Faith saved us from the savages that we were, losing faith makes us savages again
By Francisco Bravo Cabrera (Comenzado el 17 de agosto de 2022, escuchando el Concierto de Oboe y Violín en Do menor, Allegro, Johan Sebastian Bach) Bueno, hoy os quiero hablar de una cosa que es, además de maravillosa, algo misteriosa, la memoria y los recuerdos que en ella guardamos. ¿Qué son los recuerdos? Venga, a […]
LA MEMORIA, SAN PATRICIO Y MANDELA — Masticadores
Who else can be ahead of their time in so many ways? Of course The Beatles!
Cheers…
You ever wonder around the streets of your city? Just looking around, letting the sun and the shadows create abstract drawings on new and on old walls is one of my favourite pastimes, day or night.
Try it if you have not done it. You might find wonders that you never knew were there…
Cheers…
En diciembre de 1965 The Beatles lanzaron una canción totalmente diferente a todas las que habían lanzado anteriormente, «Nowhere Man» («El hombre de ningún lugar»). Esta no era una de esas canciones de amor o de conquistar chicas o de enamorarse y salir de marchas et cetera. Esta trataba de un tema mas filosófico, principalmente la enajenación, los despreciados, los que por consecuencia del destino terminan solitarios y que hacen sus planes de netgun lugar para nadie… («…making all his nowhere plans for nobody.»).
Este es el tema de mi ultimo cuadro, terminado hoy, 20 de agosto de 2022 aquí en mi ciudad de València. El fondo es una pura abstracción y existe como si fuera una de esas paredes del barrio gótico de la ciudad, pintada y repintada, con manchas de pintura vieja sobresaliendo entre las mas nuevas y donde muchos quizá han metido la mano para pintar algo. De ese fondo salen tres caras, también muy inspiradas en la abstracción, de tres hombres, o digamos tres seres humanos que, como a la pared, les ha pasado el mundo por encima…
A esta, mi breve explicación, vosotros pondréis la vuestra…
__________________________________________________________________________________
In December 1965 The Beatles released a song completely different from all their previous ones, «Nowhere Man». This was not one of those love songs, that talked about getting the girl, or about falling in love, or about going out to dance et cetera. This song dealt with a more philosophic topic, principally alienation, the mistreated, and the forgotten people that, because of consequences of destiny, ended up alone and living a solitary existence. It is about a man who is «making all his nowhere plans for nobody.»
This is the subject of my latest painting which I finished today, the 20th of August of 2022 here in my studios in València. The background is pure abstract art and is there to represent one of those old walls you find in the gothic neighbourhoods of the city. A wall which has been painted and repainted many times and has fallen into disrepair, where one can still see the stains of old faded paint behind the new ones and where perhaps many have tried to paint their own signs and ways. From this background three faces appear, also much inspired in the theory of abstract art. Three men, or three human beings that, like the wall, carry the stains of the world on their faces.
Gracias…
Cheers…
«Yaya», what we call our grandmothers (here in Spain). In Greek it meant literally «woman», in Turkish it means «sidewalk», in Brasil and in the Congo it means a woman who has gone through a religious initiation. I heard it a lot in New Orleans, without having an idea of what it meant, or perhaps it had those same religious connotations as the religion of New Orleans is very similar to the ones in Brasil and Congo. In any event, without giving it any religious or other meanings, I liked the sound of the word and I wrote a song and recorded it with my band SimonBodo (in 1999), later with my new band (2000) The Abstract Jazz Arrangement, aka AJA…
Here is the video with my photographs et al…
Cheers…
El mar es el espejo de las luces de la noche
de las caras clandestinas
de los besos y
le hace eco al
murmullo indiferente
de un te amo pasajero…
Y dos palmas silenciosas
bailan al ritmo del viento
mirando al cielo
sin miedo,.
Se enfrentan al desafío
de estar entre tal gentío
y seguir siendo tan verde…
Naturaleza entre tragos,
entre tapas.
entre olivas,
y entre la madre que archiva
la mirada de su crío
en las arrugas amargas
de su corazón ya frío
sentada junto a las palmas.
C.2022, Francisco Bravo Cabrera, 20 de agosto de 2022, València, España 🇪🇸
Nota Bene:
A veces estamos disfrutando de la noche, junto al mar, saltando de bar en bar entre gente maja, elegante, disfrutando del derecho que les da el dinero para comer, beber, divertirse.
Pero si desvías la mirada y la apartas momentáneamente de los “beautiful people” vas a ver, en los rincones oscuros y sucios, ya un poco alejado de la alegría de los bares, a los pobres, a los marginados y a los que sufren…
This blind man can’t find fire in the ashes
cold and dry,
no goodbyes, no more desire,
this is the night before our day
and while we listen to far away sky rumbling,
orphan thunder in the sky
whose lightning won’t penetrate
a rotten heart that soon will die,
we’re waiting in the waiting room of
idleness
like a fish dying in the sand…
C.2022, Francisco Bravo Cabrera, 19 AUG 2022, Valencia, España.
«Emotions» is a group of poems I am compiling, re-writing, revising and even composing. This is the prelude, in other words, what will set the mood, if you please.
I just want to clarify that this poem, as well as all my poetry, has nothing to do with me or my life, ambitions, desires, emotions or will. It is not natural, in other words, it does not express a raw, human emotion.
It cannot. There are no words that one can use to write real, human, raw emotions. A raw emotion would sound like this: AAAAAAGGGGRRRRRRHHH…
No, this poem, like all poetry, even yours, is not natural, it is contrived. It is artifice. It is an artistic re-creation of the memory of an emotion or of the thought of one, or one researched or borrowed from someone else. You have heard that good artists borrow from others, but great artists steal. Well what that means is that you appropriate but you don’t plagiarise, you make it yours, authentic and particular. It is like that when writing about and of emotions.
Art is a human creation, it is not a natural phenomenon. And talent is not a genetic trait, it is developed. Poetry, like all art forms, is created through the use of craft (which you must study to acquire) and talent. Talent is the result of hard work and much practice. We’ve all heard of that saying: «Good writing is re-writing», well the poet tries to trick you into thinking that the «masterpiece» he/she created just flowed spontaneously from her/his hands, while in truth, there were many hours of perfecting, selecting, editing and re-writing. But it has to be that way if it is going to be considered art.
Cheers…
A veces me siento como un fotógrafo random, dando vueltas por la ciudad, por la serranía o por el mar, capturando imágenes, la mayoría de las veces con los ojos para archivarlas en la cabeza, otras veces con la cámara del móvil…
Sometimes I feel like a random photographer, walking around town, the countryside or the sea capturing images. Most of them with my eyes and filing them in my head, but other times with the camera of my mobile…
Pero de igual manera, random o sistemáticamente, me gusta recoger imágenes, me gusta la fotografía y me encanta ejercitar la memoria cuando comienzo a ruminar por viejos archivos…
Either way, random or systematic, I love to gather images. I love photography. And more so I love to exercise the memory muscles while ruminating through old files…
Gracias…
Cheers…
La vida sigue…
Life goes on…
Venga, ahora a comenzar el día bailando…
So let’s start the day dancing…
Gracias…
Cheers…
La paz es lo que mas queremos…
Peace is what we most want…
JaZzArt en València