Live music at La Estación in San Pablo tomorrow night - So What?

SAN PABLO Hold on, we're not being rude. The man goes by the stage name of Ik, which is a play in Spanish on ¿Y qué? - So what? Well, having checked out Google extensively for anything about out friend Ik, and found nothing, we deduce that he plays the guitar, is comfortable with himself - or at any rate with his guitar and a lamp. This does look like a relaxing evening tomorrow night, from 10.30pm, at La Estación in San Pablo.

Really good flamenco guitar at Mingo tomorrow night

JIMENA Manolo Téllez is bringing his flamenco guitar to Mingo on Saturday, July 20, from 10pm. He specialises in the lively rumbas and sevillanas (to which you will want to dance, won't you?).

Strange Brew LIVE on Saturday

JIMENA Strange Brew, the Rhythm & Blues band, has a great gig this coming Saturday at La Vía (right by the railway station in Jimena).

Workshops for Peace this weekend in San Pablo

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SAN PABLO DE BUCEITE This annual event is back this weekend. Our earlier item includes a full programme of the workshops, events and parallel activities, exhibitions, etc. with translations - just click on the poster on the sidebar to access it. See you there?

Really good flamenco guitar at Mingo

JIMENA Manolo Téllez is bringing his flamenco guitar to Mingo on Saturday, July 20, from 10pm. He specialises in the lively rumbas and sevillanas (to which you will want to dance, won't you?).

San Pablo's 11th Workshops for Peace welcomes 250 kids on Thursday 18

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Jimena/SAN PABLO DE BUCEITE The annual Workshops for Peace has become a tradition that continues despite financial constraints and a lack of support from PP-run entities including the village's 'mother' municipality, Jimena (because it was started and continues under the PSOE). The event this year brings together some 250 kids from Cuba, the Sahara, Morocco and other parts of Spain, who mostly stay at private homes in the area, and take part in a large number of activities, largely musical or theatrical. Talleres por la Paz begins with the official opening on Thursday, July 18, and ends ten days later on Saturday 27. As you will see from the full programme below (English in italics), most of the onstage activities take place in the evening, but are prepared during the day at various workshops.>>>

The Jaramago's Blues Band comes to Jimena

JIMENA You will probably think this is a blues band - and you'd be right, in part. In fact, Marcus von Wachtel's magnificent venue, El Corral de la Paca, at Calle Ancha, is holding what he's calling a 'family spectacular' that features The Jaramago's Blues Band, which may or may not be a blues band at all. You'll just have to find out! Starting each evening at 10.30pm on Friday 5 and Saturday 6, tickets are la voluntad, which is loosely translated to 'as you wish'.

Avon goodies and a raffle for J.A.W.S.

JIMENA Sheila Humphries, your local Avon representative, is holding an Avon Coffee Morning this Friday, July 5, between 11am and 1pm, at her home. There will be lots of Avon goodies for sale (including Skin So Soft Dry Oil) plus a "raffle with a difference" in aid of J.A.W.S. For further information, please call Sheila on 956 641 327 or 649 305 512.

Verbena in Jimena this weekend

JIMENA For those who don't know, a verbena is a small feria usually held in a barrio (section, part, area) of a bigger town, Very local, very nice and not half as noisy as your normal annual fair. The Barrio Alto (upper part of the village) is having its annual verbena on Saturday and Sunday this weekend. Click the image to enlarge and read the whole programme. (Just a question: What is the difference between a feria and a fiesta?)

Traditional Jimena food

JIMENA Posada la Casa Grande is holding a three-day workshop on the traditional food of Jimena, July 12, 13 and 14. It includes a visit to a goat farm and goat cheese making, piñonate production and wood-oven bread-making, amongst other things. (Full programme below.) The whole weekend costs €79 p/p and includes all material, accommodation and breakfast (there's also a 12% discount for students and the unemployed.) For reservations call 956 641 129 or 667 658 298.

Ties and hats required for J.A.W.S. Racing Day

JIMENA After the fantastic success of its Ladies Spa Day, the Jimena Animal Welfare Society (soon-to-be officially known as the Sociedad de Protectora de Animales de Jimena de la Frontera - phew!) is organizing another fun event next Saturday, June 22, at Calle La Vaca, 28, from 4pm: a Racing Day. We're told it consists of buying a programme for only €2 and you place your bets. If your horse wins, you can donate some of your winnings to J.A.W.S. There will be a bar for refreshments, and a BBQ with burgers and hot dogs to buy. AND there's a dress code: ladies must wear a hat or other form of head decor, and men must wear a tie or a bow tie (preferably around their necks, says the notice) - penalties for not doing so, too! And it all goes to J.A.W.S., who need it badly.

Julio Iglesias concert in Algeciras in August

ALGECIRAS  Only a day after Algeciras presented its summer events programme (about which more later), it was announced that the world's favourite Latin crooner, Spaniard Julio Iglesias, will be onstage at the Las Palomas bullring in Algeciras on Wednesday, August 14, as part of his world tour, which is taking him to Jordani, Israel, Portugal, Norway,Holland, Mexico, Brazil, Guatemala, The Philippines  China, Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea. According to the star's schedule, he will be in Marbella less than two weeks before that, for the Starlite Festival. The Julio Iglesias official website does sell tickets, but not (yet) for the Algeciras gig. His latest recording happened in November, 2011, and Guinness World Records gave him the record for selling the most Latin music records in the world.

Fantastic Ladies Spa Day in aid of J.A.W.S.

JIMENA We got a call last night to tell us excitedly that the J.A.W.S. Ladies Spa Day at Viña de Liñán had been a grand success and that €600 had been collected for the animal charity, after paying for everything. Val asked us to say that Ruth had worked very hard and it would have been impossible without her - and no doubt Ruth would say the same about Val. In any case, thanks to both of them are in order, as they are to all those who attended. Well done! (A Racing Afternoon is planned for Saturday the 22nd, from 4pm at Paul and Connie's, Calle Vaca 28 - 'boys' are welcome this time. Bar & BBQ and gaming, too, with a percentage to J.A.W.S. Programmes €2. More on that later.)

Potato Head Jazz Band to follow art exhibition

JIMENA A little further down this page, you will see an upcoming art exhibition on Friday at Corral de la Paca. Following that is a jazz concert by the Potato Head Jazz Band from Granada (on Facebook, on YouTube), offered by Jimena Jazz, the jazz society of the municipality. This band has a long history in the trad style, and has been on TV, radio and all over the place. That starts at 10.30pm and goes on into the night. Tickets at the door €10.

Trío de la Frontera in concert on Saturday

JIMENA Jimena is a well-known musical village (thanks largely to the sadly missed International Music Festival and its music society, Coda), so it will be no surprise that there is a trio called De la Frontera (Polly Orr-Ewing - violin; David Higginbottom - cello; and Frans Rutter, piano), who are offering a concert of music by Mozart, Schumann and Fauré next Saturday, June 15m, at Susana's home (C/ Consuelo, 42, right next door, downhill, from El Anón) at 8pm. Tickets at the door: €8, and €5 for Coda members.

Art exhibition opens on Friday at Corral de la Paca

JIMENA This came via e-mail from Marta Fuster: "We are having a contemporary art exhibition at El Corral de la Paca, Calle Ancha 8, Jimena de la Frontera. Welcome drink and tapas on the opening evening, Friday 14th of June at 20:30. We would love to see you there!" If you've never visited Corral de la Paca, owned and run by Marcus von Wachtel and where all kinds of cultural activities take place (almost exclusively in Spanish), this is the time to do so, particularly as the five painters listed here are very special - and all of them live in Jimena.

'Gibraltar - Britain in the Sun' series coming up

Not many of these in Britain, surely

GIBRALTAR We are reliably informed (we have to be, we don't have a TV) that a series called 'Gibraltar - Britain in the Sun' is to be broadcast on Channel 5 (The Express calls it 'Little Britain'). The first episode is to be aired on Tuesday 11 - tomorrow! - at 8pm BST, or 9pm in Spain - and on five successive Tuesdays. We are also informed that you can see it online at http://www.filmon.com/#Channel-5, if your soon-to-be-if-it-isn't-already-bollixed sky tv thingy is giving you grief. Please don't ask us about the bollixing satellite problems as we haven't a clue - but we would like your opinion on the programme, please! (Thanks to Simon&Iris for the info.) (Another soon-to-be-released-or-maybe-edited programme is former Conservative Minister Michael Portillo's - he of close Spanish heritage - train travel piece on the Algeciras-Ronda railway - it of British heritage.)

Chamber music concert on Sunday

JIMENA Coda, the music society, has organized a concert of Chamber Music for next Sunday, June 9, at 12 noon, at Willibrord Beemster's home, Finca el Albendil. The performers are  Ignacio Rodríguez Tuñas (Piano), Enrique Chaves Sánchez  (Violin) and Vicente Giner Gil  (Horn), who will be offering the following programme: Notturno Op. 112 – Reinecke; Sonata nº 2 in A, Op. 12 – L. van Beethoven; Trio for Piano, Violinn and Horn Op. 40 – Johannes Brahms. Tickets at the door €10 (Coda members €5).

Today is the first day of a new 'route' in Tarifa: La Ruta del Atún

TARIFA At 7pm tonight the first edition of a 'Tuna Route' will be opened officially by local authorities - the 'route' (similar to tapa routes with visits to several establishments) last until Sunday. The idea is to promote the gastronomic use of the Red Tuna of the Straits. Tarifa, where 29 restaurants and bars are taking part, joins the project that has been used in several other locations along the coast of Cádiz. Find out more on the official page on the subject: Tuna Route of Tarifa (in English). (The subject of fishing the tuna, called almadraba, deserves a much fuller article here, and we have been planning for one for some time - maybe we'll get it together soon.

Young musicians in Coda concert on Saturday

JIMENA The local music society, Coda, has organized an extraordinary concert by the Youth Orchestra of the Municipal Music School and the Coda Chamber Choir. The venue is the beautiful Convento in Estación, the concert scheduled at 8pm next Saturday, June 8. Coda has asked us to encourage you to attend, in support of the talented young musicians that surround us. As Coda says, "We all need to put in our little grain of sand so that the musical ambiance of our village continues to rise in crescendo."