Vegas lounge crooners, tribute acts and stars who made it big in the eighties are all very nice, but what is there for those of us staying in or visiting Tenerife who get a buzz from vibrantly fresh and original live music? Where do we go for our hit of sex & drugs & rock ‘n’ roll…well the  rock ‘n’ roll part anyway?

The answer is that there are actually plenty of venues to see good, live original music that offer an alternative to the cabaret and tribute acts more commonly associated with the music scene on Tenerife. And the next couple of weeks sees the best of the Canary Islands’ musical talent rock the reef, as well as most of the other islands, as part of fmac 11; The Canary Islands Festival of  Alternative Music.

This year nearly forty bands are performing at the fmac festival. Most are Canarian based, but there’s also a good sprinkling of artists from mainland Spain, Europe and as far afield as Japan. On Tenerife a concentrated dose of the indie rock, pop, jazz, world music and funk that usually makes up the sounds heard at the fmac festival can be a welcome change to those of us fed on the musical diet of the Latino beats and traditional Canarian compositions most often heard outside of the main southern resorts. For everyone else the festival is a great opportunity to get to hear some thumping live local bands do their stuff as well as experiencing a different face of Tenerife’s night life that isn’t usually seen by most visitors.

Most of the concerts are free and there are seven venues just on Tenerife alone; Cafe Quilombo (La Orotava), Castillo San Felipe (Puerto de la Cruz), Bar del Sheriff (Puerto de la Cruz), Cafe 7 (La Laguna), Banda Aparte (Santa Cruz), ON Bar (La Orotava) and La Casa de la Cultura San Agustín (La Orotava).

The first guitar twangs rang out on 18th March, but fmac really only hits its stride in April and the next three weekends see nineteen different artists bring their own particular brand of alternative music to venues on Tenerife; the highlight of which is the free concert featuring three or four bands that signals the end of the festival. Usually this is held beside Casa Aduano (the customs house) in Puerto de la Cruz but this year it’s been inexplicably shifted. So if anyone wants to catch Lanzarote’s pop/rock group Oscartienelas, Tenerife rockers Marvel Hill, electronic punksters LolaLola and the ‘delightfully’ named Fuckin Four Factory from Gran Canaria, they’ll have to head uphill from the north coast to the plaza beside the Casa de la Cultura San Agustín in La Orotava on the night of Friday 15th April.

Historic surroundings and rocking good music in the same package and for free…surely an alternative aspect of Tenerife that is worth seeking out?

For a full list of venues, artists and dates (but curiously not times) check out the official fmac website here…

Pinolere is one of the biggest and most enchanting  craft fairs on Tenerife and is located on the slopes of a hill so steep that just getting from the car to the pavement requires steely thighs and a supply of oxygen.

On the first weekend of September over 230 craftspeople from Tenerife, the other Canary Islands and mainland Spain laid out their wares on stalls and in the shade of the thatched huts that for the rest of the year are part of the Pinolere Ethnological Museum in the highlands of La Orotava.

Under blue skies and with views to die for as a backdrop over 30,000 people turned up to get in some early Christmas shopping.

This is shopping with a difference. Stalls are spread over a series of levels but with vistas like Pinolere’s it can be difficult to take your eyes off the scenery to check out the goodies on sale.

Crafts range from the traditional, such as these wicker baskets…

…to those that you might as well sellotape straight on to your stomach.

And then there are the more contemporary works like these cheeky designs.

Or Canarian classics – hand rolled cigars from La Palma; as good as Cuban cigars…so the people from La Palma will tell you.

As well as hundreds of delightfully unique crafts on sale, the fair has art & craft making exhibitions, live music, rabbits and birds to coo over, demonstrations of traditional life in the hills , these wonderful huts and loads of secret corners to explore…and all for a €2.50 entrance fee.

If you missed Pinolere this year, don’t fret there are other craft fairs and markets around Tenerife, just not in such a spectacular location. Keep an eye on our ‘Happenings’ page for news of a fair in October featuring crafts from South America, Africa and the Canary Islands.

1. Being able to sit outside year-round without recourse to thermal underwear.

2. The constant fiestas where people drink all day but rarely get drunk and never start a fight.

3. Never wearing a watch – time is a very flexible concept here.

4. I never, ever feel unsafe.

5. Seeing the planet’s third largest volcano on the horizon.

6. The amazing selection of fresh fish at the supermarket.

7. The fact that fruit and vegetables don’t just come in plastic wrapping.

8. Most people have smiles on their faces and say hello to strangers.

9. Never having to paint or bleed a radiator. Come to think of it, never having to even look at a  radiator.

10. Always being able to get the washing dry without having to hang it over a radiator thus turning the house into a Chinese laundry (apologies to the Chinese and for some reason I seem to have an obsession with radiators).