Wanna go to Spain!

To get into the mood for writing (a novel set in Southern Spain) I am listening to a rare recording of Manitas de Plata. Manitas de Plata means Little Hands of Silver. The 3 LP set (remember LPs?!) was the first-ever commercial recording of Manitas de Plata, and "was recorded live in a medieval chapel in Arles, France over two nights, with an audience of Gypsies and friends to provide support and appreciation." I'm loving it! Also on my listening list is Maktub Andalucia's 'Tangos' - listen here- you have to switch off the player in the top right, scroll down and look for Tangos on the player in the Sounds Like box. It's worth it - trust me! And then there's Marelu, Ketama, Camaron, and Pata Negra. Oh, and Radio Tarifa which I simply can't get enough of!

But it's not enough! I want need more! ¡Quiero ir alli, a España! I want to breathe the air, soak up the rhythms, let my ears drown in the rising and falling cadences of Andaluz. I said earlier that a short story is a love affair, and a novel is a marriage - but I think my novel is a love affair, one of those poignant ones that never leaves you . It is a love affair with a people, with a culture and a language, with Andalucia!

It wasn't an easy existence, living from hand to mouth, and yet those azure skies never failed to lift the spirit -walking my eldest child to school beneath orange trees, and walking back along the beach - everyone gathered together for festivals, moragas, inpromptu music sesions. I've never been so financially poor and yet so spiritually rich in all my life.

And besides, I need to practise my Spanish before it dies away completely!