Français
As a kid, there was not a single without listening to Manitas de Plata. When we were leaving the “Mas de Fourques” to go visit les Guillermes in Gaillargues, by the car window I would look at the trees, then the rice filds, then the meadows with the horses and the bulls, in my head Manitas guitar was playing as a magical soudtrack. Arriving at the Manade (french word for ranch) we would meet the ones from Arles or from Nîmes, the party could start, there was always some bullfights, a barbecue and guitars at the table, and evrybody would dance, stry to sing a little. As kids we were fascinated, the gypsies from Arles would always come along, The Reyes family and sometimes they would bring along Manitas de Plata ! All the women were in love with him, he would play and everyone would try to dance for him. I remenber my mother was not impressed by the fact that he had played for Brigitte Bardot, she was on ly an actress after all, nor that he played for Dali, who was her friend of her, no, she was impressed by the way he was, the way he played and how everyone was ander his spell. It was for us, the kids, such magical moments, no one was looking after us, we could be with the adults and laugh and dance and be free. But there was a magical thing, wthis music would make us happy and we all wanted to play like Manitas to seduce the girls and be a heroe. SO today when I hear gypsy guitar (we’re not talking about flamenco) I fell like a kid again, and I remenber those days when we dressed up as g gardians (local cowboys) and tried to be clever to have the girls looking at us. This is what I remeber tonight, Manitas, and I would like to thank you for all that, because the first music I ever listened to, was yours.
[youtube=http://youtu.be/TtRPIdfLlTA?t=59s]