Members Notes_Norton Posted September 20, 2013 Members Share Posted September 20, 2013 Leilani and I took an 18 day vacation in Spain. From Barcelona to Madrid to Toledo to Cordoba to Granada to Terife (and a day/night in Tangier Morocco) to Ronda to Jerez to Sevilla back to Madrid and home again. Other than a small car rental between two cities (to drive through a National Park), we took public transportation (trains and busses) and we stayed in inexpensive but clean rooms.Musical highlights:When touring the Palau de la M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Shaster Posted September 20, 2013 Members Share Posted September 20, 2013 Nice post, I felt like I was right there. I've never been to Spain, but my wife has. She never mentioned much about the buskers but then again, she's a tourist through and through.Sounds like you had a fantastic trip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted September 21, 2013 Moderators Share Posted September 21, 2013 "a very entertaining and talented Accordionist"...words one rarely ever hears strung together these days when I travel, I always try to seek out the non-tourist oriented local music...sometimes you don't have to do much except cross the street...sometimes it can be a bit of a trek, but usually worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Potts Posted September 21, 2013 Members Share Posted September 21, 2013 Great post! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Notes_Norton Posted September 21, 2013 Author Members Share Posted September 21, 2013 daddymack wrote: "a very entertaining and talented Accordionist"...words one rarely ever hears strung together these days The accordion can be a very expressive instrument in the right hands. I grew up listening to the "Lawrence Welk Band" style accordion playing, and it did nothing for me. So I ignored the instrument much as I did the bagpipes (which also do nothing for me). This is not to pass any judgment on the above, all music that gets an audience is valid, but like food, I have my likes and dislikes. Then many years ago, we played in a downtown restaurant when the town was having an Italian festival (saint somebody or other - I don't remember). During a break, a strolling accordionist came in playing Neapolitan songs. The songs had interesting chords and melodies, he played them in a rubato style, with much dynamics and using the quirks of the instrument to introduce musical ornaments. That's when I learned to appreciate the instrument. The accordionist in Spain looked like he was a Roma gentleman. He also played very dynamically and emotionally and at the same time had a bit of clown expression to his persona. He would exaggerate his finger movements like they were dancing on the keyboard pausing and making amusing faces. All this wouldn't be appreciated if the music wasn't there, but the music was definitely there. Normally I contribute one Euro to a good musician for a song, but for this guy, it was "Una mas" and a second Euro for another song. Besides for the great musical memories, we saw wonderful sights like The Alhambra, and the Mesquita, scores of narrow winding streets with great surprises revealing themselves (got lost and found our way back), cave homes built into the sides of hills, elaborate and wild gardens, plenty of churches and cathedrals, world famous art works in museums like the Prado, Reina Sofia, Thyssen and so on. We rode on the bullet train, met dozens of friendly people, ate great food [i fell in love with Jam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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