Flag of Andalusia

As you may know, Spain is a decentralised unitary state that has devolved power to autonomies, the 17 autonomous communities and 2 autonomous cities, each proud of their paraphernalia, including anthems, flags, dialects, communal celebrations and customs, gastronomic delights, etc. In that respect, the Andalusian anthem and flag are, without a doubt, the pride of Andalusia. People tend to decorate their balconies with the green and white flag in case of any event held that day in town. 

Flags of autonomous communities of Spain. Image taken from 20minutes.es

The flag of Andalusia is traditional and easy to understand. It consists of three horizontal stripes - green, white and green - of equal width. The flag features the coat of arms of Andalusia reproduced on the middle field of the flag on both sides of it. The coat of arms shows young Hercules between the two columns that legend places in the Strait of Gibraltar with an inscription at his feet. The columns are linked together by an arch that also has an inscription on it. The design is clean and simple, although I wouldn't say that the texts are proportionate and balance the background composition, but all in all, the flag is visually easy on eye. As this is not an exactly proportional font for readability that has been used, the following is aimed to save your time and help you in reading the lettering. The arch inscription in yellow capital letters reads: "Dominator Hercules Fundator" (Sovereign Hercules, the Founder) and the bottom one: “Andalucía por sí, para España y la Humanidad” (Andalusia for itself, Spain and Humanity).

Flag of Andalusia. Image taken from Wikipedia

Blas Infante is known as the designer of the flag. He chose the green as corresponding to the rule of the Umayyads (the Arab dynasty that incorporated Al-Andalus into the Muslim world and governed it in the form of an Emirate and a Caliphate from 756 until 1031), and the white to the Almohads (the Moroccan Berber-Muslim dynasty that governed Al-Andalus in the form of a Caliphate from mid 12th century until 1212) for considering these two the periods when the political power centered in the current territory of Andalusia reached its highest glory. It doesn't mean that Blas Infante praised being under a foreing reign influence. It was a broader picture he had in mind, the greater good for the region. After all, metaphorically speaking, the life in Andalusia is still striped, it just may be today a bit more colourful.

Provinces of Andalusia, depicted in "Umayyad" green, assimilating people from different backgrounds

Besides, together with this historical meaning would co-exist a symbolical meaning, identifying the green with hope and the white with peace (both forever relevant), as expressed by the regional anthem. Beautiful symbolism, isn't it? Let alone, it's not a homogenous society, but a region where contrasts enrich the whole picture of social intercourse. It's the melting of cultural identity of the former Arab-Muslim population during the integration into Andalusia that had given step to the identification between the Arabian or Moorish culture and the Andalusian culture.

As always from late June to the end of August. Las Pavías

There's an annual serial event called Las Pavías taking place again on the public library patio in front of my house organised by the local Brotherhood every summer weekend night starting at 21.00 PM that rallies the entire neighbourhood into action.

Poster of the event. Image by the Sacramental Brotherhood of Tomares

It's a public-spirited eating and "spending time" event in essence, a perfect way to pass a Saturday or Sunday night with fine outdoor dining in a pleasant atmosphere of a pedestrian patio, surrounded by friends and neighbours. Quite noisy and messy, but relaxing, and all for a good cause and at affordable prices that do not exceed two euros. The earnings are intended for the Brotherhood purposes, such as social work, repairs and incidentals, which are not adequately funded through general contibutions.

The ambience of the event. Image from the news site ABCdesevilla.es

What they have for the people to enjoy is a wide variety of traditional snack and sandwich choices, together with some mandatory homemade desserts, such as three chocolate cake, rice pudding, tiramisù, crème caramel, sponge cake or something else of the kind. The stars of the night, obviously, being strips of desalted codfish, marinated in a mixture of lemon juice and sweet paprika (pimentón), then coated in flour and egg or in a frying batter, and deep-fried in olive oil - a snack called Soldaditos de Pavía (Pavian soldiers). The origin of the name relates, supposedly, to the red and yellow striped uniforms of the Spanish troops at the time of the Battle of Pavia, in 1525. 

Mothers and wives of the Brotherhood members frying fish on spot. Image from Artesacro.org

Anyway, besides the tasty speciality, they have other things here, including small pork loin and ham baguettes with salmorejo (tomato cream), Russian salad, seafood cocktail, small kebabs and Spanish omelette. All to be accompanied with a soft drink on the rocks or a nice cool beer. What a treat! And, to wrap it up, here's a recipe for those who want to put this sunny summer to good cooking use and try making the Pavías at home.

Andalusia, a constant source of inspiration. Manuel Machado

This time it's about Manuel Machado, a Sevillian-born poet of the Generation of '98, who I have paid too little attention to until now. I have only casually mentioned here on my blog that he was brother of Antonio Machado. The two of them so similar and yet so different. It's widely known, as Juan C. Toledano, Associate Professor of Hispanic Studies of Lewis & Clark College of Arts and Sciences, claims (see the references), that Manuel Machado didn't share the Christian socialist stance of his younger brother, Antonio Machado. It only shows us that they were independent thinkers. They both had their own truth that made them work for the greater good of the people they cared for, their people. They may not have had the same exact concerns, but what they surely had in common was love and caring for Andalusia, and that is way more significant than it looks. 

Manuel Machado y Ruiz (1874-1947). Image taken from a blog

In the play written together, La Lola se va a los puertos (already described on several occasions earlier), the Machado brothers do not display an Andalusia that is something mystical and far from what its people lived in the streets in the 1920s, it's the Andalusians' Andalusia they expose. Naturally, this is also where they differ from the other members of the Generation of '98 who were no flamenco enthusiasts. The Machado brothers disregard the non-Andalusian way of life without almost profane passion for music, and through the characterisation of La Lola they show how they view folk art as essential and constitutive:

Una relación flamenca de hombre y de mujer, que no es un matrimonio cualquiera entre cristiano y cristiana sino algo más.

A relationship of a man and a woman in flamenco is not like any marriage between Christians, it's more than that.

In their play, it's flamenco that dominates them all being the essence of the region, because flamenco "no es música, sino lengua del corazón" (is not music but the language of heart). Flamenco is its art and its heritage. And out of them two, it's especially Manuel's thing. Edward F. Stanton, an overseas Cante Jondo expert, insists in his article (see the references) that Manuel wrote texts for Gypsy songs, while Antonio was “smarter” for not wasting his creative energy on folklore; nevertheless, quite a few of Antonio's poems have also ended up in the repertoire of flamenco singers. At the same time, according to Francisco Gutiérrez Carbajo's study on Soleares (see the references), Manuel gave a new life to a handful of old folk songs.

 

Handwriting sample of Manuel Machado. Images taken from here

Manuel Machado not only tried to incorporate this familiar and dear world to him into poetry, but also published a book on Gypsy song in 1912 that he titled “Cante Hondo”, which was the apparent precursor to the García Lorca's book.

Interpretation of Manuel Machado's Cante Hondo by Javier Coble, video by Poetas Andaluces:

 

Among other things, Manuel wrote a poem in honour of the provincial capitals of Andalusia, but Seville, he thought, spoke for itself. 

CANTO A ANDALUCÍA	SONG TO ANDALUSIA
Cádiz, salada claridad. Granada, agua oculta que llora. Romana y mora, Córdoba callada. Málaga cantaora. Almería, dorada. Plateado, Jaén. Huelva, la orilla de las tres carabelas. Y Sevilla.	Cádiz, salt-laden brilliance, Granada, hidden waters that weep. Roman and Moorish, silent Córdoba, Málaga, flamenco singer, Almería, golden. Jaén, silvery. Huelva, shore of the three caravels. and Sevilla.
	Translation taken from Elizabeth Nash's book (see the references)

To him the essence of Seville - his birthplace - was beyond words. This is just what James A. Michener, a Pulitzer-winning American author, says in his book "Iberia" (see the references): 

“I was familiar with the rest of Spain before I saw Seville, but nothing I had learned elsewhere taught me so much about Spanish behaviour. Others have reported a similar experience for Seville does not have ambiente, Seville is ambiente, and nowhere has this been better expressed than in a lyric written by Manuel Machado, written in this century, which is quoted constantly throughout Spain. It is a litany of Andalusian names, each described with its most typical appositives, except one, for which no nouns or adjectives suffice.”

Here, listen to the interpretation of Manuel Machado's Canto a Andalucía by El Lebrijano. It's extraordinary!

Flamenco of the Marchena school. La Niña de la Puebla

Today I want to present you an amazing Sevillian artist, one of the greats of flamenco, Dolores Jiménez Alcántara, known as La Niña de la Puebla (1909-1999). She was born in La Puebla de Cazalla, Seville, and died in Málaga - every inch an Andalusian. Blind from an early age, she took refuge in music and found her calling as a flamenco singer (cantaora), inspired by the Colombianas of El Niño de Marchena (from Marchena, Seville). I adore her for her for her evident mastery of her singing voice and for the soaring and thrilling tone of it. Although she sounds a little too metallic for my taste, there are no words to quite describe the power her singing possesses or her ability to fill the room.

Below you have a selection of YouTube videos of her performing Gypsy songs (Cante Jondo), Andalusian folk songs (Cante Flamenco) and Spanish American flamenco-like songs, accompanied on the guitar in many of the cases by truly skilled flamenco guitarists (tocaores), such as Tomatito, Manolo Sanlúcar, Pepe Montoya, and Manolo Sanlucar, etc.

- Gypsy songs by La Niña de la Puebla 

Por Bulerías:

Por Seguirillas:

- Andalusian folk songs by La Niña de la Puebla

Por Campanilleros, versions of the years 1988 and 1932:

Por Alegrías de Cadiz:

Por Fandangos:

Por Malagueñas:

Por Zambras:

Por Villancicos, sung at Christmas time:

Por Sevillanas Corraleras:

- Spanish American flamenco-like songs by La Niña de la Puebla

Por Milongas:

For more, listen to these recordings.

Hot days ahead

It's been a beautiful morning with some air and warmth, with a sunny and hot afternoon coming up. One can sense that. Hello, constant daily sunshine and long lazy siesta hours! No complaining here; if not best climate ever, then best hours possible! Sweaty, but nice. What does it feel like anyway, at these hours, I mean? Like an oven? Yes, it's exactly that, but only in the street. Sheltered at home, it's just with a hot breeze from the window, if you leave it open. And all this serenity... Unimaginable! It's not just silent, it's ultra silent and smooth. 

Seville sizzling at a temperature in the high forties. Photo by the FB group Para vivir, yo sólo quiero Sevilla 

See, Seville experienced 46 degrees Celsius yesterday, making it the hottest day of the season so far, though not the hottest one in the history. Believe it or not, there was an evidence of even higher temperatures recorded in Seville on the very same day, 4 July 2013. But this is already something outlandish, the reader must have been overheated under the direct sun exposure. Whether or not, there's no relief from heat, the weather in the metropolitan area is going to be very hot, with the sun baking down on Sevillians.

Hellish heat in Los Remedios neighbourhood (Seville) on 4 July 2013. Photo by Citycafe y copas

Inventive minds and creativity. Spanish inventions

I was about to post a series of photographs of the views of Tomares, the town in Seville's metropolitan area I live in, when I clicked on a shot taken a year ago of an odd tuned-up tractor.

Tuned-up tractor. A sign of the manifestation of creativity in Spain?

I have been wondering since then whether or not it was some constant urge of local people to impove things in order to manage in a smarter way that led to such an outcome. Are they seeking souls? Do they have inventive minds? Are they creative enough to make a difference outside their personal domain? That's what I wanted to understand. So, I carried out a research and discovered that according to the Economist, Spain ranked 25 of 82 countries based on its innovation capacity in 2002-2006 (see the references). News site rediff.com also places it number 25 in terms of innovation. And, according to Bloomberg Businessweek, Spain is crowned the 24th World's Most Innovative Country. Well, well, well. 

The news site ABC.es came up in 2011 with a list of the Spanish inventions that changed history, including the submarine, the gyroplane, the Chupa Chups, the mop, the boot, the glass wine jar with a long tapered drinking spout, the earthenware water jar with a spout and handle, the Molotov Cocktail, the musket (the first portable cannon in history) and the cigarette. Fransaval had posted on his blog his own list before that, in 2010. You will find some overlaps between the two lists, but there's more than that. This blog post, differently from the news site article, emphasizes the importance of a few other inventions, such as the table football game, the radio, the telekino, the laryngoscope and the quantum computer, and refers to some more great Spanish inventions outside the top 10 list like the digital calculator, the disposable syringe, the classical guitar, the Talgo, the cable car, the stapler, the knife and the pencil sharpener. See!

The Chupachús lollipops of Chupa Chups brand. Image taken from elpodium.org 

Now, I share with you all I know about the well-known Spanish inventors and their inventions they are best remembered for. Among the people that have had the great innovative ideas pointed to below, there also are Andalusians. 

Alī Ibn Khalaf al-Murādī (11th century) was a Muslim mechanical engineer who lived in Al-Andalus, possibly in Granada or Córdoba, and devised, with the help from al-Zarqali, the astrolabe, a complex power-driven universal geared mechanism used by astronomers. Learn more here.

Abu Muhammad Jabir ibn Aflah (1100-1150), was a Muslim astronomer, mathematician and inventor from Seville who invented an observational instrument known as the torquetum, a mechanical device to transform between spherical coordinate systems.

Blasco de Garay (1500–1552) made several important inventions, including diving apparatus, and introduced the paddle wheel as a substitute for oars. In 1543 he tested in Barcelona his system with no sails or oars containing a steam engine on a ship called the Trinidad.

Repro of the experiment tried on the Trinidad. Image taken from the website Tecnología Obsoleta

Jerónimo de Ayanz y Beaumont (1553-1613) invented the steam-powered water pump for draining mines.

Inventions of Jerónimo de Ayanz. Image taken from a blog

Antonio Barceló y Pont de la Terra (1717-1797) used floating batteries and invented gunboats during the Great Siege of Gibraltar in 1779-1783.

The Great Siege of Gibraltar. Image taken from www.galeon.com

The Spanish gunboat. Image taken from www.galeon.com

Diego Marín Aguilera (1757-1799) devised several labour-saving devices, including the gadget that improved the functionality of a watermill, another that improved the working of a fulling mill, and another used to improve the cutting of marble in the quarries. He also came up with the device with which to whip horses during the process of thereshing and another that made cloth. Above all, he wanted to build the flying machine. In 1793 he managed to fly being the first human being who challanged birds in their natural state. 

Diego Marín, the first man flying. Image taken from a blog

Juan José Lerena y Barry (1796-1863), from Cádiz, invented the solar telegraph.

The Lerena's telegraph. Figure by Fernando Fernández de Villegas

Manuel Patricio Rodríguez García (1805–1906) invented the laryngoscope in 1854.

The first laryngoscope by Manuel García. Image taken from a blog

Narcís Monturiol i Estarriol (1819-1885) invented the first air independent and combustion engine driven submarine named Ictineo. The first dive of the Ictineo I took place in 1859 in the harbour of Barcelona.

The Ictineo I. Image taken from the Barcelona blog

Isaac Peral y Caballero (1851-1895) designed the Peral's Submarine torpedo boat that was launched in 1888.

The Peral. Short documentary (in Spanish):

Leonardo Torres y Quevedo (1852-1936) invented the telekino, and projected and constructed the new type of dirigible between 1896 and 1905 that gave the airship rigidity by way of interior pressure.

An Astra-Torres airship built in about 1909. Image taken from the website Biografías y Vidas

Julio Cervera Baviera (1854-c.1929) invented the radio in 1902, and patented it in England, Germany, Belgium and Spain. 

Julio Cervera and his radio. Image taken from a blog

Venancio López de Ceballos y Aguirre (1856-1916) developed the semi-automatic pistol Campo Giro in 1905 that was the Spanish army service pistol from 1912 to 1921.

The Campo-Giro. Photo by Roger

Fructuós Gelabert (1874–1955) designed the first films studios in Spain, produced the first animated work (available on YouTube) and the first fiction film in the history of Spanish cinema in 1897 and invented his own cinematograph (the camera-projector Cine-Gar for home use). His short documentary Procesión de las hijas de María de la parroquia de Sans (Procession of the Daughters of the Virgin Mary from the Sants Church), shot in the Rossend Arús Street in Barcelona, is one of the oldest audiovisual materials filmed in Barcelona that still exists. See it here.

The Cine-Gar. Image taken from a culture blog

Celedonio Calatayud Costa (1880-1931) pioneered the use of radiology and electrology in Europe for both diagnostics and therapeutical purposes.

Radiology room in the Radiological Institute of Dr Calatayud. Image taken from www.elsevier.pt

Juan de la Cierva y Codorníu (1895-1936), invented the Autogiro, a single-rotor type of aircraft, in 1920.

Juan de la Cierva and the Autogiro. Image taken from the website Xerbar Forum

Ángela Ruiz Robles (1895-1975) invented the world's first automated reader, precursor to today's ebooks named the Enciclopedia Mecánica (Mechanical Encyclopedia), in 1949. Learn more here.

The Mechanical Encyclopedia. Image taken from ebookfriendly.com

Alejandro Goicoechea Omar (1895-1984) described the train named Talgo composed of articulated triangular structures with independent wheels capable of 100 km/h commercial speeds in 1936. In 1941 a test unit composed of triangular chassis and truck wheels with carriage rims welded on was built and tested successfully up to 75 km/h behind a steam locomotive.

The Talgo. Image taken from the website Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia

 

Carles Buïgas i Sans (1898-1979) designed the torpedo bomber seaplane in 1914, the device to recover seasand for construction in 1922, the one-person midget submarine in 1932, the remote-controlled torpedo guided by ultrasound in 1931–1933.

Carles Buïgas in the machine room. Image taken from Andreu Salillas i Garcia's website

Emilio Bellvis Montesano (1914-1993) invented a whole set of implements for polishing and washing floors, including mop.

 

 

 

 

The Bellvis Montesano's mop and other inventions. Images taken from patentados.com

Alexandre Campos Ramírez (1919-2007), known as Alexandre de Fisterra (for being born in Fisterra), invented the first table football game (futbolín) that was patented in 1937.

Alexandre de Fisterra and his futbolín. Image taken from a blog

Guys in my hometown playing table football. God, I miss it! Photo by Rock Bar Undeground

Manuel Jalón Corominas (1925-2011) invented the mop in 1956 and the world-wide used “two-piece” disposable syringe in 1973.

Manuel with the mop bucket. Image taken from www.aragondigital.es

The disposable syringes. Image taken from esqueladigital.com