BootsnAll Travel Network



Musica Oaxaca

 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.





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