Paco de Lucía in London and Jimena

Yes, it's 1976, and yes, the genius of Paco de Lucía is on ITV in London.

He also played at one of the last International Music Festivals in Jimena

International Music Festival at Alcalá next week

ALCALÁ DE LOS GAZULES (By e-mail) As we have every August, we write to invite you to the VIII International Music Festival Al-Kalat, in Alcalá de los Gazules, from the 15th till the 18th of August. The Soloists of London will perform top quality concerts which have now become an indispensable part of the cultural life of Alcalá and its surroundings. In this edition, along side The Soloists of London, one of Europe's finest string ensembles, formed of musicians coming from some of the best London orchestras, such as London Philharmonic or St. Martin-in-the-Fields, there will be a Flamenco Gala on the 17th with some of the most renowned artists in the area, and we welcome back the fantastic Youth Orchestra of the "Bicentenario", commemorating the 1812 Spanish Constitution, closing the Festival on the 18th. In these difficult times your participation and contribution is very important in keeping this cultural event alive. Come and enjoy this unique event and help us to carry on into the future! For more information: www.fimalcala.com. 

Diana Jacklin sings Verdi's Lady Macbeth aria

(Source: CODA music society) Diana Jacklin sings Lady Macbeth's aria Ambizioso Spirto from Verdi's Macbeth. Kristin Okerlund is at the piano. Diana Jacklin came to the first International Music Festivals of Jimena and was a wild success. She returned several times, not just to perform but also as a private visitor. Great to see her here!

Mayor accuses predecessor of making 'irregular' payments

Gremio vehicle at International
Music Festival (© A.Bullrich)

Previous Council soon to be denounced for embezzlement

JIMENA (Agencies) Guillermo Ruiz (PP), Mayor of Jimena, yesterday announced that he and his team have recently discovered evidence of allegedly illegal payments to two companies by the previous Council headed by Pascual Collado (PSOE). Ruiz pointed out that these were monies that had been 'recognised' (or accepted) and paid without proper bills or receipts. Such is the case with Gremio, a company that was hired by the Council to help with the International Music Festivals, and which does similar work for other councils but only those of the socialist persuasion with less than 20,000 inhabitants. The other company allegedly implicated in this network of doubtful payments is one that has never had its relationship with the Town Hall clarified but got work without entering any tender. This too had bills accepted and paid for. On another related matter, Ruiz announced that his team has a series of suits prepared and ready for presentation soon, accusing the previous government of misappropriation of funds. This is related to the fact that the Council received grants of €250,000 to restore the castle and another €400,000 to build a geriatric centre in Estación, but the money was used for other things, which is the cause behind which Jimena is having so much trouble receiving its share of the Junta's PICA funds and has already had several properties embargoed.

Flamenco show presented in Jimena to tour America

El Indiano in Jimena, 2008

LA LÍNEA David Morales, the Flamenco dancer of La Línea who now also offers classes at the Instituto Cervantes in Gibraltar, presented a show called El Indiano at the 2008 International Music Festival of Jimena. It was a great success there and everywhere it went. The show brings the rhythms and sounds of South America (e.g. vidalitas, colombianas, tangos and milongas, to name but very few) and joins them with flamenco, not so much in 'fusion' but in  a'there and back' format that is difficult to explain but certainly worth seeing. However, you will have to make a trip to South America towards the end of May in order to do so. Morales is taking El Indiano first to Buenos Aires and other large cities of Argentina, then on to Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo in Brazil - all places the show has been on stage but which are demanding more. This time he will be offering a fresh show to which he has added and taken out pieces under the same concept. Before that, though, he has a date at the Falla Theatre in Cádiz on May 12th, to take part in the Iberian American Festival there. Good friend that he is to Jimena (and to this writer), we wish him the best of luck.

A little history and a big achievement: the Jimena Music School

Author in full swing

(By David Higginbottom) Growing out of the amazing spectacle and success of the Jimena International Music Festival, from 2001 to 2008, the Jimena Music School started in autumn 2003, with only two teachers, covering general musicianship, violin, recorder and piano. Despite the recession and severe cutbacks, the school continues to flourish, now with four teaching staff and is probably the cheapest non-funded instrumental learning scheme in Europe. The cost of lessons is more or less one quarter of what it would cost elsewhere and represents great value for money. Made up of a lovely mix of nationalities, although mainly Spanish, the school is based in the Casa de la Cultura in Jimena and meets for lessons and practices on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays after school finishes, usually from 3.45 onwards.>>>

Over the period from 2007 to the present, the school has developed beyond anybody's expectations and it now has about 40 students learning a range of instruments – piano, violin, viola, cello and recorder. This coming year,>>>

7th International Music Festival at Alcalá de los Gazules next week

ALCALA DE LOS GAZULES (Press release) Despite the enormous financial problems affecting cultural events in Andalucía and Spain, I am extremely pleased to confirm that the 7th edition of the Festival Internacional de  Música will be going ahead in Alcalá de los Gazules this August : 10 - 13  AUGUST This beautiful village will host four wonderful nights of top class classical music, with musicians from The Soloists of London and The London Philharmonic Orchestra. We start on Wednesday 10 August with the fantastic Cadiz Bicentenary Youth Orchestra, playing pieces by Beethoven and Mozart, followed on Thursday by the return of Sony prizewinning violinist David le Page, who will join The Soloists of London for a concert of baroque classics including Bach, Locatelli and Vivaldi. On Friday>>>

Jimena is never too far away from the music, by Wendy Tong

Jimena music festival may be gone for now, but just 2 hours up the track by train you can find Antequera hosting a fantastic blues festival. In previous years this has been a week long event, now cash strapped like everywhere else the council has condensed it down to just the 2 nights (Jimena take note!) This is FREE and in a lovely setting up in the Plaza Santa Maria, overlooking the city and surrounding mountains. We went up on Friday night (€20 something return on the train) and stayed overnight at Hostería Colón, also great value and a nice place. The Blues Men opened, their gravel voiced singer blasting out some old favourites. The Lito Blues band were amazing, with brilliant guitar work and an excellent female vocalist. We reckon there were over a thousand people there. Well done to the bars in Jimena, El Anon, Oba and Henriettas and Cuenca for making sure the music has not entirely died here. Excellent performances at Oba and El Anon last night. (Note: The Antequera Blues Festival has been and gone, but another festival close by, at Alcalá de los Gazules -midway between Algeciras and Jerez de la Frontera- is coming up from 10 to 13 August inclusive. Here's more info: www.fimalcala.blogspot.com)

IV International Music Festival - a memory

Not entirely sure how this came to us (probably via TioJimeno) but in these economic traits it's nice to remember some of the area's best times. JimenaPulse did not exist in 2004 (we were born in 2007) and, of course, neither did CampoPulse. Anyway, enjoy the memory of the spectacular fireworks up on the castle. (This item was provoked by Aaron, who wrote in to ask when the Festival was on this year ... wish it were!)

News but not news: no International Music Festival in Jimena this year either

JIMENA (Agencies/Image: click on it!) This is hardly news because we were expecting it. Jimena Mayor Pascual Collado yesterday confirmed that there will be no International Music Festival again this year. He said that he and his team had tried hard to find the money for it, first among public entities, through grants and subsidies, and then through private sponsorship. They had no luck and the municipal treasury is still so thoroughly depleted that it cannot find the resources even to stage a mini-festival, as had been proposed last year. So once again, the economy (or lack of it) is the reason behind the cancellation of what not so long ago was a festival that became recognised and admired all over the country (and no doubt one of the reasons for the coffers being empty). Our illustration is the cover of an online magazine (click on it to read it, and make a comment there if you like) we made of the very last festival, its ninth.

PP demands explanations about Jimena Music Festival debts

JIMENA

At a meeting last week in Tarifa, the PP's provincial secretary, Teresa Ruiz Sillero, demanded to know, from her PSOE counterpart, Francisco González Cabaña, about the 'extra-judicial' recognition by Jimena Council of a debt owed to Gremio, Animación y Servicios Socioculturales SL for the sum of €239,560, which the company is claiming for organizing the village's International Music Festival in 2005 and 2007. The PP says there is no contract between the parties, and no details, but there is an unfavourable report by the municipal auditor. Threatening to take the matter to the Public Prosecutor, Ruiz Sillero added, "... the money cannot be paid out even though the Mayor, Pascual Collado, insists on recognizing and inexistent debt, when he can't even pay the municipal workers' salaries."

Jimena's Music Festival committee: 'Festival will not disappear'

JIMENA
The Organizing Committee of Jimena's International Music Festival, made up of representatives of various local music organizations and the Council, met yesterday to evaluate the Council's recent announcement that this year's edition has been cancelled. Participants at the meeting also received budgetary reports on the previous two festivals. The committee agreed  that the 'Festival will not disappear' and to view this year as one of 'transition', which 'should be used as one of reflection about the Festival's evolution from its beginnings and to redefine its future'. It was also agreed that it is necessary to continue seeking sponsors among public agencies and 'above all, among businesses, which have been cutting back their support over the last few years'. July 2011 is maintained as the date for the Festival's 10th edition. (Note: click here to review the 2009 edition - image.)

Jimena's 10th International Music Festival cancelled

JIMENA
Mayor Pascual Collado has announced that this year's International Music Festival, originally scheduled for July 8 to 10, has been cancelled. The reason, according to Collado, is the lack of support from public agencies and private sponsors, due to severe cutbacks. He and other members of the Council have been trying their best to find sponsors for what would have been the 10th edition of the Festival, without success. "It means that the Council would have to pay for everything and that would not be financially nor ethically correct," says the Mayor, who added that the Festival is therefore postponed to 2011, "if circumstances allow."

Jimena's International Music Festival: July 8 to 10

(Image: poster for 1st edition, 2001) The tenth edition of the International Music Festival of Jimena de la Frontera is scheduled for the weekend of July 8, 9 and 10, according to the Organizing Committee that met recently to set the dates. The Festival will maintain last year's format: 3 days and 3 venues. The Santuario in Estación will host the Classical section, Llano de la Victoria, the Jazz and World Music and Plaza de la Constitución (El Paseo, or main square), Flamenco and more multitudinous concerts. Street musicians will again be competing this year and the committee proposes to give this section a little more importance within the schedule of events. The organization is now closing contracts with the musicians and groups for the tenth anniversary of the Campo de Gibraltar's oldest music festival.