The good thing about Murcia is that it really tries to organise as many cultural events as possible. They want to become the Cultural Capital of Europe, so they have a milliard of concerts, lectures, exhibitions, and whatnot.
They are renowned for their SOS festival, where musicians from all over the world perform in front of thousands of fans. There are the Easter (Spring) festivals, Festival de Tres Culturas (festival of three cultures), jazz festivals, etc.
It just so happens that May is the month of two important festivals here. The Tres Culturas festival and the 1st Jazz festival. Everyone who knows me knows I love jazz, so it's not difficult to guess that I was running from one club to another. I've been looking forward to this ever since they told me about it back in March.
The concert I particularly liked was that of The Roy Heynes' 85th Birthday With His Fountain of Youth Band. Let me just tell you a thing or two about this Roy Heynes and his band... The guy, Roy Heynes, is in fact (really, honest to god) 85 years old. He's the drummer of the band, and let me just tell you, his drumming does not reflect the drumming of a regular 85 year old man (not that I ever heard a man that old play drums). He is an incredibly agile, high spirited man, who...plays drums at the age of 85. I'm sorry I keep repeating his age, but really! I know old people; coordination deteriorates, your movements are much slower... Playing drums is all about arm and leg coordination, so I hope you can understand my utter and complete awe. Really, the man is fantastic and the music... how to describe it? I sat under the starry sky, and let the melody sweep through me, making me forget about everything. Complete bliss. Ninety minutes of complete emersion. It was simply magical...
The following day was Sunday and they (Isa, Giny and some of their firends) decided that it’s really time to drag me out on a hike. And so we went. Down to Cartagena and up a mountain the name of which escapes me. We began our hike at exactly 12 o’clock. That’s right. The sun was scorching hot. It’s not a coincidence that we began at such an ungodly hour (as far as heat is concerned), because they (Isa and her friends) always seem to begin any sort of activity around midday. Unfortunately, my Slovenian body is not accustomed to such heat, and I sometimes find it very difficult to cope with. Fortunately for me, once we got to the top the wind was blowing so hard that I couldn’t feel the heat anymore. However, I would have endured a lot worse for the reward that waited for us at the top... A spectacular view over the coast of Cartagena. It was simply amazing, and it left me speechless. The photos unfortunately do not do it justice.
No comments:
Post a Comment