the day began with a ride .. jostled out of sleep to head up to the medina de azaha
… an ancient city just out beyond the suburbs .. 1000 years old .. where a king built it for his girlfriend there .. azaha
… he also loaded up a giant pool and fountain filled with mercury for the shimmer of it. . .all just for the love of azaha
this is where they want us to play 2 songs on june 3rd to compete with the culture city of europe for 2016 .. .
but that will mean a very difficult travel day to slot it in between the night in holland and the festival in france
sounds exhaustive just thinking about the travel … but if its for cordoba then i’m in it for the sheer love of the city .. it sounds righteous, but no, i’m just hooked on it
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life begins to reassemble itself accordingly.
i wake up every morning on the roof.
its the converted little shack where we recorded the “alegrias” album with fernando and the gypsies here in cordoba.
we gathered there so many years ago to make this new album, and the album has its own life, and still lives. and now whatever magic this place holds has me in its grip literally. i am back in the very spot where it happened, and instead of playing guitars, the duende invades my sleep there and we go dreaming. its all the same thing.
i am wonderfully alone up here. there is a bathroom and washing machine and outside couches and chairs. a little bed in my room big enough for two and th tiny little shack where the control used to be now has 2 bunk beds in there. the weather is beyond belief. the doors are open all night. the dreams are breathing.
we played guitar yesterday for at least 6 hours .. .
that’s all we did all day long. and it was funny how tired i was after it all. then i went back up on the roof and it revives me there, alone in the clouds with the other roof tops all crammed together and the church bells waiting to ring. flamenco from the plaza de corredera kicks in through the darkness coming to call.
down below is where we assemble with guitars .. for 2 days straight now .. 6 .. or 7 hours .. or maybe more .. i won’t wear a watch here.
and this place gives me songs. i can’t hold them all. they come from nowhere, start up a new chord i never played before and then some words when i sit in front of a mic .. what am i singing a bout ? there are so many stories in us… so many we have lived now and again .. that is what.
which part here is the dream ?
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I Just wanna say that I am a very big fan of your work, I follow it since many years, so, please don´t change. And as a cordobés, it was for me very special to read these lines from you “sounds exhaustive just thinking about the travel … but if its for cordoba then i’m in it for the sheer love of the city .. it sounds righteous, but no, i’m just hooked on it”. See you in Córdoba.
PS: It is Medina Azahara, like the flower from azahar.
Best wishes