Mallorca in fifteenth spot (30 points) before the home game against Atlético in nineth on 36 points. An unremarkable first half with only one effort each on goal, though Mallorca were making more chances. And then a remarkable start to the second period, Godin putting into his own net to give Mallorca the lead, Pereira making it two a couple of minutes later, Castro being booked for handball, Ramis being sent off for deliberate handball in the area, Pereira getting a yellow for protesting and then Falcao missing the penalty. Falcao made up for his miss, and then it was hands to the pumps time for ten-man Mallorca, Aouate getting his now customary yellow for time-wasting. A suspension for Ramis will be a blow, but these were three hugely valuable points for Mallorca, and coming on top of the draw at Valencia suggest that safety from relegation is getting ever closer. Gijon away mid-week and then the home game against Barcelona on Saturday.
Mallorca:
Aouate; Chico, Nunes, Ramis, Cáceres; Martí, Tejera (Tissone 41), Pereira, Castro (Pina 82); Hemed (Cendrós 55), Victor
Goals: Godin (47 o.g.), Pereira (49)
Yellows: Castro (51), Pereira (53), Aouate (68)
Red: Ramis (52)
Atlético:
Courtois; Juanfran (Mérida 66), Miranda, Godin, Luis; Suárez (Turan 58), Gabi; Salvio, Adrián, Koke; Falcao
Goal: Falcao (65)
Yellow: Gabi (81)
Sunday, March 18, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Marineland won't be moving
A typically lengthy interview for the Sunday papers, this one with the new director of Marineland in which he says that it will not be moving from its site in Costa d'en Blanes (Puerto Portals) and comments on good prospects for other parts of the Aspro Ocio group's activities this season, i.e. Aqualand and Western Park.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Public support for Balearics' cuts
According to an opinion poll conducted on behalf of "Ultima Hora", a majority of Balearic islanders support the cuts being implemented by the regional government, though the majority is only small (52% of the population). A stronger majority (61%) is against the general strike planned for 29 March.
In a different poll, one by the research organisation Gadeso, results suggest that the Partido Popular government, were there to be another election now, would still hold onto power.
See more: Ultima Hora
And: Diario de Mallorca
In a different poll, one by the research organisation Gadeso, results suggest that the Partido Popular government, were there to be another election now, would still hold onto power.
See more: Ultima Hora
And: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Sa Pobla to be GM-free
Some while ago, there were reports of the existence of genetically modified crops in Sa Pobla. Now, the town hall has agreed to make the town, a major producer of crops on the island, GM-free.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 18 March 2012
Some low mist again, the morning feels a bit different, a breeze up and a change on the cards. Local high of 13.5C at 07:30, climbing again towards 18 later. Rain still a possibility for Monday and Tuesday with snow on the peaks.
Afternoon update: A warm day, warm enough to register, in parts, as the warmest of the year so far. A top of 20.9C.
Afternoon update: A warm day, warm enough to register, in parts, as the warmest of the year so far. A top of 20.9C.
The Root Of All Tapas
Theories as to the origin of the Spanish tapa snack are as varied as the tapa itself. The favoured theory appears to be that of an order by Philip III in the early seventeenth century which decreed that a drink in a bar had to be served with a small amount of food covering the receptacle. The idea was that, by eating the food, the effects of the alcohol would be soaked up. A tapa is literally a cover.
Other theories suggest that early tapas were specifically high in salt, designed to have precisely the opposite effect that Philip III hoped to limit, namely that the salt content activated even further drinking. The makers of the potato crisp have long understood the same tactic; or rather, British pub landlords have.
Whatever the origin of the tapa, it has long ceased to be a mere small snack to accompany a sherry or, more recently, a caña of beer. It has become, in its collective form, a whole meal. It has been put on wheel-shaped whole-meal trays and categorised according to its meatness, fishiness, veggie-ism and even dessertness. It has appeared on specially made tapa mini-tables to sit atop a regular restaurant table. It has become authenticated, in that different locations brand their tapa fare as authentic to the location (which is rarely the case). It can still sit in metal trays under a glass canopy and be covered with newspaper at night (and if you want, I'll tell you where this used to happen), but it has become altogether more sophisticated. The nouvelle tapa.
The rot set in when the same compulsion to rip pubs up and turn them into that abomination of drinking establishments, the wine bar, turned its metro attention to the tapa. It would have been some time in the early '80s I suppose. Tapas bars emerged in the aspiring-to-chicdom outer parts of British towns and cities as well as in the urban centres; they became the after-work nosheries for the yuppie, where the exotic, concept-exported nosh was swilled down with another Spanish escapee, the bottle of Rioja.
The exporting of the tapas concept then underwent a coals-to-Newcastle return and reinvention. The tapa was no more a casual side plate customarily served free in a Spanish bar. It became business. Which is where we are today. And today, the tapa has become required eating even if it isn't any good or particularly remarkable (though many a tapa is). Among the tourist class, there is one sector that wanders the streets emitting the enquiry "tapas?" as it approaches a waiter in waiting. Everything else, food-wise, has been junked. The tapa has assumed the world-of-Mallorca-food domination.
The Germans are great tapas followers, by which one means that they follow the edicts of guidebooks to the very letter. If the guidebooks say they must eat tapas, then eat tapas they most certainly will. The Scandinavians are not necessarily as guided as the Germans, but tapas culture has consumed them to the extent that they consume tapas in vast quantity. A tapas restaurant owner of my acquaintance once lent over my shoulder, rubbed his fingers and whispered through a barely concealed grin: "Scandinavians. They like tapas very much". From where I was standing by the bar, all I could see was a sea of blondness in disgustingly rude health with plates and plates of tapas being brought by a constant, fast-moving caravan of waiters and waitresses.
The British, much though they are to blame for the Great Tapas Reinvention, have only lately discovered the tapa whilst away from British shores. What was all a bit foreign is no longer. Tapas culture has gone global, or as global as you can get among the different nationalities who still fortunately do leave hotels to eat out.
The roots of the origins of the tapa in its Habsburg past (and Philip III was apparently a bit of a misery, though he inadvertently founded a tradition not associated with being miserable) have passed through their re-rooting by the out-of-Spain tapas movement and to what is another local tapas phenomenon - the tapas route.
Palma has its route (more than one in fact). Manacor has one, Artà acquired one earlier this year. There are tapas routes at fiesta time, for example in Muro or Vilafranca. And now Puerto Pollensa has its own tapas route, one that stretches from the pinewalk end of town to the nautical club part and slightly beyond. On Thursday, the route will be trodden for the first time. It remains to be seen if it becomes well-worn. You would hope so. And the challenge will be whether those on the route march can cover all the tapas. Cover, tapa ... oh, forget it.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Other theories suggest that early tapas were specifically high in salt, designed to have precisely the opposite effect that Philip III hoped to limit, namely that the salt content activated even further drinking. The makers of the potato crisp have long understood the same tactic; or rather, British pub landlords have.
Whatever the origin of the tapa, it has long ceased to be a mere small snack to accompany a sherry or, more recently, a caña of beer. It has become, in its collective form, a whole meal. It has been put on wheel-shaped whole-meal trays and categorised according to its meatness, fishiness, veggie-ism and even dessertness. It has appeared on specially made tapa mini-tables to sit atop a regular restaurant table. It has become authenticated, in that different locations brand their tapa fare as authentic to the location (which is rarely the case). It can still sit in metal trays under a glass canopy and be covered with newspaper at night (and if you want, I'll tell you where this used to happen), but it has become altogether more sophisticated. The nouvelle tapa.
The rot set in when the same compulsion to rip pubs up and turn them into that abomination of drinking establishments, the wine bar, turned its metro attention to the tapa. It would have been some time in the early '80s I suppose. Tapas bars emerged in the aspiring-to-chicdom outer parts of British towns and cities as well as in the urban centres; they became the after-work nosheries for the yuppie, where the exotic, concept-exported nosh was swilled down with another Spanish escapee, the bottle of Rioja.
The exporting of the tapas concept then underwent a coals-to-Newcastle return and reinvention. The tapa was no more a casual side plate customarily served free in a Spanish bar. It became business. Which is where we are today. And today, the tapa has become required eating even if it isn't any good or particularly remarkable (though many a tapa is). Among the tourist class, there is one sector that wanders the streets emitting the enquiry "tapas?" as it approaches a waiter in waiting. Everything else, food-wise, has been junked. The tapa has assumed the world-of-Mallorca-food domination.
The Germans are great tapas followers, by which one means that they follow the edicts of guidebooks to the very letter. If the guidebooks say they must eat tapas, then eat tapas they most certainly will. The Scandinavians are not necessarily as guided as the Germans, but tapas culture has consumed them to the extent that they consume tapas in vast quantity. A tapas restaurant owner of my acquaintance once lent over my shoulder, rubbed his fingers and whispered through a barely concealed grin: "Scandinavians. They like tapas very much". From where I was standing by the bar, all I could see was a sea of blondness in disgustingly rude health with plates and plates of tapas being brought by a constant, fast-moving caravan of waiters and waitresses.
The British, much though they are to blame for the Great Tapas Reinvention, have only lately discovered the tapa whilst away from British shores. What was all a bit foreign is no longer. Tapas culture has gone global, or as global as you can get among the different nationalities who still fortunately do leave hotels to eat out.
The roots of the origins of the tapa in its Habsburg past (and Philip III was apparently a bit of a misery, though he inadvertently founded a tradition not associated with being miserable) have passed through their re-rooting by the out-of-Spain tapas movement and to what is another local tapas phenomenon - the tapas route.
Palma has its route (more than one in fact). Manacor has one, Artà acquired one earlier this year. There are tapas routes at fiesta time, for example in Muro or Vilafranca. And now Puerto Pollensa has its own tapas route, one that stretches from the pinewalk end of town to the nautical club part and slightly beyond. On Thursday, the route will be trodden for the first time. It remains to be seen if it becomes well-worn. You would hope so. And the challenge will be whether those on the route march can cover all the tapas. Cover, tapa ... oh, forget it.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Education language choice from May
The Balearic Government, reforming teaching languages in the islands' infant and primary and secondary schools, has announced that the process enabling parental choice of the preferred language of teaching - Catalan or Castellano - will start on 2 May. The government had previously suggested that secondary schools (or at least ESO education, meaning obligatory secondary education to the age of 16) would not be included, but now is.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Opposition criticise Alcúdia taxes
Former Alcúdia mayor Miquel Llompart, now councillor for the Convèrgencia, has attacked what he describes as the "enormous" increase in taxes envisaged by Alcúdia town hall's Partido Popular-dominated administration.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - "The Perfect Stranger" on release
The film "The Perfect Stranger", starring Irish actor Colm Meaney and the first feature-length film from Mallorcan director Toni Bestard, is to go on general release in Spain at the end of next week. The film was shot at different locations around Mallorca, including Campanet and Bunyola.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
MALLORCA TODAY - Ruling on Can Morató sought
The old carpet factory in Pollensa, Can Morató, which has been disused since the early 1960s and which has fallen into a poor state, is the subject of a request from Pollensa town hall to the Council of Mallorca to have its protected state clarified, i.e. it should either be demolished or be restored, if it is in a fit state to be so.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 17 March 2012
A touch of mist early on, but the sun is out and it's going to be another fine day. Local top of 12.8C at 08:00, and the high teens the highs later. The weekend looking good, Monday and Tuesday some cloud and a chance of rain.
Afternoon update: And sun there was, a good deal of it, and a high of 18.7C.
Afternoon update: And sun there was, a good deal of it, and a high of 18.7C.
Making Nature Pay For Itself
Here's a question for you, and you have to be honest when answering. I won't accept any economies with the truth that suggest you have been more natural-world correct than you really are. The question is - have you ever visited a nature park or another nature finca on Mallorca? To help you answer, these include the likes of Albufera, Llevant and Mondragó parks as well as fincas such as Son Real near Can Picafort.
If you have answered yes, then you can feel duly righteous. You can also count yourself among the very few who actually have visited any. I'm going to be extraordinarily righteous and say that, for example, I have visited Albufera many times, but then again, I live right opposite it. I do wonder, though, how many other local residents ever venture inside its vastness. When something's there, you tend to rather ignore it.
The lack of interest shown in the island's natural world is such that barely 1% of the island's population stepped inside the Llevant nature park in 2011. It received in total under 20,000 visitors in all. And tourists weren't much better than the locals; they comprised roughly a half of these visitors, of which I would guess that a not insignificant number were schoolchildren (if excursions by schools to the Llevant park are as obvious as those to Albufera).
This is a pathetic number of people. In fact, it is a complete joke, given the amount of money that is spent on looking after the various parks and fincas. 10 million euros annually, says the Balearics environment ministry. Biel Company, the minister, who appears to be the only minister to have ever realised that no one much goes to these parks, has announced a plan to improve matters. There will be a "modern" website to publicise them (presumably, previous ones have been ancient) and the private sector - them again - will be invited to participate, shops can be opened and the parks can be hired for cultural events.
The minister intends to make the parks self-sufficient and therefore self-financing. It's a pretty tall order, and how do you actually put a price on nature? The parks, such as Albufera, are there primarily as an environmental, ecological and natural-world benefit and are indeed protected lands. Making money out of them has surely to be secondary.
Nevertheless, Company is probably right to give it a go. He may well have been delving into some of the records and discovering the sort of finance that has gone towards all this nature, some of it of decidedly questionable value. Son Real is a prime example. Four million euros spent on a visitor's centre and on restoring old cottages on the finca, and what have you got? No one seems to know who's running the place, and when the funding was handed over, I made a calculation that it would take 30 years to be paid back. And why? Because no one goes there, or no one in sufficient numbers, despite what they have hoped for.
The sad fact of the matter is that, apart from an apparent lack of interest among the local population, the parks don't attract anything like the number of tourists that the good words and wishes in respect of environmental and nature-world tourism would have anyone believe. It may be true that they tend not to be well-promoted - hotels in Can Picafort, for instance, have been criticised for not doing more to push Son Real - but then hotels like to make commissions on excursions, and there wouldn't be any from a shortish walk along the coast to the finca, and would anyone go anyway? In the height of summer, the last thing most tourists would want to be doing is schlepping around vast acres of a finca, building up an intolerable sweat. Just as tourists would avoid Son Real in summer, so they would Albufera and the other parks. It's too hot.
Ah but, there are the cooler months. Yes, there are, but where are the visitors? A "modern" website might help, but you really wouldn't put money on the number of tourists increasing dramatically. Hence, the money has to come from the good old private sector. But what are these cultural events that it would be staging when hiring the parks? Here's an idea, get New Order to play a gig in a nature park instead of or as well as Mallorca Rocks. It might make a few thousand birds clear off and require a bit of clearing up afterwards, but the relevant park would be quids in for the year or for several years.
I've got another idea. In South Africa's Kruger National Park, there are webcams at watering-holes. They make a mint from advertising. There isn't the wildlife in Mallorca's parks like there is in South Africa, but put a selection of webcams in choice positions, and you never know. Is this modern enough for a "modern" website?
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
If you have answered yes, then you can feel duly righteous. You can also count yourself among the very few who actually have visited any. I'm going to be extraordinarily righteous and say that, for example, I have visited Albufera many times, but then again, I live right opposite it. I do wonder, though, how many other local residents ever venture inside its vastness. When something's there, you tend to rather ignore it.
The lack of interest shown in the island's natural world is such that barely 1% of the island's population stepped inside the Llevant nature park in 2011. It received in total under 20,000 visitors in all. And tourists weren't much better than the locals; they comprised roughly a half of these visitors, of which I would guess that a not insignificant number were schoolchildren (if excursions by schools to the Llevant park are as obvious as those to Albufera).
This is a pathetic number of people. In fact, it is a complete joke, given the amount of money that is spent on looking after the various parks and fincas. 10 million euros annually, says the Balearics environment ministry. Biel Company, the minister, who appears to be the only minister to have ever realised that no one much goes to these parks, has announced a plan to improve matters. There will be a "modern" website to publicise them (presumably, previous ones have been ancient) and the private sector - them again - will be invited to participate, shops can be opened and the parks can be hired for cultural events.
The minister intends to make the parks self-sufficient and therefore self-financing. It's a pretty tall order, and how do you actually put a price on nature? The parks, such as Albufera, are there primarily as an environmental, ecological and natural-world benefit and are indeed protected lands. Making money out of them has surely to be secondary.
Nevertheless, Company is probably right to give it a go. He may well have been delving into some of the records and discovering the sort of finance that has gone towards all this nature, some of it of decidedly questionable value. Son Real is a prime example. Four million euros spent on a visitor's centre and on restoring old cottages on the finca, and what have you got? No one seems to know who's running the place, and when the funding was handed over, I made a calculation that it would take 30 years to be paid back. And why? Because no one goes there, or no one in sufficient numbers, despite what they have hoped for.
The sad fact of the matter is that, apart from an apparent lack of interest among the local population, the parks don't attract anything like the number of tourists that the good words and wishes in respect of environmental and nature-world tourism would have anyone believe. It may be true that they tend not to be well-promoted - hotels in Can Picafort, for instance, have been criticised for not doing more to push Son Real - but then hotels like to make commissions on excursions, and there wouldn't be any from a shortish walk along the coast to the finca, and would anyone go anyway? In the height of summer, the last thing most tourists would want to be doing is schlepping around vast acres of a finca, building up an intolerable sweat. Just as tourists would avoid Son Real in summer, so they would Albufera and the other parks. It's too hot.
Ah but, there are the cooler months. Yes, there are, but where are the visitors? A "modern" website might help, but you really wouldn't put money on the number of tourists increasing dramatically. Hence, the money has to come from the good old private sector. But what are these cultural events that it would be staging when hiring the parks? Here's an idea, get New Order to play a gig in a nature park instead of or as well as Mallorca Rocks. It might make a few thousand birds clear off and require a bit of clearing up afterwards, but the relevant park would be quids in for the year or for several years.
I've got another idea. In South Africa's Kruger National Park, there are webcams at watering-holes. They make a mint from advertising. There isn't the wildlife in Mallorca's parks like there is in South Africa, but put a selection of webcams in choice positions, and you never know. Is this modern enough for a "modern" website?
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Friday, March 16, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Government approves language requirement bill
The Balearic Government's controversial law that will remove Catalan as a pre-requisite for employment in the public sector has been approved today. Employment will be on merit, but the government has stated that those without required levels of Catalan should look to achieve understanding and will be aided by governmental collaboration. There are, though, to be some specific requirements for Catalan, depending on the particular work.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Health co-payment system a possibility in Balearics
The Balearic Government is not ruling out the possibility of introducing the so-called co-payment system in the public health service whereby a charge is levied on prescriptions over and above their normal cost. Catalonia has approved the introduction of this scheme, each prescription attracting a cost of one euro.
See more: Ultima Hora
Update on this: Government spokesperson Rafael Bosch has said that the government has no plans for the introduction of such a system, thus contradicting the views of the health minister.
See more: Ultima Hora
Update on this: Government spokesperson Rafael Bosch has said that the government has no plans for the introduction of such a system, thus contradicting the views of the health minister.
MALLORCA TODAY - More unions support Balearics' general strike
The way things work is that unions in various regions have to declare separately if they are going to support protests such as general strikes, and so it is that two more major unions - USO and STEI-i - have joined with the CCOO and UGT in saying they will form a united front in the general strike planned for 29 March.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
MALLORCA TODAY - Orchestra's protest concert
The Balearics Symphony Orchestra is yet another victim of public-spending cuts. Yesterday a concert by some members of the orchestra was held in front of Palma town hall to protest against cuts to the orchestra's budget of over 30% by both the town hall and the Council of Mallorca.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Plan for Balearics' nature parks
There are ten nature parks and 24 public fincas of a natural type under the control of governmental bodies in the Balearics, and the environment ministry is presenting a plan to make them more sustainable and to also make them self-sufficient through commercial activities on the parks. It is noted that the parks in fact receive relatively few visitors while costing some ten million euros a year to maintain.
See more: El Mundo
See more: El Mundo
MALLORCA TODAY - Puerto Pollensa pedestrianisation returns
Bad memories of the aborted attempt to pedestrianise the front line in Puerto Pollensa may have been aroused by the news that Pollensa town hall is seeking an agreement with the Council of Mallorca regarding a new project to pedestrianise the coast road from Llenaire into the port. However, there is a big difference this time that might allay the concerns expressed last time. Under this scheme, and it follows what mayor Tomeu Cifre said in response to a question I asked of him at a meeting of English-speaking residents last year, it would be only a partial pedestrianisation, with a one-way traffic system into the port from the Alcúdia direction being maintained.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 16 March 2012
No fog around this morning, so it's all clear, bright and sunny, the temperatures just over 9 degrees at 07:30, heading later towards the higher teens with a bit of luck.
General weather news: The met office (AEMET) has confirmed that the winter has been one of the coldest ever but is suggesting that spring will be warmer than usual, to the tune of one degree higher.
Afternoon update: Another splendid day, a high of 17.8C.
General weather news: The met office (AEMET) has confirmed that the winter has been one of the coldest ever but is suggesting that spring will be warmer than usual, to the tune of one degree higher.
Afternoon update: Another splendid day, a high of 17.8C.
I Feel So Extraordinary: New Order in Mallorca
In the back half of 1980 and into 1981, I was not infrequently in Manchester. There were two distinct groups of people I knew. One was centred on the Virgin Megastore in the city. The girlfriend of a very good friend who worked there was the subject of The Freshies (aka Frank Sidebottom) single, "I'm In Love With The Girl On The Manchester Virgin Megastore Checkout". Her name was Valerie, if you must know. The other group was based near Moss Side and frequented cramped flats where they sat around and looked generally miserable.
These two groups represented different styles in Manchester at the time. One was decidedly upbeat, the other utterly morose. Though both were heavily influenced by the Manchester music of the time, the livelier Virgin crowd found Joy Division somewhat, well, morose. The moroseness of the Moss Side contingent, for whom Joy Division had become spiritual leaders, was confirmed and internalised even more when Ian Curtis committed suicide.
The Manchester of the time was a downtrodden place. Around somewhere like Piccadilly station were roads of almost derelict buildings, interspersed by shops that were all but boarded up but which somehow operated. Joy Division, in some ways, symbolised the depression of the city. It was claimed, and still is, that the band weren't as depressing as all that, but Curtis' suicide, though nothing to do with the state of the city, seemed sadly apt.
The point about these two groups of people is that they eventually came together. From the roots of Joy Division's morbid music came New Order. To have believed that Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Stephen Morris would have gone on to be at the vanguard of Manchester and British dance music would have seemed impossible. But this is exactly what happened. The morose crowd, or at least its successor, threw off its introspection and sullenness, discovered ecstasy and formed a Manchester united around New Order and then the Happy Mondays and the Stone Roses. This united Manchester managed to lose its depressing demeanour. From within its youth sub-culture, it was reborn - physically, psychologically and socially.
The transformation of New Order and their elevation to the status of dance champions was unlikely, as the members of the group were so very ordinary both as people and as musicians. A make-do punk mentality of never quite mastering their instruments (and voice in the case of Bernard Sumner) seemed to remain even when they were at the height of their popularity and achievement. It was this undercurrent of amateurishness that made them so endearing. They combined the simplicity and unpretentiousness of a punk background with technology and dance rhythms and made some of the best music in the history of popular British culture.
New Order's return to Ibiza and their appearance at Magalluf's Mallorca Rocks in September this year have revived the memories of the role that Ibiza and the Balearic dance sound had on the group. In truth, the dance influences were numerous and had kicked in before the release of "Blue Monday" in 1983, well before Ibiza. It is fair to say, though, that the Ibiza effect and how it affected the group helped to propel the Balearic dance sound into the mainstream of British music culture, though it is also fair to say that the process was already underway.
The band was at its peak into the first part of the 1990s. A run that started with "World In Motion" and went through "Regret", "The Price of Love" and the re-issues of "True Faith" and (for the third time) "Blue Monday" couldn't be maintained. The band, though, has never ceased to be, despite what Peter Hook claimed when he had his falling-out and quit. It's not the New Order of 1982 or 1992, but the 2012 model will still be looked forward to with enormous anticipation, Mallorca Rocks having pulled off another coup in engaging them for this season's series of concerts.
The band has never ceased to be and has never ceased to be hugely influential. It was an influence that went beyond their own music and contributed to a change in culture in a wider musical context and in their home city. An extraordinary group and extraordinary as they seemed so ordinary.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
These two groups represented different styles in Manchester at the time. One was decidedly upbeat, the other utterly morose. Though both were heavily influenced by the Manchester music of the time, the livelier Virgin crowd found Joy Division somewhat, well, morose. The moroseness of the Moss Side contingent, for whom Joy Division had become spiritual leaders, was confirmed and internalised even more when Ian Curtis committed suicide.
The Manchester of the time was a downtrodden place. Around somewhere like Piccadilly station were roads of almost derelict buildings, interspersed by shops that were all but boarded up but which somehow operated. Joy Division, in some ways, symbolised the depression of the city. It was claimed, and still is, that the band weren't as depressing as all that, but Curtis' suicide, though nothing to do with the state of the city, seemed sadly apt.
The point about these two groups of people is that they eventually came together. From the roots of Joy Division's morbid music came New Order. To have believed that Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Stephen Morris would have gone on to be at the vanguard of Manchester and British dance music would have seemed impossible. But this is exactly what happened. The morose crowd, or at least its successor, threw off its introspection and sullenness, discovered ecstasy and formed a Manchester united around New Order and then the Happy Mondays and the Stone Roses. This united Manchester managed to lose its depressing demeanour. From within its youth sub-culture, it was reborn - physically, psychologically and socially.
The transformation of New Order and their elevation to the status of dance champions was unlikely, as the members of the group were so very ordinary both as people and as musicians. A make-do punk mentality of never quite mastering their instruments (and voice in the case of Bernard Sumner) seemed to remain even when they were at the height of their popularity and achievement. It was this undercurrent of amateurishness that made them so endearing. They combined the simplicity and unpretentiousness of a punk background with technology and dance rhythms and made some of the best music in the history of popular British culture.
New Order's return to Ibiza and their appearance at Magalluf's Mallorca Rocks in September this year have revived the memories of the role that Ibiza and the Balearic dance sound had on the group. In truth, the dance influences were numerous and had kicked in before the release of "Blue Monday" in 1983, well before Ibiza. It is fair to say, though, that the Ibiza effect and how it affected the group helped to propel the Balearic dance sound into the mainstream of British music culture, though it is also fair to say that the process was already underway.
The band was at its peak into the first part of the 1990s. A run that started with "World In Motion" and went through "Regret", "The Price of Love" and the re-issues of "True Faith" and (for the third time) "Blue Monday" couldn't be maintained. The band, though, has never ceased to be, despite what Peter Hook claimed when he had his falling-out and quit. It's not the New Order of 1982 or 1992, but the 2012 model will still be looked forward to with enormous anticipation, Mallorca Rocks having pulled off another coup in engaging them for this season's series of concerts.
The band has never ceased to be and has never ceased to be hugely influential. It was an influence that went beyond their own music and contributed to a change in culture in a wider musical context and in their home city. An extraordinary group and extraordinary as they seemed so ordinary.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
