The New York of Spain

Tonight Coro Gospel de Madrid has a concert in a nigerian church here in Madrid. We rehearsed for the concert during the past days and I am pretty sure it will be an intense experience. Madrids gospel choir is directed by Nancy from the USA, the singers are spanish, the church is nigerian and I am from Sweden. You never know what happens when people from many parts of the world come together.

On top of this my friend Anna from Sweden is here right now, giving song classes and also working with Madrids gospelchoir. Anna directed Joybells, the same gospel choir I used to direct, and she has been in Spain many times to inspire singers and choirs. It's great to work together for a weekend! She will also follow us to Valencia for a few days.

Nancy has taught me many things about what it is like to come to Spain from another country and work with music. We have also spoken about how different Madrid is from other cities in Spain. To me it seems a bit like Madrid is like New York in the USA or Berlin in Germany -a huge city which is like a country inside the country, with its own ideas of culture, politics, religion and so on. An example of the difference is that in Madrid most choirs sing in english, but in the other cities almost every choir I meet sings in spanish.

If you are in Madrid today come to Iglesia Bride of Christ Alcala at 19.00 and enjoy the concert!

The world

Here in Madrid we live with Oscar and Christina. They have a large map of the world on the wall, which we have looked at many times and discussed politics, religion and other things. When I grew up we had a large map of the world in our kitchen. In mine and Thorine's house in Sweden there is also a wall with a map. I think my desire to travel has come from looking at that map with curiousity. Growing up with an image of the world on the wall made an impact on me. Maybe I should recommend more people to put a map of the world on a wall in their house?

Maybe she was right, the beauty queen in this classic youtube clip:

We need more maps

The soul of Spain

Today we had music theory again. We started with listining to some gospel classics that I have recorded in more modern versions and then I answered questions about why I chose certain ideas and we spoke about alternatives that also could work. The workshop was with a group from Coro Gospel de Madrid, and my swedish friends Anna and Jakob was also there. We also spoke about how you define soul and why you sometimes feel it and sometimes you don't.

Earlier today me and my family was at the bull fighting museum in Madrid, where we learned that the soul of Spain is connected to the bull fighting, whether you like it or not. I don't know if that's true, but it was interesting to see that the matadors were once treated like we treat celebrities like Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga today.

Bruises

We are now in Madrid and I just finished an evening together with the musicians from Coro Gospel de Madrid. I knew some of the musicians from before, but most of them were new to me. It was a great gang of people and I think we all had fun together. For some reason I started playing on the cymbals with my bare hands, so now my hands are full of bruises. I think there is a reason why drummers play with sticks.

Death

It is nice to read about what happens to your friends on Facebook. But sometimes Facebook delivers the bad news. I just opened my Facebook page and I realize that I have several friends who are sick and fighting for their lives right now. Life is not fair and I don't understand why there is such pain in this world.

I am grateful for these friends and I pray that death will lose its grip on them.

Spain or Sweden?

We have lived in Spain for two months now. I think a lot about the things I have learned here. What is different in this country from other countries?

A lot of Swedish musicians, including myself, often think that we can perform music better than other Europeans. That is not true, of course. Sweden is a country full of music, and you can easily find many great musicians there. But in Sweden you can also find many musicians who have forgotten their first love for music. "Great music" is different from "great musicians" and it takes more than just technique and skills to do "great music".

A big difference between Spain and Sweden is that it is much harder to study modern music in Spain. In Sweden you can learn just about anything in just about every city in just about any way you want to. In Spain the musical education is not prioritized by the government. There are many talented singers and musicians here who are frustrated, because they wish to learn more.

The good side of this is that the music in the churches here are full of soul! Because what is lacking in education is compensated in enthusiasm and energy. Best of all is that many singers and musicians turn their lives over to God and let Him model their lives! It comes natural to many christian spaniards to serve God with music. Many swedes are more focused on producing a perfect sound, or cool harmonies, or constantly renewing the repertoire.

I know I make generalisations now, and I am sorry if I offend anybody. But my point is that I wish to keep some of the spanish desire to worship that I have seen.

I intended to compare also with Germany, another country that I love, but that will be next blog I guess.

Still a good life

Yesterday I noticed that I was driving my car without being amazed about all the beautiful mountains around me. I am already used to living in such a beautful country, so I forget to be thankful and enjoy it. Isn't it sad that we forget the good things we have around us so quickly?