Rodrigo Round Cape Horn and from Chile to Chilly

After Robin's arrival in LA, he didn't catch a flight home to the UK, but instead made the long journey to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Unfortunately he didn't have any time to explore this exciting place, (but will be back there later in the year), as he had to immediately board Cunard's QM2 as she set sail.

Nor was there much time to acclimatize as his first concert was the very next day.
So it was straight down to some serious practice to get the travel weary fingers in perfect working order.

Despite feeling decidedly jet lagged the concert went very well and made an immediate impression on the audience, many of whom attended the other two solo concerts he performed.

But Robin was also reunited, albeit temporarily, with his old friend Izzy Cooper. You can read more about Izzy here, 'Review: Robin Hill & Izzy Cooper' and 'Post Rodrigo Adagio'. Alternatively, if you type Izzy Cooper into the 'search this blog' function at the top you will find all the references I have made.

A musical collaboration did take place as Izzy asked Robin to join her to perform Rodrigo's 'Aranjuez Mon Amour'. He did, and it was a huge success.
Shortly after Izzy left and another friend, also a soprano, Annette Wardell, arrived.
I have previously mentioned Annette here, 'Soprano, Socialising and Nova Scotia.'

The headline acts tend to stick together, as there are only a couple on board at any one time, and Annette certainly helped out during Robin's last concert when she manned the computer to 'bring in' the orchestra as Robin performed the entire movement of Rodrigo's 'Adagio', from the Concierto de Aranjuez.
Annette did well, and coped with the tricky orchestral entrance after the second cadenza.
Having said that, Robin also did well and was rewarded with a standing ovation and request from passengers to perform more concerts!

Whilst all these musical events were taking place the QM2 navigated the trecherous seas around Cape Horn.
This was actually Robin's second experience of Cape Horn and it was relatively calm as opposed to his last experience when they were 40 foot high and breaking windows of the lower decks...see 'Stormy Weather' to refresh your memory.

Fianlly Robin arrived at Valparaio, Chile, and was driven to Santiago to begin the long and tortuous journey home.
Whoever books the flights certainly likes him to suffer for his art as he endured a 12 1/2 hour flight to Madrid, 4 hours to London, Heathrow, then just time for a quick coffee on the 40 minute flight to Manchester.

Thankfully he avoided all the snow which hit us the following day.

Track 2: Dolor de Muelas and Manic Management...

The second track that we are going to look at is called, 'Dolor de Muelas'.
In case you are bemused about the title, I should explain that when translated it means, toothache.
The reason being that it was composed and recorded when Robin was suffering from a particularly painful bout of toothache!
However, that isn't apparent in the music, as the piece is in a freewheeling samba groove, with much improvisation.

The Samba is one of the most popular forms of music in Brazil, and surprisingly also in Japan. The genre combines several different cultures, especially the musical aspects of African and Latino heritage, and continues to evolve within Brazilian culture today.

Originally the Samba was a generic term depicting the choreography of 'circle-dances' imported from Angola and the Congo.
A characteristic element of the Samba is the 'umbigada', which is an, 'invitation to dance', by the touching of the couple's navels!
Gradually, by the late 19th Century, the dance became urbanized, with the urban versions differing substantially from the rural folk sambas.

The Samba continued to gain notoriety as a distinctive kind of music, at the beginning of the 20th Century, in Rio de Janeiro.

On this recording Robin is also playing some of the percussion. So feel free to get into the Samba groove and dance along...

Today I am calming down after a particularly stressful couple of days.
On Wednesday evening I took a call from our London agent asking if Robin would be able to get to India by Monday.
The dates were fine, but, a visa is required for entry to India.
I consequently spent most of Wednesday evening, and all of Thursday, trying to resolve the problem.
After many 'phone calls between me, London and America, the only way forward would be to extend the trip and unfortunately due to previous commitments we were unable to do so.
I certainly couldn't expect Robin to arrive home from an overnight flight and perform the same day.
So despite our best efforts, on this occasion we had to concede defeat.
Still, you can't say we didn't try.

Music and the Great Outdoors

This could prove to be an interesting weekend.
Tonight Robin is playing at a charity event - in North Yorkshire.
That in itself is very good.
However, this event is being held in a marquee, and as most people are aware, the UK, especially Yorkshire, is suffering severe flooding.
I was talking to the event organiser the other day, and the area is very wet, but not completely under water.

I'm not sure whether to pack Robin off with his concert clothes, plus wellies, which would cut quite a dash I'm sure.

On Saturday 'Live Earth' gets under way with 24 hours of music hosted by eight cities, London, Johannesburg, Shanghai, Rio De Janeiro, Sydney, New York, Hamburg and Tokyo. Whilst many of these venues should remain dry, London could be in for a wet time.

Then on Sunday, Robin has another outdoor event, at Entwistle Remembrance Park. Whilst he will be seated under a pagoda the audience will be open to all the elements.
It's never easy playing the guitar outside, or in a marquee for that matter, but competing with rain drumming on tarpaulin could prove interesting.
I'll keep you posted.