Sergio Merino: Savor-y nights

One of my students from the intermediate group this year, Sergio, is a versatile, multi-faceted young man from Valladolid, whose many interests range from music to film-making. He writes and directs his own shorts, plays in a rock band and even has a home recording studio. 

I first met Sergio some three years ago through a local poet, Gloria de Castro, who in turn I had met thanks to a former student of mine at the time - and a good friend now -, Ana. To cut a long story short, Gloria once invited me to one of her recitals at a lively salsa dancing pub you may know, El Savor, where she usually reads her heart-felt poems to the accompaniment of Sergio's guitar playing. On Tuesday Gloria read her latest stuff with the help of her inseparable Sergio and there I was with a few students (not many, sadly!) to watch them live.

The thing is that he had told us in class that he runs his own blog - which you should visit here to find out what an accomplished artist he is - and I was overjoyed to see that he had written - in Spanish, though! - a short but lovely post about the recital. I liked it so much that the idea dawned on me right away: I had taken a few pics of Sergio and Gloria on stage and recorded bits and pieces on my i-pod, so why not publish the whole thing on this blog? So I put pen to paper (or to my Mac, to be precise) and translated his words as accurately as I possibly was able to. 

Today, I’ve just arrived home from one of those “Savor-y” nights that are celebrated in the namesake pub every evening. The only difference being that I myself was on the stage and not just listening in the audience. Tonight I accompanied local poet Gloria de Castro on my guitar. Maybe it’s because I hadn’t played in this temple of Salamanca’s nightlife for a long while, or because the sound was particularly good, or simply because I take great pleasure in breaking the total silence that fills the bar by playing my guitar while we perform.

Cover versions of Gary Moore, Dire Straits, The Eagles, Elvis Presley, as well as songs from soundtracks, or even my own songs, are enough to accompany a poet’s voice. I love the freedom of being all alone in the face of music so as to complement the poetry, and of feeling free to come and go, change the tonality, move from one song to another, or join them together … in a nutshell, of trying to contact and relate to the audience. Indeed poetry played the leading role tonight but I feel that there is a part of me on the stage for which I am responsible and I try to rise to the occasion.

As if that were not enough, I have a whale of a time with what I do. The subtle light, the silence of the pub, a finely-served drink of rum and the perfect sound coming out of the audio mixer make these nights special. On other occasions I also have great fun accompanying singer-songwriter Juanjo Dominguez, Amanda G. Monge or even my own voice.

Being a "pucelano" who lives in Salamanca, I must say that it is a gift for me to relish a spot in these music-filled midweek evenings that once in a while us the performers delight ourselves with, as do my friends and the public that drop by.

Once again I'm heading back home with a good “Savor” (taste, that is) in my mouth ...

Needless to say I earnestly recommend you guys to go to El Savor on a future occasion and enjoy a lovely evening of poetry and music courtesy of two relatively unknown but really talented artists, Gloria de Castro and Sergio Merino. By the way, she's having her debut novel published shortly. A noir mystery, I hear.