Death of a Violinist

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria · Category: Literature · Subcategory: Literary fragments · Year: 2006 · Authors: José Luis Correa

Death of a Violinist is the third installment in the noir novel saga starring detective Ricardo Blanco and created by the author José Luis Correa (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 1962). In this case, the intrigue begins with the sudden death of the first violin of the New York Philharmonic during the Canary Islands Music Festival, at a concert in the Auditorium of Las Palmas.

We do not want to limit ourselves to pointing out the Auditorium as the setting for the plot; on the contrary, we focus on another description, that of a character whom Correa, as the great author he is, masterfully fits and situates: 

“He was Hindu. For the matter, it was the same. But he was Hindu, not Indian. He made that very clear from the outset. His name was Prem Jeswani. He had been born in Las Palmas. And he provoked a curious competition of senses. Because, if one closed their eyes, they perceived a dense and unblemished Canarian accent, full of colloquial turns. And, if one covered their ears, they saw a little man with a hooked nose, almost blue skin and shiny hair. He ran a furrier’s shop on Ripoche street. A family business. It had been founded by his grandfather. It had been expanded by his father. It was his turn to modernise it. And, according to a particular philosophy – more commercial than Hindu –, his son would bring it to ruin. No small business survives the fourth generation. Most of them die out by the third. That is why Prem did not seem worried. He accepted the future with resignation; after all, whatever he did, he could not change his destiny. His shop of clothes, shoes and bags had already earned more than enough.”

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