(11 de julio 2010)Nota: Veo que ha habido unas cuantas visitas a esta entrada desde el foro de la página oficial de Luz. Esta entrada se colgó deprisa y corriendo cuando me enteré de lo de la segunda operación y pido disculpas a sus fans por la mala redacción y la poca información sobre esta gran artista que hay en ella. Habéis entrado en un blog ligado a una serie en el periódico inglés The Guardian que se llama Readers Recommend, donde cada semana recomendamos canciones sobre el tema que nos propone el periodista que lo lleva. Yo soy británico pero resido en Madrid desde hace mucho tiempo y tengo una obsesión que es recomendar allí en el blog de The Guardian toda la música en español que creo que encaja con el tema de la semana – no todo lo bueno sale del mundo anglosajón, ¿verdad?. Aquí en The ‘Spill también hago lo posible por difundir la música en español hecha por artistas que me gustan, entre los cuales, claro está, se encuentra Luz. Gracias por visitar esta entrada. He reactivado el player para que podáis saber cuáles eran las canciones que colgué en su día. Podéis dejar comentarios en español si queréis. Un abrazo en estos tiempos difíciles, Makinavaja.
Bit of worrying news yesterday. Luz Casal the Spanish singer, whose versions of the Chavela Vargas boleros “Piensa en Mí” and “Un Año de Amor” some of you may know from Pedro Almodóvar‘s Tacones Lejanos (High Heels), has had a relapse of the breast cancer she seemed to be making such a good recovery from. She’s had to go back into hospital for another operation. Here’s hoping she makes a speedy and complete recovery and continues to delight us with her peculiar but entrancing voice. Good luck, Luz!
The play list includes the above-mentioned boleros and a couple of my favourites from her broad repertoire.
Maki, I HATE it when no-one leaves a comment.
I still haven’t got round to listening to this (through no fault of my own, I hasten to add!), but I shall. I’m very interested in the way we perceive both music and (moving) pictures differently when we encounter them together and when we experience them in their own entirety (if that’s the word I’m looking for). My favourite example of this is the beguiling French soundtrack to a film I just happened to come across – and it was Carli Bruni, whose album I really hadn’t liked at all when first I heard it.
I hope Ms. Casal will indeed be making as speedy a recovery as possible from her surgery.
Debby(m)
Debby/Maki: Agreed, I feel the same way but didn’t know what I could say about this woman who I’m not familiar with. Agreed also re. images and music, one of the joys of being a film editor is playing with those, something always works.
Thanks Debby and steen(?)
It’s always disappointing when there are few or no comments but no-one should feel obliged to comment. Some posts hit the spot others don’t and to be honest I didn’t say much to attract anyone not familiar with Luz’s music. I posted in haste and probably a little too upset by the news to make it an interesting read. I hope those of you who do listen to the music get some idea of why I really like her!
Maki: I’m anon. I enjoyed the music, but I don’t remember it from High Heels. I have such an antagonistic attitude to breast cancer, it’s striking right at the delicate tissue of life, at that tissue which defines a woman, it’s her womanhood and the practice of mastectomy I also find very troubling, I understand the need but it seems a barbaric means to an end. It seems that cancer in all it’s forms is a symptom of, or a result of 20th century lifestyles. GF.
Thanks GF
In the film the songs are lip-synched by Marisa Paredes who plays Becky del Páramo the singer who returns to Spain and her tempestuous relationship with her daughter (Victoria Abril). They are also lip-synched (lip-synching the lip-syncher!!) by the drag artist Letal / Judge character played by Miguel Bosé. I had only just got back to Spain when I saw the film in 1992 and my appreciation of the music wasn’t coloured by my knowing anything about the “real” voice behind the song. I think that made it work much better for me. Music and especially songs, are such an important part of Almodóvar’s work. The Penélope Cruz Volver in the film of the same name didn’t work for me precisely because I knew it wasn’t her, but Estrella Morente who was really singing.
Debby I understand where you’re coming from with the Carla Bruni thing. Sometimes music that didn’t stand up on its own actually adds something when used judiciously in film. The two add up to maybe more than the sum of their parts. Can you listen to to the Carla Bruni now without remembering the film? The Luz boleros on the playlist are inextricably linked to the film for me. They were recorded for the film so I suppose that’s normal but there’s a certain Stealers Wheel song I can’t hear these days without thinking of radical aural surgery and I don’t think that’s what Messrs Rafferty and Egan had in mind when they wrote it.
It’s a day off tomorrow, so I’m enjoying the luxury of listening to music in the middle of the night! REALLY enjoyed the first song on this playlist, Maki, it has what I can only describe as ‘Woody Allen film music’ quality (think ‘Sweet & Lowdown’)
Maki: I thought I’d seen High Heels but when I googled it nothing rang a bell, I’ve tried to see everything he’s done but I see a couple of early ones also that I’ve missed. I love his work, he’s unique in the way he handles color and space. I re-played your list and enjoyed all but #3.
And debby, Sweet & lowdown is one of my favorite films plus I have the soundtrack CD, I think Woody uses music in a most creative manner plus I love the music he uses.
Thanks Debby and GF for saving Luz from the ignominy of 0 comments! I’m glad you enjoyed the music. Sweet and Lowdown is brilliant.
GF, your comment on Almodóvar’s use of colour rings true with me. There is a scene in Women on the … where Carmen Maura is driving out of an underpass with broad vertical stripes of very bold colour on the walls that flash past that I just love. I used to drive through there on an almost daily basis and could never do so without thinking of the scene from the film. Unfortunately the colours have faded now and it isn’t the same.
I’m tempted to do a post on Almodóvar’s use of music in his films… I’ll leave Woody to those better qualified!
oh.. i had listened but forgot to comment – but unlike GF track 3 made me prick up me ears – different shakes eh!
hope she recovers/copes. sad news.