This non-authentic version of Paquito chocolatero is by King Africa, who is, according to Wikipedia, actually kind of American, and John Major’s favourite artist to boot:

Now an authentic version from Mike Oldfield, which doesn’t involve the mass simulation of anal sex popular down south:
The next three most favourite tunes are also pasodobles, namely Viva el […]

One of the many etymologies of flamenco is rather curious. From the typically poor Spanish-language entry in Wikipedia:
Durante el siglo XVIII el asistente Olavide pretendió combatir el bandolerismo instaurando colonias de catolicos alemanes y flamencos (tenidos por disciplinados y laboriosos) en el Alto Guadalquivir. El fracaso de adaptación de muchos de ellos engrosó las […]

Apparently my disco-dancing lies somewhere between that of Zakyfreshkiller of Casablanca (?):

… and that of Manny of Grimethorpe:

I’d tended to think of myself as Maikelyakson, but you certainly can’t win them all.

All is well and good in the house of Huaira.net and other quackshops in Barcelona in general and Gracia in particular, where Latins have rhythm, Africans have tribes and, of course, Yankeelandia has racists. This Brit admits to a tweak of vergüenza ajena.

Pilates Reformer sounds interesting: an obscure religion in which the biblical figure […]

Exhibit 1 features Die Verdammte Spielerei and some blonde and was recorded in what will presumably be the Republic of Flanders by Monday. I suppose France will get Brussels.

Exhibit 2 is Tango gitano, which “forms part of a group of field materials documenting Maria Garcia performing unaccompanied Spanish songs from Asturias, Spain on January […]

This is a crucial element in what remains of French realist writing in the 1920s and 30s, which, for this reason and others, was more popular than praised. Based on some reading and no maths, I would venture that in a book of (x + y) pages (not counting the open letter of support from […]

I always knew Spain’s tackiest songster, danceress and money-laundress reminded me of someone.

Hope to be in them next time with a suitable weapon.

A while later, some of us did a cameo somewhere else in a tranny cabaret show. As S observed, tranny shows here (at least the ones that appear in public theatres with subsidies) are all the same and have more to do with religious ritual–Easter in Seville, Castro speeches–than art, intellect or invention: men acquire […]

… where, it seems, very fat men with beards and skirts are DJs, very thin men with beards and skirts are gogos, and semi-wrapped Egyptian mummies with not very much hair at all are barmen. Since it seems increasingly unlikely that I will ever be a daddy, maybe it’s time to ditch the dress and […]

Go see squires tapdance in DC on the 25th. A tapdancer came to audition for this the other day and I was bowled over: I hadn’t seen a proper dancer since I was playing in a pit and there was this hirsute lead in fishnets who made quite a deep impression. When I drink cubatas […]

Erik Dams links to an intriguing little thing by Bill Horton, editor of Offbeat Magazine (“not the New Orleans one”) about musical hand signals. I’ve bumped into about half of them, but there are many others–jazz is much more formulaic than most folks think, and it’s not difficult to communicate which ending you’re going to […]

We’re doing a short show in Llantiol on Sunday December 18th at 23:00. It’s a cute, *little* theatre, with only about 70 capacity, so book etc etc. OK, it’s Sunday night, but no one does any work on the Monday before Christmas anyway. New repertoire will probably include a satire on language policy, Tom Lehrer […]

The Dallas Morning News ($$$) has an interesting variation on the “Franco banned the sardana” urban legend: “In fact, during the tightest days of his rule, the Sardana dance was still performed here (but with a different name) …”

These three dancing Spidermen (Scripting News > Xavi Caballé)

When I’m involved, is the short answer. Just as enthusiastic but slightly less individualistic are the dances that are virtually always created as part of the branding process of a deranged sect. That’s why in India

The Supreme Court (coram, Babu, Mathur, Lakshmanan, JJ) in a majority judgment today held that Anand Margis can’t perform the […]

The Catalan Apache

The sardana was encouraged by the Francoist state and suffered its greatest difficulties during the period of revolutionary anarcho-syndicalist and Stalinist control

Onder de noordelijke steden, alleen Oldenzaal - verborgen in de verschrikkelijke nevel en moerassen die u tegenkomt achter Deventer - heeft zijn oorspronkelijke functie behouden van overwinteringsplaats voor spleeuwen, rijgers en andere vliegmonsters uit Het Overige. Terwijl het Stroat Ensemble Armeense malsjes mangelt, dansen ze samen tijdens de jaarlijkse Stroadl Oamd, dit jaar op 12 […]

You probably saw the story run by the Telegraph yesterday re the siting of the Dracula theme park down on Ceausescu’s farm. Fine, but I do think it’s time to move on from this type of old, bad news and celebrate the dawning in global consciousness of Romania as the new Rome. For, although we […]

Rosita uit Barcelona. Olé!

Dezelfde lui die zaten te zeiken over mijn muzikale smaak zijn weer bezig. Nu zou het onverantwoord zijn om ’s nachts door tarantulagebied te wandelen met 15 Zweedse studentes. Wat een onzin.
1) In zijn 1976 proefschrift, Dodendans: arachnia, Eurodisco en bierdrinken, werd door F Vollenbroek overtuigend getoond dat 93,4% van volwassen tarantula’s behoorlijk tot zeer […]