Eine Kleine Nacht Musik

Guanajuato Moonrise

I remember when I moved to Raleigh after living for many years in the deep country of North Carolina. I was startled and shaken by the night sounds of the city.

There were several railroad freight trains that came through the middle of the city each night. There was car traffic, university students, cats howling, and all manner of assorted mechanical screeches. It took many months to acclimate.

Mexico has brought a new menu of sound to my nights. In Guanajuato it's mostly dogs and music. 

On the last full moon I was awakened at 2:00AM by a mariachi group serenading some unseen woman in the night. At the moment the music began, even though I had been sleeping soundly, I became aware of this sound's special beauty. From across Rio Duran somewhere in Cerro del Cuarto a strong baritone voice sent 'amors' and 'corazones' out into the night air and across the canyon to my window. Violins, accordions, guitars and guitarras merged their sound and I fell back into sweet dreams.
 

Coto Y Su Eco Del Caribe

Last Thursday (October 28, 2010) my friend, Rolando, and I walked down to the Explanada de la Alhondiga for a night of music. I hadn't been out in weeks due to minor illness I've been struggling with, so I was really looking forward to getting out and  hearing some good music.

I was not disappointed. The 38th Festival Cervantino which was in full tilt had booked a couple of Cuban bands and I was lucky enough to get two tickets to see one of them, Coto Y Su Eco Del Caribe.

Coto

Coto, this Cuban band's leader, appeared on stage alone at first. He was wearing a finely tailored bright canary yellow linen suit though it appeared to be many colors as the stage lights were constantly changing. He was stocky yet handsome. He walked on stage playing the instrument that was to drive this twelve piece band. It was a tresillo. A tresillo is a guitar-like stringed instrument with three sets of strings, two strings to each set (see picture below).

Coto's tresillo had a twangy mandolinish sound. You can get a little flavor of it in the video clip at the bottom of this posting. The sound quality,however, is not so hot - you should have been there! Coto played a lead line through most of the concert which guided the band.

Near the end of the concert several of his tresillo's strings simultaneously broke creating a musical explosion. So he danced and sang through the next song or two until a stage hand was able to restring his tresillo.

Tresillo

There were three brass players - a trombone, and a couple of trumpets.

The 'Horn Section'

In addition, there were three percussionists, a keyboard player, two singers and a bass player - eleven musicians.

The Singers

There were also two dancers prancing in around and through the musicians throughout the concert.

Fast Moving Dancers

There was a big crowd for this concert and soon after the music began many of them started dancing anywhere there was space. The band was very 'tight' musically yet the singers had the loose feel of a gospel group. Near the end of the concert one of the singers jumped off the stage with his microphone and was singing in the crowd. It was a great concert!

You can see all of my pictures at : http://picasaweb.google.com/1kikiwin

Below is a portion of a youtube video that will give you a taste. The sound is not so good - you should have been there!

Give it a minute to load. 

Halloween Masks

 

Today we bought this selection of paper mache masks in Guanajuato with the idea of sending them with someone headed for the US to mail to our grandchildren. We were told by the shopkeeper that they were made in Celaya.

We hope they can make it to NC in time for Halloween!

Much Ado About Cuba

Many people in Mexico visit Cuba. Some go for medical treatment or training. Others go for political reasons, but most go for vacations. There are package tours which include airline fare, hotels and daily breakfast for a couple that are very reasonable and attractive for Mexicans.

As a result we have met a number of people who have visited Cuba and their comments are very interesting.

One of the most common comments is that the US embargo is not working to isolate Cuba. It is not honored by Canada, Mexico, Europe, China or any other country. Only the US pays the least attention to the embargo - and lots of stuff still comes in from the US. This means that Cuban goods are sold on the world market, and Cuba can import anything it wants and can pay for. It also allows Cuba to obtain investment of any size from any country or person wishing to invest.

Since Cuba has almost complete access to the global market, their economic problems are not caused by the US embargo. Rather the embargo creates the perfect political defense for Cuba's economic dysfunction.  And, the U.S. embargo has been totally ineffective in its goal of destabilizing the Cuban government. Instead, the embargo has become the convenient political justification for their economic woes.

It may just be that Cuba benefits more in having the embargo as a scapegoat than the US benefits in spite.

Religious Images

Virgen de Guadalupe

Tonantzin

 

One of the most common religious images that I see in Mexico is that of the Virgen de Guadalupe. I understand her to be the coded embodiment of the indigenous Nahuatl earth mother Tonantzin - cleverly co-opted by the Catholic Church. Whatever she represents the imagery is beautiful and in Mexico the Virgen of Guadalupe is widely revered.

Some of her images are simple and naive while others are wildly ornate.

 

And this one is in front of our dentist's office - a free insurance plan.

There are many images of Jesus. Some of them are gory depictions of his suffering - scary.

 

Some like this huge statue of Jesus atop Cristo Rey overlooking Guanajuato are as serene as the Buddha.

There are, of course, lots of saints as in this picture from Ex-hacienda San Gabriel de Barrera.  I would be hard pressed to identify most saints unless they had arrows sticking out all over them or birds and animals in their hands.

There is a beautiful little church in Atotonilco near San Miguel de Allende where there are dramatic murals full of life all over every surface inside of the building.

Some of these murals are scary!

There is also some religious imagery that is just plain hard to comprehend as this strange crucifixion. It is on a wall in a public building in San Miguel de Allende.

And what's up with this??

In Kind

(May take a few minutes to load)

My friend and raconteur, Doyle Phillips, recently went on a filmaking jag. The above clip, a short Viet Nam story, is a product of Doyle's lively imagination.

Meet Doyle

TIME

Today

No time left to borrow

No time to delay

No time left for sorrow,

-regrets, or rainy days

No time for crying

No time to be blue

No time to waste the dreams we dreamed

Time is today

Time is today

Copyright 2010, Kikiwin