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At the beginning of March, I engineered a mini recording session with a gifted vocalist, Beth Trollan. It was a full-on task, but we managed to cram the recording of eight jazz standards into a day session. We recorded How High The Moon, Don’t Get Around Much Anymore, You Don’t Know What Love Is, Georgia On My Mind, Bye Bye Blackbird and Canteloupe Island.

Beth and I did the mixing and you can listen to the rest of the songs on her Soundcloud page.

 (l.r) Ariel Vigo and Pablo Lopez go through their paces

With the good weather just around the corner it makes even more sense to do this. I live in one of the most diverse and interesting areas of Barcelona (diverse and interesting not always in a good way), and have been thinking for some time of recording an audio tour of the Raval.

But where to start? The first thing is the route, of course. The Raval is part (the salubrious part) of the Ciutat Vella of Barcelona, the old city. The Barri Gótic and, I think, Barceloneta. As such, there isn’t the organised block system of L’eixample. There are dark streets and impossibly narrow callejons. A little bit like within the walls of the City of London, I suppose.

There are not that many “must see” buildings or landmarks in the Raval, which means I can customise the walk much more to my own tastes, but it will be sure to include La Rambla del Raval, with Fernando Botero’s “fat cat” sculpture, and the Carrer de Sant Pau lined with prostitutes and creepy old men.

I will frame it within the six metro stops that contain the neighbourhood:

Catalunya (L1, L3)

Universitat (L1, L2)

Sant Antoni (L4)

Liceu (L3)

Drassanes (L3)

Parallel (L3, L2)