fl-flamenco fever

                  I. flamenco fever

                                 

    

 1. room-sharing

 

Portland, U.S.A  July, 2001 ,

Hello, Jh;

How are you doing?

This is Gohk.

Saving trouble, I hasten to inform you that I am okay, doing well here in a city named Portland on the Pacific coast, which lies 3 hours or so by Greyhound south of Seatle. 

Probably strange things will happen in strange places! Now in the downtown of this city I enjoy a heart-beating experience of room-sharing you would not believe as real. It would probably be no way in Korean society. Could you believe me if I whisper a hint to you that I am getting along in a small studio, the living room of which is divided into halves by a movable curtain, together with a German young lady named Thani in her twenties .

Well, a strange affair is now taking place here! Since last May, in so small a studio originally for a single person or newlyweds, I have shared the room of in it together with her. As for the room, it is divided by the partition wall of texture set in the center of the room. The other part of it is Thani’s space and this one for me is convertible, as occasion demands, to my sleeping room for the night or to a shared living space for the day time. We share a bath and a toilet by the doorway and also the telephone at the kitchen. This space is now where I stay.

​Yes, I am greeting nights in such a queer situation, some curious and some exciting. This luxury is given to me as a rarely good luck for the first time since I wandered from hostels to hostels in Vancouver and Seattle, where in most cases no less than ten people stay in a single large room. It might be not easy to picture in your mind an actual situation where a reckless friend of yours has stayed.

It was very confusing for the first few days. In the dark night pricking my ears up, I could sense a delicate movement in the opposite space. One night I could not sleep with the faint sound of rustle that brought about an image of her undressing in my mind. That was not a trifle. Because of it the next day I couldn’'t do well at my job, exhausted and asleep. To tell the truth, I have worked for a hotel here as a part time housekeeper.

There is another confusing case I had to face with. It is when my blue-eyed roommate is wanted on the phone. In such case, I hurriedly open the door to inform her of it unconsciously without knocking. Then she gets very angry for it, eyeing me with some contempt. It means that it is a common sense that you should not open the door without permission. one day I did it inspite of myself waiting no permission from inside, as she was wanted on the phone. Of course she got angry at me, and I could not but apolozige for such a mistake. This time I felt mistreated. For at the moment I opened the door and push my head in, wondering​ in anxiety whether she might be ill in bed. So I did it hurriedly not waiting for her answer.  

Once I had to suffer her bitter insult owing to the smelling of garlic. one night I enjoyed a Korean traditional dish of baked pork thickly flavored with garlic over liquors in a snack bar with a Korean acquaintance. Then the next day at around noon when I barely woke up, she urged me to open all the windows, shouting that the studio was filled with offensive smell of garlic. I could not but be forced to get up and open windows one by one. Well, it was true that I was enough happy in the previous night with the dish with garlic to my taste.

A moment I felt insulted by her unexpectedly strong reproach. Nevertheless, I  could not but mummer a faint anger only in the mouth. That was all. Frankly speaking, such offensiveness in her manner is to me just a trifling thing compared with her refreshing attractivenesses.

By the way, one day late at night she came in, and only exchanging looks entered her room without saying a word .She seemed completely tired and worn out. Next day I was worried by the deep silence in her room. Though she was sure to be in, she made no indication of her presence. So I knocked to open the door, entered her room, not waiting for the answer from inside. And I came to catch what condition she was in. A couple of hours later I quietly entered again and put on the desk a plateful of blackberries that she loves. Then still in bed, she said toward me surprisingly in the tender and friendly voice, that she appreciated my concern and needed to sleep more.

That night was a wonderful moment. It was the first time for her to step inside my room and gave me a ticket for the musical ‘Aida,’ saying that she didn’t have time to go to theatre. At that night we shared warm talks in the kitchen. From then on, we came to feel closer to each other, and the atmosphere of our studio turned soft and warm. 

Now I came to know a trivial thing that earlier she had shared the studio with a girl student from Finland in love of Klimt. There is a copy of of a painting of the painter’s, ‘Die Erfullung’ now hanging on the wall. She said that the copy painting was presented by her Finnish friend. 

One time my room sharer laughed out when I said to her that living together with her like this is such a big thing for me as a married man (since my wife is there in Korea), adding that in Koea this would be easily regarded as a accident of immorality. She said that there is no problem of sharing a room with anybody in orer to save money. However, she said, her case is a little bit special, because it is not common for a woman student in her twenties to share the room with an old man like me in the fifties.

 I came to understyand a situation that Thani, as a self-supporting student, has been earning money for her education and living through such a part time labor as is unbearable even for men. And I realized, too, that in particular the next day after she did her job as a part-time painter, It was hardly possible for her to get up for the entire day time. That was another beautiful aspect of hers. She already made me look shabby with her fluent English. What a beautiful and proud soul she is!  Anyway we came to get closer to each other since then.

From then on whenever she did not wake up as usual in the morning, I would get ready for her breakfast, thinking that she was exhausted due to her previous day’s job. I even washed her dishes. Sometimes we stayed together in her room, conversing to each other about art and music. Furthermore she let me listen to flamenco cante in the albums of flamenco singers since she knew that I am deeply interested in flamenco.

Ocasionally according to my request, she dances flamenco with no hesitation in this small place. once her dancing let me have a delusion that there suddenly appeared the girl living in a legend, who was made of tree under the help of 4 travellers in the Swartzwalt in Germany!

 These days we go out together to watch flamenco shows at the Broadway theaters. Dating with her in the down is wonderful and sweet. But it is occasionally bitter. It would not be easy for you to imagine such a queer situation as this: An Asian man like me of small figure in his fifties dating with a German girl, tall and slender, in her twenties! 

 

Hey, Jh;

Give me your ears a moment and listen to this poor friend of yours. These days I have my white hair dyed dark brown in her absence. What is more, I wear high-heeled slippers even in the living room to get me to match well with her in height .The lines, below, written in my diary memo would help you to guess at a moment how great her being is to me:

 Thaniella!

Once you said:

"my first favority is flamenco

and the second is blackberry".

Were July full of the sweet scent of blackberries,

 I would cross the Willamete over Hawthorn Bridge , 

 with the fruits in my backpack to cafe Bolero,

 where at night of every saturday 

 the Schwarzwalt girl dances flamenco.

 

 One day she kindly whispered at my ears that when she was sick in bed, dreary and lonely, she could calm down her thirst with the blackberries I gave her. At the moment I was really moved by her sweet voice. Above all I have never forgotten the very day when, seeing me entering with a bottle of Pignot Noir in my hand, she smiled brightly and suggested, 'how would you like me dance flamenco tonight?'  'Why not.' I replied surprisedly. That night I uncorked the wine and she danced flamenco for me!

​

See you,

Gohk

 

 

 

Portland

July, 2001

Dear Jh: 

Please keep it only to yourself. My wife there should be completely

kept ignorant of such a thrilling life as her husband is enjoying here.

What I have searched for in my family as a poltical scientist you know ,

is to keep it status quo, not to be in conflict . I really don't want

to break the balance of power in my home among my wife,

my aged mother aand me.

 

 Now  with my restless heart I am writing  this to you .

My roommate Thani is to introduce a flamenco bailaora  to me, 

who studied in Jerez of Andalusia, Spain. Her name is Lau, whose

arms in the movement, she says, is  fantastically enchanting.

I am waiting for the upcoming July when I can see Lau dancing.

Dani promised that she would sure do it for me  before she flies 

for her holiday with her younger sister  to Jamaica 

in the Caribbean Sea.

 

 Strangel to say,it was simply because of my curiosity

about flamenco, in particular, baile, that I came to choose

Portland  instead of  LA familiar to me.

Vivid in my memory was the image of a flamanenco

performer on the stage I happened to see when I visited

this city at the first time and heard  that I could often see

flamingo performances here. In fact, now and then I have  had

an imagination of  ‘a dancing woman with far-seeing eyes turned

toward the invisible path of a bird  flying to the other world.’ 

Another image in my imagination is that of a blind gypsy bailaora

dancing barefooted, whom Jean Grenier was said to be enchanted

to seeat a café by the seaside.

 

I am enjoying a rare feeling free with some self-restraint 

presented by my age of fifties which , as you know,

passed out of the tunnel of  confusion in the mind

due to sexual imaginations which are likely to oppress,

awake or asleep, hot-blooded youths. 

​

Did you happen to see the film of 'as good as it get',

in which Jack Nicholson  plays? 

I was moved by these 2  lines of dialogues in the film

of what the heroine said to Jack:

'Sex is not so great as we think it is ! Last night

I and he shared a wonderful feeling of fullness

that sex can never gives.'

​

Hi, Jh!

This morning I awake to find myself  left alone,

and there vacant on the wall of the living room

where the picture by Klimpt was placed.​

She left Portland a week ago.

 

​I wish you well.

Gk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(I. Flamenco fever)

 

2. Korean song fits Spanish steps

 

During  a couple of months after Thani left Portland,

almost every weekday I went to the Central Library of the city

to open my Yahoo emailbox to make on-line contacts

with Lau, the flamenco bailaora to whom Thani introduced me. 

Lau and I had contacts with each other mostly through

the means of emails because it was much easier for me

to read and write than to hear it.

​

​Portland, Aug.  2001

 Hi ,Gohk:

 My friend Tom Blair will be contacting you to arrange a time

to interview you for a story in the Portland Tribune newspaper. 

I passed your email address to him, so you can expect to hear

from him soon.  He will also arrange a time to take a photo

of you and me together!

 Abrazos!!

 Lau

 

Portland, Aug., 2001

 Hello, Gohk!

 Would you please tell me who is the original author

of Morning Dew? When was it written? Also, would

you please give me a short biography of yourself

for the concert program? Just a bit about you,

how you came to Portland, and

books you have written, etc.  Then I need you

to come by the studio and sing Morning Dew

for me again. Here I have the Spanish version

you can listen to ! Hope all is well.

I am so nervous!

 Abrazos! 

  Lau

 

 

 

Portland, Aug., 2001

Hi Lau,

On thursday 7:30  or so p.m. I will be there

at your new studio ,

with what you want to know today about me.Thinking of you dancing,

Gohk 

 

 

 Portland, Aug., 2001

 Hi ,Gohk, I'm a writer at the Portland Tribune,

and I'm planning to do a story on "The night of Juerga,"

the Flamenco event on Saturday, September 15.

I recently spoke with my friend Lau Marrone, and she

told me that you two developed a Flamenco piece

that is based on a Korean song.

I don't recall the exact details, but I would very much

like to hear more about this and write about it.

Are you available for an interview sometime

between Tuesday and Thursday ?

It might be nice to discuss your involvement

in "The night of Juerga" over coffee or tea.

Please contact me at your earliest convenience.

Feel free to e-mail me, or call me

at 503-546-0000.

 

Thank you,  TomFeatures Writer

 

 

 

 

Portland, Aug., 2001

Hi, Lau!I got a massage from BL that he would like tomeet me on either Tue. or Thu. and replied back soon,

saying on Thu.30 Aug preferable", and added

"being interviewed is a new thrilling challenge to me,

as an ex-editorial writer for a newspaper in Korea,

whose important job is interviewing, not being interviewed.

Unbelievable!

Gohk

 

 

 

 

Portland, Aug., 2001

Hi Gohk, Thank you very much for sending me background information

about the Flamenco story.

I look forward to meeting with you this week to discuss this

in person. Is Thursday, August 30 still a good date for you?

Please let me know what time you'd like to meet.I have a broken toe, so I'm not able to walk very far.

Would you be able to meet me downtown ?

I work very close to Pioneer Place.Sincerely, Tom

Features writer

 

 

Portland  

 Hello, Tom! ...........

............

It means the very Starbuck Cafe of the Pioneer Square.I will be there at 2:00 pm ,Thursday. Okay? Gohk

 

 

Portland, 2001

Hi, Gohk!

Good.

See you there,

at 2:00 pm,

Thursday.

TomFeatures Writer

Portland Tribune 

 

 

 

Portland, 2001

Hi Gohk! 

I heard from Tom, too, that the meeting was wonderful! 

So glad that you enjoyed it. 

Have a fun weekend and see you soon!

 'P.S.'

 We will have a rehearsal on Friday, September 14

in the afternoon so that you can meet the singer and

work with her on Morning Dew. 

I will confirm! the time with you soon

 Abrazos!

 Lau

 

 

 

Portland,  2001

Hi, Lau

 

In the morning today I got a sparkle of inspiration

and could barely hold the tail of it, as below,

before it disappeared.  

 "Pioneer Square landscape"In the Pioneer Square Cafeby the street-side windowsits a man in his fiftieswith a large paper cup filled up

 a half with Starburg coffee

 and another half with time,looking through his mind's eye

at those passing by,one after  one.

 

The first  goer is a shepherd in his teenswith his ears given to the stars up in the sky,

 twinkling and whispering in the darkness,

 followed by a dog and dozens of lambs.

 

The second passer-by is a dandy in his twentiessaying to his date hand in hand

in the bold and sweet voice,'Shall we kiss?'

 

The third one is an aesthetically-spirited poet

in his thirties

quoting lines of an old Japanese poem:

'if man were never to fade away

like the dews of Adashino,

but lingered on forever in the world, 

how things would lose their power to move us!'

 

The seer by the window looking at them

drinks a sip of coffee and another sip of time.

And he is greatly envious of

a Spanish matodor and bailaor in his forties

with a gift of cold eleganceentering the bull ring facing his destiny aloofto his death,

whose image appears looming up

as a mirage.    

abrazosGohk

 

 

 

Portland,  2001

Hi ,Gohk,

Please come to rehearsal on Friday at the studio

at 2 p.m. For Saturday, I need to know which seat

you will sit in so that an usher can come and

bring you backstage after the intermission. 

 I hope that you are doing well

 in the *aftermath of such a tradgedy

(*Sept. 11 attacks, 2001 in NY)

 I am just shocked and stunned. As you know,

I was born and raised in New York City.

 

Un abrazo

Lau

 

 

 Below is the related article  on the subject of 

'Korean Song fits Spanish steps ' ,carried 

in  a daily newspaper named Portland  Tribune

2 days before the day of the flamenco performance 

to be held at Dolores Winningstad Theatre located

in the downtown of the city on Sept.15, 2001.

Tom was the very reporter of the article :

 

'below'

 

Portland, Sept. 2001

Born of Southern Spain's Gypsy culture ,

flamenco dancing and music can pierce the stoniest of hearts.

The sorrowful facial ｅxpression!!!!s, theatrical body movements

and seductive guitar rhythms leave and indelible imprint

on viewers.

 

This saturday, Portlanders have a rare opportunity 

to catch flamenco at its finest when  a program called

'The night of Juergao' hits the Dolores Winningstad Theatre.

Lau Marrone , a local performer and flamenco instructor

who has trained extensively in Spain, will be joined

by Seattle- based musician Jose and Monica. Rommel Nieto,

a Vanouver ,B. C. resident who has toured Europe

as a bailaor will make his debut. 

Joining the lineup of seasoned performers is Gohk Ma, 

a writer from Korea. Currently staying in a downtown studio ,

the 56- year-old developed a taste for the art form

during a visit to Portland 2 years ago.

In his book ' The Magic Flute',

he describes seeing a flamenco dancer

at the 1999 Art in the Pearl festival:

How tender is the wave of her waist moving!

Fascinating!

 

Upon returning to Portland earlier this summer ,

Gohk pursued his interest

in flamenco by calling at Morrone's studio in Portland:

' I had a great desire to meet a flamenco dancer.'

This meeting unexpectedly blossomed

into a creative partnership between Gohk and Lau.

 

During his visits to Lau's studio, Gohk drew

a parallel between the sorrow of flamenco dance

and the sad tone of "Morning Dew", a protest song

about the former military dictatorship in South Korea.

He sang the song for Lau and suggested

that it be translated into Spanish and performed

during "The night of Juerga".

 

Though Lau couldn't understand a word of Korean,

she was moved to tears. Convinced that ‘Morning Dew’

was a good candidate for the flamenco treatment,

Lau asked Monica Carmona to translate the piece

into Spanish.

 

The  results of this cross-cultural effort will premiere

during "The night of Juerga". At the Gohk's rendition

of the song , performed in Korean, will be followed

by a Spanish version with singing by Monica and

guitar playing by Jose .

 

 ...............

 ..............

 Tom,

 reporter,

 Portland tribune

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I. Flamenco fever

 

 

3. Ay! Ay! Ay!

Do you love flamenco? if so. please to listen to  Manolo Caracol 

singing the siguiryia , a deep song of flamenco, on movie or video.

The cantaor would  begin the cante with an introductory !Ay!,

the lament with which all siguiryias begin. You would give your ears

to his heart-rending cante, sometimes wavering and meandering, 

of the !Ay! held for around 40 seconds. Its sound is like the wind

through the trees, The opening of the cante is not made of words,

but it is made of sounds. The sounds just tremble telling us nothing.

After the sounds comes the verse of copla, a piece of the cantaor's

soul. Listening to his siguiriya, You would be attracted by the lines,

as below, of the song in spite of yourself:

 

Cuando viene el dia

mis penas s'agrandan;

so'lo las sombras de la noche oscura

consuelan mi alma

 

When the daylight comes

my griefs began to grow;

only the shadows of darkest night

comfort my soul.

 

 Deriving from the seguidilla, a traditional folksong with  stanzas

of four line, the siguiriya was almost always sung  by a man.

Generally regarded as the most emotional type of flamenco song,

it is said to be the cry of someone afflicted by destiny.

If there is one style to which the singer has to give everything,

every bit of himself , it is the siguiriya.

Were a lover of Munc, a modern painter of ｅxpressionism

to give his sensitive ears by chance to the triste voice of

the siguiriya, what would his feeling be like? 

Probably the beginning of the voice filled with the ｅxpression

of anguish and desperation,

would call back to his mind a woodcut print titled 'cry'.

by Munc, a European painter of ｅxpressionism.

 

 Now you could come to roughly guess how did a spectator 

feel listening to the song of siguiryia sung by a gypsy cantaor

on the out-door stage of flamenco performance at sunset

in Portland. He was a foreign traveler who happened to drop

in this city  on his way  to Seatle and Vancouver. and for him

this was the first personal contact with flamenco! There

at the end of the first half of the flamenco performance 

he turned his face toward a man viewer by him and

said to him:

' Hello, A strange song, isn't it ? Ah... You seem

to really enjoy this monotonously harsh sound

of Ay! Ay! Ay' .

" Of course I love it. How would you like it?"

"To me the sound is completely unfamiliar, but not bad..."

"Oh! I am Bob living here as a carpenter. Nice to meet you",

 

We exchanged such words of greeting , and he introduced 

to me a woman looking in her twenties on the wheel chair

at his side. 

'This is Ann, my daughter.

We two live here in the downtown'

"Hi, Ann!, I am Gohk from Korea, a traveller", 

 

I said giving a smile to Ann,

but she did not gave me a word,

 "......."

 "?......."

 To her daughter keeping silent he said again,

"Ann, This gentleman is here to see our Pearl festival", 

and turning his face toward me,

he passed a line of hint about her in a lower voice,

"Hi, Gohk , Ann remains 5 years old in mentality."

Then I lost no time in replying to Bob,

sensing the situation, 

"Oh!, ........Bob. you must be a flamenco afficionado!" ,

and again whispered to her as if to a little girl,

" Hi, Ann, you love flamenco, too? '

 

Bob replied,

"Ya. We are flamencos. flamenco is indispensible

for both of us. As for me,

It has become a very important part of my life",

adding with his eyes toward her daughter again,

"Ann likes baile, particularly Alegrias,

kind of group dance, more buoyant and more rhythmic.

She even dances it on her wheel chair,"

"Hi, Ann, Your father said you dance alegrias well.

It is a beautiful dance?",

 

I said with my eyes turned to her,

and after a pause to her father,

"Today this is my first encounter with the cante siguirryia,

but strangely it seems not unfamiliar to me. Furthermore,

on listening to it, I felt tears gathering in my eyes. 

As you know, I have never been present

at the flamenco performance before,

neither did I hear it sung."

 "I got it. Oh, Gohk, you must be hooked by flamenco.  

From now on, I am sure, you will be unable to resist

its lure  any more",

he replied with a significant laughter and added,

" if you are okay , I will take you to a flamenco cafe 

named Albaisin 5 minutes walk away by the riverside.

There on saturday You can see a live flamenco.

And remember 'no vino, no flamenco'!

No art without intoxication!"  

 

 " Interesting! I heard that flamenco is a traditional dance

of Spain. Is it from the gypsy culture ? is it right?",

I asked.

 

 To this question He gave me a long explanation of it,

" Sure. It comes from Andalusian Gypsie. and at this time 

flamenco mainly consists of cante( singing), baile( dancing)

and toque(guitar playing), which come to be all distinctive arts

in their own right and can stand alone,but it is not just theirs.

It now come to be universal beyond the geographical boundary. 

As, you know, it is much more than just dance, just song .

That flamenco originated in the outpouring of suffering,

lamentation and protest among the gypsies and

other oppressed peoples of Spain.

So, flamenco in its awesome spontaneity is in him

who can suffer from the world and feel within him

- like the dawning - an irresistible urge to cry out." 

 

 "Oh, You are a amazing guide. Your comment helps

my eyes to see flamenco farther and wider",

I appreciated for it, and he added one more,

"Hey, Gohk. Keep this point:

when it comes to flamenco, 

the cante of Caracol is best!"

 

 

 

Since then, I have been influenced by the invisible hand

of flamenco. You know, as mentioned before, that I must be

irresistibly signed by the invisible hand to fly to Portland,

where I was destined to meet Lau as a bailaora.

And in a sense, flamenco and lau as a bailaora have

dominated my life. It is true ,for I have been exchanging

emails with her for about 8 years. Above all things I have had

contacts with flamenco by reading books on it or seeing concerts

on Tv or video . Moreover I happened to see a drawing,

by Goya, of a blind couple singing, or another drawing,

by Gustave Dore, of Travelling flamenco musicians. 

The more I read about flamenco , the more I become

unable to resist its lure.

 

Before I happened to hear Caracol, a canataor on video

singing flamenco songs. That dark timbre, that roughness,

that dramatic register in the voice of the Caruso of

the caves ! On hearing the cantaor ,his eyes wet, singing

the siguiriya  I was reminded of the image of 'Obert church',

a painting by  Van Gogh. The twisted image of it

in the painting stands alones, with the roof top

high toward the sky in cobalt blue. Particularly I have loved

this short metaphorical ｅxpression on the cante siguiriya 

of gypse flamenco by Garcia Lorca, a Spainish poet:

 

 'The infinite melody of Bach is round:

the phrase could repeat itself forever

in a circular manner; but the melody of the siguiriya

disappears into the horizontal;

It escapes through our fingers and

we see it off in the distance

like a perfect point of common hope and passion,

where the soul can never arrive'.

 

 

 Jean Grenier must have heard the Siguiryia sung

somewhere in Spain. If not, how could have the writer

written an ｅxpression of such meaning below:

"There is nothing in the world, whatever it may be, 

that can deliver our mind.

Neither words, actions, images, nor dreams..........

However, a cry with no verbal meaning in a moment

sets us free!"

 

When I flied to Portland for the second time,

who would believe me saying that a remote cry

kept alive in my mind was an irresistible call to me?

Any who would believe me saying that I was likely to be

destined to meet a bailaora and to stand with her

on the stage of her flamenco performance?

"Korean song fits Spanish steps', which is the title

of the newspaper article on the performance held

in the city, as stated before, is vivid in my memory.

 

Unexpectedly 5 or so years after she flied to Korea

to dance 'Morning Dew' by herself to flamenco.

And the flamenco dance was strange and exotic here

to the audience of my home town. What is more,

2 exciting things followed it one after another.

The one is that a Spanish bailaora named

Shasha flied here to my hometown in order to have 

workshops on flamenco baile. The other was I flied

by myself to Spain to wander about Andalusian cities

with a yearning to feel flamenco closer.

 

Probably without the fateful encounter in Portland

with the cry of Ay!Ay!Ay!, Flamenco and Lau

might remain strange to me. Of course the Andaluisan

cities of Spain would remain exotic, too.

Suddenly a  sparke of thinking hit me:

in our life we happen to have fateful encounters

which drive us toward a direction of life

never imagined before!

 

As you know, prior to my visit to Portland

about 10 years ago I was completely ignorant of it.

The art was just exotic to me. Then how comes it

that I am a true flamenco? Unbelievable.

I wonder that now through flamenco I deeply love

Lau dancing it?!