Noveltyobit: Manolo Escobar

Manolo Escobar - whose death has been announced - probably deserves to be known as something more than just the bloke who did Y Viva Espana.

To be honest, Y Viba Espana probably deserves to be remembered as something more than just a novelty hit. It's interesting how Escobar's obituaries just glide over how the song was released as Spain was shifting from fascist dictatorship to parliamentary monarchy. A song about letting your hair down and celebrating the joy of being on holiday might reek of cheap sangria and straw donkeys, but a joyous celebration of life lived lightly in a nation which was stepping out of decades of right-wing extremism and extra-judicial killings actually carried more meaning than that. It was novelty, certainly, but not just of the cheap holiday souvenir variety.


To remember just that one song, though (and in the UK, it's probably more recalled in the more tipsy cover version by Sylvia Vrethammar) neglects the rest of his fifty-year career, swapping between Andalusian copla, Spanish pop and a bit of acting as well.

Manolo Escobar was 82; he died Thursday after being ill with colon cancer for some time.

Kelis racist incident suddenly moves a few hundred miles south

The incident that Kelis reported on Twitter where she was racially abused in a London airport? It now turns out she was in Spain:

"Just to clarify, because apparently there's been some confusion, I was in the UK (as always) this time for Bestival (which was great)," she wrote. "I took a flight from Gatwick (airport) back to Spain so for those fact checkers that is approximately a two and a half to three hour flight.

She added: "I landed in Spain and that's when the fat pink faced British guy who was on the plane with me called me a slave and (told me) to call him sir. It was at passport control. I didn't think to make that clear at the time because I was shaken and furious. Now you know."

You'll note the dig at "fact checkers", by which she means those tiresome types who, erm, pointed out that her story wasn't straight.

Now, it's fair enough that you might be angry and annoyed and tweet something opaque - but Kelis had already returned to the subject once when challenged on her sweeping statements about racism in the UK, and neglected to mention the important location of the alleged incident.

And it does make a massive difference to the story whether this happened in London or Spain - part of the complaint was the man behind the passport control counter merely repeated the first bloke's "Kunta Kinte" jibe as if he was amused by it. If you're building an argument about how racism is rife and undiscussed in the UK, using the actions of a Spanish civil servant as part of your evidence would seem to undermine your case somewhat.

[Thanks to Peter D in the comments]

Gordon in the morning: Cowboy style

More non-stories from outside the hospital and far, far from Cheryl's bedside as a spokesperson issues a statement:

Last night her spokesman said: "She will not be able to take part in X Factor's boot-camp stage or perform at V."

Gordon folds this into a 'return for the live finals' which, clearly, isn't what the statement said.

In other news, Gordon's byline is slapped alongside that of Carl Stroud to predict a reunion - "for one year only" of Robbie Williams and the Bits Of Take That who people like:

ROBBIE WILLIAMS is rejoining TAKE THAT for an album and tour - and a video with GARY BARLOW based on Brokeback Mountain.
[...]
Robbie and Gary will warm up with the video likening their love-hate relationship to the tormented gay cowboys in the 2005 flick.

Apart from having two blokes in it, the Williams/That relationship is nothing like the Brokeback story, really, is it? Not in any way.

It's more like when Bet Lynch came back to Coronation Street and discovered that it wasn't the place she left and just looked odd and awkward standing at the Rovers bar.

The story is incredibly oddly written, too:

[The single Shame] is about Robbie's feelings for the boyband - famed for hits including Back For Good.

Really, Gordon and Carl? You're having to slip in a line to tell us who Take That are?

Gordon's people have mocked up how it would look if you put cowboy hats on Barlow and Williams - because that's what Brokeback Mountain effectively boils down to, men wearing cowboy hats. Sadly, nobody thought to photoshop Carl and Gordon a Brokeback-style shared byline picture.

In short, then: the last goodwill left in the Take That reunion is about to dry up.

And in the North, Gordon went to watch Kasabian playing T in The Park. Gordon had a very important job to do:

The band kept a close eye on the World Cup Final.

And it fell to me to pass them the result live on stage after Spain's last-gasp win.

Let's hope the band hadn't recorded the match to watch later, eh, Gordon? Otherwise you'd be Brian Glover to Kasabian's Bewes and Bolam.

Kasabian's reaction?

When I'd told him the score, Serge declared: "We'll play their victory party in Madrid, it's as simple as that."

Will you, Serge? You might want to wait to be asked. Simple as that.

IFPI insults Spain to make some sort of point

The Guardian had a piece on its business pages yesterday allowing the major labels to bemoan their lot and demand something must be done. Again.

This bit was interesting, though:

While the IFPI noted some success in growing sales in countries with new legal measures, notably Sweden and South Korea, it launched a withering attack on governments it accused of turning a blind eye to piracy. Spain in particular came under fire for a "culture of state-tolerated apathy towards illegal file-sharing".

"Spain has the worst piracy problem of any major market in Europe. In 2009, no new Spanish artists featured in the top 50 album charts, compared to 10 in 2003," said Kennedy. "It's getting to the stage where it is nearly irreversible."

The IFPI said investment was drying up in new artists in Spain, and that sales of Spanish artists' albums fell by two-thirds over the last five years.

Rob Wells, head of digital at Universal Music Group International, underlined the falling investment story in a market that had traditionally exported much of its local repertoire to Latin America.

"Spain runs the risk of turning into a cultural desert," he said. "I think it's a real shame that people in authority don't see the damage being done."

I'm sorry, I should have warned you that your eyes might hurt after you've rubbed them to try and believe the arrogance of that statement.

Spain is running the risk of turning into a cultural desert, because the chart drawn up to reflect the business performance of one small part of one of the arts is being stuffed with material from overseas.

If you take 'what's local in the top fifty' as a measure of a nation's cultural vibrancy - a bit like trying to work out what's happening to the climate by checking a thermometer in a greenhouse - then wasn't the problem already bad when there was only one-fifth local acts in there? If it matters, wasn't that the point to act?

More to the point, if the IFPI really is worried that foreign music is despoiling Spanish culture, couldn't they just stop releasing their American acts in such large numbers? It's akin to someone pissing in the streets, and then complaining that there's a stench of ammonia.

And their main worry seems to be less that Spain is turning into a cultural wasteland anyway, and more that they won't have any material to flog off in Latin America. Did Rob Wells really think through a complaint that his company's flooding of one country's market was reducing the flow of material he wants to use to flood other countries with? If Spain was turning into a cultural desert, isn't that good news for Latin America's homegrown artists?

Talk Talk shout shout at Mandelson

That didn't take long, did it? Less than 24 hours after Mandelson had grimly announced his intention to allow the intellectual property industry to have people thrown off the internet, and the plan is already heading for court. Talk Talk are threatening legal action:

"The approach is based on the principle of 'guilty until proven innocent' and substitutes proper judicial process for a kangaroo court," said Andrew Heaney, the executive director of strategy and regulation at TalkTalk. "We know this approach will lead to wrongful accusations."

"If the government moves to stage two we would consider that extra-judicial technical measures and would look to appeal the decision [to the courts] because it infringes human rights," Heaney said. "TalkTalk will continue to resist any attempts to make it impose technical measures on its customers unless directed to do so by a court or recognised tribunal."

BT has been less strident, but aren't exactly delighted, either, saying they are:

"interested to hear whether or not customers will have some form of fair legal hearing before their broadband supplier is required to take any action against them".

One lawyer claims that there is no human rights worry about Mandy's plans:

Tony Ballard, partner at media and entertainment law firm Harbottle & Lewis, said that Mandelson's plan to suspend internet connections did not breach human rights regulations.

"This issue over whether removing someone's internet access breaches some fundamental right has been quite clearly settled by the European court of justice," Ballard added. "It ruled in a Spanish filesharing case last year that a user's fundamental rights are not absolute but have to be weighed against the rights of others, including copyright owners."

Maybe - although the same court has ruled that ISPs can't be compelled to hand over details of customers in file-sharing cases, too. Let's just pause a moment, though, and consider a lawyer saying that somebody's fundamental rights are not absolute. It's not clear if absolute rights would be fundamental.

Ballard said that it is for the "individual states and their courts to hold the balance". He added that Mandelson clearly had an eye on France where a tough "three strikes" cut-off policy has been implemented and approved by the French legislature.

Yes, Mr. Ballard - although you seem to have got confused along the line; the tough legislation was dumped, and replaced with a watered-down version because, erm, the original plan was considered too much of an infringement of human rights.

U2 waving into space

More coverage of the start of the U2 tour, with the Guardian reading the Spanish press, who seem bedazzled by Bono's wiles:

Spanish reviewers were overwhelmed by the "rock power" display and struggled desperately to interpret the message in a show that featured astronauts, a video of Desmond Tutu, football, and, significantly, a Michael Jackson tribute, with Bono dedicating Angel of Harlem to the King of Pop, before playing Man In the Mirror and Don't Stop Till You Get Enough.

"This is rock designed to move both mountains and consciousnesses," concluded El Periódico newspaper.

The conversation between Bono and the space station commander was perhaps the most bizarre element of the evening. "Commander, can you see Barcelona?" Bono asked the man floating near the microphone. "Right now, the most beautiful sight in our cosmos is the blue planet earth," came the answer.

"We must look very insignificant from up there," noted the critic for El País newspaper.

It's unclear if he means from space, or from whatever ego-cloud Bono is sitting on.

Trouble is, with all this guff - designed to showcase how powerful Bono is and what his connections can do - they seem to overlooked one key aspect of a gig: being any good at music:

Most disappointing for El Pais readers was Bono fluffing two classics, One and With or Without You.

"The truth is that it was disappointing, especially compared to previous tours, full of mistakes and bad songs (from the last album)," said Alex, a reader-reviewer for El País. "To say that Bono wrecked two major songs like One and With or Without You tells you more than enough."

But who cares, eh? Look! Look! It's a spaceman on a telephone!

[Thanks to James M for the story]

Spain thinks internet users owe songwriters a living

The spread of copyright management concerns demanding that ISPs make up the losses they're experiencing as their businesses undergo structural change has reached Spain:

The copyright holders, the Coalition of Creators represented by the General Society of Authors and Publishers (SGAE), wanted the ISPs to charge their customers extra to cover alleged losses from their activities on P2P networks. Eduardo Bautista, SGAE’s president, recently said that it is the ISPs “civic duty” to cooperate. Unsurprisingly, he also wants repeat infringers to be disconnected from the web.

It's a "civic duty", is it? Clearly, Bautista realises that he has a claim which is economically and morally invalid, so he's now - perhaps unwittingly - admitted that what he's after is an act of charity.

The Spanish ISPs aren't, naturally, rushing to embrace this thinking.

The dance returns: Spandau Ballet plot comeback tour. Supposedly.

Given the size of the venues Tony Hadley has been playing recently, isn't it a bit of a stretch to believe that even a reformed Spandau Ballet would be playing the Nou Camp in Barcelona? Especially now the pound falling against the euro has meant far fewer pensioners winter in Spain?

Music industry crashes the wedding

You really have to tip your hat to the music royalty business - the companies which exist to collect cash really don't have any boundaries at all. The Spanish General Society of Authors and Editors have just been caught sneaking a private detective into a wedding to film the party because they believed that the venue owners might have owed a few quid.

The video was used in a prosecution of the Salón de Bodas, with SGAE actually lying and claiming it had been shot by a guest, rather than a grubby gumshoe who had violated the party. It's not clear if the copyright industry body had come up with an elaborate explanation as to how the video would have come into their hands - perhaps a rogue uncle might have sent it in, angered at the unlicensed fun.

The result has been a large fine for privacy breaches to the SGAE. So, lesson learned, right?

Other wedding videos have been taken surreptitiously by SGAE investigators to pursue venues for not paying copyright fees. Pedro Farre, the director of the SGAE, said: “Using private detectives to investigate fraud is common. We will carry on doing it.”

Remember, these are guys who are quick to insist the law must be upheld. Although not, it seems, when it doesn't fit with their own interests.

We're a little freaked out now, to be honest

Thanks to the anonymous commenter who pointed out in response to our line about Iron Maiden turning into storm chasers that, actually, this weekend Iron Maiden cancelled the Metalway festival appearance because of storms:

Due to massive storm damage to the staging and PA and lights in the the last 24 hours or so, today's Zaragoza [show] cannot take place. At this stage it looks unlikely, due to the extent of the damage, that the Metalway Festival can be rescheduled. MAIDEN are sorry that it seems unlikely that they can appear for their fans in Zaragoza. MAIDEN's equipment had not arrived on-site when the storm occurred so this has no effect on continuing MAIDEN's shows in Scandinavia and elsewhere."

Now Cliff takes on General Franco

Cliff Richard is not a man to let things go quietly. Not on Radio 1? You'll hear about it. Having to give up copyright on recordings he made half a century ago? There will be letters.

He's even now insisting that he is retrospectively awarded the first prize in the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest after some film-makers have claimed that General Franco had the vote rigged so that Spain would win:

Although he conceded that opening an official investigation into the rigged vote "might not be worth the trouble", the belated verdict would mean a lot to him.

"I'd be quite happy to be able to say I won Eurovision '68. It's an impressive date in the calendar these days."

Yes, he does appear to be saying that 'Congratulations winning the Eurovision song contest' should take its place alongside Les Evenements, the assassination of Doctor Martin Luther King Junior and the sit-in at Columbia University as part of world history.

The film, 1968: I lived the Spanish May, claims that Franco sent out ambassadors to bribe corrupt TV executives across Europe to ensure a Spanish winner for the song contest. Which he might have done, but since it's equally possible that, even unbribed, people can take against Cliff Richard, who's to say that it would have altered the outcome at all?

Cliff, let it go now.

"It's never good to lose, never good to feel a loser. When I went on that night I said to the band: 'Look guys, there will be 400 million people watching, it will be a massive plug for our song.' And it was. I think we sold a million singles. But we really wanted to win."

Cliff, Cliff: isn't it enough that Frankie and Bennys play the song every time someone is celebrating a birthday? Although when they do so, it does make us come over a little General Franco-esque ourselves.

Coldplay start work runing second country

The next Coldplay album is, we're promised, going to have a 'Hispanic theme'. Or, rather, the band have decamped to Barcelona to do some recording. We can't say for certain, but we bet if Ryanair had already been flying those new routes to Poland, we'd be in for an 'Eastern European theme' to the album.

Of course, we all know they're going to sound no more Hispanic than a Newcastle builder who's retired to the Costa Del Sol to run a union-jack bedecked bar called Blighty's. And they know it, too, really:

“We’ve been travelling light on acoustic guitar, a couple of mics, a laptop and some headphones. We’re recording in Barcelona – moving from church to church, setting up where we can: in front of the altar, under the pulpit. We’ve been playing at the feet of archangels.”

The congregations must really love that. Naturally, they'll take the stuff back to the studio and stick a bloody great production job over the top of it.

[The band added they would use no] "maracas or castanets, but a vibrancy of colourfulness that owes much to the atmosphere of Buenos Aires and Barcelona. The affect is subtle but important.”

Because, of course, Buenos Aires and Barcelona are virtually the same place, aren't they?

Any bets that by the time the strings have been added and the video shot, the one remaining piece of this "subtle but important" influence will be the line "track 9 recorded in Barcelona" in small print on the CD inlay card?

European ISPs not obliged to turn you in

In a note of advice provided to the European Court, Advocate General Juliane Kokott has clarified the current law applying to information your ISP holds about you. Kokott has advised the court that there is no compulsion on the part of ISPs to provide client details to record companies seeking to pursue civil cases. There would be compulsion if a criminal case was being pursued.

The request for information came via the European Court from Spain, where local ISP Telefonica is in court after refusing to hand personal details to Promusicae, the Spanish RIAA client organisation. Although the European Court has yet to make a formal ruling, it would be unusual for them to diverge from formal advice.