the story of giga de tenerife

about a week ago, you may recall, i was at freight and salvage, blissful in the company of a certain fiddle and cello duo. the tune giga de tenerife struck a special chord, and i was fortunate to find it on the cd i bought from them in the moment (um, pun intended, to be clear).

the tune left more of an impression than the others, and i came to share it with first one friend, then two more, and then another.

the first of these four to respond was my spanish-speaking bff:

just realized that "giga de tenerife" probably means Jig from Tenerife (probably a town name).

the next friend i heard from directed me to this website, and quoted it thus:

"Giga de Tenerife" - This tune was written (for lack of paper) on a plane from Tenerife to Madrid on the inside of a certain bag that can always be found in the seat pocket in front of you.

the third, almost simultaneously, shared:

The title of the tune took me by surprise. I was in Tenerife last fall/late summer - beautiful piece of land. Apparently, the tune was composed on a plane from Tenerife to Madrid :)

and when i shared aforesaid website with friend #4, he responded thus:

wow, that's amazing on so many levels:

1. that he could write an entire song in his head without instruments (i assume he didn't have a fiddle in his carry-on baggage :))
2. that the inspiration for a new song came to him while sitting in a plane
3. that he could write an entire song within the span of a plane journey
4. that the muse was so sudden and so fleeting that he grabbed the nearest piece of "paper" :)
   

as i put these separate exchanges together this morning (in the shower, in fact), i had the widest smile on my face, and for the longest time. i'd been listening to this tune for several days, but not until i had shared it with these souls and heard their lovely and varied responses, did i realize the immense good this sharing had done me: i do not speak spanish after all, and am woefully unnatural with my use of and affinity for google. the name of the tune certainly sounded exquisite, but i was just not inquisitive enough to probe further :(. i have certainly not been to spain, so to hear someone attest to tenerife's being a living and breathing part of the world's geography brought it to life for me in a beautiful way.

the insight friend #4 shared with me, however, served to penetrate deeper than i'd imagined i could be penetrated on the subject. while all four points he brought up were interesting to note, i was in fact wowed by his desire to think of them in the first place. i do not exaggerate, for it is far too easy, i find, to look where a finger points and be oblivious to the pointer himself (and this reminds me of my observation while reading siddhartha.) i am inspired by his effortless attempt to step into the mind of the artist and understand the why. and what matters not is whether any or all of the points are relevant, what matters is that one take the time to think. and to plunge directly, always, to the root.

and that is my story of giga de tenerife. i'd be only too overjoyed to share the piece with you should you be keen, at all, to hear.