CULTURE SPAIN: LADY GAGA, SHAKIRA AND BARCELONA V REAL SOCIEDAD

After my last Post about El Cid, my wife said that it was about time that I looked at something happening in Spain that was a touch more up to date.  Well, to be precise, pretty much 1,000 years more up to date!

LADY GAGA - courtesy of Wikipedia

Needless to say, my family have long given up with me when it comes to me knowing what is happening with regard to modern culture!  This is sad but they may have a point.  A friend recently mentioned that there was a Shakira concert in Barcelona coming up.  To his horror, I thought he was referring to something that the actor Michael Caine’s wife was doing, as she was the only Shakira that came to mind.

What, I wondered, was an elderly film actor’s wife doing giving a concert in Barcelona?

As you can imagine, I was speedily ‘put to rights’ – with my daughter playing pop star Shakira’s music to me throughout this past weekend every time she saw me.  Actually, I rather like it and certainly the Shakira concert in Barcleona at the Palau Sant Jordi on Wednesday the 24^th November is likely to be well attended.

Meanwhile, what little credibility I still retained took another ‘hit’ this weekend when I had to look Lady GaGa up on Wikipedia.  I had heard of her (to the relief of my daughter) but knew little more than that she sometimes wears dresses made of beef – for some reason that utterly escapes me.

More to the point was my astonishment at finding out that, this year, Lady Gaga had been voted one of the 100 most influential people in the world by both Times and Forbes magazine!  Obviously, I must be living in another world from most of the Earth’s population or perhaps everyone really has gone gaga – in the original sense of the word…

Anyway, I am being badgered by my daughter to take her to the Lady Gaga concert in Barcelona occurring at the Palau Sant Jordi on Tuesday the 7^th December.  Hopefully, I can find some plausible excuse not to go.  However, I fear this may be in vain, as daughters, in my experience, usually recognise an artifical excuse for what it is and are masters at outflanking their benighted fathers…

You may be asking what all this has to do with Spain?

Well, there is lots to do here in Spain, on so many levels – even if you speak not a word of Spanish.  Certainly, it would be incorrect to imagine that the culture of Spain revolves only around fiestas and rather old fashioned customs.  Whilst the traditional culture of Spain exists and is a joyful expression of ‘real’ Spain it is only a tiny part of the whole!  Most of the country is vibrant, determinedly up to date and has a deep appreciation of every aspect of modern international culture.

SHAKIRA - courtesy of Wikipedia

Indeed, the big cities such as Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia are constantly hosting major concerts and performances from top world class artists.  So, if you come to live in Spain or just want a great weeeknd away then there is almost invariably something great to see.

Meanwhile, of course, if you are into soccer then the, in Spain, the world is your ‘oyster’!

Spain is obsessed by the ‘beautiful’ game, to a degree that I have never seen in any other country.  This means that there are endless opportunities to see Spanish soccer games whilst watching the play of some of the greatest teams in the world.  On this point, you may note that there is a potentially interesting game coming up at the Camp Nou at Barcelona on the 11^th or 12^th of December with the Barcelona v Real Sociedad game.  However, I am sure Clive Jagger (a professional football agent) will be commenting upon this well beforehand on our sister Spanish football Blog…

RELEVANT INFO:  Go to the Ticket office and Spain Football