In recent days and as part of the welcome that my son and his family gave me, we went to a musical evening. The event was the closing of the cultural agenda that La Caxia, a Spanish banking institution, carries out in the city of Tarragona-Spain. The activity that day consisted of a musical workshop and later a concert. Both activities were highly gratifying and today I share with you part of the experience.

Gamelan Workshop

I will begin by clarifying that the workshop was dictated in Catalan, a language that I do not speak, but that due to its Latin root can be understood with some ease, especially when the person who speaks it is very didactic and seeks to make himself understood not only with words but with all his gestures, as did the instructor of the workshop.

The first explanation of the instructor was that the instrument was originally from Bali-Indonesia and that it is part of their cultural-religious rituals. For its execution, two people are required, because when the instrument is struck with another hammer-shaped piece whose ends can be made of wood or rubber, the sound extends in what seems to be something infinite and it is up to the second performer to stop it with two fingers: the thumb and index finger making a clamp and grabbing "the key" at one end.

Another relevant aspect is that the music is not composed with the 7 musical notes that most of us know, but with its own nomenclature, taking a measure 1-3; 2-4 and the instructor is marking the rhythm.

Something that was amazing to me is that the instrument is composed of 12 parts, so it requires 24 players to form what the instructor called "community music", which as a whole creates a great connection with your partner and with the whole group, because the musical harmony depends on each one of you. The music that is produced is joyful, high vibrational, not only because of the sound of the gamelan, but also because the instructor accompanies with a drum or other metallic instrument.

We left the workshop very excited, both children and adults enjoyed the experience very much and we were looking forward to the second activity, which would begin in an hour's time.

While we were making time I noticed that there was an exhibition of posters, I separated from the group and went to continue filling myself with good moments, the little I managed to see seemed wonderful, however, I did not have time to see it completely and also, a young guide, told me that at other times the guided tour would be in Spanish. Today I am going to enjoy it, I will be commenting soon. Let's go back to the concert.

Momi Maiga's concert

Momi Maiga is a musician, composer and singer from Senegal. His instrument is the kora, which in particular I did not know and has some similarity with the harp for its sound, the number of strings and because it is played by pressing only two fingers on the strings. The sound it produces is sweet and delicate.

Maiga according to what you can perceive, does not have a defined musical genre, or rather I could say that his music is defined by itself in varied and combined rhythms, perhaps somewhat "abstract" to which with imagination you can create and recreate worlds.

And I say this because it is Momi himself who invites you to listen, keeping in mind, situations of everyday experiences or those that mark a human group and seeks to sensitize us about it and does it from love, respect, touching very sensitive fibers, an example of this was when he played a piece and commented that it was a music in tribute to the people who die at sea and asked us to think of those people while we listened to it. An experience that stirs feelings and broadens the dimension of our deepest values.

It is not only Momi, because it is a quartet that, each one with his instrument, does wonders, between them there is a very intimate connection that in a language of gestures, glances and smiles they support each other in their interpretation making that moment a great moment that those present join that interweaving of emotions that they express to us. Something really beautiful and great.

My photos are not very good, the truth is that they are very bad, ha,ha,ha,ha, however, I wanted to show something of this beautiful experience.

Here is a link to a recent video of Maiga.