75th anniversary of Miguel de Unamuno's death

He was a Spanish writer, philosopher, etc. from the Basque country, specialized in Portuguese culture and also interested in Catalan literature. He had a lot of quarrels with right-wing authority, and he died half a year after General Franco's coup that he originally welcomed. One finds more information in the Wikipedia article in English here, a lot more in the Spanish one here.

Catalan brands: a work in progress

Munich "Gresca" 2005

A few weeks ago I started this article on Catalan brands. Some of them are really famous and maybe you weren't aware that they were Catalan. As I do not find the time to write a complete text in one go, I will start with some notes and go on as I find the time.
Borges are dealing in nuts and other dry fruits. They are headquartered in Reus, Tarragona province.
Chupa Chups, maker of lollypops, might be the best-known Catalan brand worldwide (second only to FC Barcelona, of course). They started out in Barcelona but the original owners sold out. One can find their corporate history and more information on their official website in Spanish here, or in the Wikipedia entry here.
If we stick with an alphabetical order, the next brand would be Custo Barcelona (corporate website and online store here). I guess that the city of Barcelona really subsidised some of the fashion designer Custo's projects to have the city name as part of the brand.
Next in line would be Desigual, another fashion brand coming from Barcelona (corporate website here).
Munich started out as a sports-shoe maker and then discovered the market for high-priced fashionable sports shoes (their corporate website is here).
Mango was started by a Turkish entrepreneur residing in Catalonia. Their online shop is here.
Seat is the only "Spanish" automaker, though owned by Volkswagen.

all real Cava sparkling wine comes from Sant Sadurni d'Anoia, close to Barcelona

El País recently had this article on top Spanish retail companies.

11.11.11: lottery day in Spain

Today more or less every inhabitant of the peninsula will be attentive to a lottery draw by ONCE ("Eleven"): there will be a main price of 11 M EUR, 11 prices of 1 M EUR each, and then thousands more of more modest cash prices. Yesterday the organization announced that all of their tickets had been sold - at a price of 5,- EUR each. "ONCE" means "11" in Spanish but is the acronym of  the "Organización Nacional de Ciegos Españoles" (National Organization of Spanish Blinds/Visually Challenged). It started as a self-help group more than 70 years ago, and now is a powerful foundation with worthy aims. Their webpages are multi-lingual and to get an idea you can start here.

"The Red Band Society" on ABC

These days, the regional Catalan television TV3's homepage has had the news that the North American ABC was interested in buying the concept of its series "Polseres vermelles" [Red wristbands / bracelets]. The following is an unauthorized translation/summary of the main points:

The series, created by writer Albert Espinosa [whose English speaking website is here] and directed by Pau Freixas, is inspired in the daily life of a group of children in a children's hospital struggling to cope with the various diseases they suffer. The name of the series is taken from the red plastic bracelets they all wear as a type of patient's ID.

Last season, the series inspired the phenomenon "red bracelets": a legion of faithful followers, most of them teenagers, who made their parents watch, too. These youthful fans, however, did not have enough with watching TV, but moved their passion to the Internet: there sprung up a Facebook group dedicated to the series, and a blog that extends the contents of each chapter immediately after release.

 
TV3 is already working on the second season of the series, after the success of the first 13 episodes of the first season.

On Oct. 28, the Catalan daily El Punt Avui added the following: 

Yesterday it was confirmed that behind the project there a two heavyweights of the industry in Hollywood: Friends creator Marta Kauffman and the filmmaker Steven Spielberg, through his production company Dreamworks, are finalizing a deal to adapt the series under the name "The Red Band Society". Its Catalan creator Albert Espinosa yesterday confirmed via Twitter the information that had appeared in the specialized press in the U.S. 

The Planeta book prize 2011

The Planeta, named after its sponsor, the biggest Spanish media and publishing house, is probably the most generous prize in literature (600,000 EUR) after the Nobel. The article by Rosa Mora from El País could be translated like this:

"Brazilian" Planeta to Javier MoroThe author won the prize with a chronicle of Emperor Pedro I. who won independence for Brazil - Inma Chacón, runner-up with the novel "Time of sand"
Javier Moro wins the 60th edition of the Premio Planeta (601,000 EUR) with a novel whose title will be "The empire are you", a fascinating chronicle of the life of Emperor Pedro I of Brazil (1798-1834), appointed Prince Regent by his father, Joao VI of Portugal.Pedro I joined the cause of independence and was appointed first Perpetual Defender of Brazil, and then emperor. He had a very hectic life and a reign that lasted nine years. History and adventures are mixed in this novel, topics that equally passionate Javier Moro (Madrid, 1955). The son of a Spanish airline executive and a French mother, the writer has traveled since very young to Africa, Asia and the Americas. He studied History and Anthropology and worked as a researcher for Dominique Lapierre and Pierre Collins.His first novel, "Paths of Freedom", appeared in 1992. Moro traveled for three years in the Amazon by plane, boat, bus and even on foot to reconstruct the story of Chico Mendes, a humble rubber tapper who became an international symbol of environmental protection. It was followed by "Jaipuur's foot", in which two young men, one injured in an accident, and another survivor of the Khmer Rouge era come together to face a pessimistic future. We also find the spirit of resistance and hope in The Mountains of the Buddha, which takes place in Tibet.As one can see, Javier Moro does not avoid the hard and controversial issues, as became apparent in Five Past Midnight in Bhopal, which he wrote with Dominique Lapierre. It discusses the toxic gases that escaped in 1984, from a Dow Chemical factory in the Indian city of Bhopal and killed 30,000 people.There followed Passion India in which Moro reconstructs the love and betrayal between the Andalusian Anita Delgado and the Maharajah of Kapurthala, in northern India. In his latest work, "The Red sari", we also find history and adventures: a European is involved in the intrigues of the Nehru-Gandhi family. The novel caused irritation in India, where they burned copies of the book and portraits of the author. [Though it is unclear for this blogger how they evaluated it as he could not find any English edition on Amazon...]Inma Chacón (Zafra, Badajoz, 1954), twin sister of the late Dulce Chacón [the more famous writer of the two], was runner-up last night (150,250 euros) with the novel "Time of sand", which portrays three women in a complex family in Spain in the early decades the twentieth century.Chacón made herself known as an author in 2005, two years after the death of her sister, with "The Indian Princess", a novel that Dulce had started. She then published "The Filipinianas", about a saga of aristocratic and travelling women. This year she has published "Nick", in which a young woman creates a fake profile on Facebook to attract a guy  from her neighborhood whom she likes.

People here say that the runner-up is normally the worthier novel; the first price goes to the bigger name author and guarantees a good profit on the novel. I don't know how credible this theory is, as this year six of the ten finalists had presented their entries under a pseudonym.

Spain making (negative) headlines again

Today on the title pages of the online editions of the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal. Not really encouraging - but that is what we have been watching on TV news for quite a while now... While its football teams and national team are world class, the economy is going from one downgrade to the next - one of the founders of FC Barcelona was a Swiss immigrant (Johann Gamper); he could have brought other skills too...

Remembering Steve Jobs, 1955 - 2011

His death is today's top news. I've never owned any of the company's products but have been impressed with their keyboards, the iPad, and the quality of the iPhone's photos.
Recently a column in La Vanguardia's culture supplement made me aware of his Commencement address at Stanford University in 2005, to be read here, or to be seen on youtube here.

Here is a collection of obituaries from today's media:
A quite comprehensive approach you can find in The Guardian, here, with these headlines:

Computing 'visionary', 56, had resigned as chief executive in August after suffering from pancreatic cancer
Obituary: Apple chairman, inventor and entrepreneur
Tributes: the world remembers a visionary
The life and career of Apple's driving force
Dan Gillmor: a man of contradiction and genius
Apple insiders remember life working for Jobs
From parents' garage to world power
In pictures: Jobs and Apple - the highlights
Steve Jobs quotes: the man in his own words

The New York Times coverage, here. The Wall Street Journal's, here. The Washington Post's, here, does not open with a recent picture of the sick man, but one of the earlier days.
The FT's John Gapper in his blog, their Tech Hub lists quite a lot of influential people and their condolences via Twitter, etc. here. Their editorial comment, here, is only for registered users.
The Economist's obituary is here. And another piece here.
Wired.com is all black today, here.
Engadget.com, the world's most important blog on gadgets - and often critical with the premium prices of Apple products - stresses Steve Job's own words, here.

These will be sufficient if one wants to get an idea of the man and his vision.
(And I need to get some work done...)

Remembering Josep Maria de Sagarra, 1894-1961

The Catalan daily El Punt Avui has a long article on this writer today, the 50th anniversary of his death, here.
Some of the thoughts expressed there: the novel Vida Privada ["Private Life"] (1932) is undoubtedly a classic, and de Sagarra one of the great Catalan writers of the 20th century. He was born into an aristocratic family, studied law and was meant to become a diplomat but then became a writer. He worked as a journalist in the 1920s and 30s, also as a foreign correspondent. A lot of his columns of the intellectual who observes his surroundings and cherishes the good life ("bon vivant") were later made into books, e.g. Cafè, copa i puro ["Coffee, brandy and cigar"], L'Aperitiu ["The appetizer"], or El be negre ["The black lamb"]. He was a popular theatre author, too. Also wrote travel books and novels, as well as his memories (Les memòries, 1954).

The English-speaking Wikipedia does not an entry on him, but the Catalan culture ministry offers an exhaustive English introduction here.

The FT focuses on Spain again

The Financial Times ("Spain, not Greece, may be the biggest eurozone threat", insight piece by Charles Dumas) warns about a possibly disastrous economic future for Spain (again). It stresses the importance of non-financial sector debts and compares the country to Japan in the late 1990s and names the measures the Japanese took to get out of that situation - which are out of the question for Spain as e.g. it cannot devalue its currency (the Euro) nor run large budget deficits. The main points are cited below, the full article is here.

But Spain’s current situation is in several respects far worse than Japan’s back then. First, Japan had a currency, which devalued in real terms by 20 per cent over the six years to 2002, aiding adjustment. Spain is fixed in the euro.
Second, having a currency, Japan also had a monetary policy – the famous “ZIRP”, zero-interest-rate-policy. Spain’s monetary conditions are set by the ECB in Frankfurt, with recent tightening that could hardly be more unsuitable for Spain.
Third, Japan had an independent fiscal policy, and ran large budget deficits to offset private-sector debt repayment via financial surpluses. Spain is under orders from its eurozone “partners” to slash its deficits, “no matter how politically painful” to quote Wolfgang Schäuble, German finance minister, in Financial Times columns recently.
Fourth, Japan had (and has) flexible wages – downward in nominal terms as well as upward. In the six years from 1997, as recession hit, average nominal weekly wages fell by 1¼ per cent a year – and they have continued to fall (on average) since then, though more slowly. Spain, by contrast, has a consistent inflation record and in many cases index-linked wage increases. Lastly, Japan was handling its problems in a broadly expansionary world economy, which Spain regrettably cannot hope for.
The chances are high of a Spanish asset price slide and banking crisis, with stagnation (at best) or depression, if it sticks in the euro.

Americans dominate in Barcelona... as tourists

The original story by Antònia Justícia from today's La Vanguardia newspaper is here. 
The following is a google-translator aided, shortened, unauthorized version:

The United States is again the major emitter of (foreign) tourists to Barcelona. Direct air links and cruises from BCN help | Tourist season from March to November | More than half of Americans come to Barcelona for a cruise | Six airlines with a total of 42 flights a week connect BCN to major American cities | In July foreigners spent almost 220 million euros in BCN, 19.3% more | More than three million overnight stays of 1.5 M tourists
Antònia Justícia
After 9/11 Americans lost their status as numerally most important group of visitors to the city. Now, ten years later, the U.S. has returned to the top spot in the ranking of "emitter" countries, significantly ahead of France, Italy and Britain. With 340,497 American visitors until the end of July, nearly 30,000 more than France, the second biggest emitter so far this year, the United States is poised to set a new record. All in a positive context: July and August closed with 16.5% more tourists -in fact, Barcelona is the European city that has grown most in volume of tourists this August, according to analysis by the local tourism authority-; spending on international credit cards are growing around 18% and overnight stays in the city have increased by 11%.
The main reasons for the boom are the status of Barcelona as the Mediterranean's most important cruise port and a significant growth in nonstop flights connecting El Prat airport with various U.S. cities. About 60.5% of all U.S. tourists that visited Barcelona during the first half of the year came to go on a cruise of the Mediterranean. If expectations are met, the port will close 2011 with 2.5 million cruise passengers, 17% of those, 425,000 would be Americans. This figure could end up much higher if the upward trend continues, as there are now five carriers operating from the port of Barcelona exclusively with U.S. clients: Holland America, Princess, Crystal, Disney (with the Disney Magic) and Carnival (with the Carnival Magic).
There are also cruise lines with multinational guests, such as Royal Caribbean, Norwergian, Celebrity and Silversea. Royal Caribbean this year expects to carry 100,000 U.S. passengers from Barcelona. These have the choice between six airlines and 42 weekly flights connecting Barcelona almost daily with cities like New York, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Chicago or Miami. An offer that began to develop in 2006 and has had a  multiplier effect with each new flight.
"We know they are attracted by the "brand" Barcelona because it combines food, art, sports, culture and entertainment with cutting-edge infrastructures," said Marc Pedrol, director of marketing and communications for Royal Caribbean. The arrival of Disney Magic last season in Barcelona has also contributed to the increase, bringing a new profile American tourist: the family. "Traditionally the American tourist has been rather senior, but recently the average age has fallen somewhat. ... There are still few families but Disney will support this market, " analyze Ana Pujols and Montse Miquel, responsible for reservations and Public Relations Officer, respectively, at Le Meridien hotel, traditionally catering to well-heeled Americans. [Blogger's comment: It is a fine hotel with a good location on the Ramblas but if you are willing to spend that much money on a hotel you might also want to have a look at Hotel W (like Meridien a member of Starwood) or Hotel Arts that are on the beach...]
Promotional campaigns have also been successful, claims Turisme de Barcelona. Earlier this year, in a CNN report on unforgettable places, three experts put Barcelona as the fourth preferred travel destination in the world to discover in 2011. "People are in love with Barcelona, ​​and this is a fact that has taken years of work," claimed yesterday Gaspart, who added: "And the fame of FC Barcelona also has helped us a lot."
The municipal tourism agency is not only satisfied with the U.S. market recovery. Also the fact that Barcelona closed the most outstanding summer in its history. The months of July and August saw an increase of 16.5% of tourists). These figures have placed Barcelona as the European city with the highest tourism growth this past August. The outlook for September and October, according Gaspart are also excellent, though Gaspart would like to increase profitability ("milk" the tourists more...).
Results which, despite the crisis, denoting good health of tourism in Barcelona. A city that, according to the evolution of people registered every month, has established itself as a tourist destination throughout the year. Here the time between March and November can be considered high season.

(Blogger's comment: you should also come for Christmas shopping in December; and on January 7 start the winter sales - still more clothes shopping...)

Catalan (and Spanish) "Dollar Stores"

Last week the New York Times Magazine published a very interesting article by Jack Hitt on the "dollar-store economy", here. It remined me very much of the stores now to be found in every town and village (of say 2,000+ inhabitants) around here. Ten years ago they were still called "Todo a 100" ("everything at 100 pesetas" - then still Spain's currency; 100 pesetas roughly equalled 60 Euro cents). Today they are not called dollar or euro stores either, but typically bear names such as "Bazar Asia", etc. and are run by Chinese immigrants.  There you find more or less everything small sized that you might need for your household, and the goods come almost exclusively from the PRC. The store I have in mind starts with plastic boxes of a great variety of sizes on the right side of the entrance door (these come from Ibi, Alicante, the Spanish plastics hub). In all there are about ten rows of goods. At the far end of that side of the store one finds detergents, etc., all kinds of boxes, buckets, small drawers, kitchen and bath utensils, etc. made of plastic, metal and glass.
The wall opposite to the entrance is dedicated to small tools, appliances, and electronics such as energy-saving light bulbs of all kinds, sizes, types, etc. A limited but very practical and low-price offer of what you normally find in a hardware store (though some of the tools are also very low quality). There is one row dedicated to office supplies, another one to small home electronics, such as radios, computer accessories, hair cutters, etc. At least one and a half rows are filled with bright toys - all made of plastics, nothing to be found for the progressive parents that trust in good old wooden building blocks... On the left side of the entrance there is the cash register, on the far off wall the luggage department and the clothes section. Next to the cash register is the battery and watch section, always under the vigilance of one of the staff. The watches are among the most expensive goods on sale...
In general, on one's first visit one is constantly monitored by some staff - they always find something to do nearby; on successive visits they leave you alone.
In comparison with their American counterparts, they are tiny stores, do not sell food, do not have any customer parking, etc. And, unfortunately, they do not sell branded goods whatsoever except for some footballs with the FC Barcelona or Dora the Explorer logos, so one cannot put too much trust into the quality of the goods purchased there...
These stores are typically run by one Chinese family taking turns to fill all shifts of a Monday to Saturday working week. The goods come from centrally located distributors in Barcelona or Madrid and the whole ownership structure seems opaque (there were no interviews done for this blog entry)...

Barcelona: Museum of Ideas and Inventions

I saw it mentioned in an article on creativity in La Vanguardia's Saturday lifestyle supplement, itself a creation of 2011. Haven't been to it but would like to go some day. Its website in English is here, but only its basic functions work. Looks as if it has an interesting giftstore.

The Economist on Spanish politics

On August 6, The Economist published an article titled "Anyone want to run this country", here; it made some headlines in the Catalan media, too, as it was highly critical of the opposition's Popular Party leader, Mariano Rajoy, who looks set to become Spain's next prime minister and promises "cuts without pain". Though regional branches of his party, especially in Valencia, have been involved in numerous corruption scandals, Spanish voters are fed up after seven years of Socialist rulers concentrating on marginal topics and not standing up to trade unions but going slow-motion on economic reforms.

El País: Spanish population in decline

The story on the Spanish daily's pages here.

Miniature recycling containers

The photo shows the upper part of an interesting piece of urban equipment as recently seen in Figueres. It is a recycling container for special, small size waste, such as ink cartridges, cork from wine bottles, CDs & DVDs, mobile phones and/or their batteries, incandescent and low-energy light bulbs. Its surface serves as a screen for advertising, and the whole container requires less space than the average vending machine. It offers a convenient way of getting rid of small but potentially toxic waste that otherwise often ends up in a conventional waste dump.

The Russians are coming

It's a recurrent theme this year when looking through smaller or bigger newspaper: the Russian tourists. They are coming in ever bigger numbers to Catalonia and Spain; Barcelona is their second favorite city in the world after New York - and they spend more money than the average tourist from other places. And one notices the menues and real estate advertising in Cyrillic letters, be it in Cambrils or La Pineda on the Catalan "Gold Coast" [Costa Daurada], or in Figueres in the north, close to the Costa Brava. According to La Vanguardia newspaper the Russians spend 250 - 280 EUR per person per day - and they stay longer than other tourists. They like luxury goods so that the brand stores on Passeig de Gràcia in Barcelona already make sure to have Russian speaking staff. They are sure to visit all of Barcelona's attractions but also Port Aventura near Tarragona, the vineyards of the Penedès region - and maybe Paris (France) for a day too... Unfortunately, not all of them are well behaved, Chekov citing cosmopolitans - but neither are all of the tourists from Northern Europe or Britain; and in times of economic crisis such as the present one, that leaves about 20% of the local population out of work, hotel-, restaurant-, and shop-owners are prepared to tolerate quite a lot to accomodate well paying customers...

Barcelona as a business place (slightly old...)

While browsing through old newspapers, I found these figures for Barcelona as a business place in comparison with other cities (El País, October 10, 2010, i.e. 10/10/10):

Best cities for business: ranked 4th (1st: London; 2009)

Entrepreneurial activity: rank 7 (1st: Mexico [country]; 2008)

Export business perspectives: rank 8 (1st: Lisbon [sic!]; 2010)

DFI projects: rank 6 (1st: London; 2008)

Trade fair organization: rank 5 (1st: Singapur, 2008)

Employees in Science&Tech: rank 5 (1st: Paris; 2008)

Scientific output: rank 15 (1st: Beijing; 2009)

Airport passengers: rank 9 (1st: London Heathrow; 2009)

Hotel beds: rank 4 (1st Paris; 2008)

Cruise ship passangers: rank 1 (2008)

Employee's quality of life: rank 1 (2009)

CO2 emissions: rank 1 (year ?)

Cost of life: rank 38 (1st Tokyo; 2009)

Cost of renting an apartment: rank 31 (1st NYC; 2009)

Cost of renting an office: rank 40 (1st London; 2009)

Cost of renting industrial grounds: rank 6 (1st London; 2009)

Salary levels: rank 24 (1st Zurich; 2008)

Unemployment levels: rank 37 (1st Prague; 2008)


As you see, these figures are already a little old; maybe they have newer figures on the city's website, here.

Over-fed Spaniards

One week ago two researchers of the Universidasd Autónoma de Madrid, J.R. Banegas and F. Rodríguez Artalejo, presented their study "Enrica" (financed by Sanofi) on the health of the average Spaniard, after examining 12.000 adults. Its outcome can be summarized like this: 62% of the adult population is overweight (23% obese), and this is the result of a sedentary lifestyle. 28% smokers. The average inhabitant of this country passes 14 hours a week watching TV and seven hours in front of a computer screen.

A recurring problem for the treatment of overweight patients is described by Dr. Banegas: "Every citizen is advised to realize physical activity during their time of leasure (a minimum of 150 minutes/week of moderate physical activity, or 60 minutes of vigorous activity), but only 30% of the population follows this advise."

The traditional Mediterranean diet - admired and copied by the health conscious all over the world - has incorporated too much animal fat.
The study informs about the recommended portions of a nutritional mix, and the actual amount in the typical Spaniard's diet; though they eat a lot, of some nutrients their intake is deficient:

nutrients....................recommended.........actually taken in
saturated fats..............7-8%........................12%
proteins......................<300 g.....................400+
carbohydrates..............50-55%...................42%
fibers...........................25+%......................23%

They also take in too few fruits and vegetables and too little milk.

Dr. Banegas: "80% of Spaniards with obesity is medically counselled about weight loss, but only 40% follows these recommendations."

Another problem is smoking: 28% of the population means quite a high rate in comparison to other developed countries.

33% of the population suffers from high blood pressure. One third does not know it. A lot of those who know it and are treated do not follow their physician's advise, which means that only 20% of hypertension is well treated.
One in two Spaniards has problem with high cholesterol levels, but half of them do not know and others do not follow an adequate diet though they know. 7% of the population are diabetics.
The study author's haven't noticed important changes in comparison with earlier studies, and they see their outcomes in line with developments in other Mediterranean countries.

The main problems remain a sedentary lifestyle, smoking, and eating too much, especially meat.
(source www.lavanguardia.com)

75 years ago: a coup attempt that led to civil war

On July 16 - 18, 1936, a group of officers attempted a coup against the republican government that initially failed and led to the Spanish Civil War.

"Today in History" of the Washington Post: "In 1936, the Spanish Civil War began as right-wing army generals launched a coup attempt against the Second Spanish Republic."

The Wikipedia has an exhaustive article on that conflict that also introduces one to the relevant literature.

Today's Spanish and Catalan newspapers are full of special articles on the topic, some of them accessible for free.

Fully accessible:

El País dedicates one of its Sunday supplements ("Domingo" - generally full of political comment, essays, excerpts of political books, etc.) to the anniversary, here.

And in its Sunday magazine "El País Semanal" an interview with Paul Preston.

El Periòdico offers a day-to-day overview of the war's beginnings.

La Vanguardia has video documentaries, here.

Only headlines or summary:

The Catalan daily Ara only tells us what's in their printed edition, here.

Avui's Sunday supplement Presència lets us see the pictures (pdf dossier here), but not the interview with historian Paul Preston.


Spanish public television broadcasted a documentary on the still open questions about that conflict, they have it on-line here.

It stresses the essential importance of the aid from fascist Germany and Italy to the rebels from the very beginning: e.g. without their planes, Franco's troops from Northern Africa could not have crossed the Strait of Gibraltar as quickly and easily as they did...

One of the leading experts is Paul Preston. The LSE's Who's Who here. He leads the Cañada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies. El País offers these articles on the historian and/or his work.

MSNBC has a blog entry on the pictures of that war.

El País on corruption case in Valencia

Will the "Popular Party" head of government of the autonomous region of Valencia, Francisco Camps, finally step down? That is a question for many editorialists today. He was recently re-elected with an absolute majority but if the accusations against him are true, he should go, and quickly - otherwise the image of his party that looks forward to winning next year's general elections in Spain will be tarnished. The article from El País with the headline "Valencian premier to stand trial for accepting suits as gifts" is here.

Addition Aug. 9: shortly after the publication of the entry above, Camps stepped down as the regional premier. El País has more on the subject under the headline "Gürtel tapes show ring bribed PP politicians", here.

Barcelona Design Week, October 17 - 21

Barcelona has so many designers that there's a joke that says that in Barcelona the pick-up line is not "Do you work or study?" but "Do you work or design?".
This week came out the announcement of the next Barcelona Design Week in October, all the details can be found on this page, in English.
Another essential link for Barcelona and design is that to "Fostering Arts and Design", FAD Barcelona.

Madrid Book Fair

Unfortunately, their official website is only in Spanish, but if you happen to be in Madrid [not in Catalonia!] these days, do not miss the chance to pass by the bookseller's huts in the Retiro park. This year's official guest country is Germany.
Open until June 12, mornings and afternoons, - be careful, there is a siesta break...

100: a tribute to Literature

This is my personal post no. 100. It is dedicated to writers that give us great pleasure through their stories and help us to "forget our loneliness" (C.S. Lewis). One of my favourites among the contemporary is Haruki Murakami. I just read "What I talk about when I talk about running" and have "1Q84" before me. The Wikipedia has this on him.
Yesterday the Cervantes, the most prestigious literary award in the Spanish speaking world was given to Ana María Matute. Here is the Wikipedia entry on her. As far as I can see, none of her works has been translated into English, though she taught at various universities in the US.
Here you can read what El País had to say (in English) about this year's St. Jordi's Day, April 23, the feast of roses and books in honor of the Catalan patron saint.

Catalan (and Spanish) design at American University

Until May 15, the AU Museum in Washington, D.C., hosts an exhibition on contemporary Spanish design. The majority of the artists exposed are Catalans. Here you find more information, the catalogue in digital format, and an introduction to the program Spain Arts & Culture 2011. It is mentioned on Express Night Out. A review on TBD here.

Miró at the Tate Modern, April 14 - September 11

A great opportunity to experience Catalan culture in London. Here is the link to the Tate Modern's page; if you want to learn more about this painter, the Wikipedia has this to say. The Ramon Llull Institute in London has prepared an extensive programme to accompany this exhibition, look out for press releases here.

Buying clothes on-line

This blog is anomenated "... from the Catalan countryside" because its author really lives there, i.e. about 40km away from the nearest village with decent shopping. The problem about this village is that shopping hours are limited to more or less 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. and 5.30 p.m. to 9 p.m. from Monday to Saturday, and some of the fashion chains he likes are not present there, and sometimes it is difficult to find one's size as they can only store a limited volume of goods.
And there is no free parking in this village, except if you are willing to walk for 20 mins. each way, with a child on your hand and additional bags on your way back to the car. One can ride by train there but trains are infrequent, not punctual, and their schedules do not meet the shopping hours'. The village center breathes history, which means that the streets are narrow and often crowded.

A good alternative to bear with these "hardships" is shopping on-line (we started with books, home electronics, and toys) - at least if you are quite sure of your size with reference to certain brands. Unfortunately, though it was a widely reported on project in the past, fashion brands still have not unified their sizes. On the other hand, most on-line boutiques offer instructions on how to measure oneself to know one's correct size.

This blog entry was triggered by a piece of news that was on the radio this morning, published on the website of Inditex, Spain's biggest fashion house:
During the fall/winter season, Pull&Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysho and Uterqüe will launch e-stores, while Zara Online, now available in 16 countries, will expand to another two markets: the United States and Japan.

This is good news for Spanish consumers of cheap fashion, as H&M of Sweden does not have an online store in Spain yet. Desigual Barcelona, a more upscale brand with colourful designs also has an on-line presence. My better half has already bought shoes made by El Naturalista on-line as it is often difficult to find their full catalogue in all sizes in one shoe store. These shoes arrived a few days later, earlier than expected.

If you are really into cheap stuff, there are also La Redoute and Kiabi...

Buying on-line also offers one the possibility of buying American fashion in Europe at American prices, e.g. Levi's 501 on ebay.com for 30 USD instead of 75 EUR in a European Levi's store... Another possibility for buying big brands cheaper is "shopping clubs" such as buyvip.com; they send one e-mails with actual discount offers valid for only a few days; if one reacts quickly one buys cheaply - I have no experience with them yet.

Happy with their private lives but not their jobs

Today in the news: 90% of Spaniards are satisfied with how their private lives are going, 3% more than the European average, but only 60% are satisfied with their jobs, i.e. very few in comparison to their neighbours. No wonder as more than 20% are unemployed; and of those with a college education, 44% are working in jobs for which they are overqualified - and underpaid.

Positive side effects of the crisis: the consumption of tobacco and gasoline has gone down recently.

Joaquim Sorolla 148 today

Google, at least in its Catalan version, reminds us of the 148th birthday of Joaquim Sorolla today, a realist painter from Valencia with a sharpe eye for everyday life scenes of his days' Spain. One click leads us to images like the one here, and this article from the Wikipedia.

Potential tourists beware...

Until a few days ago it looked as if this spring and summer would be great tourism seasons for Spain as a lot of northern Europeans changed their plans of going to Egypt or Tunisia for Easter or summer holidays and decided to book vacations in the Canary Islands or the Mediterranean coast of Spain. Now it could become a nightmare for those tourists if public sector unions realize their threat of going on strike during holidays. These unions want to prevent the central government from privatizing AENA, the body that controls Spanish airports, which would mean an end to public sector privileges for its 12,500 employees and more competition between airports; it would also help the government in its efforts to balance the budget.
In early December of 2010, air traffic controllers went on a strike that left hundreds of thousands stranded on a holiday weekend and that led the government to declare a state of alarm in order to force them back to work and prevent them from striking during the Christmas holidays. Now similar chaos is to be feared if ground personnel at Spanish airports during the holiday season decides not to carry baggage, not to clean restrooms, or not to empty the trash cans. This would be a real pain in the neck for the Spanish economy as tourism is one of the few areas that works reasonably well - especially due to the benign climate, not necessarily to its quality - and that gives - often temporary - employment to a lot of people.

Measures to alleviate fuel price rises

The Spanish government announced today that the speed limit on Spanish highways will be lowered temporarily to reduce the general fuel consumption. The fare price for regional and middle distance trains will be lowered by 5% - also temporarily, and the gaz providers will have to mix more biofuels into the gasoline they sell. El País has the full story in English here.
Spain is a country poor in fossil fuels, except for dirty coal the production thereof is only viable with subsidies and coercion of power companies to use national coal for electricity production. On the other hand, it is a country blessed with wind and sunshine but there are few people rich enough for the initial investments, e.g. to put up fotovoltaic panels on their roofs, and the government recently cut the clean energy subsidies to consolidate the budget - but they kept those for coal. But green issues are not very high on the agenda of a country with a 20% unemployment rate, a rather poor education system, and little overall spending in R&D.

Contemporary Music: Sonar 2011

If you like electronic music and Barcelona in the early summer, Sònar is the festival for you. This year it will be held from June 16 to 18, and you can find more information here.

Contemporary Catalan pop

Recent years have seen a remarkable revival of Catalan pop music. The most successful groups of this moment are Love of Lesbian, Manel, Els Amics de les Arts, and Antonia Font from Mallorca. To get an idea watch this video or look for others on youtube.

Remembering 23 F

Yesterday - and the days before - the media were full of remembrances of the 30th anniversary of a failed coup attempt of some militaries unhappy with the young Spanish democracy that took place on February 23, 1981; therefore its colloquial name "23 F". The daily El País even offers articles in English, here. Interestingly, a lot of the leading historians on contemporary Spanish history are British, such as e.g. Paul Preston of the LSE and Hugh Thomas.
The Wikipedia in its English verision is not really helpful on this topic but introduces the protagonists, here.

Jordi Savall won a Grammy

As I ramble at times to promote Catalan culture beyond the frontiers of the small "principate" where I live, I have to mention the Catalan master of "early music" Jordi Savall who recently won a Grammy award. Though according to the Washington Post's critic Anne Midgette, here, the Grammys should be ignored, she helpfully links directly to amazon's offer of Savall's Dinastia Borja.
The Wikipedia has this to say about Savall.

Mercè Rodoreda in English

Open Letter Books, the University of Rochester's publisher for literary translations into English has recently taken up Catalan writer Mercè Rodoreda into its catalogue with a collection of 32 of her short stories and the novel Death in Spring. The Wikipedia's entry on one of the leading Catalan authors or maybe the most important Catalan novelist of the 20th century, is here.

Electric cars: buy ZEVs not SUVs !

A while ago I read about electric cars and the models the different caremakers will bring onto the market soon, i.e. within 2011. I looked around the web and found the ones presented here below; what is often still difficult to find is the date sales will begin and their price.
Because I don't have the time I would like to have for blogging, this article is not really well written and the cars appear without any intended order.
As far as they say on their website, the Norwegian Think is the most widely distributed and used electric car up to now. Its makers plan to built a factory in the US as well. It is not really pretty - the Think looks like those small cars powered by noisy scooter engines, made by Aixam, that one can drive to a maximum speed of 45 km/h without a license in Spain.
Slightly more appealing in its looks but very small indeed is the American made Wheego Whip LiFe that was meant to go on sale in January, more information here.
Renault's Twizy is a very short two-seater, meant as a second car for the journey to work or to gain driving experience; Renault puts its autonomy at 100kms, calculates 3,5 hours for battery charging - and a price similar to a three-wheeled scooter. As far as I know it will be built in Valladolid, Spain, as the facilities there are underused because the Renault Modus never became popular... The Renault Fluence ZE is the very opposite of the Twizy: very long for European standards at 4,75 m and extremely ugly, or to put it differently, ordinary and boring. Its price will be between 21.000 and 26.000 EUR plus a monthly fee for the battery...
The Seat IBE, pictured above and on which an article in Spanish from business daily Expansión you can find here, does not come with a launch date or price yet; one does not even find it on the maker's homepage; it is quite a beauty, similar to VW's Scirocco.
Citröen's C Zero looks like a Smart or a tiny South Korean car but comes with four doors and, like most of its competitors, little extra space for luggage or groceries if all of its four seats are occupied. At 3,48 m it is about as short as this blogger's car, a Suzuki Wagon R+ (=the old Opel Agila) - 7 cm shorter to be exact; but that should be sufficient for the average user who does not want to travel with it. Its makers put the autonomy at "nearly" 150 km. On its Spanish website Citröen does not say anything about prices but offers a quote if one demands it...
The Peugeot Ion made it difficult to be discovered. All the PSA brands' websites are quite demanding as to one's internet connection and take for ever to open their fancy presentations while one would be happy to have a quick look on a few pictures and detailed written descriptions. As with other models, Citröen and Peugeot share a great part of their respective electric cars, i.e. the Peugeot Ion looks like the C Zero, only a little fancier and more expensive. One cannot get a catalogue yet, prices are not offered either, but Peugeot promises an electric bicycle and a scooter, too, for the nearer future.

Opel's Ampera has got thedimensions of a family car, reminding one of a Renault Megane or Opel Insignum but it is not as sleek as these latter. The website is very comfortable for browsing, the model is promised for late 2011, there is no price quoted (- and putting the address here destroyed my text settings; I can't get rid of the italics).
Studying its specifications one discovers that the Chevy Volt, that looks like a Honda Civic, is a hybrid vehicle, not a fully electric car. It is not really pretty, like most modern American cars, and has got a price tag of 41,000 USD. Apart from GM's web, I found this website with more information

The Nissan Leaf might be the closest equivalent to a normal car with an internal combustion engine. It looks like a VW Golf as to size and styling, offers five seats and some luggage room, a very accessible website that even tells one its price: 32,000 USD or EUR (not quite fair to European buyers) or less, depending on local subsidies for the purchase of a zero emissions vehicle.
Unfortunately, Toyota's iQ is still in its study phase, if I interpret this article correctly. As is VW's E Up, according to this website specialized in alternative energy.
As to my taste, I would stick with one of the small European EVs: they look nice and seem to offer good value for the money.

Other articles on electric vehicles I found on Google News:
Why we need more electric cars, here.
Big challenges to EV rollouts, here.

A cartoon on the "revolt" in the Arab world

The Catalan daily Avui publishes this cartoon on its website today. It shows voices behind pyramids that say "Go" (or even "P... off!").

Primavera Sound 2011

If you happen to be in Barcelona between May 25 and 29, don't miss this nice spring music festival.

Here is the latest press release with the confirmed artists at the end; more information at www.primaverasound.com. If you book your ticket until Feb. 4, there will be a discount.

PRIMAVERA SOUND COMBINES PAST AND PRESENT IN AN EDITION THAT CONSOLIDATES IT AS A REFERENCE ON THE MUSIC SCENE

PJ Harvey, Sufjan Stevens, Interpol and P.I.L., among new bands confirmed for the San Miguel Primavera Sound 2011.

The musical event will have a new big stage, is increasing its perimeter and redistributing its space in order to improve the global experience of all the people who attend.

The concerts of the main programme of San Miguel Primavera Sound 2011 will be held on 8 stages, all of which are on the Parc del Forum site. The main novelty is the creation of a second big stage to host artists who draw large crowds and will be in a space that has never before been used by the festival. The Vice stage will also change position.

Another significant change is the increase of the area of the festival site in the Parc del Fòrum. This increase in the perimeter of the site with the objective of making the site more comfortable, will mean a redistribution of the spaces in order to make movement around the festival site easier and to avoid any masses of people. To this end, there will be improvements in the services available for the public, including a second food area, an increase in the number of toilets and changes in the decoration and style of the site.

As has already been announced, the festival will go back to its original venue the Poble Espanyol for two new days to celebrate the opening and closing of the festival (Wednesday 25th and Sunday 29th of May). These two dates join the rest of the parallel programme that, under the name of “Primavera a la Ciutat” (Primavera In the City) will take over the city of Barcelona during the last week of May this year.

In the artists’ section, an extensive list of names has been presented today, to almost complete the acts that will play the eight stages in the Parc del Fòrum during the last weekend of May. PJ Harvey presenting her new album” Let England Shake", Sufjan Stevens’ new show, the darkness of the New Yorkers Interpol and the post-punk of John Lydon P.I.L. (Public Image Limited), really stand out among the newly announced bands. These confirmations join the earlier announcement of the first comeback concert of the British band Pulp and the visit of big names like Grinderman, Animal Collective, Belle & Sebastian, Mogwai, John Cale, The National and The Flaming Lips.

As in previous editions, San Miguel Primavera Sound reserves a large space for artists that can be considered as “classics” of their respective styles. This is the case of the sound terrorists Einstürzende Neubauten, the cult British band The Monochrome Set, the guitar experimentation of the mythical Glenn Branca and his Ensemble, the Americans, Pere Ubu will play "The Modern Dance", his most highly praised record, as well as the corner stone of no wave, the New Yorker Arto Lindsay.

Other names that have been much talked about recently will also be here in Barcelona. The Americana of the ubiquitous M. Ward, the post-rock of Explosions In The Sky, the colourful glam pop from the band Of Montreal, the intimate folk of The Tallest Man On Earth, different versions of modern day crooners with James Blake and Perfume Genius, pop with roots by Avi Buffalo, the math rock with hints of electronic from the Battles or the psychedelic rock of The Black Angels will show just why they have won over the specialised press from all over the world.

Electronic and dance music in all its forms will take us into the early hours of each day of the festival. In the next edition the classics will shine as well as newcomers. Influential artists like the master of hip hop DJ Shadow, the crazy mash-up of Girl Talk, the live show by the duo Simian Mobile Disco, the maestro of newly fledged Lindstrom and the two performances by Kode9 (live with The Space Ape and a Dj set entirely based on Burial) will be up against new names that are doing really well like Carte Blanche (the Dj Mehdi and Riton duo), the dubstep of Caspa, Barcelona’s John Talabot, from the DFA label Holy Ghost! and the member of The XX, who will do a set as Dj Jamie XX. Less danceable but just as prominent, we have the rejuvenated show by Gonjasufi and promising newcomers of less accessible electronic music like Gold Panda and Baths.

Hip-hop is once again very much present in this edition. To the already confirmed Das Racist we must add BigBoi, member of the duo Outkast and author of one of the records of the year, the unstoppable collective Odd Future, on everyone’s lips because of nicknames like Tyler The Creator and Hodgy Beats.

In the music made in Spain section there are two clear focuses of attention: the reunion of the band from Asturias Nosoträsh playing their record "Popemas" and a special show by El Guincho, both of which will play with special guests at the festival. Apart from these bands, great revelations from last year like Lüger, Toundra and The Suicide Of Western Culture, who will share the line up with well established artists and fresh newcomers: Ainara LeGardon, Thelemáticos, Dúo Cobra, Les Aus, Berlinetta, La Célula Durmiente, Kokoshca and Ornamento Y Delito. The reunion of the Barcelona band Cuzo and the ex member of the legendary Can, Damo Suzuki deserves a special mention.

The line up is made up of different types of bands from different places. From The United States comes the folk of DM Stith, the lo-fi garage of Ty Segall, the dark noise of The Soft Moon, the girl band Cults, the pleasant drones of Ducktails, the synth pop by Glasser, Bart Davenport’s new project Incarnations, the psychedelic indie-blues of Kurt Vile & The Violators, the mixture of rock and electronic that Matthew Dear is making nowadays, the freak folk by tUnE-yArDs, the experimental pop by the hyped Warpaint, the indie folk of The Annuals and the post rock of Del Rey. From the neighbouring Canada come Julia Kent’s folk and the experimental rock of Sunns. The Finnish Rubik will represent the North of Europe and we round off the line up with Connan Mockasin from New Zealand and Field Music from Britain.

CONFIRMED ARTISTS SAN MIGUEL PRIMAVERA SOUND 2011

Aias, Ainara LeGardon, The Album Leaf, Animal Collective, The Annuals, Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, Arto Lindsay, Autolux, Avi Buffalo, Baths, Battles, Belle & Sebastian, Berlinetta, Big Boi, The Black Angels, Blank Dogs, BMX Bandits, Caribou, Carte Blanche, Caspa, Cloud Nothings, Comet Gain, Connan Mockasin, Cults, Cuzo + Damo Suzuki, Dan Melchior und Das Menace, Darkstar, Das Racist, Deakin, Dean Wareham plays Galaxie 500, Del Rey, DJ Shadow, DM Stith, Ducktails, Dúo Cobra, Echo & The Bunnymen performing Heaven Up Here & Crocodiles, Einstürzende Neubauten, El Guincho, El Mató A Un Policía Motorizado, Emeralds, Explosions In The Sky, Factory Floor, Field Music, The Fiery Furnaces, The Flaming Lips, Fleet Foxes, The Fresh & Onlys, Games, Gang Gang Dance, Girl Talk, Glasser, Glenn Branca Ensemble, Gold Panda, Gonjasufi, Grinderman, Half Japanese, Holy Ghost!, Incarnations, Interpol, Islet, James Blake, Jamie XX, John Cale & Band + Orchestra perform PARIS 1919 live, John Talabot, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Julia Kent, Julian Lynch, Kode9 And The Space Ape + Kode9 Burial Set, Kokoshca, Kurt Vile & The Violators, La Célula Durmiente, Las Robertas, Les Aus, Lichens, Lindstrom, Low, Lüger, M. Ward, Male Bonding, Matthew Dear Live, Me And The Bees, Mercury Rev perform Deserter's Songs, Mogwai, Money Mark, The Monochrome Set, My Teenage Stride, The National, Nisennenmondai, Nosoträsh "Popemas", Odd Future, Of Montreal, Oneohtrix Point Never, Ornamento Y Delito, P.I.L. (Public Image Limited), Papas Fritas, Pere Ubu plays "The Annotated Modern Dance", Perfume Genius, Phosphorescent, Pissed Jeans, PJ Harvey, Pulp, Rubik, Salem, Seefeel, Shellac, Simian Mobile Disco, The Soft Moon, Sonny & The Sunsets, Sufjan Stevens, Suicide, The Suicide Of Western Culture, Suuns, Swans, The Tallest Man On Earth, Tennis, Thelematicos, Toundra, Triángulo De Amor Bizarro, tUnE-yArDs, Twin Shadow, Ty Segall, The Vaccines, The Walkmen, Warpaint, Wolf People, Yuck.

"El País" on Franco's stolen children

The story made headlines this week: between the 1950s and the 1980s hundreds, maybe thousands, of children were taken away from their mothers -often very young, unmarried, in the process of divorce, or considered social outsiders- immediately after birth and sold to affluent couples who couldn't have children of their own. The biological mothers were told that their child had been born dead; they were presented with a death certificate but never shown the corpse. A lot of the children never knew that the parents they had known as theirs from earliest memory were not their biological parents. Involved in this massive robbery of children were nurses, nuns, priests, and officials of the birth registries. The Spanish daily El País has this article on the topic, in English.

Finally a pension reform for Spain

An important story for the national news today: Spain's central government, trade unions and the employers' representatives have finally agreed the pillars of the future public pension system. Tomorrow, the government wants to present its proposal for the public pension system's reform; this then has to be put into law and agreed on by a majority of the Cortes (national parliament) where the ruling Socialists do not have a majority of their own but are dependent on the supporting votes of small, "nationalist" parties, such as CiU from Catalonia, PNV from the Basque Country, and Coalición Canarias from the Canary Islands.
The main points are these: if you want to retire with a full pension at age 65 you have to have worked 38.5 years paying contributions into the social security system. If you want to retire at age 67 with a full pension you have to have worked for 37 years contributing. To calculate a worker's old age pension the government will take into account his or her income during the last 25 years. That is positive for those who lose their jobs shortly before reaching the retirement age but bad for those who earn high wages only late in their working life. Working women who interrupt their working life to bear children will get a bonus of nine months for each child in the computation of their contributions with a maximum of two years (= 2, 66 children - sic).
The age for retiring early will be pushed from 61 to 63.
The introduction of these measures will start in 2013: from then on, workers who want to retire need to contribute an additional one and a half months each year to reach retirment their retirement, i.e. instead of retiring on their birthday they have to work six weeks more - and so on until by 2027 the general retirement age is hoped to have reached 67.
To get the trade unions' agreement the government has promised "active labor policies" for the unemployed aged 55 and above; if they participate in these programs they will receive a benefit of around 400 EUR per month (a ridiculous sum if one lives in a big city where the cost of life is close to northern European levels).

The original story from the Spanish daily El País is here.

Remembering the Cultural Life at the Kennedy White House

As the performance by Catalan cellist Pau Casals was one of the highlights of cultural events during the JFK presidency we reproduce here what National Public Radio had to say about a memorable evening at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.:

At Kennedy Center, An Arts Legacy Alive At 50

by Nina Totenberg

Perhaps no president in American history celebrated the arts more visibly than John F. Kennedy. So it seems only natural that the performing-arts center that bears his name is staging a star-studded arts festival to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his inauguration.

For those of a certain age, the image of that day 50 years ago is tattooed on memory. A blizzard had whitewashed the city and nearly ground traffic to a halt. The sky was so crystal clear, the white snow so dazzling and the glare of the sun so blinding that poet laureate Robert Frost couldn't read the poem he had composed for the event. So he put aside the wind-ruffled pages and recited from memory another of his poems, "The Gift Outright."

Frost was the first poet asked to recite at an inaugural — a harbinger of things to come.

B. Anthony Stewart/National Geographic/Getty Images

Robert Frost recited his poem "The Gift Outright" at President Kennedy's inauguration — a dazzling winter's day in Washington, so bright and windy the poet laureate had to forgo his prepared text and work from memory.

'Our Contribution To The Human Spirit'

"I am certain that after the dust of centuries has passed over our cities, we, too, will be remembered not for the victories or defeats in battle or politics, but for our contribution to the human spirit," President Kennedy said in November 1962, in one of his many speeches promoting the arts. And then almost a year later, less than a month before his death: "I look forward to an America which will reward achievement in the arts as we reward achievement in business and statecraft."

"The Kennedys really believed that the people who make art, the people who write books, the people who have great scientific thoughts, had a very important role to play in society, and they honored them by focusing on them and putting a spotlight on them," observes Kennedy Center President Michael Kaiser.

This was a time, remember, when there were almost no regional theaters in America — or dance companies, or operas. There was no government support for the arts or humanities, no National Endowment for the Arts. Indeed, in the nation's capital, Congress had only just appropriated money to build a cultural center — a center that would, when it came to fruition years later, be called the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Now, 50 years later, the center is celebrating that pivotal moment for arts in America. The project, which continues through Feb. 6, has been on the drawing board for five years.

The Kennedy Center's Kaiser says that in planning such a festival, there is no point in being "encyclopedic." Rather, the aim is to hit artistic highlights, from jazz to classical music, from ballet to tap dance.

The events in this particular sampler include a new symphonic work featuring the words of President Kennedy, with Morgan Freeman and Richard Dreyfuss narrating. There are performances by the American Ballet Theater — the organization that Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis chaired until her death — and exhibits featuring the work of artists with disabilities, because the Kennedys were such proponents of opportunity for the disabled. There are events featuring young artists, as well as established ones.

Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Casals (speaking to President John F. Kennedy, center, with First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy at left) was at 85 one of the world's greatest living musicians — and a Spanish exile who had long refused to play publicly in countries that recognized Spain's authoritarian government. He accepted Kennedy's White House invitation after much soul-searching, as a signal of his hopes for the new president's administration.

'The Most Glamorous Event Of The Year'

Though the Kennedy presidency would be just a shooting star in the firmament of U.S. history, it would light up the arts in America as never before. And no event would more symbolize that than the 1961 White House concert played by cellist Pablo Casals, by then almost 85 years old.

From The White House Concert

Casals Plays 'El cant dels ocells' (Song of the Birds)

[3 min 25 sec]

A Spaniard in exile, Casals had refused for years to play publicly in the United States, or any country, that recognized the Spanish government of dictator Francisco Franco. But in the first year of his presidency, Kennedy sent an emissary to Casals' home in Puerto Rico to see if the cellist would relent and play at the White House.

Casals widow Marta Casals Istomin says her late husband struggled with the invitation. Finally, he sent a letter to the president declaring, "May the music that I will play for you and for your friends symbolize my deep feelings for the American people and the faith and confidence we all have in you as leader of the free world."

And so, on a November night in 1961, a glittering audience of women in ball gowns and men in white tie and tails gathered at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Among the guests was Alice Roosevelt Longworth, daughter of Teddy Roosevelt — the last president for whom Casals had performed, nearly 60 years earlier at the dawn of the 20th century.

There were all the big names in American music: composers from Leonard Bernstein to Aaron Copland, conductors from Eugene Ormandy to Leopold Stokowski.

"There was electricity," says Casals' widow. "There was something [in the air] — that people were here for something important."

She admits she was nervous.

"Casals was 85 years old, and although I knew he was all right — you know, these emotions can sometimes affect you."

Then he put bow to string.

"When I heard the first few notes," Marta Casals Istomin says, "I knew it was going to be all right."

At the end of the program, there was silence, then explosive applause. Casals walked over to President Kennedy and said, "Now I will play for you the 'Song of the Birds,' which for me means my nostalgia for my country, and my hope for freedom and peace."

The Spanish folk song was Casals' signature piece, one he had played at many benefits and humanitarian concerts over the decades. Sung at Christmas in Spain, it was traditionally a cheerful song, its tempo fast. But Casals had slowed it down, transforming it into a heartbreakingly mournful ode. On a recording of the White House concert, you can hear that emotion — not just in the music, but occasionally in a tiny sound Casals himself makes, a sound close to a small cry.

The next morning, a photograph of the concert would be emblazoned across the front page of The New York Times. The Kennedy Center's Michael Kaiser was a boy then, but he remembers the excitement the evening generated.

"It affected the way all of us viewed culture," Kaiser says. "This was the most glamorous event of the year." And, he says in amazement, "It was a cello recital!"

ABC's Diane Sawyer, in Washington for the opening of the Kennedy Center festival last week, remembered the huge buzz caused by the Casals recital. It penetrated even her teenage consciousness in Kentucky, though she confessed she had no idea then who Casals was.

Tuesday night, the pieces Casals hand-picked for that night in 1961 — music of Couperin, Schumann, Mendelssohn and Beethoven, plus of course that melancholy Spanish song — will sound again within earshot of the great bronze bust of the late president that stands watch in the Kennedy Center foyer. Emanuel Ax will be at the piano, on a bill with the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio. And the man bowing the cello? Yo-Yo Ma.

You find the audio document, including the piece "Cant dels Ocells" [Birds' Song] performed by Pau Casals, here.

If you want to know more about Casals, the Wikipedia has to say this.

The Pau Casals Foundation's website is here.