This is top notch flamenco. Jose 'Mijita' (little bit) Carpio.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1TXcvKYmiTk#at=501

This is a show that I saw about 3 weeks ago. Jose is a fantastic singer and it was an excellent show. He is young and still improving but for me there is little better. I have the great fortune to hear him relatively often, as he is connected to the Peña Cernicalos and sings for Carmen, does shows nearby.

Listen to the audience. After he says "Cien años después de muerto, y los gusanos mi cuerpo comio" they all yell, and someone says "¡Ole, Bien!" He has just said, "100 years after I die and the worms have eaten me..."


Today I had an interesting lesson, during my English class with Pilar, a normal Barrio San Miguel girl. (Nobody from the Barrio of San Miguel is "normal" to me. They are all a little bit - more like a lot - special). Pilar doesn't have a particular interest in flamenco, but her cousin runs the Peña buleria which is my hospital of the soul. Her mother is Dolores Agujetas' mother's cousin or something like that, and she's related as well to another famous singer La Macanita, and guitarist Domingo Rubichi. She explains that she doesn't like solitude. She was brought up in a big family and she needs people around. She says, watching a movie alone is not the same as watching with people. For example, if you are watching a comedy you laugh a lot more when the other people around you are laughing too. Same if you see a football game alone as opposed to with people. I think this point is partly obvious, but you can't really understand it, unless you have seen life in a place like this. The extent to which they express themselves when in groups is just so much greater. In a particularly moving flamenco concert, as you hear the constant yelling of encouragement while the music is happening. At a football game they far outdo anything at home, despite the fact that Canadians also occasionally go crazy for major sports events. She says, your body needs to express itself. I think in Canada, your body is used to being farther away from people, so you don't have the same feeling.

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After the class I went to the market. At the fig, nut and bean stall after giving me my half kilo of dates, the guy (whom I know to say hello to) has a pained look on his face. He says "your eyes make a person fall in love", I say thank you and he says "thank you for coming here" in a tone that feels like "thank you for gracing my stall with your presence," and continues with a pained and dramatic lovelorn look. If one were to associate the qualities of his dates with aspects of himself, one might also fall in love. He usually gives me free samples of other things and today poured a handful of the most luscious raisins into my hand.
It's summer time and the Jerezanos don't act a lot different from the other Mediterraneans who I had the special fortune of knowing in grade 2 and up. In fact, one thing that can be said about them is they seem to be very consistent, not changing much as they grow up. Just the other day I was forcibly kissed on the mouth, which has happened about 4 or 5 times during my entire time in Jerez. At least there was pleasant conversation first this time. I'm not sure if the person really meant to do that as he will have to face me in the future.