SLIGO SPANISH SOCIETY - SOL Y SOMBRA

Our Christmas party this year will be a very special occasion. Playing for us will be Felip Carbonell , who has recently released a CD – Els Colors del Temps – to great acclaim. Felip will play a mixture of his own compositions and a variety of favourites from the world of Hispanic music. He will be accompanied on the night by Anna Houston, another great Sligo musician. Felip’s CD was recently chosen as CD of the week on the Blue of the Night programme, on RTE Lyric FM. Felip is a Mallorca native, but has lived and played music in Sligo for more than two decades. He is a member of various groups, including No Crows . We are also promised a special performance from a newly-formed choir group that will sing us Christmas songs in Spanish and English. The party will take place in the Yeats Building, Sligo, on Wednesday December 9 th , from 7.30pm to 10pm. Admission is €5, and this includes wine and tapas. All are welcome, not just members of the society, so bring a friend!

In 1588 King Philip II of Spain sent a great Armada to attack England. This armada was defeated by a combination of the English forces and bad weather. This defeat left Spain vulnerable to attack. The next year, 1589, Queen Elizabeth I of England decided to take advantage of this Spanish weakness by launching a massive attack against Spain and Portugal (Portugal was at that time part of Spain and ruled by Philip II). This English Armada was even larger than its Spanish counterpart of the previous year, with more ships and more men. The destiny of this English fleet is at the centre of Spanish writer Luis Gorrochategui’s book The English Armada , which charts the series of calamities that befell the largest fleet ever assembled by England. The book also explains how such a disaster was covered up in the aftermath, and how it has faded from history, while the Spanish Armada of the year before has become one of European history’s great lan...

A French name, but a very Spanish film. Director Fernando Trueba named his movie after the French  Belle Epoque  of the end of the nineteenth century, but this is set in Spain’s own  Age of Beauty , between the First World War and the Spanish Civil War, in 1931. Trueba said about his filmmaking, “I like to hear the audience laughing in a dark theatre.” And that is what this film is designed to do, make people laugh, it is a feel-good film in the best sense of the word. Joyous and uplifting, the film’s themes are pleasure, love and music. It won the Best Foreign Film Oscar in 1993, and it is easy to see why. The setting is rural Spain. Fernando (Jorge Sanz), whose allegiance is to the Republic, deserts from the monarchist army and goes on the run into the Spanish countryside. There he meets Manolo (Fernando Fernán Gómez), a painter who shares his political beliefs. Fernando stays in Manolo’s house for the night and is about to go on his way until he meets Man...

Jorge trabaja de portero en su edificio, y cuida de su padre enfermo, pero tiene ilusiones más grandes. Cuando su hermano, Antonio, sale de la cárcel, le pide a Jorge algo que le va a cambiar la vida para siempre. Historias triangulares y dilemas de hoy se entremezclan en lo que parece ser el destino     de Jorge, un chico que luchará por lo que quiere, y no por lo que debe. Azuloscurocasinegro es una película divertida, atrevida, conmovedora, que nos muestra la importancia de la amistad, y todas las complicaciones que pueden causar la familia y el amor. Jorge works as a caretaker in his building, and looks after his sick father, but he has greater ambitions. When his brother, Antonio, gets out of prison, he asks Jorge to do something for him that will change Jorge's life forever. Azuloscurocasinegro (Dark blue almost black) is fun, daring and moving. It reveals the importance of friendship, and all of the mes...

César (Eduardo Noriega) es un chico guapo y rico al que le gustan mucho las mujeres pero muy poco el compromiso. Sin embargo, en la fiesta de su cumpleaños le enamora de Sofia (Penélope Cruz), la acompañante de su mejor amigo, Pelayo. Al mismo tiempo Nuria, una antigua amante de César, le persigue sin tregua, provocando una serie de acontecimientos que cambiarán la vida de César para siempre.  En esta película fascinante y curiosa, vivimos con César su viaje entre el sueño y la realidad. Rodada en 1997, se hizo un remake en Hollywood en 2001. La película norteamericana se llamaba Vanilla Sky, protagonizada por Tom Cruise, con Penélope Cruz en el mismo papel que hizo en la versión original. (Esta película no es apropriada para niños). César (Eduardo Noriega), is rich and good-looking, and likes girls but not commitment. However, in his birthday party he meets and falls for Sofía (Penélope Cruz), who has come with his best friend, Pelayo (Fele Martíne...