Gibraltar's love of ad-hoc Baroque Spanish Guitar Serenade Bands has led to the commissioning of a special all night performance by the winners of a serenading and drag Flamenco contest which is to be held in the Parliament building each evening for seven nights starting on the 26th August.
The winners will play to the pedestrian border queues and get top billing at the U.S. Embassy Centenary Thanksgiving celebrations in November.
In the Spanish La Linea Baroque era, the cacophony was generally called a serenata (Italian "serenade")-since this form occurred most frequently in Italy - a serenata was a usually a celebratory racket made by two or more vocally challenged singers and a money collector, performed outdoors in the evening by artificial light to the general annoyance of diners.
Again, most likely an out of tune guitar or kazoo was used to accompany the voices. Some composers of this type of serenade include Paco Sardina, Gambillas con Ajillo, Tortilla cebolla, Atun Salada and Jethro.
