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[Tuning Up at Dawn : A Memoir of Music and Majorca] [By: Graves, Tomas] [July, 2005]
A loving portrait of the other Majorca, and of a blissful life there revolving around the magic of music - a book to savour, perfect for escaping those crowded beaches. Tomas Graves was born in and belongs to Majorca. His father, the great love poet Robert Graves, famously ended up on the beautiful Mediterranean island pretty much by accident, but it is the happiest accident of Tomas' life. His love for the special beauties of Majorcan culture shines on every page of this infectiously happy book. This is the real Majorca. 'Tuning Up at Dawn' examines both the suppression and renaissance of the ancient native culture - above all, its music. Graves is a musician himself, and his own musical escapades give the book its brilliantly distinctive tone. A host of musicians - Jimi Hendrix, Kevin Ayers, Bob Geldof, Sinead O'Connor and Eurovision contestants - have stayed in Majorca and provide the soundtrack to this rhythmic, irresistible tour around a magical island and its magical culture.
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First published November 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 8, 2013
On completion Tuning Up At Dawn achieved a lot of what I like from a book; it educates, enlightens and entertains. I say on completion because at around 100 pages I really wondered if the book would develop any cohesion. It's a challenging opening quarter of quickfire facts, anecdotes, and name dropping without having developed any real context. That all comes later and thank goodness I perservered, as the book then settles into a more engaging style and with developed themes which are very wide ranging. Graves ambitiously covers an immense amount of subject matter whilst using musical references to glue it all together.
I learned a lot about the end of the Franco era, its cultural impact, and the rapid changes in Spain and especially with reference to the fiercely independant region of Catalonia. I learned also about the close political and emotional ties between Majorca (Mallorca) and Catalonia, not least in the language, and the rather looser ties with other Balearic islands.
Deia is the Bohemian backdrop to Graves life and career as a bookbinder and then musician, and to his childhood as the son of the English poet and author Robert Graves. Many well known names pass through and many stay, some such as Robert Wyatt become an indelible part of the landscape. Artists as diverse as Paul Bowles, Spike Milligan, Kevin Ayres, and many local and visiting, and oft returning, heroes from the world of art whether painting, literary or musical, illuminate Graves' text.
I was enlightened by the connections made of Majorcan music to that of other lands though especially that of Cuba, and how folk music was such a discretely potent force for communciation of resistance and preservation of identity during times of dictatorship when every word was analysed and anything dissenting seized upon.
Also a recurring theme is that of the flamenco style of song and dance and its various and differing forms of expression not only within Spain but around the Spanish speaking world.
Graves entertains with stories from childhood and the family and social gatherings around his father and then through a tough but satisfying life in music. Graves is humble in describing his own ability to adapt to playing stringed instruments more than competently within almost any style of music from folk to punk, rock to flamenco, and is passionate about them all and reveres an impressive list of band mates. He understates his own stable presence around which the entire Majorcan music scene from Deia to Palma seems to revolve, and he imparts beautifully nights of music euphoria as well as near comical disaster which always seems to be averted through sheer desire to entertain and enjoy.
The book is thoroughly researched and needed to be to make the enormous amount of factual detail contained therein not to seem overpowering or unecessary, and carried through liberal use of connecting anecdotes of some major luminaries contrasting with small brushstrokes of Majorcan peasant life. Graves transcends the worlds of the internationally famous with the local legends who live on an island yet have never even seen the sea.
Had the book commenced at page 100 it woud be none the worse or less remarkable for it, so I would encourage other readers to dig deep to get their reward.
I learned a lot about the end of the Franco era, its cultural impact, and the rapid changes in Spain and especially with reference to the fiercely independant region of Catalonia. I learned also about the close political and emotional ties between Majorca (Mallorca) and Catalonia, not least in the language, and the rather looser ties with other Balearic islands.
Deia is the Bohemian backdrop to Graves life and career as a bookbinder and then musician, and to his childhood as the son of the English poet and author Robert Graves. Many well known names pass through and many stay, some such as Robert Wyatt become an indelible part of the landscape. Artists as diverse as Paul Bowles, Spike Milligan, Kevin Ayres, and many local and visiting, and oft returning, heroes from the world of art whether painting, literary or musical, illuminate Graves' text.
I was enlightened by the connections made of Majorcan music to that of other lands though especially that of Cuba, and how folk music was such a discretely potent force for communciation of resistance and preservation of identity during times of dictatorship when every word was analysed and anything dissenting seized upon.
Also a recurring theme is that of the flamenco style of song and dance and its various and differing forms of expression not only within Spain but around the Spanish speaking world.
Graves entertains with stories from childhood and the family and social gatherings around his father and then through a tough but satisfying life in music. Graves is humble in describing his own ability to adapt to playing stringed instruments more than competently within almost any style of music from folk to punk, rock to flamenco, and is passionate about them all and reveres an impressive list of band mates. He understates his own stable presence around which the entire Majorcan music scene from Deia to Palma seems to revolve, and he imparts beautifully nights of music euphoria as well as near comical disaster which always seems to be averted through sheer desire to entertain and enjoy.
The book is thoroughly researched and needed to be to make the enormous amount of factual detail contained therein not to seem overpowering or unecessary, and carried through liberal use of connecting anecdotes of some major luminaries contrasting with small brushstrokes of Majorcan peasant life. Graves transcends the worlds of the internationally famous with the local legends who live on an island yet have never even seen the sea.
Had the book commenced at page 100 it woud be none the worse or less remarkable for it, so I would encourage other readers to dig deep to get their reward.
April 4, 2023
Here comes Graves' most dreaded review of his book by a Mallorcan girl.
This book found me at (you guessed right) my local Oxfam bookshop, in a Scottish town far away from my island of origin. Like Tomás but in reverse, I am a sort of culture-less child that moved to Scotland, to become Mallorcan for the first time in my life after growing up hating my island and longing to leave it. Now, at 21 and realizing how culturally rich the place I was born is, I feel a duty to preserve my origins despite not having really been involved with them during my childhood. I recognize that I have a slight trauma after seeing how rapidly Mallorca changes and how it is becoming another one of Europe's theme parks. The island, which is developing to accommodate the 17 million tourist that visit it every year, is slowly losing its identity and sense of community. With mass tourism growing everywhere around the world, people are traveling to far away places to find nothing different from the place they boarded from. Locals, with no sense of self or belonging, long to leave, thus decreasing the cultural richness of their homeland. This creates a worthless and dystopic society, led by a capitalistic impulse, longing for adventurous experiences in a more and more unremarkable world. I believe that a sense of belonging and a life full of tradition and culture increases life quality. I also think that if one feels connected to the place they live at, the unsustainable amount of traveling that we are currently involved with, can decrease drastically and become more responsible.
Quoting Senegalese Baba Dioum: “In the end, we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand and we will understand only what we are taught.”, I believe that this book is important in spreading awareness of the Mallorcan culture in the English speaking world, which can dramatically improve the perception of the island to foreigners. Graves clearly showed the perception of someone who truly immersed himself in the community and became a true Mallorcan instead of withdrawing into one of the many British ghettos of the island. I think everyone should be free to visit Mallorca, and to move there if that is where they want to call home. But any traveler and emigrant has a duty to learn, respect and preserve the place and people that have welcomed them. We travel because we want to see something different, but this cannot happen if we don't preserve both our own culture and that of others. It is never too late to make things better.
This book found me at (you guessed right) my local Oxfam bookshop, in a Scottish town far away from my island of origin. Like Tomás but in reverse, I am a sort of culture-less child that moved to Scotland, to become Mallorcan for the first time in my life after growing up hating my island and longing to leave it. Now, at 21 and realizing how culturally rich the place I was born is, I feel a duty to preserve my origins despite not having really been involved with them during my childhood. I recognize that I have a slight trauma after seeing how rapidly Mallorca changes and how it is becoming another one of Europe's theme parks. The island, which is developing to accommodate the 17 million tourist that visit it every year, is slowly losing its identity and sense of community. With mass tourism growing everywhere around the world, people are traveling to far away places to find nothing different from the place they boarded from. Locals, with no sense of self or belonging, long to leave, thus decreasing the cultural richness of their homeland. This creates a worthless and dystopic society, led by a capitalistic impulse, longing for adventurous experiences in a more and more unremarkable world. I believe that a sense of belonging and a life full of tradition and culture increases life quality. I also think that if one feels connected to the place they live at, the unsustainable amount of traveling that we are currently involved with, can decrease drastically and become more responsible.
Quoting Senegalese Baba Dioum: “In the end, we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand and we will understand only what we are taught.”, I believe that this book is important in spreading awareness of the Mallorcan culture in the English speaking world, which can dramatically improve the perception of the island to foreigners. Graves clearly showed the perception of someone who truly immersed himself in the community and became a true Mallorcan instead of withdrawing into one of the many British ghettos of the island. I think everyone should be free to visit Mallorca, and to move there if that is where they want to call home. But any traveler and emigrant has a duty to learn, respect and preserve the place and people that have welcomed them. We travel because we want to see something different, but this cannot happen if we don't preserve both our own culture and that of others. It is never too late to make things better.
July 4, 2014
This was an unexpected discovery on the charity desk of a local supermarket; I've always enjoyed the work of Robert Graves and so I was interested to find out about his son's take on life in Majorca. I did wonder for a while if it was going to be one of those memoirs which focussed on the celebrities he'd met and encountered, largely as a result of his father's life and location, but it turned into something much warmer, funnier and more interesting. It is a bit of a who's who in late 20th century music, or at least it is in the start. If you're a fan of Kevin Ayers, Daevid Allen and other musicians who tend to be cited by 60s music conoscenti, you'll be able to relate to the early part of the book. For me the best bits were when he was turning an insider's eye on the tourism "bubble" - parts of this were laugh out loud, snortingly, hysterically funny. A very good read - I'm glad I bought it. Recommended.
February 8, 2013
Fascinating glimpse into the world of musicians, artists and writers on Majorca in the Beatnik and Hippy years. Whether you are interested in the music scene, Majorcan culture, or simply tales of the rich and famous who loved to get away from it all and let their hair down, this book has something to interest everyone. Delightfully written, with humour, warmth and keen observation. I didn't want it to end!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews