BootsnAll Travel Network



Archive for the 'Music' Category

« Home

Musica Oaxaca

Sunday, July 5th, 2009

 I have never been in a place where there is such continuous dance and music…of all kinds.  This week we were treated to several candelas (in English candle)…”the power coming from a light source.” A candela is a dancing march in the street with hugely oversize  dancing “puppets” and a band with folks following behind. Most of them this week were students celebrating the end of the school year…following along behind a band and a beer truck or grocery cart with a beer keg…dancing and hooping it up.  One that followed the street in front of my apartment stopped for a few moments and turned toward the building to play for my gay apartment manager and his friends while they danced away on the sidewalk.

Then there are the band concerts in the Zócalo in the evenings on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday generally starting at 6pm. Noon concerts on Wednesday and Saturday.

The Oaxacan State Band Concert plays weekly on Sunday in the Zocalo

A wonderful tradition, there is Danzón with the Marimba Band weekly on wednesdays at 6 :30pm in the Zocalo.  A tradition imported from Cuba, the danzón is a stately dance with syncopation. The citizens of Oaxaca gather weekly to dance and watch the dancers.There is a Jazz Concert weekly on Saturday from 5-7 in the Centro Arte Biulu.  Last night I went with my friend Jae to listen to her saxaphonist partner, Miguel,  play with his band after a video movie of the great Coltrane.

There is an Open Mike for Poets and Musicians weekly on Tuesdays at 8pm  at La Nueva Babel

Last Tuesday, June 30 – 8 pm – You had your choice between a free Organ Concert: Claudia Reyes Saldaña Basílica de la Soledad, or the Dance Group from Ciénega, Zimatlan at the Casa de la Cultura Oaxaquena

On Thursday, July 09 – 4 pm – A free Dance Group from the Mixteca (Huajuapan de Leon) in the Jardín el Pañuelito will perform…an event that had been previously delayed by the swine flu.

Friday, July 10 – 8 pm – Free Concert: Colegio de Oaxaca Chorus at Colegio de Oaxaca. The chorus under the direction of Christophe LaFontaine will perform works by Bach, Bruchner, Dowland, Mozart among others.
Saturday, July 11 – 4 pm – Free Dance: Music, Dance and Costumes of the Mixteca at the Jardín el Pañuelito Constitución & 5 de Mayo
Sunday, July 12 – 5 to 7pm – $50 pesos at the door Jazz in a Tropical Garden at the Casa Colonial Miguel Negrete 105 with Miguel Samperio (my friend’s partner), Charles Gray, Pablo Porras and Ornell Martinez and some of the best margueritas in town.
Monday, July 20 – 10 am & 5 pm – $400 pesos Guelaguetza 2009 at the Guelaguetza Stadium which you can see from my apartment veranda.
Friday, July 24 – 8 pm – $100 pesos Dance: Hilos de Viento at the Teatro Juárez
Av. Juárez at Llano Park

And this is just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak, for the month.



Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah Makes My Heart Soar

Friday, April 17th, 2009

“New Soul”

Saturday, January 26th, 2008
Enchanting lyrics sung by the Israeli singer...Yael Naim. It also happens to be the music behind the new Mac Air computer ad in the States.

“If I Should Fall From Grace With God”

Tuesday, December 11th, 2007
I used to play Shane McGowan and The Pogues...turn it up...and do housework. The kids, when they were little, would groan, plug their ears and beg me to ... [Continue reading this entry]

Tinariwen

Monday, December 10th, 2007
The Mali band Tinariwen has often toured with the likes of Santana and Robert Plant.

Zocalo At Night

Saturday, March 17th, 2007
Intimidating, the Governor thought the tourists would feel safer with them there...among other political reasons. Gone from the Zocalo are the PFP with their menacing night sticks and bullet-proof vests and their rifles and sidearms...for shooting and for tear gas. ... [Continue reading this entry]

A Typical Sunday in Oaxaca

Monday, February 12th, 2007
Made another trip to the Tlacalula Sunday Market last week with my next door neighbors Ana, Steve and little Oscar. Bought some carved coconut shell halves made for drinking our wonderful Mexican chocolate and then in my impending senility just ... [Continue reading this entry]

Learning Spanish Amid “False Normalcy”

Monday, January 29th, 2007
Have been taking Spanish lessons in one of the local schools...Amigos del Sol. Three hours a day sitting in a chair. Only one other student in my classes so I can't space out. Present, past and future. ... [Continue reading this entry]

Mexican Cumbia Dancing

Sunday, June 11th, 2006
I had forgotten how much fun it is to dance to Mexican music! I think I am a Mexican trapped in a gringo body! Last Friday, Gerardo and his mom, Socorroo, invited me, a few of her friends, Michael, ... [Continue reading this entry]

Thai Rock Band

Wednesday, April 12th, 2006
After dinner with Susan, Leila and I looked for some music and found a night club with a terrific Thai band playing Rod Stewart, Eagles and Pink Floyd's "The Wall." Leila turned into a 15 year old...singing along with ... [Continue reading this entry]

Lao “Disco”

Monday, April 3rd, 2006
ySKKSpbtXBjgyhP6z8LuC0-2006217035001655.gif Last night a lively 50 year old woman that teaches kindergarten in Alberta Canada, a young woman from California who is a consultant to a California educational testing company, an even younger woman from ... [Continue reading this entry]

Motorcycle Serenade

Tuesday, January 31st, 2006
Last night I hopped a motorcycle taxi at the corner. "Where you from?" the cute young driver asked. "America," I said. "America Pie" he sang to me all the way to my dentist appointment. "I used ... [Continue reading this entry]

Alice’s Restaurant At Carnegie

Sunday, November 27th, 2005
Last night Arlo Guthrie outdid himself in Carnegie Hall 40th anniversary of his song "Alice's Restaurant." Updated a little of course! What 50's and 60's folkie nostalgia with Pete Seeger (maybe in spirit) in the audience! Arlo was ... [Continue reading this entry]

Odetta

Tuesday, November 1st, 2005
We had been years since we saw Odetta so when Bob read that she would be performing in a Village club we jumped at the chance to get tickets. She walked in dressed in a dramatic multi-colored red and ... [Continue reading this entry]

Jazz In Familiar Old Quarter Hanoi

Friday, April 1st, 2005
I had to check out of Thailand...thought my visa was 90 days that I got in Kunming in December but it was only 60 days. So at the end of March I had to pay a hefty fine at ... [Continue reading this entry]

Free-Wheeling Moscow

Saturday, September 18th, 2004
7yBXvp82X2gVlMeZe25DiM-2006198051115673.gif Video 2004-09 Like in the big Central European cities we visited, there are cranes everywhere... old soviet buildings built during the Stalin era are scheduled to be razed and new one modern ones put up. ... [Continue reading this entry]

Czech Jazz in Cesky Krumlov

Friday, August 20th, 2004
NikaFEAe66TwIiJDaeZZ7w-2006198180634090.gif In Prague, we phone the Chinese embassy and they suggest coming for an interview after which they would allow a visa in one week's time to allow for the processing and paperwork. Because ... [Continue reading this entry]

Expatriates

Tuesday, August 6th, 2002
There are many expats in Bangkok who love this city and it's people for many reasons. One day I struck up a conversation with a Brit woman sitting next to me on the SkyTrain who worked for an international ... [Continue reading this entry]

Table Mountain & District 6

Tuesday, June 25th, 2002
S12J2pKbmw6zVZyRvmb7L0-2006193181305721.gif The geographical configuration of the city of Cape Town at the foot of Table Mountain is as beautiful as everyone has said it is. We took the cable car to the top of ... [Continue reading this entry]

Hobas & Fish River Canyon

Tuesday, June 11th, 2002
t5vdleC6v9bjElbi1QdXwg-2006193172914229.gif June 11, 2002 On the way from Serus the topography is incredible--perfectly formed mesas and buttes-almost Utah-like. We stop in the tiny wide spot in the road called Bethanie. Bob mails a card ... [Continue reading this entry]

Yainguaz Camp Near Gobabis

Saturday, June 1st, 2002
t5vdleC6v9bjElbi1QdXwg-2006193172914229.gif June 1, 2002 Yainguaz Camp near Gobabis, Namibia The countries of Botswana and Namibia are very different geographically from Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia. The topography is flatter even than Botswana and much of Namibia ... [Continue reading this entry]

Poli Poli In Tanzania

Wednesday, May 15th, 2002
PZmR20gwby0cg19rXgklIw-2006197125025738.gif Tanzania Walking around Poli Poli means "slowly, slowly" in Swahili. That is how we are learning to do everything like the others here in this hot humid equatorial country. We stop to buy ... [Continue reading this entry]

Overland To Dar es Salaam

Tuesday, May 14th, 2002
PZmR20gwby0cg19rXgklIw-2006197125025738.gif Virtually no cars on the road; only trucks and buses and a few vans. The people seem like they don't see many overlanders; some-mostly women and little children wave-sometimes with thumbs up; ... [Continue reading this entry]

Last Night In Florence

Sunday, April 7th, 2002
April 24, 2002 On the last day in Florence our room was booked by someone else and we had to move a few doors up the street to the Hotel Abaci. We had the Boticelli Room-pretty fancy compared to what ... [Continue reading this entry]