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Posts: 2277
Joined: Apr. 17 2007
From: South East England
new place to perform in Oxford
The Kazbar restaurant on the Cowley Road in Oxford, are starting a new flamenco night on Thursdays. Their idea is that one person will do some short sets, and in between those anyone who wants can play a piece.
I've volunteered to be the first person to do the sets, and the first night is Thursday 25th February. So if you can get to Oxford and have something you would like to play, just bring your guitar along and you can play! It doesn't matter if you think you are a beginner or advanced - performing is a new skill, and one to practise right from the start. Anyone who plays gets a free drink as a reward for getting up and strutting their stuff!!
I've only volunteered to do the first night, so they are looking for people to do the sets on future Thursdays as well. So come along on the first night and see what you think. If you enjoy doing your first piece you can put your name down to do the sets later on.
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RE: new place to perform in Oxford (in reply to Ailsa)
Good on you Ailsa!
Is Rafa going to be there at all?
If so, send him my regards.
I stayed at a hotel at the far end of Cowley Road on my jaunt down to Oxford for a couple of days, so wandered around the various pubs there in the evenings and had a superb Indian meal too!
Posts: 2277
Joined: Apr. 17 2007
From: South East England
RE: new place to perform in Oxford (in reply to Ron.M)
Yeah it's a bit of a long trek for you Ron!!
A few people have said they are going to come along and perform something, which is great. Rafa's gonna come along if he can too.
And as always, having a gig really focusses the mind! I've been asked to play 4 x 15 minute sets. It's not until you start timing all your pieces that you realise how much work it is getting 1 hour's worth of material!
So much of the stuff I "know" isn't to performance standard, even for a student. And a lot of Rafa's music is so beautiful I don't want to insult the music by playing it before I'm ready. His fandangos is great - really funky chords. But it will have to wait for another occasion.
Anyway, hopefully we'll get some pics and post them here.
Posts: 2277
Joined: Apr. 17 2007
From: South East England
RE: new place to perform in Oxford (in reply to Ailsa)
Well I survived it!! First of all thanks to those who sent me messages of support and encouragement - I was really touched that you remembered!
Jenny, Richard (marrow3) and Simon (peghead48) were also there, so they can give their own account, but I think the evening was a success. Not due to my playing, but because it was a great atmosphere.
In the end I only did 3 of my sets - I say only but that was still 45 minutes! Of course I was reeeeeeeeally nervous, and I fluffed some notes. But generally I got through all my pieces without any dreadful mishaps
Best of all was that lots of others also performed in between my sets, which was great - Jenny played a fab Farruca, Richard played some bulerias, and Rafael's wonderful Rondena. Richard also played a couple of numbers as a duet with Abelardo. Simon played Rumba and Bulerias. John played a couple of numbers including Seguiriyas.
Then I persuaded Jenny and Abelardo to play Sevillanas for me to dance to (good of Abe because he'd never played Sevillanas before!). Richard, Abe and Jenny improvised a rumba, and the evening finished with Jenny and Abe with Rafael, playing bulerias.
So it was a great evening. The restaurant managers were very happy and have agreed to have us back next month! So if we can keep the interest up, it will be a monthly meet in Oxford
I have to admit in the days leading up to it I was regretting having volunteered to do this - it was a **** of a lot of work getting so many pieces to performance standard. However now I've done that, it won't be so tough next time.
So hopefully I'll be able to post regularly about how it's going. I didn't have time to take any pics myself, but other people did and if I can get hold of some I'll post them.
Posts: 3055
Joined: Aug. 30 2008
From: Boston, MA, U.S.A
RE: new place to perform in Oxford (in reply to Ailsa)
congratulations ailsa! it sounded like a very fun night, wish i could have witnessed it! and that's really cool that they want you back next month.
That's great that you were able to work through your nerves. imagine, in a few months, you wont have the nerves at all and you'll be an excellent performer and you can let your personality really shine through!
RE: new place to perform in Oxford (in reply to Ailsa)
Re- registered and gained an extra year!
Hi Ailsa
Thank you so much for arranging the evening, it was great fun.
You played really well and you should be proud of what you achieved.
For myself, I thought I played rubbish, but for the casual observer they don't seem to pick up the mistakes. It does give me confidence for future public performances and has not scared me senseless and I'm keen to do it again. Things that I play day in day out on my own take on a different dimension when your up there. So hopefully with time I can get through some of the more complex bits.
Thanks for getting a picture as well
Hope we can continue to get the place 'rocking' in the future as its a good opportunity to build on.
RE: new place to perform in Oxford (in reply to Ailsa)
Has the venue changed ? Walked by Tarifa on Cowley road and saw a poster in the window for a Flamenco night on the last Thursday of each month. Thanks, Steve
RE: new place to perform in Oxford (in reply to marrow3)
Thanks Richard .... I haven't been to one of these evenings yet, but will try to get into Oxford this Thurs if possible..... if not, next time. Cheers, Steve
RE: new place to perform in Oxford (in reply to Ailsa)
That's what I like to see, see you can have fun and be together and enjoy it all without the need to be so profound. Wish I were there.....thanks Ailsa!!! Gary
RE: new place to perform in Oxford (in reply to gato)
Two years and the Flamenco night is still going. In addition to guitar students of Rafael, local dance classes we are lucky to have a number of Spaniards living and working in the area. Here are some pictures from recent events. There is another event tonight (short notice, sorry) at the Cafe Tarifa Cowley Road, Oxford 8.30-11.00 pm. It may relatively quiet this time so anyone who like to perform would be most welcome.
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