The music goes on

It was the second concert of this two-concert festival tonight. Again, we hadn't listened on Youtube beforehand, but the audience was even bigger than last night's and clearly fans of the musicians, greeting them with wild enthusiasm before they'd played a single note.

It turned out to be an evening of mostly Cuban music, dating from the late 19th and early 20th century, so that was already a plus. Pianist Pepe Rivero is Cuban but lives in Spain and is classically trained, which shows in his dazzling piano playing, while Javier Colina is a well known (not by us) bass player who is practically an honorary Cuban. They were joined by Moïses Porro on drums and, eventually, Cuban trumpeter Manuel Machado. The sound suddenly became more Cuban at this point.

So much more enjoyable than last night. They were excellent musicians, especially Pepe and Javier, who were really out of the ordinary. And the music was lively and cheerful, with actual tunes (not really a feature of last night's concert). A welcome salve for the grimness of the world outside.

Soundtracks: at one point they played a lovely song by Consuelo Velasquez, the Mexican composer of the global hit Bésame Mucho. So here's Linda Ronstadt singing it. And a sample of Pepe's piano playing and Manuel's trumpet in a jazz club in Madrid.

Afterwards we headed straight for Los Pajaritos, our favourite bar. On a bank holiday Friday night it was heaving. Even the steps outside were full. But someone came out just as we arrived and we managed to squeeze into a standing position fairly near the bar. It was the usual noisy, cheerful, shoulder-to-shoulder mayhem, but after only about 15 minutes we managed to grab a table, so we stayed for a second drink. A plate of fabulous fried fish, a plate of equally fresh prawns, four glasses of wine, and change from a 10-euro note -- can't grumble!