Spanish Albums

Hablame en la cama

I am listening now to a CD of Maria Jiménez (Hablame en la cama - Lo mejor de Maria Jimenez) that I bought at the El Corte Ingles in Valencia. I just have to write down that I love this Queen of the Flamenco. She is always pushing the limits of the flamenco, reinventing the style with her own interpretations of the music.

I was first introduced to her music by my Spanish teacher in Martos, Jaén. That was in 2001, when we were still using the peseta. Listening to music has always been one of the ways to learn a language. And feel the pulse of a culture.

Hub and I were newly married then and we rather fancied ourselves flamenco lovers, always trying to catch a performance wherever and whenever we could. Our most memorable was a professional performance in a theatre in Granada though the most comfortable were the ones we used to catch in some midnight bar in Sevilla nursing glasses of Sangria or Tinto de Verano in our palms as we watched some pretty girl dance to music strung on a guitar by some old man looking as if he was going to expire of some untold sorrow any moment soon.

Parte de mi

The other CD I bought was Rosario's Parte de Mi. I first saw Rosario Flores in Pedro Almodovar's Hablar con Ella. I couldn't forget her and when I walked past a music shop and saw a CD cover with a woman looking like her on it, I bought it immediately. It was her album Muchas Flores and it had won her a Latin Grammy for Best Female Pop Album. I loved almost every song in this album, her voice is a contrast to the tough character she played in the movie.

Flamenco fans may know that she is the youngest daughter of Lola Flores and comes from a family of musicians. This album Parte De Mi is a tribute to singers/songwriters that Rosario grew up listening to and who have given her good lifetime memories.

Hub would remind me that I didn't like living in Jaén. But I loved Spain. How could I explain that?