Don"t Knock It Till You've Tried It!

At the end of this month we shall be enjoying the annual Festival of Three Cultures. When it was first launched, the Jeremiahs, nay-sayers and carpers had a field day. The village was too small to host the kind of event that was planned. The village couldn't afford it; indeed they were way overspent and it hadn't even started. It was a vanity project, pure and simple for the Ayuntamiento. A disaster waiting to happen. Well year after year it has gone from strength to strength and this year we host the 10th annual Festival de Las Tres Culturas. Over the four days from 27th to 30th August, the organisers confidently expect that we shall attract more than forty thousand visitors to take part. This figure is achievable due in no small part to the quality of the concerts staged each evening. Past attractions have included the flamenco-rock band Radio Tarifa which had a huge following throughout Spain and beyond. In similar vein a couple of years we had Luar Na Lubre, a well-known Galician Celtic band. This year we step up to the mark again. The Sunday night concert which closes the festival will be by French-born, but of Spanish origin Manu Chao and his band, Radio Bemba. The group enjoy considerable success across Europe and indeed they are currently on tour around Europe; their only gig in Spain is here in Frigiliana. Tickets have gone on sale across Spain, and the concert will take place in the football stadium which has a capacity of 5,000. In addition we will have the Barcelona Gipsy Klezmer Band, Carmen Paris, classical and Arab music; something for everyone. So much for the moaners and malcontents!