1995 Gran Canaria: Los Guanches Norteños

  Locations of visitors to this page
be notified of website changes? subscribe
Gran Canaria

 

1995

3 Months

NYC

A Jewel

Eivissa

Tree Abuse

ECO

Black Friday

Bocadillo

Danger!

Estofado

Sangria

Rave

Cannibis

Camino Viejo

Neutrinos

Weather

Roosters

JCS

The PM

Plongeé

Smila

Customs

O. J. Verdict

1995 Eivissa (Ibiza): Fish Monger

A Roar

MacWorld

Padinkos

Bye E, Hello GC

Gran Canaria

Where

A Tour

How

Food

Yumbo

Las Palmas

Playa

1995 Gran Canaria: Potpourri

Norteños

More Food

Irishmen

Heading Home

USA

With Dad

Back at Home

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

1995 Gran Canaria: Los Guanches Norteños

2 Nov 1995

Some nights ago I was walking through the Yumbo Centrum after a long, hot day of writing. The sun had set, I was pleased with the days accomplishments, and the air was cool and fragrant with the scent of camillias and something like star jasmine. Many people graced the walkways, some obviously tourists, others seemingly locals. It was a heady and relaxing mix of upbeat people, comfortable weather, and the sizzle of grills and frying pans at the small eateries.

This is a nice change of mood. The last few days have been hard to take. My trip is two-thirds over, which brings a mix of good and bad feelings. I've found a great radio station - lots of Motown, Rythym and Blues, and Folk - which is better than any we have at home. And missing the annual Castro Street Halloween celebration in San Francisco for the first time in nine years has been depressing. I miss the costumes, the excitement of the celebrants, the displays, and the music. (What I don't miss is the "bridge and tunnel" crowd, the somewhat-homophobic out-of-towners who come to gawk - and in the last years - to drink to intoxication and obnoxiousness, toss eggs, and start fights. It's largely because of this steadily growing minority that the festivities are being moved to Fisherman's Wharf. The passing of another era, and not for the better. Sigh.)

My spirits began to turn for the better early this morning. In the middle of my doldrums, in spite of which I was trying to work, a song jolted me into happier times. (Imagine a boisterous get-together in Central America (or "Tucson" :-) with lots of musical instruments and a drag-out full-strength silly song:

We do the cha-cha,
We do the rhumba,
But we'd prefer to do the Cumbia!
We do the conga,
We do the samba,
But we prefer the Cumbia!

So, there I was, with music on my mind, in a tenuous upbeat mood, walking slowly to home. I was nearing the main entrance to Yumbo when I was stopped in my tracks by a joyous chorus. Canarian Spanish was being sung with such extatic abandon that all thoughts of home were forgotten in that instant. I slowly walked in the direction of the singing, music, and accompanying hand-clapping. To my surprize I found myself in front of a well-lighted tourist eatery, the Café de Paris.

Cafe de Paris logo

There stood five (or was it six?) men dressed in traditional musicians regalia: long black pants with button-down long-sleeve white shirt and a black vest, red cummerbund, and black felt hats, no two of which were exactly alike. Heck, none of their instruments were alike, I noticed. Stringed instruments all: a ukulele, mandolin, guitars, and a bass. They were all singing. I was looking at

Los Guanches Norteños
Paco Felix Pablo Manolo Heraclio
Paco
Rodriguez
Garcia
Felix
Gomez
Sanchez
Pablo
Trujillo
Santana
Manuel
"Manolo"
Sanchez
Quintana
Heraclio
Sanchez
Ramos

The Guanches are the original inhabitants of the Canary Islands. Each of the group is is descendant from the Guanches; their faces show a slightly different genetic makeup than that of the mainland Spanish. The group name means "the Guanches from the north". Here is how I first saw them:

The boys in the band

There they were, belting out one great song after another. The early crowd packed the tables; two waiters were constantly abuzz, supplying the tables with coffee, beer, and sweets. Small children - both of the tourists and of the locals working in nearby shops - danced and ran around the group. Occasionally a passer-by would break into a dance step, or more rarely, into song. The band plays three sets, three-quarter hours apiece. During the pauses, los descansos, the members talk and hoist a few with the regulars, schmooze some new attendees, or sit in the back of the café sipping bebidas.

In the rain Los Guanches Norteños have a loyal following. I met one couple that's been coming by for over a decade, and have been on a first-name basis with the band for a decade. Neither does rain deter the faithful; during a recent rainshower umbrellas were raised but few tables were cleared. The first evening I happened onto the outdoor café I had my loaner PowerBook and Apple QuickTake 100 camera in my backpack; flipping open the PowerBook and downloading images of the band quickly broke the ice. Within minutes the band was clustered around me, seeing themselves in a variety of poses and from several angles. (What I had to keep reminding myself again and again was that portable computers and digital cameras are almost unknown everywhere I went this trip. Spain is still mired in the desk-bound computer phase, and network connectivity and cool digital hardware is very rare. My transparent Newton caused a stir everytime I pulled it out to take notes.)

At Pipo's

I went back to see the band many times in my six weeks in Gran Canaria, usually after a day of book-writing in the apartment or the café downstairs at Das Deutsche Gasthaus. By the time the weather cooled - after the broiling sun had set - I was ready to get up from my table and stretch my legs. Each time I learned more of the lyrics to songs I'd before only mumbled to. Their rendition of Ques Sera Sera is to die for. After a few visits with them at the Café de Paris, Pipo's Bar (at right), or the Hotel Barbácan the band give me one of each of their two casettes, which sit in Paco's guitar case for sale to passers-by and café patrons. As I awoke one morning and saw the casettes sitting on the bedside table and idea came to me: put the band's music on the Internet, to accompany these pages.

First I had to secure the band's permission; music is usually copyrighted intellectual property. The next evening I walked over to the café with my PowerBook and demonstrated Progressive Networks' "RealAudio Player" with the few sound clips that accompany the software. I'd already dummied up a page to show what a sample of their music might look like. Between the demo, some hand-waving, my Spanish, and some quick glances at my dictionary I got the idea across: this wasn't a money-making situation, but their music would be available to all who visited these pages. Jose's grasp of English and Spanish helped me double-check that we were all, uh, speaking the same language. We were.

When I return to the USA and have a bit of time I'll digitize the casettes and make them available to you.

At Pipo's

At Cafe de Paris I mentioned that I saw the band at several different locations. While they sang some of the same selections on the evenings I saw them (and much more than is contained on the two cassettes) they came across completely differently in the different surroundings. Above you see the view from the tables at the Café de Paris - the band is in a line facing the audience and the visiblity (and audibility?) is good. There's a great rapport between those listening and the band in these surroundings, partially because the audience is there to listen to music. The ambiance is completely different at Pipo's (at left), a hang-out for Scandinavians. Here the audience has come to drink alcohol at prices much cheaper than home, speak with friends, drink some more, and then to have another drink. The band is sort of an afterthought, just a few more hired guns winding their way through the tables, mostly unheard and often ignored. It's a much tougher evening of work for the band. (But not all is for naught at Pipo's. A few years ago the owner gave the band an all-expenses-paid trip through Scandinavia in exchange for a few nights playing at the hotels and clubs of friends. The band still talks about the trip.)

Let's meet the members of the band.


The boys in the band

Here's are some short bios of the band members.

Paco Rodriguez Garcia

Paco plays the first of the two guitars in the group. He's got the hat with the widest brim. He takes the starboard position, standing guard over the open guitar case in which passers-by toss coins.

Felix Gomez Sanchez

Felix plays the ukulele and sings with a great voice; he does quite a few solo vocals. His hat also has a wide brim. Even though his wife and child are there many evenings, Felix strikes me as the shy one in the group.

Pablo Trujillo Santana

The band-leader, Pablo, has a small-brimmed hat usually rakishly pulled down over his left eye. Standing in the center of the quintet (sextet?), he plays the second guitar in the group; his has white panels on the front. His infectious smile coaxes reluctant tourists into clapping in time with their songs. Pablo has a weakness for Fanta Limon and gin.

Manuel "Manolo" Sanchez Quintana

Another wide-brimmer, Manolo plays the mandolin. A father of five, his is the only family to have two members in the group.

Heraclio Sanchez Ramos

Heraclio is the middle child of Manolo's, the link to the younger generation. With his head tilted in a manner vaguely reminescent of a young Frank Sinatra, Heraclio delights the small children that always seem to collect at his feet with his facial expressions and spinning bass. He provides a wide variety of hoots and whistles that punctuate the dialog lyrics of their songs.

La musica del Los Guanches Norteños

Here are the contents of the two cassettes the band has recorded. Please remember that all the music is copyrighted © 1993-1995 by Los Guanches Norteños; all rights reserved worldwide. Used with permission.

Casette: Internacional
RA Maria Isabel J. E. L. Moreno 2:31
Marina Rocco - Granatta 2:50
RA La Paloma Iradier 3:51
Adios Marquita Linda Marcos A. Jiménez 3:51
RA Porompompero Juan Solano 2:47
Ella J. Alfredo Jiménez 2:47
RA Guantanamera Popular 3:02
Solamenta Una Vez Agustín Lara 2:42
Casette: Folklore Canaria
RA Tartanero A. V. Palta 3:12
Emigrante J. M. Sánchez Quintana 2:04
RA Islas Canarias Tarridas 2:45
Islas Popular 3:21
RA Vals de Taifa Tradicional 3:19
El Timpleto M. Diaz Fernádez 2:15
RA La Saranda Tradicional Lanzarote 3:49
Pobre Rafae A. Macias 2:24
RA Isas Popular 2:31
Follias Popular 3:24
previous   next

Have you found errors nontrivial or marginal, factual, analytical and illogical, arithmetical, temporal, or even typographical? Please let me know; drop me email. Thanks!
 

What's New?  •  Search this Site  •  Website Map
Travel  •  Burning Man  •  San Francisco
Kilts! Kilts! Kilts!  •  Macintosh  •  Technology  •  CU-SeeMe
This page is copyrighted 1993-2010 by Lila, Isaac, Rose, and Mickey Sattler. All rights reserved.