Categories: uncategorized
Date: 16 October 2006 14:51:47
I went to a party.
This is one memory where I really start to feel old, because it is so vivid as to feel really quite recent, and yet it is now 10 years ago. How time has flown. Anyway, I went to a party, or rather, the party came to me. I had recently started properly at a University, and to celebrate the start of the year they threw a party, as they did every year. It lasted all day and took over the whole campus, so avoiding it really would have been hard. And it was great. They had some amazing bands, including one which really struck me in the way it mixed standard (american) rock styles with the indigenous folk music. I suppose it was just folk-rock done in the local style, but quite striking for all that. It was one of the few gigs I've been to where I haven't heard the band before or known any of the songs and yet been so struck as to need to buy some of their recordings straight away. Actually I had a similar experience last week although I had heard a snippet of one of their songs beforehand, but the music was so good that I had that urgent drive to buy more. Unfortunately they only have one single so far, but it is fantastic all the same. Anyway, the folk-rock band I was talking about seemed to have only one CD available, and a short one at that. But it was good. And a few years later I scanned the internet for more CDs by them. I found an obscure internet shop selling a few and tried to order. The shop had some query and tried my email address but didn't get though for some reason. So they googled me and found my webpage which had my address on. It also had a link to flying pig and in their email to me they commented on how they'd got my address and the fact that this link was "molt divertit" - a phrase that has stuck with me and still brings a smile. Anyway, I got the CDs eventually and they were even better, even if I only understand half the language they are singing in. And, of course, it all takes me back to that party, and I love music that can evoke a time and a place so powerfully. After the band had finished the party went on. One of the big features was a giant paella being cooked so everyone could have a bit. Everyone means a few thousand folk, but the paella was about 6 or 7 foot in diameter and, I think, being constantly topped up. It was quite a sight, even if it didn't taste perfect. Great stuff. There was loads of other stuff going on that I don't remember so well, but the evening ended with correfoc. Like the fireballers at Stonehaven this has to be seen - people dressed up in black as devils with fire on their heads while other people throw lit fireworks at them. As with many such traditional activities (Pamplona springs to mind as another perfect example of this) the inevitable injuries are considered as a price worth paying for the pleasure the whole event gives. It's a different attitude, but sometimes I think it's better than our ultra-safe, ultra-boring one. And certainly it makes for better parties....