JaZzArt en València

As with the Greatest American Bands, this one ends with my particular favourite. But the other 19 were not placed in that order reference preference. I think they, and many more that I could not include, are great bands. Just saying that I have always been a great fan of rock music and my first introduction to rock was with British bands, especially The Beatles and The Rolling Stones (who I did not place in the count but did make a special post on them here). Then came the American groups as well as some Spanish groups and soloists that I really think adapted well to rock and pop during the late 60’s and 70’s.

In any event, Led Zeppelin, wow! I remember the first time I heard them I was at school and one of the teachers brought their first album (Led Zeppelin). I heard it during lunch break and became an instant fan. From there to following the group, collecting every one of their albums and learning to play like Jimmy Page, my favourite guitarist, was normal for me.

All I can say is that from the early 70’s, Jimmy Page (guitar); Robert Plant (vocals); John Paul Jones (bass/keyboards) and John ‘Bonzo’ Bonham (drums), filled every hall they ever played in. Lamentably, in 1980, with the death of John Bonham (from misadventure), the band broke up forever…

I hope you enjoy this song, it is one of my faves (among many) from Led Zeppelin…

CHEERS

Me miro al espejo y encojo los hombros,

y descubro el origen de la sonrisa precisa, y perfecta,

que se forma en mis labios al compás de los versos que entono al ver un nuevo día…

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El Euro-Ku es mi forma, al estilo occidental, de honrar al Haiku. Ya que no soy japonés no creo que deba intentar escribir algo que surgió de esa cultura, de esa lengua y que se forja de esa historia, pero si puedo adaptarse la idea a mi mundo y mi realidad.

Escribo tres versos, no cuento las sílabas, eso importa solo en el idioma japonés y no encaja en los idiomas nuestros, dejo que la idea fluya de verso en verso lógicamente sin que la intención salga a hacer piruetas en el vacío y le añado una ilustración propia. Así he creado el Euro-Ku.

Desde febrero de 2022, el Euro-Ku le ha estado dando la vuelta al mundo. Varios poetas han escrito sus Euro-Kus y hasta han salido publicados en revistas cómo Spillwords Press. Además, en America han escrito ya su forma particular y precisa, el American-Ku.

GRACIAS

Subió un pájaro sin alas, escalando los peldaños de los cielos, tropezando con las nubes y,

al fin, al llegar a lo negro del espacio, se detuvo y miró hacia abajo, hacia el firmamento, inclinó el oído, y,

escuchó como surgía, de entre tanto bullicio, una voz solitaria que agradecía. Entonces siguió volando feliz sabiendo que jamás regresaría.

Francisco Bravo Cabrera – 22 de mayo de 2025 – Valencia, España

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Si no sabes lo que es un Euro-Ku yo te lo voy a decir. Es mi manera de homenajear al Haiku tradicional japonés. Pero como no soy japonés ni conozco el idioma ni la cultura ni la historia de primera mano, no creo poder hacerle justicia. Por eso he inventado una forma de escribir un Haiku al estilo occidental/europeo. El Euro-Ku sigue teniendo tres versos, pero sin contar silabas y con un sentido redondeado y completo, sin pensamientos que salen volando hacia el éter para hacer piruetas en el espacio. Los versos siguen uno a otro con lógica y continuidad. Y lo único diferente es que tiene que estar acompañado de una ilustración original del mismo autor.

GRACIAS

For me faces are a fascinating topic to paint. No, not as they are, or as they should be, but as I see them… Abstract art? I am still investigating but definitely intrigued… Jazz? That’s the beat man!

CHEERS

No debemos pensar que el arte tiene que ser siempre algo bonito, elegante, decorativo y digno de nuestro salon porque el arte es un dialogo, e igual que los diálogos en la vida real, algunos son agradables otros inquietantes…

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We should not think that art always has to be something beautiful, elegant, decorative, and worthy of our salon, because art is dialogue, and just like real-life conversations, some are pleasant while others are unsettling or disturbing…

GRACIAS

CHEERS

Y ojalá ya no sea demasiado tarde para librarnos de ella…

Marguerite was formed…artistically…in the Bauhaus… She was a ceramist, educator and writer. She was born in 1896 in Lyon, but from 1940 she lived in the United States… As of 1914 she was studying sculpture at Berlin’s University of the Arts (Universität der Künste Berlin), the biggest art academy of Europe. While working at porcelain factory in Rudolstadt Marguerite discovered her passion for the potter’s wheel.

Not long after WWI, and while in Weimar for a few days, she discovered Walter Gropius’s proclamation reference the inauguration of the Bauhaus school (1919): «A new artisan guild, without class distinctions, is lifting the arrogant barrier between artisans and artists». Immediately she enrolled as one of the first female students. She studied at the Dornburg Bauhaus from 1919 to 1925. Among her peers were Paul Klee and Vasili Kandinsky.

In 1925 Marguerite became the first woman to obtain the Master Potter Certification in Germany… In 1940, now living in California, Wildenhain became a professor at the California College of the Arts in Oakland and relocated to the artists colony of Pond Farm, created by architect Gordon Herr and his wife Jane…

Marguerite published three books: Pottery: Form and Expression; The Invisible Core: A Potter’s Life and Thoughts; and That We Look and See: An Admirer Looks at the Indians. She was an avid lecturer who gave conferences in schools throughout the US, South and Central America, Europe and the Middle East…

Marguerite Wildenhain died at the age of 88 years in California.

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CHEERS

No debemos pensar que el arte tiene que ser siempre algo bonito, elegante, decorativo y digno de nuestro salon porque el arte es un dialogo, e igual que los diálogos en la vida real, algunos son agradables otros inquietantes…

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We should not think that art always has to be something beautiful, elegant, decorative, and worthy of our salon, because art is dialogue, and just like real-life conversations, some are pleasant while others are unsettling or disturbing…

GRACIAS

CHEERS

Hay arte para todos y todo tipo de arte, hasta arte inquietante…

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There is art for everyone, and all types of art, even art that unsettles you and perhaps even haunts you…

CHEERS – GRACIAS

For me faces are a fascinating topic to paint. No, not as they are, or as they should be, but as I see them… Abstract art? I am still investigating but definitely intrigued… Jazz? That’s the beat man!

CHEERS