molly johnston and bob walker, Grupo Musical Cantilena
The couple spend their time between Nerja and Cape Cod
06.03.09 - 19:48 -
MOLLY JOHNSTON AND BOB WALKER. / EUGENIO CABEZAS
Molly, how does the former manager of a large system group in the States end up playing a medieval instrument in the Nerja Cultural Centre?
I studied musicology at Wellesley College and my passion has always been music. However I went back to college and studied computer science, as at the time it was easier to find work in the business world. I took early retirement from my company and am now able to dedicate more time to my music. You would be surprised how many musicologists and musicians are working in I.T., we seem to have a knack for it. In the Second World War, many of the people employed to break the codes of the enemy communications were musicians.
Bob, you’re known locally in Nerja as “Bourbon Street Bob”, but that doesn’t really sound much like a name for an early music performer?
I’ve played the piano and the trumpet since I was a boy and I have a programme on the radio in Nerja specialising in New Orleans Jazz. It’s my wife who has got me involved in the Grupo Musical Cantilena and this year I am helping out with the percussion.
Your group has a wide variety of nationalities and many of you are not always in Nerja. Rehearsals must be difficult!!
We belong to different musical groups in the States and a lot of pieces we have already played so that makes thing easier. However, we keep in contact with the other members via the Internet, practise at home and then make sure that we are all back in Nerja a couple of weeks before the concerts to be able to rehearse together.
You played to a full house in the Ermita Church in Nerja last year. Is early music popular in Nerja?
We try to make sure that there is something for everyone in our concerts; whimsical, humourous, solemn, fun are all words that have been used to describe our concerts. Our concerts are a way to experience the history of Europe, and especially Spain, in a different light. It’s a privilege to share our music with Nerja and playing in Spain seems to bring us nearer to the composers and their lifestyle. The viola da gamba was originally a Spanish instrument brought to Italy by the Borgias.
As well as musicians and successful business people you are also trained pilots. How do you fit it all in?
Since we have retired it has been much easier!!! We spend spring in Nerja and then return to the States for the rest of the year. We spend summer on our boat travelling along the New England coast and the rest of the year we are back in Cape Cod. At home we continue performing and we are also volunteers for Angel Flights which is where we use our pilot’s license. Angel Flights is a charity who fly cancer patients, who live in remote or inaccessible locations, to their check-ups or for chemo- or radiotherapy. The majority of our clients live on Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket (two groups of islands off the Massachusetts Coast) and we fly them to their appointments on the mainland.
