Andalusian rap. Málaga's case vol. 2

By the time I posted about Málaga's rap, I hadn't heard of one of the prime raperos in there, Elphomega. But certainly, he merits the attention both for the verbal and visual language in his work. Check it out below! He has been active since 1990 in hip-hop and rap and is getting more and more interesting for not wanting to repeat himself. “Yo! Mtv Raps” aired an interview with Elphomega just before his 2011 LP came out. And there's a documental on YouTube about Elphomega, Capaz (Hablando en Plata Squad) and Little Pepe on their ways of thinking and their lifestyles (in Spanish only). As typical to Málaga, he has been involved in many collaboration projects with other artists, such as Picos Pardos and Doc Diamond, for example. 

Examples of his work:

Eating grumelos

It's about Amarita ponderosa this time, a mushroom called gurumelo o grumelo in Spanish, with its English name being "Heavy Amidella". It was probably named after the mound of earth (grumo) it pushes up making its way out.

Young grumelos

This mushroom is a gastronomic delight available in some areas of Spain, which makes it clear why there is almost no English information available about it. It's an edible Basidiomycota species endemic to the thickets of the provinces of Seville and Huelva (Andalusia) and Badajoz (Extremadura) I have been lucky to try. It's beloved and valued by all the mushroom-eating people living in Spain. Deservedly, I can see it now.

Stone grumelo in Zagrilla, Córdoba (Image from a blog dedicated to mycosculptures)

It is used in many ways, in guisos (stews), tortillas (Spanish omlette) or revueltos (scrambled with eggs), but a friend of mine showed me its virtues by making grumelos al microondas (microwaved). It doesn't sound gourmet, I know, but trust me, give it a try! It was an exquisite meal fit for any lover of fine food. First, it was carefully picked, and then, prepared by hand, flawlessly. Rich both for its flavour and texture: all natural, fresh and tender, lightly-cooked and delicately seasoned with some grains of coarse sea salt. It was heaven! I forgot to take a picture of the dish before we gobbled it all up, and there's nothing on Google either, sorry.

For images go to Jesús Baz's Wikispace, and here you have a clip from a TV show about the nature of this tasty mushroom, and an amateur YouTube video in case you are curious about how to find it (both in Spanish). 

A cup of coffee. At home

It's a time for my second cup of coffee. I simply adore these weekend cups. I do! They are incredibly pleasurable, although I make them the same way as usual. It's the having them that matters. It's the time that tastes so sweet.

Mmm

I brew my coffee with a stove-top espresso maker, a Moka pot that I started to use in Spain. Before I was on a Senseo coffee machine that I haven't cared to bring with me so far. This sophisticated yet simple maker was actually also nice to have, but I only miss it having my friends visiting me, mainly because of being easy to use.

This is what my abandoned buddy looked like

This is how I'm doing now

I want my coffee rich. I'm into fresh deep bitter espresso taste. Coffee extraction in a Moka pot results in a strong brew just the way I like it. I don't add sugar to it, just a little bit of milk. I enjoy it with a cookie, muffin or a slice of cake. Today it's a cappuccino cake with white chocolate fudge frosting. No wonder I love Sundays.

A singing gypsy. El Turronero

Today I want to present you another great artist from the province of Seville, a flamenco singer (cantaor) Manuel Mancheno Peña “El Turronero” (1947-2006), one of my favourites. Manuel Mancheno Peña was born in Vejer de la Frontera in the province of Cádiz, but grew up in Utrera (which is Sevillian) and lived later in Madrid. He was nicknamed El Turronero after his parents, who earned their living as turrón sellers. He used to work with many flamenco guitarists, but his usual tocaor was Francisco Cepero (known as Paco Cepero).

Listen to this beautiful piece of art, a song written by Antonio Fernández Díaz “Fosforito” and Paco Cepero to honour Andalusia, sung by El Turronero and accompanied on the guitar by Paco Cepero and "El Tato"; all Andalusians and knowing what they talk about: apart from El Turronero being an utrerano (from Utrera), Paco Cepero is a jerezano (from Jerez, the province of Cádiz), and Fosforito from Puente Genil, the province of Córdoba.

Here you see him sing Soy sevillano (I'm Sevillian) saying charmingly that he's siempre de juerga (always partying), and take actively part in the April Fair.

Now enjoy more of his work below:

Andalusian rap. Huelva's case

There is an interesting rap group called Punto Final (End Point) still active in Huelva that started in 1988, quite a time before the first rap demo was recorded in Spain by El Club de los Poetas Violentos (Violent Poets Society) in 1993.

There are hardly any music videos produced by or about them, but some things (photos, audios, etc.) can be found. Here's a video interview with the group members. What is also available is their 2009's recording Demo '09 on HHGroups. For more, go and see: Punto Final on MySpace, Punto Final on SoundCloud and Punto Final on Facebook. 

The guys in the studio:

A couple of examples of their style:

In the search for spirits. Vodkas, rums and gins

I overheard three Finnish guys talking on the bus the other day that made me ask to myself: how do they, poor things, survive down here? I'm not saying that it seems impossible, but I admit, it must be challenging. To be literally not able to buy vodka for having no choice whatsoever, well, for having no more than three labels to choose from. Which is as good as nothing. Especially considering that one of them is not known in the part of the world these guys are from.

A common sight in the supermarkets

About the choices. One of the brands in the market - Absolut Vodka - is Swedish. It is extraordinary and should be ranked among the best vodkas in the world. I suggest you not to trust any top 10 or whatever lists that don't have Absolut Vodka in it. Seriously!

Then there is Smirnoff Vodka that, though originally Russian, belongs to a British Company. It has gone hand in hand with James Bond for more than 50 years. Somehow this doesn't sound sexy to me. At all. It makes me sort of critical about its glamorous comercial image instead. Off it goes! ¡Fuera! Just joking, it's an honest drink...

And, the third - Vodka Knebep - doesn't really count. It's a brand of a Spanish supermarket chain, Mercadona, but yet, let's be honest, Spain ain't no vodka producer!

The Finns living here, on the other hand, are from a colder climate originally and therefore used to strong spirits with pure and simple taste. Being from the Northern Europe myself, I'm somewhat familiar with their needs and likes. I would also have a shot of straight, freezing-cold Swedish, Finnish or Estonian vodka every now and then, although I'm one hell of a good cocktail maker. In any case, my personal top would be as depicted in the following picture.

My favourite vodkas

Viru Valge is the best Estonian vodka. For me, a couple of quality brands of Estonia are the purest and best-tasting vodkas in the world, the second-best being Saaremaa Vodka. It also applies to their flavoured products. These are a definite must-try!

Viru Valge flavoured vodkas

Saaremaa Vodka, pure and rhubarb-flavoured

Findlandia Vodka is the best Finland has to offer. And man, they have used pure glacier water to produce it: what more proof you need than this?

So, what to do about it in Spain? Nothing but have rum (ron) or gin (ginebra). A news site abcdesevilla.es has published a top 10 list of essential rums to help you out in the wide choice you might be confronted with, but thanks to my friends I also know a thing or two.

Of the Dominican rums available in Spain, Barceló and Brugal are the two brands worth trying, and Matusalem too, however it has Cuban origins.

Ron Barceló

Ron Brugal

Ron Matusalem

Of Guatemalan rums, Zacapa is your best choice, and of Venezuelan ones, Santa Teresa.

Ron Zacapa

Ron Santa Teresa

And finally, as it would be still nice to have something strong from Europe on the table, let it be a bottle of G'Vine gin from France.

G'Vine gins

Poems of Antonio Machado

What's so special about Antonio Machado? What's to like about his poetry? For me it's its simplicity, its brevity, its being full of love. For God, for a woman. Though painful to read. I don't mind. Below are some prime examples of his style of verse. First, a couple of pithy love notes from his collection of poems called Nuevas canciones (New songs) combining both intense natural and figurative imagery that give you the idea, for example, that in the touch of spring one feels his longing for love to be reawakened.

CLIX CANCIONES III La primavera ha venido. Nadie sabe cómo ha sido. VIII La fuente y las cuatro acacias en flor de la plazoleta. Ya no quema el sol. ¡Tardecita alegre! Canta, ruiseñor. Es la misma hora de mi corazón. XI A las palabras de amor les sienta bien su poquito de exageración.	CLIX SONGS III Spring is here again. No one knows how it came. VIII The fountains and the four acacias in flower in the little plaza. The sun no longer burns. Pleasant late afternoon! Sing, you nightingale. It’s the same hour in my heart. XI Words of love sound better for a little excess.
	Translation from A. S. Kline's Poetry Archive

As death, besides love, is a recurring theme in the works of Antonio Machado, many scholars have studied his understanding of it thoroughly. Armando López Castro, Literature Professor of the University of León, says (see the references) that according to the poet's comprehension the death is a pit that opens to the possibility of a creation, which explains why he lived dying, in the permanent state of metamorphosis, accepting the death without fear and waiting for it just for being born. López Castro insists that Antonio Machado understood the death as it is and gave way to it big time, letting himself be driven along. To illustrate this I give the following examples from the collection of poems called Galerías.

LXXVIII ¿Y ha de morir contigo el mundo mago donde guarda el recuerdo los hálitos más puros de la vida, la blanca sombra del amor primero, la voz que fue a tu corazón, la mano que tú querías retener en sueños, y todos los amores que llegaron al alma, al hondo cielo? ¿Y ha de morir contigo el mundo tuyo, la vieja vida en orden tuyo y nuevo? ¿Los yunques y crisoles de tu alma trabajan para el polvo y para el viento?

LXXVIII And is that magical world to die with you, where memory goes guarding life’s purest breaths first love’s white shadow, the voice that entered your heart, the hand that you had wished to hold in dream, and all things loved that touched the soul, the depths of sky? And is that world of yours to die with you, the old life you renewed and set in order? Have the anvils and crucibles of your spirit laboured here only for dust and wind?

Translation from A. S. Kline's Poetry Archive

One can't help but think that his death portrayals are a flashback. He seems to have been more like someone risen from the dead than someone born. Oddly, he made no bones about the death for not dying. That was the trick, his survival strategy. Anyway, take a look at another one.

Llamó a mi corazón, un claro día, con perfume de jazmín el viento. - A cambio de este aroma, todo el aroma de tus rosas quiero. - No tengo rosas; flores en mi jardín no hay ya; todas han muerto. Me llevare los llantos de las fuentes, las hojas amarillas y los mustios petalos. Y el viento huyó... Mi corazón sangraba... Alma, ¿qué has hecho de tu pobre huerto?.

The wind, one brilliant day, called to my soul with an aroma of jasmine. “In return for this jasmine odor, I'd like all the odor of your roses.” “I have no roses; I have no flowers left now in my garden... All are dead.” “Then I'll take the waters of the fountains, and the yellow leaves and the dried-up petals.” The wind left. I wept. I said to my soul, “What have you done with the garden entrusted to you?”

Translated by Robert Bly (see the references)

From his first poems on, he never lost his hope to make it there, to the Great Beyond (al Más Allá), on his way from the shadows to the light. Thinking of the death as of the fundamentals of life and accepting the latter, he refused to consider the death to be an end. A thought that serves a beautiful final chord to the post.

Antonio and Leonor, his short-term wife and permanent muse

Poetry by Antonio Machado

Antonio Machado y Ruiz was a Spanish poet, a late member of the literary movement Generation of '98. He was born on 26 July 1875 in Seville, in a liberal family, very interested in culture, and especially in folklore. His grandfather was a rector of the University of Seville and one of the explainers and introducers of Darwinism in Spain. His father was a lawyer and a distinguished folklorist. He had a borther, Manuel, who was, like him, a noted poet and a member of the Generation of '98.

The two brothers, Los Machado

He spent his childhood in Seville and in 1883 moved with his family to Madrid, which is why he has said (please, see the references) that his teens and youth were madrileños (Madrilenian). He was very religious, much of his works look at the essence of human nature and tackle the First Book of Moses, called Genesis.

A sample of Antonio Machado's handwriting

He got married at the age of 34, with his wife, Leonor, being only 16 years old. Sadly, she passed away young, already two years later. Having found the love of his life in her, Antonio Machado wound up the best poet of his kind, writing the most beautiful love poetry for 25 more years after his beloved wife died. I have hardly ever heard of anything more romantic in my life.

Antonio and Leonor on their wedding day

One more curiosity about him: he himself died in 1939 at the age of 63, three days before his old and sickly mother. For the list of his works see here.

Here's a short documentary subtitled in English that features his poetical writings and shows his life and the women behind him, directed, photographed and produced by Cisco Bermejo in 2003.

Here you have a Machado's video poem “Cantares” (with English subtitles), presented in a typical style - sung by Joan Manuel Serrat.

And a video poem recited in English. This is a lovely piece, written 110 years ago, very well translated and nicely read by an American poet Robert Bly.

I also want to highlight some amazing school projects the young learners from Spain have produced that relate to the life and works of Antonio Machado, reciting his poetry and calling it “machadian” rap (rap machadiano), and this not only presenting their rapping skills, but showing off their video clip directing, shooting and editing skills as well. I'm simply overwhelmed by the awesomeness of it all.

For not all being uploadable, I add the links to two other versions of “Caminante no hay camino” (young adults' and children's), and to the following pieces of poetry: "El viajero", "Parábolas" and a fragment of "Proverbios y cantares".

And something out of school, an excellent amateur approach. Love it.

Food at the April Fair

At the April Fair (Feria de Abril), that is a traditional appointment for all Sevillians, there are partying, dancing and singing, as well as horses and dresses, and of course, good food, shovelled in and washed down with a lot of wine (fino, manzanilla and rebujitos).

Sevillanas in the Alfonso Mora's stand (Photo by Intercambio de Idiomas Sevilla)

Eating isn't the main focus, nor is drinking, dancing or singing; this is all done merely passingly. Being there is an event in itself. Being together, exchanging looks and words, and sharing a passion for enjoying life. Chatting and eating, you know. It's a rite to chat while eating, as it is an authentic act of socialisation to eat while chatting. More often, it's snacking (tapeo, picoteo), not eating full meals. It's having a little bit of this and a little bit of that. 

Spanish omelette with a jarful of rebujito (Photo by my friend Alexánder Sánchez)

I found a website, where it was said that the Fair's origin dates back to the year 1846, when Narciso Bonaplata (Catalonian) and José María de Ybarra (Basque) submitted to the city council a request for an authorisation to hold an annual livestock fair on 19, 20 and 21 April to promote cattle ranchers and farmers. So, it was initiated as a countrymen's simple celebration.

The April Fair in its early days (Image taken from a blog)

In a way it still has its original traits. The latter also extends to food. Sevillan snacks (tapas), for the most part, and tapas at the Fair, for sure, are homey, no muss, no fuss kind of meals that are hearty and taste good. Nothing pretentious or extraordinary. Just solid, nutritious, rustic food. The list of the tapas offered in the stands is really long and it takes some experience to know what to order. Taken as a whole, it is all very Sevillian, it's just that some of the tapas are especially typical to the Fair.

A typical moment in a stand at the Fair

Tapas are served hot or cold. Typical hot tapas at the Fair (not the fried ones) include pork fillets (los filetitos de lomo), paella, Spanish omelette (la tortilla de patatas), and variety of seafood dishes, like grilled prawns (las gambas a la plancha), clams with seafood sauce (las almejas a la marinera), scrambled eggs with garlic sprouts and prawns (el revuelto de ajetes).

Revuelto (Photo by E. Agudo)

As Spain makes 44% of the world's olive oil, and as more than a quarter of Spain's oil (i.e. 10% of the total world production) comes from Jaén that is another province in Andalusia, most of the items on the menu at the Fair are fried food (los fritos, las frituritas), such as:

• seafood, like prawns (las gambas), prawn dumplings (las gambas con gabardina), shrimp cakes (las tortillitas de camarones), cuttlefish strips (los chocos), squid rings (las calamares), baby squids (los chipirones, las puntillitas);
• fish (el pescadito/pescaíto), including young hake (las pijotas), red mullets (los salmonetes) and anchovies (los boquerones);
• meat, like chicken strips (las lagrimitas de pollo);
• croquettes (las croquetas);
• vegetables, like peppers (los pimientos), or breaded pepper and onions rings (los calamares del campo).

Fried anchovies (Photo by R. Doblado)

Prawn dumplings

You can also choose from many cold snacks (las tapas frías), such as:

• Iberian cuts (las chacinas ibéricas), like cured ham (el jamón), pork loin (la caña de lomo), spicy sausage (el chorizo), strong cheese (el queso, el cabrales);
• crustaceans, like prawns from Huelva (las gambas de Huelva), common prawns (los camarones), king prawns from Sanlúcar (los langostinos de Sanlúcar), crayfish (las cigalas);
• fish dishes, like tuna in oil (el atún en aceite), anchovies in vinegar (los boquerones en vinagre), marinated dogfish (el cazón en adobo);
• meat dishes, like small sandwiches with pork topping (los montaditos de lomo), cheese stuffed meat rolls (flamenquines);
• salads and other dishes with oil and vinegar seasoning (el aliño de tomate, el pimiento aliñado, las patatas aliñadas), or marinated vegetables, like olives (las aceitunas);
• cold vegetable soups, like el salmorejo and el gazpacho andaluz.

Prawns (Photo by R. Carmona)

Montadito with pork fillet and ham (Image taken from the news site abcdesevilla.es)

Cheese stuffed meat roll (Photo by E. Ruz)

Thick tomato soup salmorejo (Photo by R. Doblado)

Then, all the stands usually feature spoon foods on the menu as a daily special (stew of the day, guiso del día), like spinach and chickpeas stew (las espinacas con garbanzos), chickpeas and cod stew (los garbanzos con bacalao), potato and cuttlefish stew (las papas con chocos), oxtail stew (el rabo de toro guisado), fish or lamb stew (la caldereta de pescado/cordero), pork cheeks (la carrillada), kidneys a la Jerez (los riñones al Jerez), eggs a la flamenca (los huevos a la flamenca), Andalusian stew (el cocido andaluz), etc. Stews are normally served late, not before 3 PM. 

Spinach and chickpeas stew (Photo by E. Ruz)

Potato and cuttlefish stew

Oxtail stew (Photo by Lola Monforte)

Typical desserts are fritters (los buñuelos, los churros) that are had nightly, before going home to sleep. Fritters are traditionally sold wrapped in paper cones or bags and served with sugar or hot chocolate.

Buñuelos (Photo by R. Doblado)

Churros