Barcelona

Barcelona is the second solo album recorded by Freddie Mercury, frontman of popular British rock band Queen, and operatic soprano Montserrat Caballé. Released in 1988. It is the second and final solo album recorded by Mercury…

Ask a lover of Spanish cinema what Spain's equivalent of Hollywood is, and the obvious response will be Madrid; most of Spain's top actors and directors are based in Spain's largest city. Barcelona, meanwhile, is the city that dominates the Spanish porn industry; if Madrid is Spain's Hollywood, Barcelona is Spain's San Fernando Valley. But some excellent non-porn movies have been filmed (or partly filmed) in Barcelona, ranging from Pedro Almodóvar's Todo Sobre Mi Madre (All About My Mother) to American director Whit Stillman's clever Barcelona. Stillman isn't the only American director who has filmed in Barcelona; the capitol of Cataluña (or Catalunya in Catalan) is where Woody Allen filmed his romantic comedy/drama Vicky Cristina Barcelona (starring Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem, and Scarlett Johansson). In the liner notes, Allen explains that this soundtrack called for Spanish music but candidly admits that Spanish music isn't something he is terribly knowledgeable about. However, Allen obviously did his research, and the recordings that he chose are excellent. Although this 42-minute disc contains two sensuous vocal offerings by the Barcelona-based group Giulia y los Tellarini ("Barcelona" and "La Ley del Retiro"), most of the soundtrack focuses on instrumental flamenco guitar – specifically, flamenco of the nuevo flamenco variety.

From my very first visit in the summer of 1980, the city of Barcelona fascinated me in all it's senses, from Montjuic, Las Ramblas and the monumental cathedral of La Sagrada Familia to the Palau de la Musica, La Boquer a market and Plaza de Espa a. This must have influenced positively in my relationship with the members of the "Barcelona Clarinet Players," which was love at first sight that began in 2018 during my conversation with the outstanding Cuban-Spanish pianist Pepe Rivero at the AIE headquarters in Barcelona.