Francisco Tarrega's Recuerdos de la Alhambra

Zexiv's sister Grasshopper injured her knee the other day, going down the subway steps in New York. Zexiv prescribed RICE - no, not the complex carbohydrate but the standard treatment for minor injuries which he learned in an introductory PE class at the state university long ago - Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation. He hopes Grasshopper's knee is a lot better now.

Actually, there are some other remedies as well some say can help a bit in hastening recovery, such as massage and accupunture, which coupled with a good rehab exercise routine, can do wonders, as Zexiv discovered when he injured his lower back almost two years ago. And we have our own yet to be proven cure-alls, such as a bar of good chocolate (Zexiv's recommends Cadbury Fruit and Nut or Hershey's Kisses :)), a steaming mug of brewed coffee, a Peanuts comic book, and soft soothing music, like this piece Recuerdos de la Alhambra.

Recuerdos de la Alhambra (Memories of the Alhambra) is a famous classical guitar piece composed by Spanish guitarist and composer Francisco Tarrega. We discovered it recently in YouTube (in this particular video the piece is performed by Kazuhito Yamashita), while searching for videos on Zexiv's favorite classical guitarist Andres Segovia. While Segovia is frequently cited for his contribution in bringing the classical guitar to world concert halls and making it a respectable instrument of classical music, Tarrega, who died in 1909, is known as the father of classical guitar.

A beautiful and haunting piece inspired by the famous Moorish palace and fortress in the south of Spain, it sounds like a duet but is played by just one guitar. Zexiv remarked that the tremolo reminded him of the sound of a banduria from his rondalla days. Listen to it with some good chocolate and a steaming mug of coffee. or better yet, churros and hot chocolate.