Monday, March 11, 2024

The result

 We went for a coffee whilst the band from Cox were playing so we missed them. 

What we can say is that the Bigastro band were magnificent and fully deserved to beat the band from Torrevieja. 


DOMINGO 10 MARZO TARDE

1ª Sección

SOCIEDAD MUSICAL LA ARMÓNICA DE COX
Puntuación: 409.75
Primer Premio y Mención Honor

UNIÓN MUSICAL DE BIGASTRO
Puntuación: 401.38
Primer Premio

UNIÓN MUSICAL TORREVEJENSE
Puntuación: 394.63
Primer Premio

Saturday, March 09, 2024

Wish them luck

 Bigastro band will be playing a last rehearsal concert tonight in Almoradi  ready for the Certamen at ADDA (Auditorio de la Diputación de Alicante) tomorrow. 

Certamens are competitions that are very important for local bands. The first one we went to was again at ADDA where Bigastro won first prize and went on to play in a regional final at Valencia. 

Needless to say, there have been many, many hours of rehearsal for this and the music chosen is about as difficult as it gets. One piece is set i.e. all three bands will play it. The others are chosen by the individual bands. 

The judges know their stuff and will be following the musical scores to see how well the bands interpret the works. 

As you can see from below, Bigastro will be the first band to play followed by the band from Cox and then the band from Torrevieja. 

DOMINGO 10 DE MARZO POR LA TARDE

1ª Sección

UNIÓN MUSICAL DE BIGASTRO

16h30

SOCIEDAD MUSICAL LA ARMÓNICA DE COX

18h

UNIÓN MUSICAL TORREVEJENSE

19h30

I should point out that Pam and I will be there. I will have my camera and my sound recorder with me. 

Sunday, February 04, 2024

Let it rain - please!

It might seem strange to our friends and family in England who have suffered deluge after deluge this winter but we would really like some rain to fall here in Spain. 

Of course we don't want a storms like those in September last year and certainly not a repeat of the three days in September 2019 that caused widespread damage. 

In Alicante, we are not the worst off for lack of rain. 

After more than 1,000 days of drought, the Catalan government has formally announced a state of emergency, extending water restrictions to Barcelona and the surrounding region.

It is estimated that 500mm of rain needs to fall in Catalonia to make up the deficit. Water reserves have fallen below 16%, a level low enough to trigger the emergency declaration.

The drought is not confined to the north-east of Spain. In Andalucía, in southern Spain, two successive hot, dry summers have devastated the olive harvest, reducing production by 50% and doubling the price of olive oil. The grape harvest has also been poor in much of the country as even vines struggle to survive.

Tourist industry bosses say that while it’s easy to point the finger at golf courses and swimming pools, 80% of Spain’s water is consumed by agriculture.

Long before the climate crisis entered the equation, Spain was living beyond its means in terms of water, damming and diverting its few major rivers to irrigate the market gardens in the southern desert regions of Almería and Murcia.


Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Obscene!

It is often said that, whilst the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and it is true. I don't know about you but I put this down more to greed than graft.  

Whilst we might focus on pop stars and sportspeople like footballers, corporate executives are included in this group. Remember the days when stockbrokers drove round in Porches and quaffed champagne in clubs after work. They flaunted their wealth in front of the poor and boasted of the excessive bonuses they received. 

FACTS! 

Half of the world's net wealth belongs to the top 1% of the population. 

The top 10% of adults hold 85%, while the bottom 90% hold the remaining 15% of the world's total wealth. 

The top 30% of adults hold 97% of the total wealth.

I read this morning that investors have taken the issue of Elon Musk's 56 billion dollar pay package to court. The court decided in favour of the investors. It is said that Musk is worth 210.2 billion dollars that makes him the second richest person in the world behind Bernard Arnault. 

Does anybody really need that much wealth?

Monday, January 29, 2024

Respect

 One of the things that strikes us most about living in a small Spanish town is the care shown to older people. 

It isn't that senior citizens are treated badly in the UK but they don't seem to command the same respect that they do here in Bigastro. It is easy to feel that we are, in many ways a burden in England. Here, our experience is valued, we are given support and love. 

That was very evident in the theatre production on Saturday. 


Sunday, January 28, 2024

Percuseve

We have enjoyed many performances by the theatre group Percuseve. They have explored a variety of themes over the years from art to education. 

The group have toured their productions and won prizes in competitions.  

 The latest production, “A RITMO DE CARICIAS” is a musical that honours grandparents. 

Through theatre, percussion and rap, twenty high school students from CE Severo Ochoa in Murcia, directed by their teacher, Miguel J. Sáez Pérez from Bigastro, transformed their bodies into musical instruments to bring to the stage themes of great social importance such as loneliness, technologies, love, friendship and illness, among others.

You can find my photographs from last night in my folder in the sidebar. 



Sunday, January 14, 2024

Spectacular!

 It was billed as an exhibition of a wide variety of dance styles. It was due to start at 7:30. Knowing it would be popular, Pam and I set off in good time to take our seats. 

Problem 1 - parking. The parking at Eurener was full as was the street alongside. Not only was there the dance show on, there was a table games event that had attracted up to 500 people. 

Problem 2 - finding seats. I'd asked for seats to be reserved so that I would have a good position to take photos. However, the message hadn't got through and there was barely a spare seat in the Auditorium. 

Seeing me with my camera, a very kind lady gave up her seat for me and Pam found a seat on the opposite side of the aisle. 

The show commenced with the little ones who danced to rapturous applause. 

It was a challenge to get photos - the combination of very low lighting and fast moving dancers was difficult. 

For those who are photographers, my pictures were taken at 6,400 ISO, full aperture for the lens and even at that my shutter was showing as low as 1/15th second. 

Fortunately, the camera I was using has body stabilisation which with lens stabilisation prevents camera shake. However, it can't stop blur from subject movement. 

I could have doubled the ISO to enable faster shutter speeds but then digital noise, which reduces definition, becomes a big issue. In my days of using film, these pictures would have been impossible  without resorting to flash which is a huge no no at events like this. At least I got pictures with my digital camera!