La Vanguardia

 Spain

One of the oldest and prestigious newspapers in Spain. The highest circulation Catalan newspaper.

1989 April 21

Frank Zappa, el flautista de Hamelin
By Diego Muñoz, p 43


J.Marcote: It's a very interesting article about FZ and his projects to come for 1992 in Spain - The Expo in Seville, the Olympic games in Barcelona, Madrid as Cultural Capital of Europe - several projects for each one.

Some of these projects were presented to Mayors of Moscow & Milan, but FZ preferred Spain as point for inter cultural exchange between Europe & America.

There are several pictures, one of them FZ appears together with Juan Barranco (Mayor of Madrid) and Teddy Bautista ( vice-president of SGAE - Spanish Copyright Authors Society and ex-member of Los Canarios, a great Spanish progressive band of the seventies) in a meeting ( March 30, 1989) at the Town Hall of Madrid.

As well there is a part entitled: "Soviet musicians say "Welcome Papa Zappa!". It's about an extravagant idea of FZ to land with an US Hercules aircraft in Moscow with his mobile studio to go for different Soviet Republics to record the best of them and back to Lenin Stadium to present in a festival the best he found out. And before all this to land in Spain and other European countries to pick up musical instruments donated for delivery to Soviet musicians.

This article is related to an interview from T'Mershi Duween fanzine: An Evening With Pierre Boulez And Frank Zappa.

On forming a World Orchestra: About four months ago, I made a proposal to the World's Fair organisation, the next one is in Seville 1992, and I offered to put together an orchestra that was made up of ethnic instruments, people who could play ethnic instruments from all different countries who could also read music and could play different styles, and could combine these with electronic instruments and normal orchestral instruments. Part of the project was that the people from Expo would commission composers around the world to write five to eight minute pieces for this orchestra. In other words, if you wanted to, if you were a composer that wanted to have access to these special ethnic instruments, it could be very difficult for you to afford to gather together, from all over the world, these different pieces of equipment, and have people who could read music and play it. It would be creating a vehicle that would provide an opportunity for a lot of composers. The status of the project is this: I'm going to Spain on May 28, because I've been told that the Christopher Columbus Committee, which is another organisation from Madrid which is putting on a big event in 1992, wants to finance the orchestra. I will believe it when I get a contract for it, but if they decide that they will finance this orchestra, I will then get on a plane and start shopping for musicians all over the world. I will get this together for them, and I spoke to Pierre the other day at breakfast and invited him to write a piece, (with mock anger) but HE'S TOO BUSY THOUGH!

Source: Javier Marcote

1993 December 7

Muere el legendario músico Frank Zappa
ed., pp 34, 38
Algo más que un artista de culto
By Mingus B. Formentor, p 34
Zappa, uno de los compositores más mordaces de la música popular
ed., p 38

Full texts @ El 3er Poder


Source: Javier Marcote

2008 April 2

El hombre libre
By Carles Serrat, 2 pp
Dónde está?
By Xavier Montanyà, 1 p
Proteico, radical
By Mingus B.Formentor, 1 p
Humor i música seria
By Flix Prez Hita 2 pp
The Amazing Mr. Zappa
Andrés Hispano, 1 p


A 5-page publication Zappa, libre with Zappa on the cover issued as Vanguardias' cultural supplement. "Zappa free. He was one of the greatest musicians; nothing in life or politics was alien to him. We should remember that."

Source: Javier Marcote

2014 November 24

El verbo libre de un creador iconoclasta
By Esteban Linés, pp 30-31


A report dedicated to the Spanish edition of The Real FZ Book.

pp 30-31