San Agustín and the blues

Ñaco Goñi & Stevie Zee give the village fiestas authentic musical quality.

The blues is another way to find to find God in the village of the Saint dedicated to those who are searching.  Once more, San Agustín demonstrates that it knows about music, and has booked a truly masterful guitar and harp so that we won’t forget this year’s fiestas in a hurry.  And the music doesn’t stop with the blues.

He’s a kind of dark-haired Johnny Winter with fewer tattoos, which means he plays one mean guitar.  He is Stevie Zee, a bluesman with a great voice and songs to match and who is, this year, accompanied by Blues Reunion and together with Ñaco Goñi, the es Vedrà Cultural Centre’s main attraction for the San Agustín fiestas.  And that’s not just empty praise.

Ñaco Goñi excels on the blues harp.  So much so that ‘Loquillo’ chose him for the single ‘Motoristas’ and the record ‘Mis problemas con las mujeres’.  He’s also played with Cool Jerks and has taken part in musical experiments such as the Tonky Blues Band, Los Jockers and the Bluescavidas.  Ñaco y Stevie Zee will get together in San Agustín on the night of Saturday 25th August, from ten o’clock at night.  On the same evening, to round up, the band Dinamo, a fusion of Italo-riverplate with the hardest Ska – according to its members – and formed in Mallorca.

There’s music in the square on Sunday, too; at eleven at night with the group Olimpic.  Convincing post-punk rock, in English but out of Getxo (Basque country) they were winners of the ‘Proyecto Demo’ of Radio 3.  After which there’ll be an electronic session with Alterk-2.

The other two names to whom the organisers have directed part of their budget are Los niños de los ojos rojos and Zooty, who will play on the 28th, the day of San Agustín.  The first are basically a hip-hop band, though they point out that theirs is a fusion of styles in which they include latino jazz, rock and even Irish folk.  Rap lyrics against war and consumerism accompany their beat.

The concert starts at ten, but before Los niños de los ojos rojos (from Extremadura) the French band Zooty will take the stage.  A very different style than that previously described.  Elegant saxophone mixes with trombone and even banjo.  Zooty make a modern version of jazz fusion and take great care over their stage presentation, with white shirts, black ties and waist-coats.

On Wednesday 29th, it’s the turn of the Ibizan percussion band, Tumbuka, who will play from eleven o’clock at night, after a demonstration of oriental dance.