Music Appreciation

Daniela Guerrero
Block 4
Concert Report

Jarabe de Palo

1. The unforgettable concert of Jarabe de Palo took place June 1
st
, 2013. Despite its
remote location, an auditory near Quitos cableway, this event had a great turnout.
The Spanish band, which originated in Aragn, belongs to the genre of alternative
rock. Such band begun in 1996 and currently continues composing music for their
followers. The band is formed by: Pau Dones, bandleader and vocalist; Carmen
Child, bassist; Alex Tenas, who plays the drums; Riki Frouchtman, with the guitars;
Jenks Jimmy Jimenez, saxophonist. The band started with Pau and his brother Marc
with a group called J. & Co.Band and later another group called Dentaduras. Pau's
life would give a 360 degrees turn after his trip to Cuba where he met La Flaca.
This name was the title of their first album in 1996. This song is one of the most
popular and became one of the songs of the summer of 1997. In 1998 the group
released their second album, Depende, showing that the group would not have only
a great success but several of them. In 2008, Jarabe de Palo started their own
discography called La Tronco Records. The group considers their discography "a
music workshop". This transcendent musical group has won 2 music awards and
several Grammy nominations. During the concert the group interpreted sixteen
songs, all of which were enjoyed by the public.

2. The concert opened with the song " 1m2 (Un Metro Cuadrado), Solo o Bien
Acompaado". This song is a homophony, where the vocalist interprets the main
melody and the rest of the band plays the harmony. During this song the
instrumentation was: a bass, the drums, a saxophone, and a guitar. The next song
was "Menos que un amor, mas que un amigo, which is also a homophony. During
the middle of this song, the audience could appreciate a solo played by the
saxophone. One of my favorite parts was the solo, since you could appreciate the
passion that had the musician had towards music as he played the saxophone.
"Romeo y Julieta", the next song they played was played by all the instruments of the
band and created a homophony. The next song I had never heard before and I really
enjoyed it because it transmitted a soothing feeling. The song is called " Y ahora que
hacemos, all instruments contributed for the interpretation such song. One of the
most popular songs during the concert was " Depende". The public acclaimed this
homophony and the cheering increase once the bass solo begun. During this part of
the song, the audience screamed uncontrollably seeing the bassist have such
mastery over her instrument. The song "Libre" was totally different because this
homophony was pretty intense. The instruments played more notes per beat; this
means the song was less tranquil. The next song had a change in instrumentation,
as a pair of maracas were introduced, which were played by the bass player. The
rest of the instrumentation remained constant throughout the event. This song was
called " Primavera". The following song was not written by the band, it is called " La
quiero a morir". During this song all the instruments were involved expect the drums
and saxophone. The following three songs: "Dos das en la vida, "Lado oscuro" and
"Frio"; all of which are homophonies interpreted by the whole band. One of the few
difference I found quite interesting and really admirable was that during the song
"Frio", a clarinet replaced the saxophone. Never before had I had a chance to listen a
clarinet in a rock band. The two songs most applauded by the public were "Agua"
and " La Flaca". During the song "Agua" all instruments interpreted a calm harmony
while the vocalist recited the lyrics. To close the concert, artists performed "La
Flaca", in which all the audience accompanied the artists by singing along. It was a
great success this song because, at times the singer left the audience to sing alone
and the lyrics could be perfectly understood, since everyone knew the song by heart.

3. During the first song of the concert, the vocalist was located in the middle of the
stage. On his left side, behind him, both the bass player and the guitarist were
located. Behind the vocalist, on a platform the drummer was located and around the
stage, constantly moving, the saxophonist could be spotted. The illumination was
great depending on the song playing. At the climax of each song, the lights
illuminated the stage from the top, while blue and red lights were directed towards
the public. During the second song there was a change in position and color of the
lights in the stage. During the saxophone solo, white light coming from the ground
illuminated the musician. During the song "Romeo y Julieta" the public really enjoy
the interpretation of the musicians, and during this song the lighting was very dim and
the audience lighted up the stage with their mobile phones. Although this scene is
quite clich in the movies about love, when experienced live you feel the audience
really connects with artists at stage. The song " Y ahora que hacemos", the lighting
went hand by hand with the melancholic tone of the song, since the stage was lighted
up by light colors, which mixed with the smoke giving a fantastic appearance of color
clouds. Similarly, during the song "Depende", the illumination remained yellow with
smoke constantly being delivered and creating yellow clouds. During the solo, the
bassist headed to center stage, which was illuminated by a bright white light shining
from the top of the stage. Because the next song had a more intense tone, lights
filled both the stage and the audience with all the rainbow palette of colors. The song
" Primavera", had an interesting use of lights, because they constantly blinked in tune
with the maracas. During the song "La quiero a morir", the vocalist sat on a tall seat
in the middle of the stage and all the illumination focused on him. Although this song
is not from the band, the audience cheered the group to interpret such song. The
song "Agua" maintained a constant illumination on stage with a light blue light in
company with smoke coming out of the bottom right corner. Moreover, the song "La
Flaca" had a lot of illumination both in the public and on stage. The last song was the
one in which the public participate most actively, and about half of the song was sung
by the audience.

4. During this concert I learned that music is constantly being transformed, but like
most things in life it is a cycle. This means that today music has changed a lot which
is evident through the tremendous sound amplification for example. Moreover, the
music always retains much of its roots. In this concert, this was evident through the
use of percussion, the drums, which was one of the first instruments on the planet.
Similarly, the vocalist on occasion murmurs in order to accompany his songs, which
also forms part of prehistoric music. In twenty years from now, maybe new
instruments appear, but music will never be able erase its origin.


5. Though I was not an active member during the concert, I enjoyed watching the
reaction of the public and most of all the reaction of Jarabe de Palo during their
concert. I was really impressed by the determination of the band to return to the
stage in order to repeat the song "La Flaca". This shows that they enjoy creating and
performing their music. I say create because, every time an artist is playing an
instrument or singing, he or she is creating music not only interpreting. One of the
most striking images and unpleasant images the stay in my memory was that of a girl
about 17 years old, who screamed nonstop throughout the concert. Although she
was all sweaty and had hoarse shouts encouraging her favorite band without any
rest, you could evidently notice she was really appreciating the concert.
Unquestionably, by both parties, the artists and the audience enjoyed the concert
because of the mere passion for music.