What a night!!

Whew! Our first concert back indoors at Drom on Friday was a blast and we were blessed to have some guests in-person AND virtually! This was my first time ever in my lifelong career in music that I learned to set something like this up. I was only bummed out that I couldn't figure out how to set up the backstage cam for YouTube Live. Apparently I need to have 1,000 YouTube followers in order to use my phone for things like that. This is something that I would like to offer, so that livestream guests can have feel special. It shouldn’t be hard now with all that we can do with our phones! And I also don't want to have to use social media platform that requires a separate membership for my fans…

Thanks again to Andreas Arnold, Engin Günaydın and Edward Perez!! You made our first livestream unforgettable 💕

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If would like to know more about my work with music and dance, my creative process and just me as a human, I would love it if you would join my new Patreon community (www.patreon.com/barbaramartinez).

As I'm sort of reinventing myself (me and all other musicians I know!), I am trying something new that will hopefully allow me to provide livestream video concerts once a month or so that everyone can stay connected but safe. If you're curious, check become a Patreon patron today!

About this concert teaser:
On October 16, 2020 we transported our fans in NYC to the Mediterranean with an evening of flamenco in the East Village at one of my favorite live music venues called Drom NYC.

With:
Bárbara Martínez, voice/dance
Andreas Arnold, flamenco guitar
Engin Kaan Gunaydin, drums/percussion
Edward Perez, acoustic bass

This was the first song of the hour+ long concert. If you would like to enjoy the whole concert from the comfort of your own home, consider joining me on Patreon.com/barbaramartinez and it can be your welcome gift!

"Te Kamelo" Dedication to My Elementary School Students

I have spent the last three months teaching music online at the elementary school where I have been working for the last nine years. I have never had to do anything like this before in my entire life, and neither have my students in their 5-12 years of life.

I learned so much about music, about communicating, about sharing my ideas, and about the importance of connecting in these lonely times. When it was time to share the final music activity for the school year, I chose to record a song for them with one of my oldest friends and music collaborators, Arturo Martínez, otherwise know as "Espiritu Gitano" (The Gypsy Spirit.) He wrote this song originally in dedication to the 9-11 tragedy. But over the years, we have been singing it in different contexts that each seem to redefine the meaning of the song, and yet the message is still the same: LOVE CONQUERS ALL!

For my youngest students, I prefaced it by saying that this song is about missing people when times are hard. It has some words in English, Spanish, and Caló, the language of the gypsies in Spain. I told them to make sure to listen to the message I sang for them in English towards the end, and to clap along with me and sing along with me whenever I repeated the name of the song, TE KAMELO, which means "I love you." Thank you, Arturo, for the vulnerable sensibility that makes all of your music so special. And thank you for allowing me to be a part of the evolution of this song over the last 20 years!

SOLITUDE IS A BAD ADVISOR!

One of my oldest friends and favorite musicians in the world, Gonzalo Grau, challenged his musical friends to sing out the solitude of this quarentine, and I accepted! Latin music SONEROS spend their lives perfect the art form of improvising messages that flow with the music and “soniquete” of the choruses that, themselves, also carry an important message. I don’t consider myself a SONERA, but I did my own thing with all my respect to the real SONEROS out there ❤️😜👏🌟🎉

LA SOLEDAD ES MALA CONSEJERA

SOLITUDE IS A BAD ADVISOR

CANTA CONMIGO Y OLVIDA TUS PENAS

SING WITH ME AND FORGET YOUR SORROWS

AY CANTA AQUÍ CONMIGO LOS SONEROS TODITOS

SING WITH ME ALL SONEROS

QUE TODO PASARA, TU SABES QUE SI, NO SE QUEDEN SOLITOS

EVERYTHING SHALL PASS, YOU KNOW IT, DON’T THINK YOU’RE ALONE

LA SOLEDAD… / SOLITUDE…

QUE TRIQUI TRAN TRAN TRERO AYYY

NO ME MUEVO DE AQUI, HASTA QUE TU DIGAS QUE SI

I WON’T MOVE FROM HERE UNTIL YOU SAY SO

CANTA Y OLVIDA TU DOLOR

SING AND FORGET YOUR SORROWS

CANTA Y OLVIDA TU DOLOR

SING AND FORGET YOUR SORROWS

LA SOLEDAD ES MALA CONSEJERA!

SOLITUDE IS A BAD ADVISOR!

Gracias Gonzaaaalooooou

www.GonzaloGrau.com

@gonzograu & @laclavesecreta