среда, 2 сентября 2015 г.

Sonorama Ribera 2015. The Report. #4 Sonorama Is Life

The last day of Sonorama is usually the one you start to feel yourself exhausted. The hotel lobby was all quiet at 10.45 am even though it was full of young people - just because the young people was totally worn out. For me and Tanya, we were quite brave, but somehow we made our biggest mistake making the decision to come to Plaza just in time to see Rufus T. Firefly at 2 pm. This decision ruined our morning session almost completely cos when we came to plaza we were forced to face one simple fact: even the tiny streets that adjoined the Plaza del Trigo were already overcrowded. We did our best trying to find the appropriate place to see Rufus but occasionally we appeared at epicenter of water pistols war. The people closest to us was more interested in shooting themselves by water than in listening to the band, so we spent more time avoiding from the water drippings than looking at the stage. The footage was troublesome as well. Victor Cabezuelo and his pals were great anyway. Live they sounded even better than on "Nueve", the album that made it to the very top of my year 2015 's top list. One of the most heartfelt moment of the festival was when Victor changed the lyrics of the song "(escribe aqui el nombre de la persona a la que mas quieras)" and sang "Si al final moriremos igual, yo prefiero morir en la Plaza del Trigo" (if we're going to die anyway, I prefer to die on the Plaza del Trigo) instead of "Si al final moriremos igual, yo prefiero morir ahora mismo contigo". 
Rufus T. Firefly

When the Rufus show was over we felt like there was enough time to find ourselves the better place for today's concierto secreto, so we decided to step back to escape the water wars. It was another totally wrong decision as what we managed to get finally was the place from where we could see nothing that was happening onstage. Was it Xoel? Was it Zahara? For God's sake, what is going on there? Was it... who was it, really? It was bad, it was really really fucking bad to stay pretty close to something important having absolutely no idea what is it. So we turned our backs and paved the roundabout way to Red Bull stage where Willy Naves were performing. They sounded interesting so we stayed there until the performance was finished. We noticed JuanMa behind the bus and talked a bit to him ("Supersubmarina? Oh no, I walked away to sleep").
Willy Naves

Our next stop should be the Carson camping stage  where the post rock band Blusa was schediled to perform. I contacted their drummer Antonio and, unfortunately, he revealed to me that the performance of Blusa was cancelled due to the injury of the band's bass player. The second disappointment of this morning.

For the last night of Sonorama we came to recinto ferial right at the start of Zahara's performance. Zahara Gordillo Campos tours with her latest album "Santa". Also she presented some songs from the previous albums like "Lenador Y La Mujer America" from "La Pareja Toxica" but 90% of the set was dedicated to "Santa". Onstage we could see some familiar faces - Victor Cabezuelo (Rufus T. Firefly) on synths and Ramiro Nieto from The Right Ons on drums (two days ago he played drums for Tulsa). The performance was concentrated mostly on the personality of Zahara much like the shows of Garbage are concentrated mostly on the personality of Shirley Manson or the shows of Blondie are concentrated mostly on the personality of Debbie Harry. So the impact of other musicians was some kind of shadowed by the anthropomorphous fountain of feminine power. When she was dancing, when she was playing acoustic guitar, when she was playing drums, when she crossed the security border and entered the crowd - all eyes were on her. Even Tanya who initially was kinda sceptic on Zahara summarized the show with the words "very bright, very smart, very talented girl!"
Zahara

One of the first bands to appear on Sonorama 2015 lineup were Mercromina (the legendary shoegazers from Albacete returned to activity the last year). In contarst with Zahara their show was built around the sound rather than on the visual side. The musicians were static, and the rich and deep guitar reverb along with the trademark baritone of Joaquin Pascual were the only dominants of the show. For the song "En Un Mundo Tan Pequeno" Joaquin's daughter Angela came onstage to sing the lyrics with her dad. As Mercromima is one of my Top10 bands it was the pure pleasure for my ears to be there.
Joaquin Pascual (Mercromina)

Then we rushed to VIP zone to find some palce to behold the performance of Xoel Lopez. Xoel was alone onstage. Two years ago he was supported by the full band, but now there was just Xoel and nobody else. Though I don't quite like the "Paramales", his latest effort, he is - and always will be - on the very top of my favorite musicians ever, so it was no way for me to miss his show. 
Xoel Lopez from afar

Nevertheless in the middle of his set we went off to see Havoc on Burgos stage. And this came out as one of the best decisions ever made by us because we appeared to attend one of the best performances of this year's Sonorama. Initially we planned to catch a song or two and then come back to Ribera stage for the final part of Xoel's performance, but these plans had never come true.
Havoc (initially PLV Havoc) was not lucky enough to have the timeslot which wouldn't coincide with the Xoel's (less lucky were only Berri Txarrak who were set to perform in the same time with Vetusta Morla) so the crowd before the Burgos stage wasn't any substantial. That was better for me as in seconds I went crazy and needed some space around to jerk and jump quite freely. When Havoc finished the set with the trippy version of "Cazador De Ballenas" it was almost physically painful to stop cos I wanted more of this energy, more of these catchiest of songs. Surely the best gig of the fest along with Dorian and La Habitacion Roja's concierto secreto.
Havoc

Returning to VIP zone to take some wine and to meet JuanMa for the last time here we were attracted by the sounds from Castilla Y Leon stage where Bigott was performing. As for Arizona Baby I've never liked his albums at all. But live he caught my attention pretty easily cos he sounded more cohesive, more guitar-driven and less quirky and psych. Instead of sounding synth-laden psycho pop he sounded rock. And it was cool. then we met with JuanMa and he encouraged us to see his friends Eladio Y Los Seres Queridos so in 5 minutes we returned to Burgos stage. And Eladio Y Los Seres Queridos were fantastic too. The name of the band was familiar to me as I had been noticing it here and there for years, but I never heard their songs before. So the band became one more discovery for us.
Eladio Y Los Seres Queridos

The next stop was the show of Correos on Castilla y Leon. The Basque band recorded the new album "Seres" here in Aranda. The show was a mix of the new songs and the old ones. As I purchased "Seres" on iTunes right at the moment it was issued we already knew all the songs. Energetic as ever, Correos confirmed their status as uprising and unmistakably catchy band.
Correos

The next show should be some kind of apex of the festival. Vetusta Morla gathered the largest crowd before the Ribera stage. Spending time with Correos we had no chance to get closer to the stage so for Vetusta we returned to VIP zone. In VIP zone I noticed Mikel Izal and asked him for the photo. He didn't decline. It was nice because Izal is one of our favorite bands.

What should I say about Vetusta Morla... Vetusta is Vetusta. I suppose, to stay on the first line before the stage on their concert could be the fantastic experience - but to get there we should skip Correos and probably most part of Eladio, that was no way. So we watched Pucho from afar. On the tiny dancing zone within VIP zone I went mad dancing and shouting out the lyrics of "Valiente", "Cuarteles de Invierno", "La Deriva", "El Hombre del Saco"... And maybe it was even better because how could I dance before the stage being pressured by all these bodies around... Anyway. I shouldn't be asking for more as all that I already got was great.
Vetusta Morla

Devastated, we came down to the ground and stumbled at Castilla Y Leon to look at Neuman. So we looked at Neuman whom I like alot but my feelings were cut short at that moment. Then we looked at Sidonie from afar as the sea of people before them was as huge as before Vetusta Morla. And then abruptly Sonorama 2015 ended up for us. For the final time we came to VIP zone just to take our final cups of wine cashing out the funds drawn to our NFCs. We were as happy as killed by the necessity to live again our everyday lives starting from the next fucking gloomy morning. Right at the ladder we run into Correos. I quickly captured the attention of Fermin Bouza with my classic "Fermin! Por favor una foto con dos fanaticos rusos!" and we took a photo together with all of them. The guys were smiley and nice.

What should I say to wrap up my report... "La vida es lo que pasa entre Sonorama y Sonorama", says the slogan of the festival. In fact no. No, life is not what passes from one Sonorama to another Sonorama. Sonorama is mere life. And what passes between Sonorama and Sonorama is just something that passes from life to the next life.

Sincerely yours,
Mikhail, el ambassador del rock espanol en Rusia

вторник, 1 сентября 2015 г.

Sonorama Ribera 2015. The Report. #3 The Happiness And Things Like That

Date: August, Friday 14th
Place: Spain, Burgos Province, Aranda de Duero, Plaza del Trigo & Recinto Ferial

The second day of Sonorama promised us even more than we had yesterday, so we slept a bit more to 'recharge the batteries' and did not managed to arrive at Plaza del Trigo in time. As a result, we skipped almost entire performance of Jacobo Serra, the young singer-songwriter who presented his melodic Beatles-tinged songs to the crowd with passion and honesty. This day we made the decision to stay on the Plaza constantly due to the necessity to save good places for 'concierto secreto'. So when the people started to flow off the square to get themselves some beer or calimocho in between of performances we stayed without any move.
Jacobo Serra

Belize, the next band to perform, appeared to be a bunch of boys and girls who looked like the high school students. Really, they looked very young. Their music was a mix of warm and sunny lounge with the most poppy form of indie rock. Visually they were a bit nervous being granted with the possibility to perform on Plaza but the crowd was warm to them anyway.
Belize

Full were the most well-known band in the morning session. Based on the songs from their latest album "Mi Primer Atraco" their program have shown the band's best sides with the melodic alternative rock much in the vein of Supersubmarina. In the middle of their set all the guys from Izal appeared backstage. Are Izal today's secret band? - the unasked question was almost palpable in the air. The next surprise was when Sean Frutos came onstage to support Full's frontman Javi Valencia for the song "Adios". Are Second today's secret band again?
Full & Sean Frutos

Apparently the answer was "no" for both. Because, occasionally, we were granted with the opportunity to see La Habitacion Roja for the third time within 8 days. 
This secret concert have shown us the most energetic side of the band. And it was absolutely unforgettable. From the very beginning of the show Jorge looked a bit tipsy but if it was really so it did not spoil anything. LHR did the same thing as Ninos Mutantes an year ago - they have made a set of cover versions. "Heroes" of David Bowie, "Boys Don't Cry" by The Cure, "Man On the Moon" by REM, "Song 2" by Blur... Finalizing the set with their own "Ayer" Jorge crashed down on the ground with the t-shirt totally wet from sweat. We felt ourselves like the lemons squeezed dry but happiness was our second name because of this crazy smashing groundbreaking show.
La Habitacion Roja

After having a nap (and a cup of wine) in the hotel room we came to recinto ferial to start the evening with the Grupo de Expertos Solynieve. The supergroup with Jota and Manu Ferron as co-leaders and two primary songwriters played some sort of electrified alt-country rock where one song could lean to blues, and another could be arranged in pure indie rock key. We stayed with them until the performance was wrapped up and then went to VIP zone to look around.
Grupo de Expertos Solynieve

In VIP zone we run into Javier Ajenjo and we talked a bit. He asked us if we attended the Morente Vive! show yesterday (of course, yes!), and I praised him for being capable to get all the pieces together in his hands and for making Sonorama better and better with every new edition.
For Arizona Baby we decided not to dive deep into the crowd, so we took ourselves some perfect DO Ribera del Duero wine and moved our bodies to the place within VIP zone from where we could observe the main stage. It surprised me how cool this band sounded live. I've tried to listen to their albums but I definitely couldn't fall in love with cos I considered the sound too thin, and the vocals too. But live it gave me absolutely different impression. It didn't sound thin at all. It sounded vital.
Arizona Baby

Jero Romero is a special band. You might not be much into their music. You might not want to listen to them. You might come there for the couple of songs just to tick a box - but surely you will stay there for the whole set of songs. There is something magnetic in this bunch of musicians gathered in the center of the stage like if they are jamming in very small room. It is impossible to say 'OK, let's go to see something else' and walk away. It's always some kind of magic.
Jero Romero

Before starting the "Calexico - Mi Capitan - Murciano Total - Supersubmarina" long run we came to VIP zone again to visit less overcrowded WCs. Standing in the queue I noticed the Grupo de Expertos Solynieve musicians coming into VIP zone. I felt stupid to run away from the queue and ask them to take a photo together with the toilets as the background - though to take a photo together with Jota for me it was the same as taking a photo with God for any religious person. Just to react to the situation I started to applause. In two seconds all the queue started to applause. The musicians waved hands to us, everybody was smiling. It was pretty nice moment but I felt like I've lost the momentum, and I would never see them again from such the close distance. But when we went up for the next doses of wine they were just standing there and having the conversation together.
Jota!!! - I was almost crying. - Sorry for disturbance! We're your fans from Russia! One photo, please!
From Russia? - Jota cracked a smile. - You've come a long way!

When the photos were taken everything I could was just to shout "Aaaaaaaa!!!" in the air, and I did so. The happiness became my first name. Really, for some amount of time I was the most happy person in the whole world.
We skipped Calexico because, you know, I'm here to observe the local bands rather than the international stars. They sounded great, and they were great in fact - but I wasn't there for them. So we ran to Burgos stage to see Mi Capitan. Mi Capitan is somewhat new name for the scene with the debut album "Drenad El Sena" released this year - new name but with familiar faces. The members of Standstill, Egon Soda and Love Of Lesbian are here to accompany longtime friend Gonçal Planas, the tour manager and sound engineer of the aforementioned bands. Mi Capitan have presented most of the songs from "Drenad El Sena" including their emblematic "Es Suave La Voz"  - the song the band is going to be remembered for in years. With unexpected appearance of Sidonie members onstage for the final song their perfomance definitely was worth abandoning Calexico.
Mi Capitan

Then we stayed before Burgos stage awaiting Murciano Total. The residents of El Genio Equivocado label that initially had been hiding their names under Lena & Sema monikers (later revealed to be Jose Lozano (of Automatics and Universal Circus fame) and Elena Molino) reproduced the sound of their cool and fresh "Quereres Y Dejenes" album quite literally, and their set was the pure pleasure for me as I like that album very much.
Murciano Total

While the Castilla Y Leon stage was sieged by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah we were hidden somewhere in the middle of the crowd before the Ribera stage. Supersubmarina were the headliners of this night so half an hour before the concert the crowd was already enormous. Considered 'too commercial' by fellow musicians this band presented the loud and colourful show with heroic poses and all these attributes of successful rock band. Anyway, the sound was not ideal, and while the performance was very professional and energetic the impression was not quite what we expected overall.
Supersubmarina

To finalize our activities this night we came to the Castilla Y Leon stage to look at La Maravillosa Orquesta del Alcohol. In comparison with the last year the local Burgos province heroes were promoted from openers to headliners in terms of the timeslots. The crowd was also significant so we didn't manage to get closer to the stage. But all the songs were familiar to us as we listen to their albums frequently in our everyday life, and we got enough pleasure just standing there behind the crowd and singing these songs along with the band.
La Maravillosa Orquesta del Alcohol

Text: Mikhail
Photos: Tatiana & Mikhail

среда, 26 августа 2015 г.

Sonorama Ribera 2015. The Report. #2 "Action!"

Date: August, Thursday 13th
Place: Spain, Burgos Province, Aranda de Duero, Plaza del Trigo & Recinto Ferial

Thursday, 13th at midday we came to the heart of Sonorama, the Plaza del Trigo, to start our normal festival life. We were a bit late to get there right at the start of the first performance - the one of Los Nastys. We saw this band live two years ago on Carson camping stage, and they were not so great, honestly speaking - especially being compared to the band that followed them (Sin Rumbo - and they were absolutely perfect). This time Los Nastys performed much better - and though the music was not of our kind, the band was funny and energetic and seemed capable to give the day the right start.
Los Nastys

When Los Nastys came offstage we ran to the Red Bull Tour Bus stage to see what's happening there. The guys from Supertennis were performing. This year Sonorama established close ties to another great summer festival, ContemPOPranea. To visualize these ties both festivals some kind of delegated one band from the roster to the partner. Sonorama delegated Correos, and ContemPOPranea delegated Supertennis. This band played melodic power pop and sounded quite interesting to dig them deeper.
Supertennis

By return to Plaza del Trigo we beheld the lovely show of Nunatak, one more cool band from Murcia. Nunatak became our first true discovery of this Sonorama. I knew nothing about the band, so for me and Tanya they were surprisingly good.
Nunatak

The band's sound was built around more or less traditional folk rock format and incorporated tubes and violin, and their performance was so sparkling that it was absolutely impossible not to fall for.
Right after the show of Nunatak we tried to get in touch with JuanMa Fernandez, el guitarrista de Igloo, who as we knew was somewhere around there. Thanks to the free wi-fi coverage of the most part of old town of Aranda we managed to find him in the crowd. The next band to come on the stage was Analogic - and I have little to tell about them because all through the show of Analogic we talked to JuanMa and rarely looked stageside.
Analogic

After we parted ways with JuanMa (previously making the agreement to meet at VIP zone at night) we went to Red Bull to look at the last band of the morning session - Bye Bye Lullaby, the winners of the DO Ribera del Duero "Talento Ribera" contest. They looked cool and sounded cool, and became one more band to monitor (and I monitor, no kidding - two minutes before I started to write this report I purchased their album on iTunes, and right now I type all these words and phrases listening to it).
Bye Bye Lullaby

The night session started for us from the stage Burgos Origen Y Destino (former Future Stars) and the band Bambikina on it. I found them on Facebook a couple of months before the Sonorama and wanted to see them live. It was folk-based kind of misic again, and Esther Mendez, the frontwoman of the band, was so funny and honest and devoted to what she was doing there. By the way, Burgos Origen Y Destino this year became the full-fledged stage instead of being just pretty small tent.
Bambikina

In the meantime we caught a couple of songs by Marlango on the main stage - it was pleasant enough to stay there for more but Tulsa were 'a must see' for me so we returned to Burgos stage to see Miren Iza and her pals. Tulsa is one of the definitive bands for me as they were the third Spanish band whose music I embraced some years ago, and their album "Solo Me Haz Rozado" I adore much since then. Earlier this year Tulsa released the new album named "La Chica Calma" that marked considerable stylistic change for the band. Now their music is more electronic, more introvert, more somber. Accompanied onstage by the persons of Charlie Bautista and Marti Perarnau caliber, Miren presented to us the set of new songs cross't with a couple of older tracks - and all this turned into definitely one of the best performances of the day. It was really impressive yet laconic.
Tulsa

Then there was another discovery. Naming 'discovery' the band with 20-something career is not so smart for me, but nevertheless I have never ever listened to Australian Blonde before this Thursday. This band really amazed me. Especially their guitarist who appear to be Paco Loco, one of the most renowned indie rock producers of Spain. Now we could see why they called him 'loco' (crazy). From afar he looks like J Mascis, but if J mixes his furious playing with anemic stage behaviour then Paco does everything full throttle. His guitar playing is full of energy, and his appearance is absolutely frenetic - he rarely stops moving more than for a second or two unlike his colleagues including Francisco Nixon, the man behind the mic.
Australian Blonde

Having stopped the headbanging on Australian Blonde we came to VIP zone to have ourselves some wine (this year there were 12 labels of DO Ribera del Duero wine, so one might taste them all and choose the best for his own taste) and to meet JuanMa. After both goals were successfully met we found out that one of the main 'points of interest' of this edition of Sonorama started to take place on the main stage.
The bright and colourful performance named Morente Live! was a homage to the late flamenco singer and composer Enrique Morente. In the 90's he was the first classic flamenco musician to make connections to indie rock world, and later Jota (Los Planetas) and Antonio Arias (Lagartija Nick) became his recurrent companions. After Enrique had passed away in 2010, his younger daughter Solea created a band with Jota and Antonio to pay homage to Enrique's large legacy. Initialy an one-off project, Los Evangelistas turned into something more releasing two albums, touring intensively and experiencing the mutual work with Youth, one of the most renowned British producers of all time. The show was semantically divided into several acts and started from the classic flamenco. We were not interested in classic flamenco and decided to walk around and just look what's happening here and there. The sounds from Burgos stage caught our attention so we came there again to look at Los Vengadores. Los Vengadores were loud, melodic and highly energetic. It was nice because I like loudness, melodicity and high levels of energy.
Los Vengadores

But as the show on the main stage developed, it came farther and farther away from the basic flamenco, gradually incorparting the elements rarely found in the classic genre. So when we returned to Ribera stage there were Estrella Morente - the eldest daughter of Enrique, Solea, Antonio Arias, Jota along with other Los Planetas members and a string of classic flamenco musicians. This last part of the show was absolutely spectacular and driving, full with pure emotions and beauty.
Morente Vive! troupe

When the final crescendo was over we stayed before Ribera stage to win ourselves the better places for Dorian. We met success moving our wine-fueled bodies right at the security bars by the very center of the stage. The waiting period faded fast and we quickly became surrounded by the screeching young females evoking Marc Gili before their eyes. Dorian launched the show with the biggest hit single from the "La Velocidad del Vacio" album - "Los Amigos Que Perdi". Celebrating the tenth anniversary of band's existence this year, now the band tours in support of the album "Diez Anos Y Un Dia". If the tracks on the album were arranged in intelligent acoustic key, then live they sounded much louder and considerably more powerful. The guitar sound was predominant throughout the show. As we knew most of the songs on "Diez Anos Y Un Dia" by heart, we sang them along being definitely not the worst singers in the forefront of the crowd (some chicks by our side were much worse than us). Closer to the end of the show the paper gun was triggered, and we found ourselves placed inside the papercuts blizzard. It looked - and felt - very beautiful and uplifting.
Dorian

It was great but what would come next should be even greater. Earlier this day it was declared that Dorian would set up the signing session in mercadillo right after the show. Accidentally, we took a couple of Dorian CDs from home to listen to in the car during our North Spain travel. So we got something to be signed by the band. The only thing that was not prepared for this was me.
I thought that the musicians would stand behind the counter and we would just give them our CDs to sign, and they would sign them in the free-flow mode. In the best case we could say them "Hi!", I supposed. But in fact it wasn't so. We were invited into the space where we could shake hands with them, embrace them, talk to them... It's so sad that I wasn't prepared for this. I was absolutely stunned by the mere possibility of staying behind them so I've almost lost my tongue and felt myself like a fool. All the guys were so welcoming to us, and Belly was so beautiful and nice... Poor dumbhead me, it could have been much better! Anyway, to meet and greet with one of our favourite high profile bands was the great experience.
After that we just listened to Dinero from afar, to Kuve (the band fronted by the younger sister of Second's Sean Frutos) from afar and to La Habitacion Roja also from afar. The night was done.

The only thing to apologize was the missed performance of Reina Republicana. I planned to see them but it was absolutely impossible due to Dorian show and signing session.


Text: Mikhail
Photo: Tatiana & Mikhail

понедельник, 24 августа 2015 г.

Sonorama Ribera 2015. The Report. #1 Get The Party Started

Date: August, Wednesday 12th.
Place: Spain, Burgos Province, Aranda de Duero, Escenario Carson Camping

Almost an year ago I was standing on the edge of  Plaza del Trigo stage when Javier Ajenjo, the director of Sonorama, unexpectedly brought me in front right before the eyes of all these happy young men and women around and introduced me to the crowd, and I was thinking: What could be better than this? What in my fucking stupid boring life could ever be greater than this? Or most likely this would be the greatest moment for me to recall when I die? Will there be the other beautiful moments worth waiting for? (The answer for the last question is: definitely yes!)

This time we came to Aranda a day before the start of the festival - just to breathe this air, to walk the empty streets, to have a night to drink the wine sitting on the Plaza Mayor... Generally speaking, we wanted to adjust our souls to the atmosphere of the town before the fiesta starts. Our arrival was preceded by 9 days-long travel across the north of Spain from Galicia to Pais Vasco. Initially we had plans to meet some local musicians on our route - the plans that have partially come true (Hugo Babarro from Bestlife (Under Your Seat) and Julian Rodriguez (Igloo), and partially not (Edu Ugarte, Joe La Reina). In addition to that, our visit to Ferrol coincided with the acoustic set of La Habitacion Roja in a pretty small venue called Sala Super 8. Happily we managed to attend the concert and, moreover, to take a couple of photos with Jorge Marti and Pau Roca.

12th of August surprisingly the sky got cloudy after the lunch time. It was the first time when we saw the clouds in Aranda. The official opening of Sonorama was set at 9 p.m. in camping. When we came there at the time, it started raining. Needless to say, we weren't prepared for this and quickly started to get soaked with the raindrops. But the first ever performance of Sonorama Ribera 2015 was not painfully spoiled by the weather, and the band of Jimmy Barnatan (old-school country "redneck'n'roll" rock) led us through their r-r-r-roaring show without any serious obstacles on the way. But the next band to appear before or eyes and ears - Club del Rio - was compelled to postpone the show for almost an hour cos the rain got harder. There was something in the air that made the atmosphere around full of lightweight craziness and surrealism. Somewhere in between of the performances the costumes contest was scheduled for this night (first prize - lifelong access to all the future Sonoramas. Yes, lifelong!) So we were looking at the men dressed like women and the women dressed like men, and all these freaky styley dudes and chicks walking around us. There was a semi-naked guy with the painting saying "Fuck Canada!" across his waist, for instance. "You can't take that stuff to Canada", I recalled the line from the old Low track "Canada". Anyway, the most winning costume this night was that one of jellyfish as it was built upon the see-through umbrellas, and not only looked cool but also effectively prevented its owners from getting wet. Unfortunately, we didn't have one. So at the moment when Club del Rio finally came onstage not only to move their gear back and forth but also to play some music we made the definitive decision to return to hotel. Club del Rio were none of our interest with their mix of reggae, acid jazz and indie folk, and to wait for Aerolineas Federales and secret concert was a bit too embarassing for us, taking in mind that the rain showed no signs of stopping in the close future.

As my report of the first night of Sonorama 2015 is limited due to the poor weather conditions I have the time and the space to express my simpathy and adoration to the persons we got acquainted with during this travel. HugoJulian and JuanMa, the time that we spent together makes me and Tanya dream about spending much more time with you!

Text: Mikhail
Photos: Tatiana

среда, 19 августа 2015 г.

Sonorama Ribera 2015. The Report. The photographs

While I'm just trying to start the report on the new Sonorama edition, you may dive into the atmosphere of the fest through the set of photos that I uploaded (and still continue to upload as the amount is huge) here.

Javier Ajenjo (Sonorama director) & Jorge Marti (La Habitacion Roja) on Plaza del Trigo stage with DO Ribera del Duero wine