27/09/2011

Brangulí was here

Brangulí. Barcelona 1909-1945
7th June – 23rd October

Josep Brangulí (1879 – 1945) accompanied Catalunya throughout monumental socio-political changes during the first half of the twentieth century. During his impressive career as a documentary photographer, Brangulí gave equal weight to the ordinary and everyday as he did to significant historical events. continue reading

19/09/2011

Harlem – for all your jazz needs

After all is said and done, the smoking ban could have been detrimental to the overall health of jazz clubs – once defined as dark dens of iniquity where music laid heavy in the air as billowing plumes of smoke whipped around the musicians, audience wheezing and coughing ‘til dawn. continue reading

19/09/2011

La Terrazza – bringing the Balearics to Barcelona

For the sixteen years since its inauguration as an Atmospherical Fun Club, La Terrazza has been consistently hailed as Barcelona’s answer to the sort of free-spirited, alfresco merriment usually reserved for the naughtiest sibling of those Balearic islands, Ibiza. continue reading

14/09/2011

Mosquito – for all your DIM SUM needs

Sometimes it can be a chore to find good quality, authentic oriental food in the city that isn’t a 500 capacity, all-you-can-eat, Chinese-Argentinian-Japanese-Catalan buffet/grill hotchpotch. There are some fine Japanese restaurants, but when it comes to authentic Chinese or Vietnamese, where’s the homemade dim sum when you need it? Where’s a classically nourishing, clear Asian broth – the soul food lauded by scientists and mothers the world over, not to mention hung-over twenty somethings? continue reading

14/09/2011

El Palau de la Música Catalana

The Palau de la Música Catalana is an exquisite Modernist tribute to Cataluña. Built by Lluís Doménech i Montaner between 1905 and 1908, the Palace opened on February 9th 1908 and was heralded as a triumph of Cataluñan Modernista Style. The building was originally created as the residence of the Orfeó Catalana, an important choral society dedicated to the preservation of native Catalan folk music, and now hosts concerts of all genres and styles as well as conferences, congresses and exhibitions.
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14/09/2011

Open galleries in Poble Nou

16th-18th September

Once a derelict Industrial district, Poble Nou has been undergoing a dramatic transformation in recent years and although located well off the beaten track, is now flourishing as an important artistic and musical hub in Barcelona.

Many factories and warehouses have been converted into ambitious lofts, galleries and shops, and this September resident artists and owners will be throwing open their doors to present the finest of their artistic endeavors for the fourth year running. continue reading

14/09/2011

Asia Festival

16th – 25th September
Ten years ago this month, the authorities agreed that the melting pot of cultures here in Cataluña needed better representation and acknowledgement. And so the Asia Festival was born, held each year in the heart of the Raval district – the home of a diverse immigrant community, with almost fifty percent of its inhabitants born abroad. continue reading

14/09/2011

Mercè Festival

22nd – 25th September

If you thought the summer season was beginning to wind down in Barcelona and everyone was preparing themselves for la vuelta al cole (that’s going “back to school” to you and I), you might need to see this first. continue reading

13/09/2011

La Tomaquera – real Catalan cuisine

“If you don’t like it, it’s your own fault”, however you look at it, La Tomaquera is “special”. There’s no telephone, they don’t accept reservations and if you ask to see the wine list, the waiter will march off chuckling to himself, later returning with a carafe of house wine – you’ll drink what they drink. And that’s after he’s served the locals at the table next to you first, even though they arrived ten minutes later. 
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12/09/2011

Tahiti – bringing a tiki touch to Barcelona

Despite a generally gloomy outlook for the Spanish economy, the last several months have seen a swell in Barcelona’s cocktail culture, perhaps as a way to drown our sorrows or – more optimistically – as a clink of the glass towards a brighter future.

Until recently, cocktails had been reserved for more chic areas of the city, where some of the most famous cocteleros (or cocktail waiters) offer up their experimental creations for a discerning crowd.
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