terrapin (station),

Its nice to hear there will be someone near Barcelona with a similar taste in music! keep in touch - I'm coming May 7.

Right on, brother. I have a couch with your name on it. One thing thing that sucks here is the lack of good music. Before I piss everyone off, let me say that I love traditional Spanish music. Those guys can work their guitarras like no other. However, the modern music is severely lacking, and there arent any good shows around. Perhaps I am ignorant. Someone please educate me! If there is some good spanish music out there ,I'd love to hear it. All of my Spanish friends dig Estopa, but I cant really get into it. I know some of you Spain afficianados out there can set me straight.

What exactly is May Day, Asterault? Is it a southern holiday? What kind of special celebrations do they have?

I seem to have forgotten about the Gipsy Kings. They are the guys that did the "Hotel California" cover in "The Big Lebowski". They are very good. Paco de Lucia is a very good classical guitarist.

How about Mana? They are pretty good and their music is very popular in Spain. They are actually from Mexico I think. I agree with you on a lot of spainish pop music but I love salsa/ merengue and some of that was just getting popular when I was over there last.

Manu Chao is quite good.

sorry to burst your bubble, but I think the Gypsy Kings are actually French...

Juan Luis Guerra is one of my favorites. He is from the Dominican Republic, but my andaluz friends tell me his concerts sell out quickly in Spain and his CD's sell well here in Tucson as well. His lyrics are really something!

And there is always Jerry Rivera, Elvis Crespo, Marc Anthony and Luis Miguel (more romantic but good to listen to occasionally). Living in Texas I have grown quite and appreciation for latin music. When we go on that pub crawl I will bring you a mixed cd!

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I'll definitely check them all out. You are correct, Nicole. The Gipsy Kings do indeed hail from France. You owe me a new bubble.