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Posts: 3532
Joined: Oct. 20 2003
From: Phoenix, AZ
congratulations Simon
Daamn, Simon, that is awesome! Look at you! That is just great, just great. That green door looks exactly like the door of the apartment I stayed in SEvilla.
Absolutely bloody fantastic, in addition you've got Stephen Hill down on the coast, Manuel Bellido's winter home in the next village and Arne Barrslag (spelling) up the hill in Lanjeron. The weather the weather the weather, the flamenco the flamenco the flamenco, ahhhh...!
Very best wishes to you. Don't laugh at us back here and over there.
Are you able to relocated to another country as long as it's within the EU
Yeah, we can live and work anywhere in the EU as long as one is an EU citizen. I have already lived in France and Amsterdam, no trouble. That's why I voted for EEC entry when I was younger, after going on great Spanish vacations.
He and his wife Ana are great folk, I went to see them a few years ago, Rene let me try his 14 fret to body flamenco guitar, made me a coffee and then phoned round the makers in Granada to see if any had a good flamenco for sale. He couldn't do enough to help, so well worth making contact. If you meet him, please say helo for me, although I'm sure he won't remember.
Manuel is somewhere close to you, can't remember the village, but he spends the winters closer to the coast and he showed me the place on the map but that was 4 years ago. Anyway Kate will link you up with him in Granada. Not his shop, but his workshop about 1/2 mile east.
SH is moving to la costas just along from Motril, I'm sure his web site will be updated with details soon. If you see him please convey my regards. I know him well.
Why is it always the brothers that get to Spain? Mine just bought a place in Alicante which isn't a flamenco stronghold, and anyway, he hates flamenco as much as I love it. Never mind, at least I'm spending Christmas there, which is a big plus (((-:
Well done Simon for having the guts to make the break. Suerte.
Posts: 1827
Joined: Jul. 8 2003
From: Living in Granada, Andalucía
RE: congratulations Simon (in reply to bailoro2000)
Oh well my brother just had to be different . He settled in Vietnam. Still my parents get to spend their time inbetween Saigon and Spain so they make the best of it.
This is to add my congratulations to my new neighbour Enhorabuena Simon.
It will be a slog, and there will be times when you wonder what the hell you are doing as the goats chew your electricity cables, when you realise that it can and does rain for days (and you'll get no sympathy from the folks back home) when you're Spanish gets good enough to understand the neighbours arguing ( Put down that axe Pepe), when rumours fly round that you actually put peas in your tortilla and strangers come up and ask you about it, when its so hot you lose the will to live (and you'll get no sympathy from the folks back home) when you cant make the next flamenco fiesta because you still have not recovered from the last one. When everyone back in Blighty thinks you spend all your time sitting on a terrace watching sunsets and sipping wine and try as you might you cant deny it.
Mind you that's just my experience I keep Harold locked up in the studio working non-stop
You'll have a great time and so will your Dad. Looking forward to seeing your new home.
Good news. I hope you like Andalucia. Don´t listen to Kate: there are no problems here that cannot be solved easily. What I do not understand is why every wants to live in Granada. Very beautiful but flamenco? Still, better that everybody lives in Granada rather than Cadiz Nevertheless, you are welcome to visit. (For a short time )
Sean I loved Cadíz when I was there. I couldn't believe that it hadn't been overrun and turned into one big tourist resort! While walking around I saw people surfing! That was it for me. One day I will go back and Cadíz is THE place I want to return to. Hmmm.....flamenco and surfing.......perfect
... and what's wrong with peas in a tortilla? Looking forward to the challenges.
Je je je its just not done. I had the young girls from Taller de Compás a my house while I cooked. The next day in Alamanjáyar my car was ambushed by people staring at me and asking if it was true about the peas.
The attraction of Granada is that it is quite simply beautiful, with the mountains, the woods, the vega, hot springs, the old Moorish buildings, the Alhambra and the Albaicin. It is also a vibrant cultural city with a wonderful night life and a thriving growing university and yes flamenco.
To name a few....... Juanillo el Gitano, Marote, Juan Habichuela, Pepe Habichuela, Manuel Cano, Frasquito Yerbaguena, Enrique Morente, Mario Maya, Manolete, Maraquilla, Juan Andrés Maya, Emilio Maya, Miguel Angel Cortes, Miguel Ochando, Yerbabuena, la Nitra, Marina Heredia, Estrella Morente, the Montoyas, Carbonelas, Heredias, Carmonas.......etc.
This year at La Union two of Granada's young singers walked off with prizes, Victor 'El Charico' accompanied by Emilio Maya, and also Juan Pinillo. Last year another winner from Granada was the dancer Fuensanta La Moneta, also accompanied by Emilio. Granada has good reason to be proud of her flamenco history as well as her flamenco present and we're all working towards a great flamenco future.
Look forward to meeting you at Don Simon's one of these days.
ORIGINAL: Escribano Looking forward to the challenges.
The last 7 years in Granada have been the most exciting and 'challenging' of my life. I've never had so much fun and I don't think I've ever worked so hard but I've enjoyed every minute and had some simply amazing experiences. I know you will too.
I know Granada is beautiful: I have been there several times. However I do not feel at home there. I hope most foreign aficionados don´t feel like this: the puesto de sol is one of the great vistas de la vida.
Speaking of this dancer: I do not like baile because it is the palo which is least flamenco and had done most damage to the cante. For example, Sara Baras (que guapa!) has abandoned flamenco as has Joaquin Cortes, seeking exito in New York and London where there is a lot of money and little conocimiento.
But Fuensanta has to be seen. She is a monstro, una fuerza de la naturaleza. She has restored my faith en el baile. She reminds me of the films of Carmen Amaya . Incredible.
Doña Katrina, beauty is a good enough reason for me. Always got me into trouble
This is the view from what will be my Moorish roof terrace. It's a large secadora for drying garlic at the moment. I think that's an almond tree beneath and those are orange, lemon and olive trees on the slopes.
I will be riding my own horse over these hills one day, with my big Ridgeback panting alongside.
Beauty is a good reason and I will find enough flamenco for my needs, maybe one day I could even make my own Besides, Pepe Habichuela was my first flamenco hero.
I know what you mean about feeling at home, Sean. Jerez and Cadíz have their own warm charm. I fell into Jerez no problem at all and I will be back for the fiestas at the drop of a hat, but the province of Granada is on a different scale and in that, it strikes me as having more possibilities... like a frontier, maybe?
It's the nearest I can find to how I felt in New Mexico.... serene.
There always be a beer waiting in the fridge, up on the terrace, for anyone who drops by Restábal, El Valle, Granada.
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Fuensanta has to be seen. She is a monstro, una fuerza de la naturaleza. She has restored my faith en el baile. She reminds me of the films of Carmen Amaya . Incredible.
Sean
Yes she is stunning, she reminds me of Ana Calí as well, a strong look, immaculate footwork, power and grace in a small body she prowls and commands the stage without the need for props or plot.
I'm going to see Juan de Juan tonight at the Peña, I have heard very good things about this dancer from Moron. Have you seen him ?
I'd love to. I was there this summer, at a festival, not flamenco, in Chiclana and found everyone so nice, so friendly, not like the 'mallafolla' of Granada that's for sure. The sea was stunning but the wind that seemed to blow through closed doors drove me crazy, and my hair ended up a mass of tangled dry curls you couldn't put a comb through. I love the cante from Cadiz, joyous compared with the fandangos of Granada. I'd like to get to know it better. Perhaps I can make a pilgrimage with Simon in his mustang. Saludos
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Enhorabuena Simon. 
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