167. Fun is my 'F' Word - José Valentino & Gualo

Talking Flutes

"We need to cut the umbilical with those nerves and just let go when we improvise - now more than ever we need some fun in our lives"

This week Jean-Paul revisits a podcast going back a little while when he caught up in the beautiful Santa Monica in Los Angeles with the then, new Emmy wining musicians José Valentino (flute) and Gualo (guitar). Since this recording was originally aired, both Gualo and José have gone on to win countless more awards including a Latin grammy win for Jose only a few months ago.

In normal times, the stresses of study, finding work and then performances are immense for most performing artists. Combine this with the additional issues faced during the last 18 months of Covid-19 and that L world ‘Lockdown’…. and the word ‘fun’ in particular has been bottom of many of our vocabularies as the virus still continues to ravage populations around the world whilst musicians have an continue to struggle to make ends meet and put food on the table.

So in choosing the podcast this week, I just wanted us to at least begin to look at the ‘fun’ word again in our music making. When we listen to music we use it to escape, to remember, to smile, to dance, to cry, or to find ourselves motivated and stimulated by an auditory pattern of sounds that goes deep within our being.

'Talking Flutes' and 'Talking Flutes Extra' are podcast productions by TJ flutes in the UK. For more information visit www.trevorjamesflutes.com

So for the next 58 minutes, sit back and listen to these wonderful musicians improvising and speaking about the importance of that ‘F’ word!