I just spent the evening at Massey Hall listening to Paco De Lucia, who is often considered the foremost practitioner of Flamenco Music. Period. I’m inclined to agree, and I think the MightyDoll does too. A few months ago, she didn’t know who De Lucia was when I mentioned that I had tickets, so I invited her along.

De Lucia started the concert by playing solo for a coupld of tunes. Gradually, more and more of his septet joined him as the set continued. The full group played a couple of tunes and really got things hopping before the break. When they resumed, the crowd was not disappointed.

The group consisted of a hand drummer, a 5 string bassist, a second guitarist, two singers, and one musician who played several instruments including Oud, Keyboards and Harmonica. To his credit, Paco De Lucia shared the spotlight with everyone in the band at least once during the night.

The music is certainly full of familiar sonorities to anyone who has heard Flamenco, and yet it went way beyond that to include forms from South America and Jazz. It’s a modern souped up version of something that is usually quite bound by tradition. This is not Spanish folk music by any means. It is music that pays homage to the tradition, and yet it’s forward looking and acknowledges other influences from the Latin Diaspora. (I’m getting pretentious now!)

Like Keith Jarrett says, truly great music is not merely a succession of notes, but a transformative experience. I would have to argue that Paco De Lucia is among that select few who can play at that level. I am going to be digesting this concert for several days.

*****

Eyeball Update

I went to the eye clinic this morning. For those of you who want to know, I am happy to report that my distance vision is almost normal now, and my colour perception continues to improve. I scored 8.5 out of 17 on the colour blindness test with my right eye. 10 days ago, this eye couldn’t spot the figures inside the field of coloured dots at all. My left eye is much better at 12 or 13 out of 17. Bright lights and sudden changes in lighting are still pesky, but improving nonetheless. At the end of a day staring at a monitor or being out in the sun for any amount of time results in the dimmer being turned down. I will just have to work fast and get a good pair of polarized sunglasses.

The doctor who originally saw me at the eye clinic was very pleased at how much my vision has improved. She said that it’s remarkable that someone with my symptoms could have made such a profound recovery. I guess things could have been a lot worse, and the doctors did a great job of masking their fears. They always said that I should make a full recovery, but I guess they had reservations despite their optimistic pronouncements. I am certainly glad they had as much hope as I did, and I’m even more glad that their expectations have been exceeded.

Next time I meet a pessimist, I’m going to kick his ass!