 2014 at 10:46 AM
Fly Girl said…
Cubano, Oh I know all about the perspectives and classifications of flamenco in Spanish culture. I dipped into it a little bit when I was there but you know there are other racial and cultural issues that also factor in. I will be doing another post on flamenco dance where I'll venture a little into the cultural significance, which I'm sure you'll appreciate.
May 26, 2014 at 11:37 AM
TexWisGirl said…
how awesome for you!
May 27, 2014 at 1:44 PM
Fly Girl said…
Tex, it was awesome indeed.
May 27, 2014 at 7:49 PM
A Cuban In London said…
Indeed, there are racial and cultures elements of which one has to be careful. I am already looking forward to your post. I must admit that living here in the UK whenever I travel to Spain it's still a shock to hear some of the expressions they have and use. Same as in Cuba, really. When it comes to flamenco, the word "gitano" (Gypsy) still has a negative connotation despite the fact that Gypsy music and culture has been one of Spain's main exports for decades. Go figure! :-)

Greetings from London.
May 29, 2014 at 1:54 AM
Fly Girl said…
Cubano, you know, the Spaniards were curious colonizers and the legacy is clear throughout all Latino culture. I actually had a discussion about the gypsy term,which actually stems from Egyptian and is indeed uses with negative connotations. I was told that Roma was the preferred term by musicians I interviewed in the U.S. but I only heard gypsy in Spain.
May 29, 2014 at 6:52 AM
HereBeDragons said…
I'm envious. That looks amazing.
May 29, 2014 at 4:26 PM
Fly Girl said…
Dragon, no need to be envious, I'll take you along! Thanks for visiting again.
May 29, 2014 at 8:29 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Puerto Rico's Taino Culture

Image
The original inhabitants of the Caribbean region of North America were the Arawak, Taino and Carib  native peoples.  The Tainos are a subgroup of the Arawaks and are recognized as the founders of the island of Boriken or Puerto Rico.  These were the people who offered a peaceful welcome to Columbus in 1493.  They didn't know the cruelty and violence that would follow his so-called "discovery" of the land that they had cultivated for centuries. Despite official government pronouncements that the Taino have been killed off by the massacres and slavery that followed in Columbus' wake, they live on.  As demonstrated in the photo above by  members of  the Puerto Rico Folklorico Dance & Culture Cultural Cente r, Taino traditions, food and names remain strong. Throughout Puerto Rico, town names like Mayaquez, Utuado and Caquas echo the Taino language as do the musical instrument maracas and hamaca or hammock. Legends of Taino warriors, like Hatuey, who organized the ba
Read more

Traveling Through A Liberian Childhood

Image
I like to explore the world with books as much as I like to actually travel. A well-written narrative can transport you to places that you'd never experience with just superficial details like photos and descriptions. I've been interviewing writers about the criteria they use to select books for Summer reading and it made me think about my own general reading criteria. As a journalist, I'm really drawn to biographies, autobiographies and memoirs more than fiction. There's something about using the facts to entice readers into your world that gets me. It's no coincidence that some of my favorite writers--Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Zora Neale Hurston, Hemingway, started out as journalists. So when I glimpsed The House at Sugar Beach , at my local bookstore and saw it was a memoir written by a journalist, it was pretty much a done deal that I would buy it. Now it wasn't only that the author Helene Cooper was a journalist, it was that she was a Liberian journalist chro
Read more

Switzerland's Fete Des Vignerons

Image
                                               Once every generation, the centuries-old viticultural festival, Fete des Vignerons, unfolds in Vevey, Switzerland. Watching this spectacle of music, dancing, wine and fanciful costumes, felt like I had been transported to something out of a Dr. Seuss story. With a law that prohibits the fest from taking place more than five times in a century, I felt incredibly lucky to witness this celebration of Swiss wine traditions dating back to the 17th century.  Some of the fetes 5,500 performers in costumes strolled the narrow streets of Vevey after a show that featured fairies, bees, royal courts, playing cards and 17th-century wine growers. The performance was in French but the drama transcended language barriers. It's a difficult experience to describe but if I had to sum it up, I would explain it as the magic of Cirque Du Soleil combined with the pageantry of the Olympics, topped with the history of folk celebrations.  Take a peek at my v
Read more