Diego el Cigala in Melbourne

Last Friday night we had the extraordinary pleasure of seeing Diego el Cigala at the Arts Centre in Melbourne. Accompanied by a very talented band of Latino jazz musicians, the Spanish ‘Cantaor’ expressed his thankfulness all the Melbournites –a large proportion with Hispanic background- that came to see him in Melbourne after his first appearance 20 years ago, in a nearly sold-out show.

The 3 times Grammy-winning singer enjoyed himself on his own performance and with a smile, spread his good humour amongst the audience. His songs, sentimental and romantic at times, cheeky and playful at others, combined the tragedy of traditional flamenco and the joy of Latino rhythms.

Each individual musician performed extraordinarily, with instrumental solo passages that were absolutely breathtaking, to the point that the clamorous audience asked for an encore and stood up for a couple of minutes to applaud the quartet at the end of the show

I can only thank Diego for putting on a first-class show and bringing us this ancient and modern art from so, so far away and to treat us with an unforgettable Melbourne soiree.

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Ben Watt @ the NGV

Interesting crowd that gathered last Friday night at the NGV, a mixed a secret fans of Everything But the Girl, some curious hipsters and a lots of grown-ups.

Ben, who also came down to Melbourne, for the writer’s festival delivered a great performance, swapped guitars with keyboards and scattered it all with anecdotes his childhood in Britain. A truly great artist for another great night of this year’s NGV music program.

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Dan Kelly at the NGV

Dan Kelly, originally from Queensland, winner of many ARIA Awards and nephew of Australian rock icon Paul Kelly, arrived to the Melborne music scene in the mid-nineties, to team up with some of Melbourne’s usual suspects such as Gareth Liddiard and  Christian Strybosch (the Drones, the Nothing Butts).

Last Friday, he was playing at the National Gallery of Victoria, as part of the Music Program of the Italian Masterpieces from the Spanish Royal Court. I could not recommend more to visit the exhibition –an excerpt from Museo el Prado in Madrid-, listen to a few good tunes, mingle with the cool cats of the Melbourne creative scene and enjoy a glass of wine from the pop-up bar inside the gallery.

The audience –myself included- enjoyed every single minute of the show, that was orchestrated with a jovial tone, with a few jokes and background stories for some of the songs. Dan and his band played for a full hour with great intensity, guiding the audience along their music journey, as if they had been on a long road trip that ended just minutes before the show.

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