“It’s like a trip back in time,” says Kathy Etchingham. A ex-girlfriend of Jimi Hendrix is sitting on the bed that was theirs, contemplating the room decorated as it was when the share in London in the year 1960. It was here, in the Brook Street Number 23 , the American musician Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970) and its English companion height lived between 1968 and 1969. it was here that the genius guitarist invented several riffs that have revolutionized the history of music and where he discovered the tea and the work of the German composer Georg Friedrich Händel (1685-1759).
from this Wednesday it is possible visit by 7.50 pounds (about 10 euros) a small apartment, can only get twenty visitors at a time and is located in the upscale neighborhood of Mayfair in central London, and discover that behind the musician and his legend was hiding a tidy man.
Thanks to the intact memory of Kathy, who now lives in Australia, and photos taken at the time, the bedroom of the couple, which is on the third floor of the apartment of Brook Street, was reconstituted just like it was when they lived there. vinyl albums those who heard both are resting next to the old turntable. There is a teapot on a tray on the floor, two telephones and a TV, and several Persian rugs scattered around the room. There is a game of Monopoly, feathers decorating the fireplace, the atmosphere is very hippie . The mirror and the low table are unique. One of the tables is a recorder and on the nightstand sees an empty bottle of Mateus rosé and a manuscript with the lyrics of a song.
“it is just like the time “said Kathy Etchingham that was the first woman DJ working in the British capital in 1960. the apartment, rented at the time by two, included a second division with a kitchen and a bedroom-suite but that is not now included in the visit.
The house has the peculiarity of being located in a building near the one that was occupied in the eighteenth century by the German composer Georg Friedrich Handel, another pioneer in your area. The Handel House, which is at number 25 in the same street, is also a museum and is open to the public since 2001. And such is the closeness between the two that the room Jimi Hendrix came to house the offices of the Handel House Trust, before it was decided – after so many people ask to visit the site – which also would become a house-museum. This is why the public can either visit the room that was Hendrix as the house that was Handel, which is exposed to an acoustic guitar american an Epiphone FT79 to show the link between the two .
“it is probably your best guitar that still left. He had a habit of destroying many on stage, “recalls Martin Wyatt, deputy director of the museum, told AFP. Hendrix knew the work and history of Handel born two centuries before him in Germany and also settled in London. A plaque in memory of the composer is placed ambiguously outside his former home, making them hesitate between visitors enter the number 23 or number 25. Jimi Hendrix used to be visited by many music students who were admirers of German composer. “From time to discuss with them, Jimi decided it was best to become interested in his work,” recalls Kathy Etchingham. That’s why, remember, who bought The Messiah , one of the best known works of Handel, which was made up for it on the other side of the wall that room where Kathy Etchingham now is .
Born in Seattle, USA, Jimi Hendrix became accustomed to the habits and the British. “He had never drunk tea before coming here, but here had no choice,” he recalls laughing his former girlfriend. The couple settled in London apartment with the Pussy cat, on 4 July 1968. They paid a rental of 30 pounds (40 euros) per month. “Jimi was very organized and I like to have things tidy. He had been in the army and it was used to make your own bed, was a perfectionist, “recalled Kathy. Jimi Hendrix left that house in October 1969. About a year later died in a London hotel, probably because of an overdose of barbiturates. Was 27.
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