Flamenco Show

I was worried about being able to say I had done everything that people consider essentially "Spanish" such as seeing the Alhambra, seeing a bull fight, enjoying Flamenco (a traditional dance from Andalucia). Although my professor completely convinced me out of going to a see bull fight, I have to say my other cultural activities are coming naturally. Thanks Juanmi for the free visit to the Alhambra! As for this Flamenco experience...

A girl from China is in my grammar class and she lives with a Granadina (a woman from Granada that is) who is friends with a Flamenco singer, otherwise known as cantaor. And no, for those of you who know Spanish, I did not mean to write cantador because they use different words for a singer vs a flamenco singer. There is a bar in town here where every Tuesday they have people perform Flamenco music, aaaand it is free! Most any Flamenco you can watch in Spain has been completely commercialized for the tourists and you pay a ridiculous amount of money to see a performance. When my classmate invited the whole class to go with her and her roommate I jumped at the chance. Performances at local bars are where you will meet the coolest people, be most likely to make connections with locals, etc.

Paula, one of my friends from the WSU program came with me and we met in front of the most well known meeting points in Granada...Burger King. Sick, I know. There was the rest of the group waiting, and so we headed off walking towards the bar. My classmate's roommate and I hit it off. She was very nice, and when we arrived to this little hole in the wall bar she was so excited to show us part of her culture, as most Spaniards really are. The ones I have met so far at least love a curious foreigner. She introduced us to the guitar player and the singer that would be performing that night.

Of course, it is expected you will buy drinks because it is a free show, so we did the traditional cerveza y tapas combination. Hamburgers. And the second round was bbq chicken sandwiches. And the third round was grilled cheese and french fries. The key to finding places where they serve a lot of tapas is to follow the masses. However, I don't mean the blonde, originally dressed masses...

Then the singing started, and wow, I have never seen a man sing with so much feeling. Flamenco is either ecstatic or depressed. Never in between. Its about the hardships of being a wanderer, opressed, or in love I believe, although I found it really difficult to understand any lyrics. As percussion, feet were stamped, hands clapped, tables tapped, and then there was the guitar. Oh, the guitar. You cannot imagine the amount of talent a guitarist must have to play flamenco. His fingers looked like they were hardly touching the strings sometimes, and he watched the singer to know how to make the music flow. It was like moving water, and I was entranced.

In this picture the guitarist is on the left, then Paula, then Sara (la granadina), then the singer, then me. Behind all of us is the bartender who gave me and Paula sexy eyes all night, as well as free food and drinks. We came to find out later he is Italian. It made sense then. The Italians I have met so far are extremely flirtatious, and aggressive in a way that even Latin American men are not.