Tuna fair in Playa de Santiago tomorrow

Tomorrow, Saturday July 9th 2022, Playa de Santiago in La Gomera's south will host a 'Tuna Fair' from 10am with cookery demostrations, fish and wine pairings, free tapas, children's events, market stalls, live music and surprises. All is themed around fresh tuna, as Playa de Santiago's port is where most of La Gomera's tuna catch is landed and all along the south coast you can still see the ruins of several tuna canneries.

Music shop in La Gomera

The island of La Gomera now has got a music shop again after the last one closed down more than a decade ago. The new venture called MusiGomera is located in the capital San Sebastian de La Gomera very close to the historic main church and offers a wide variety of musical instruments from percussion to ukuleles and also sells accessories and amplification.

So stop ordering through the internet and support this important service for musicians.

(Ed. a few years later the music shop sadly is gone)

White Vallehermoso

While other towns on La Gomera are having white nights with their 'Noche en Blanco' Christmas shopping promotions, the northwestern town of Vallehermoso is making a day of it with their Dia en Blanco. The programme looks interesting with the local samba drummers starting the day at 12 noon followed by jazz and swing with the 'Dixieland Indiana' band plus many more activities for young and old, including a tapas-tasting trail, exhibitions, workshops and various live music acts until late at night. Vallehermoso is a lovely traditional market town with many small shops as well as inviting bars and restaurants, and well worth a visit.

Alphorn under palm trees

The Sunday music session at the bus station bar in La Calera, Valle Gran Rey had the addition of a very unusual instrument yesterday when an alphorn was blown. The Alpine instrument which sounded a bit like a trombone reverberated very well through the steep mountains of La Gomera and turned a good few heads. Imagine arriving with an alphorn as your hand luggage at the Ryanair desk...

Great fun with Barraquito Brothers

 Last night's 'Noche en Blanco' held a special musical treat on a street corner opposite the 'Bistro' in the Vueltas area of Valle Gran Rey which drew a large crowd. The 'Barraquito Brothers' from La Laguna in Tenerife played a very diverse set which ranged from jazz to pop to folk and much more, all delivered in a humorous and very entertaining way. At one stage they had the whole street street singing along. The above video doesn't do them any justice at all, but it gives a short impression of their talent. 

Live music making cautious comeback

Spontaneous session in a tiny bar recently ♫

Tonight at Manolo's in
La Puntilla (near statue)

Live music in La Gomera and especially in Valle Gran Rey, the busiest and most cosmopolitan town of the island, is back and there are now numerous options for good night out again. Nightlife as regards live music had been severely restricted for a couple of years due to the over-zealous enforcement  by the police of obscure regulations which meant that venues would have needed a special licence for live music 'events' and alas this licence could often not be obtained, while DJs could play canned music anywhere. For a tourist town Valle Gran Rey had become almost a ghost town at night, but this year a lot more visitors and locals are out and about at night enjoying the diversity of the live music on offer once again.

A more workable solution seems to have been found and especially at weekends musicians are back entertaining locals and visitors. Great care is being taken by the bars and restaurants  to finish the live music well before midnight so as not to upset those neighbours and tourists who want to go to bed early. A lot of music sessions are not even being advertised to avoid the entertainment being labelled an 'event'. From the new small bar on the beach in Vueltas to the 'Salsa Burger' in La Playa live music and also DJs can be enjoyed in a good few bars and restaurants and it is worth having a stroll after dinner to listen to the varied music on offer, which once was the major attraction that made Valle Gran Rey's ambience so pleasant. 
Most Sunday afternoons there are open sessions at the bus station bar in La Calera where anything can happen and the Restaurant 'El Palmar' hidden among the palms near Borbalan never stopped being a focal point for local live music.

The 'Gomera Lounge' in La Playa has now installed costly soundproofing and after having been closed for some time is back with a full programme. Among the regular acts there are 'Los Satelites', the former house band-cum-session of the famous 'Bar Maria' which sadly is still closed after Maria's death. This recently taken video by A.Lindemann below proves that there's a great atmosphere in Valle Gran Rey once again:

Live music returning to Valle Gran Rey

Guitars are for playing - not shelving !
...nice idea, though, spotted in a bar in V.G.R.

There's been a notable and most welcome increase in small live music gigs all around Valle Gran Rrey on La Gomera lately. Some bars such as 'Ramiro's' at the bus station in La Calera, the Cacatua in Vueltas, Manolo's bar 'Teguerguenche' in La Puntilla and the Gomera Lounge in La Playa (they even invested in sound proofing) are hosting live music fairly regularly again and other bars and restaurants have followed suit. La Gomera's best and most eclectic live venue is once again the social club 'Casa La Familia' where they now hold concerts and spontaneous sessions as private parties, but all are welcome to attend and become members for the night. This cosmopolitan place is just off the main track towards the statue along the beach in La Playa, up a bit beside a rough looking builder's yard. Their facebook page usually lists the main events and highlights the bohemian atmosphere with a distinct 70's hippy touch. You never know what may happen there musically, and a few years ago I met a well known jazz musician from the US who joined an impromptu session in dusty Casa La Familia in his expensive suit and was very happy to have found live music in those days when it had almost died here due to the repressive interpretation of some regulations which made it almost impossible to play music.

Local musicians still find it hard though to get paying gigs and legendary music bar and meeting place Bar Maria is still closed and for sale. Also some bars and venues remain fearful of a sometimes over-enforced law and/or punctilious and jealous  neighbours.

The once very promising Valle Luna Festival is still not happening officially again this year, but many musicians and groups such as the 'Gomera Street Band' will descend into Valle Gran Rey in February again this year and will surely find spots and venues to treat us to their performances. 

Overall it appears that the situation has greatly improved but it still is not back to the times when the slogan for the island was 'La Gomera es Musica !'. It is time to take the dust off the 'Musicians Welcome' signs - after all it simply is good business and most tourists and visitors are forever asking for live music.

We're keeping our fingers crossed while enjoying a bit of music again...

I've newly included an Events tab in my menu bar above. This will direct you to a website listing some events on La Gomera. It is not a complete list of events here and i found it to contain some errors (e.g. location of bars, etc), but hopefully they will correct that and improve this welcome service.