The music scene here is thriving and very student-oriented AKA free to cheap. On Friday, following a long shabbat ceremony attended with the interest of eharing prayers in Spanish, I went over to a near-by venue with one of the bands staying at the hostel. Turns out the band is pretty well known in these parts. Named the Peyotes, they play sixties-garage rock with a surf feel, sort of like the music on the pulp-fiction soundtrack. The band opening for them played rockabily...All in Spanish. The Peyotes came out in matching red oriental suits, commenced the show with a group yell and thrashed through about an hour of fast-paced songs that left no one still. By the way, they only started their set at 3 am! even concerts begin at 1 or 2 in the morning...I still can´t get over that one.
The opening act...
Nothing left standing...
Last Sunday, Hostel Joven aka Casa Reggae (the place I´m working at) hosted its bi-weekly Fiesta de Jazz, up on our roof. Yours truly played the role of door-man, Dj, Bartender, and eventually all-around-borracho (the definition for that one rhymes with crunk). 3 hours of South American flavored jazz, including classics by Tito Puente and Sergio Mendes, accompanied by liter-bottles of Argentinean beer and Fernet con Coco (the unofficial drink of Cordoba). Following the show the people stuck around, eventually dwindling to 8 or so, mostly artisans from the nearby international Artisan fair that had been been going on. For the next three hours, I was fortunate to be a part of a folklore ´session´. We sat around passing bottles of foot-pressed wine and a guitar, as people took their turns singing selections from Argentina´s rich heritage of folklore music. Ever region has its own type of music, and the people, both young and old, have a deep love for the classics. A prime example is Mercedes Sosa, an 80 year-old legendary singer, who still tours around the world. She became an emblem of the struggle against tyranny, after survivng and assasination attempt and living in exile for over 15 years. The gorup was quite diverse, made up of A Mapuche Native from Patagonia (in the South), a few Chileans, and a few artisans residing in Jujuy (North of Argentina). I understood about 35-60 percent of their banter (Chileans are especially difficult) but the sense ofcomradery was immense. It felt as though I was in a scene depicting a social gathering in South America pre-Television (think Motorcycle Diaries). We left each other with embraces and promises of more gatherings before we each go our separate ways.
Latin Jazz en vivo...
Nothing like the opportunity for inter-cultural excahnge
On Break...
When you can´t join ´em...
The zenith...
The Nadir... not me in picture)
Speaking of love for folklore, that same weekend a fund-raising concert was held for the local charities, featuring some of Argentina´s best folklore bands. Now I know that usually folklore is synonymous with old bearded men telling long-forgotten stories around a campfire. Not in Argentina! such music, in which the flute, guitar and accordian take a central part, is usually very fast and is accompanied by an array of dance-styles. These styles include the Chacarera, the Cuarteto, Argentinean Samba, and others. The frontman of this concert´s headlining band is the son of a disappeared artist (see past blog regarding day of disappeared). About 3,000 packed into the veue and stayed all night dancing away.
in midst of cuarteto
Argentinean for bring it on...
This past weekend, Chol Ha´moed for the Jews amongst us, I ventured to a 3-day íllegal´Osy-trance/ Dub reggae festival up in the mountains outside Cordoba. 3 days of continuous music (try lulling yourself to sleep with psy-trance blasting in your ears, i dare you!), outdoors living, and a tribe of Spanish speaking hippies as your hosts. Yes, quite the experience. I plead the fifth as to further stories, and will let the photos speak for themselves...
D.A.R.E to say...
Standard lighting for Beethoven´s 5th...
3 day trance festival, an excellent place to take your kids...
Chacarera and Puchero. The first is a typical Argentinean dance which accompanies the folklore music of Northern Argentina. The latter, a classic Argentinean ´commoner´dish, a recipe perfected over hundreds of years by the Gauchos and pobres of the Andes. My Chacarera needs help, but there are plenty of opportunities to practice it, such as at that fundraiser-concert the other night, or various dance-bars lining the streets by me. Argentinean are quite proud of their dance culture. We all know of the Tango, but there are dozens other music and dance styles, all equally emotive and fun to try.
New phrases learnt, try em at home kids:
Cullarse - to f@ck.
Borracho Cullado - drunk as f@ck
Instertar como un brochet - literally to insert like in a brochet, a type of dish where bread is stuffed...see where that one´s going?
Dos pelos de la concha son mas fuertes que una yonta de bueyes - two hairs of a woman´s... you know... are stronger than a pack of bulls.
yea, my spanish is coming right along!
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