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I first encountered Eric when I searched for music venues while I stayed in Corralejo around 2016 and came to find the “El Piano de Cola” bar. Weirdly enough that translates from Spanish as “The Grand Piano”.
A little context
Corralejo is in Fuertaventura, one of the seven Canary Islands, a Spanish territory that is detached from mainland Spain just off the coast of Africa. It’s a really beautiful place where I hope to explore more. The Island is known for many things including windsurfing, goats, aloe vera, beautiful beaches, and of course musicians.
The word Fuertaventura translates to something like “strong wind” and although it is noticeably more blustery than some of the other Canary Islands, you shouldn’t let that put you off. With the Canary Islands being near the equator you get near enough brilliant sunny weather all year round. The better time to go to any of the Canary Islands I would say is in the Winter so that it’s not too hot.
Corralejo is in the North of the Island and is considered to be somewhat the English tourist destination in contrast to the South of Fuerteventura which tends to attract more of a German crowd. There is said to have been a German war base formed there back in the day (which is still there) and so the Germans tend to claim the South as their own. I’ve been to both and I would say the North is the better place to be (along with the stunning beaches of El Cotillo) although there are beautiful beaches and warm hospitality throughout the region.
Fuertaventura Musicians
Eric is the lead host of the musicians that form around there and I would spend my nights watching him and others play. The bar has since changed ownership and has come upon troubled times with the lockdown and I think this was the main catalyst that made Eric take to the internet to continue his performances.
He and his daughter Melody who does a lot of the behind the scenes production have been grinding away on the scene for quite a while now, perhaps a year or two, and slowly but surely, and not surprisingly due to the talent and great production,they are making great progress. At the least, he is now growing to a respectable and loyal fan base. Erics persistence in continuing to do what he does through his passion for music deserves respect and more success. It’s almost bemusing that so many people will watch gambling channels (guilty), fortnite/fps players, and hot tub irls and so few have yet found Erics streams.
Eric plays guitar primarily and sings but is an accomplished classical musician and plays pretty much anything including piano and a weird sort of electronic saxophone type thing that I forget the name of which can be programmed to sound like many different woodwind and other instruments. He will also stream old footage of himself performing and playing lead over the top. As well, his green screen band is hilarious, where he takes the role of every musician in the band and layers them all together to perform a full band performance.
Melody has done an amazing job of setting the green screen backgrounds and just altogether quirky production effects that really add something special to the quality of the streams, something that personally I would say, from the stuff I watch, it’s practically unrivaled.
Not all of Erics performances are to my taste, but like any accomplished musician he has a huge range and you cannot fail to find him play some sort of music that you like. As a guitarist, I personally enjoy his instrumental guitar performances. Often he will just sit on the beach stream himself playing guitar. That’s my favorite because I live where the sun doesn’t shine much and I enjoy as much as anything to just see the sun shining, hear the wind and waves, and the sweet music. It’s kind of like taking a holiday from your bedroom.
Check it out. You can watch his previous recordings and give him a follow to show support and you can get a notification to watch him going live at any point in time, currently scheduled for Wednesday nights.
https://www.ericsijpestijn.com/
