Poster Research

Since I forgot to post it earlier, I am now. My poster from the Student research poster thingy at school. I spent forever on this thing. It's pretty, but apparently they judged on the way you told it to the judges who never actually read it. I was under the impression that the judges would read it. Oh well. It went on my CV and that's the main thing :) And now I know.

Las Guitarras de España

I went to see Las Guitarras de España tonight for free at the University theater. They are a sort of a loose confederation of a Flamenco group. The musicians that played at this performance were two guitarists, one percussionist, one singer, and one dancer. Well, the singer did a little dancing. I want to say first that the singer, Chiara Lucia Mangiameli was without hesitation the absolute best part of the show. Her picture is posted here. She was fantastic. Absolutely the best. I bought their CD because of her.
I mean. Really. Anybody can play the Flamenco guitar (well, you know what I mean) but a voice like hers is few and far between. Flamenco music is heavily influenced by Arabic, North African, and Indian music. Chiara's voice is perfect for that and you can feel those places in her voice. If you remember the vocalist from the movie Frieda- that sang La Llorona- well, Chiara is kinda like that but better.
The guitars were good, I don't mean to dismiss them. And the percussionist was okay too. Maybe she was really good, I'm not a good judge of that. She played traditional instruments, one called a cojón from Peru that was basically a box she sat on and hit. It sounded nice but I feel like I could have done as good a job. She also played a North African drum, again it sounded very good, but I felt like I could have done that.
The worst part was the dancer Wendy Clinard. Everything about that woman just bothered me. Her accent, the way she answered questions, but especially the way she danced. Ok, I don't know anything about Flamenco. But I hope that what she did is not traditional. If any of you have read my post about the scourge called modern ballet then you'll understand when I say that she looked like she was posing for a body-building competition half of the time. Also she had an expression of pain on her face the entire time she danced. Not pain like a soulful heart-achey pain, but like she had a toothache.
Overall it was fabulous and I'd be willing to overlook the hideous dancer again just to hear Chiara sing with the band.