Spanish Saxophonist Angel Soria Diaz Performs At Xaymaca Tonight

Spanish musician Angel Soria Diaz has had a love affair with Jamaica since his first visit last year.
             

For Soria, making music means sharing with others.

"Music can help (you) to be more generous. If you play without caring about the others, the 'magic' of music could never happen," said the Spain-born music educator.

He is the featured performer at the Xaymaca concert by Peter Ashbourne slated for later this evening.

Soria, last year, hosted a classical music workshop with the Alpha Institute, which was spearheaded by the Embassy of Spain and the Spanish-Jamaican Foundation.

What is more, having discontinued its classical music programme at Alpha, Soria's sessions last year provided a much-needed boost to the learning experience of the students, many of whom had never listened to classical greats such as Mozart, Bach, Vivaldi or Beethoven.

"When we first told Alpha that Angel was not a reggae saxophonist, at the embassy, we thought they were going to be disappointed, but they saw it as a better opportunity to show the students something different," said Carmen Rives Ruiz-Tapiador, chargÈ d'affaires of the Embassy of Spain.

At Xaymaca, Soria will conduct the National Youth Orchestra of Jamaica, showcase the results of the workshop at Alpha, premiere the new piece for saxophone and orchestra by Jamaican composer Peter Ashbourne with the Samuel Felsted Chamber Orchestra.

"Definitely, the premiere of Peter Ashbourne's new piece will be one of the most amazing things I've done as a musician," Soria shared, adding that classical saxophone with a world premiere by a Jamaican composer is going to be a very interesting mix.

UCA Celebrates ‘Dia de Los Muertos’

The Latino Student Association shared their Central American holiday “Dia de los Muertos” with UCA students inviting them to connect with the spirits of their dead loved ones during X-period Nov. 1 on Old Main lawn.
             

Dia de los Muertos is a Spanish phrase meaning Day of the Dead, and according to Jorge Guadamez, senior and president of the LSA, is a day of celebrating the spirits  descending from the afterlife.

They had several tables set up under a tent decorated with pink, red, yellow, orange and blue decorations surrounding the tent. Students passing by could see the colorful ribbons waving in the wind while celebratory Spanish music could be heard throughout the middle of campus.

IMG_0195The altar in the far left of the tent held sugar skulls – an item famously associated with Dia de los Muertos – colorful decorations, flowers and candles.

According to Guadamez  Dia de los Muertos takes place for up to three days starting anywhere from Oct. 30 to Nov. 2 and is when the spirits of the dead visit and spend time with their loved ones.

“We set up these altars and we bring bread, candy, any of their favorite foods, Guadamez said. “They eat with us, they sit with us.”

People gathered around the altar and were invited to either add a decoration of their own to the altar or write their loved one’s name on a sticky note to place on the altar in remembrance.

Guadamez said usually there would be pictures of the loved ones but in place of that they were just having students place sticky notes.

“This is our way of remembering them,” Guadamez said.

He said after the third day of the celebration the spirits go back up to the after life.

Senior, Megan Saville was attending the event after having to research it for a class.

“I like that they are involving the Spanish Culture, Saville said.

With Cervantes and flamenco, Spanish culture in spotlight

The pen is the tongue of the mind. Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616), regarded as the greatest Spanish novelist, has gifted us thousands of such gems of wisdom and higher thinking that lay scattered across his many iconic written works.

To mark the literary legend’s 400th death anniversary, the Embassy of Spain in Qatar, in co-operation with the Translation and Interpreting Institute (College of Humanities and Social Sciences, HBKU), is organising a lecture on “the influence of Islam and Moorish culture in the work of Cervantes and his masterpiece Don Quixote” by Dr Muhsin al-Ramli, a Spanish writer, poet, translator, and academic, who teaches at Saint Louis University – Madrid Campus. The lecture will be held at the Cinema Auditorium, Education City, Student Centre, at 6.30pm on October 20. The lecture will be delivered in Arabic with simultaneous translations in English and Spanish.

Ester Borras, Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Spain in Qatar, told Community, “The idea behind such cultural events is to bring together the two countries and the two cultures. Our objective is to showcase some aspects of our culture to the Qataris and the other expats in Qatar, by working together in co-operation with the Qatari authorities. At the Cervantes event, for instance, an exhibition of selected items from Cervantes’ period, from the private collection of Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim al-Thani will be showcased at the venue.”

The most important and celebrated figure in Spanish literature, Cervantes lived in troubled times, both of crisis and splendour, and the conflict of civilisations in the Mediterranean basin was the theatre of operations of the writer. Interestingly, his lifetime coincided with the last Muslim presence in Spain and these circumstances are reflected in his profound knowledge of the Islamic world in his work. His life alone would be worth a novel as his adventures as a soldier, a counsellor and even a tax collector were numerous and extraordinary.

Momentum Grows Against Bullfighting In Spain, As Thousands Rally

Thousands gathered on the streets of Madrid to protest bullfighting, chanting that it is "torture — not art or culture!"

This demonstration comes amid growing momentum in Spain against the centuries-old tradition, as reporter Lauren Frayer tells our Newscast unit. It was organized by Pacma, an animal rights political party — and the group says it was "the biggest anti-bullfighting protest to date," as Reuters reports.

Frayer says a graphic viral video has energized the movement against the practice. "Last month, animal rights activists [from Pacma] went undercover to film a medieval festival south of Madrid, where a baby bull was stabbed and killed in the bull ring by amateurs," she reports. "Video of the scene with children cheering went viral — with 20 million views in 24 hours. Many Spaniards were outraged that such torture is legal here."

There have been signs of change recently. This week, "a popular festival that used to involve spearing bulls as they run through the streets will go on — but without the bulls being killed. That part has been banned," Frayer reports.

According to the Associated Press, "at least 17 Spanish cities and towns have cut municipal funding for bullfights and bull runs, or passed legislation condemning or banning it since the new leftist party Podemos won its first seats in local and regional elections a year ago." The Catalonia region banned bullfighting altogether in 2011, as NPR reported.

Tour five spectacular Spanish-style homes in Glendale

Spanish architecture has left an enduring impression in Los Angeles, and Glendale in particular, where Spanish Colonial Revival — and Mediterranean Revival — flourished during the late 1920s and early 1930s.

The Glendale Historical Society’s Spanish Splendor home tour on Sept. 25 will showcase five period revival homes:  the 1928 Jacob D. Funk House designed by architect Earl C. Rahn; the  Bowles House, a 1929 Spanish Colonial Revival hillside home with a sunken, barrel-vaulted living room; the Burns House, a 1928 Mediterranean Revival home built by Guy Worth Calkins; the Mahoney House, a classic 1932 Spanish Colonial Revival home; and the Wiegert  House, a modest 1932 Spanish Colonial Revival home with magnesite floors, hand-stenciled wood beams and tile fireplace.

Tickets are $30 to $40 in advance and $35 to $45 after Sept. 20. They can be bought online at www.glendalehistorical.org or www.glendalearts.org or in person at the Americana at Brand concierge desk. The tour is self-driven and runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

For further information, contact events@glendalehistorical.org or (818) 242-7447 or the Glendale Arts box office at (818) 243-2611, Ext. 11. Day-of-tour tickets may be purchased at the Alex Theatre, 216 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale.