Balseria and Chicha de Maiz
An average Saturday night, here in the Comarca:
I was visiting with the neighbor kids last Saturday when we heard music playing from far away….it came closer and closer. Someone was playing music in the street, and they were walking towards our house.
The kids and I (all twenty of them-from age 2 on up…) all ran out to the street to get a glimpse of the musicians. When we finally saw them, I was really excited-because although I had heard the traditional Ngobe music before, I had never been able to see it being played.
The music itself doesn´t have name-it´s actually part of another custom here, called Balseria. Balseria is kind of hard to explain, but I will try.
Basically, it´s a fighting event, hosted by different communities in the Comarca. People travel great distances to attend these balserias-sometimes traveling for several days.
Once everyone gets there, the fighting begins-both between women and men! There is a big, lightweight, stick-and this is used by one person to actually hit other people. The hits must be delivered with force. People try to avoid getting hit by running away. The best balseria players are very fast runners who can also withstand a great deal of pain(being hit with the stick over and over again).
While on this fighting is going on, there is alot of drinking going on-of the local brew, chicha de maiz(literally corn juice). I haven´t tried it, but one of the local Peace Corp guys told my it tastses terrible and is very very strong. People drink alot of this, and then walk around hitting one another, or, alternatively, trying to run away.
Music is played during the entire event-usually by different groups of men. The men are dressed rather colorfully, with the most unusual outfit being worn by the leader. The leader of the group of 3 or 4 men wears a colorful dress-like garment, often red, with contrasting trim; a hat with feathers; and, on rather astonishingly, an entire stuffed animal on his back(normally a jaguar). The other two or three men in the band wear normal street clothes, indigenous clothes(brightly decorated Western style shirts and pants), and hats with feathers or beads.
The instruments played are a conch shell; a rattle with maiz inside, played with a stick; and a whistle.
When there is a Balseria in the Comarca, I see lots of these small groups walking down the mountains into the area I live in-usually playing instruments, and having had quite alot of chicha de maiz. They will usually stop along the way and play for people on the street for a few centavos, a meal, or more chicha de maiz.
The night I saw them up close was such a different experience-I could not believe it was a real jaguar on the mans back. The kids were all laughing, everyone was drinking quite alot, and the women in the dorrways of the houses were smiling and calling out-some laughing and shaking their heads at the scene.
The music itself-both the playing of the instruments and the singing-doesn´t sound like any music I know. I have never heard anything like it. It is very repetitive, and to my ear off tune-but to the Ngobe ear it is a beautiful noise.
Once again, another interesting night here in Panama!
gg
Tags: 1
toto138
toto138
dark websites darkweb marketplace dark web drug marketplace
dark web access darknet site darknet sites
dark market list https://github.com/tormarkets2025ukaz1/tormarkets2025 – tor markets
tor markets https://github.com/darknetwebsitesgflpx/darknetwebsites – darkweb marketplace
tor marketplace https://github.com/darknetmarketlinks2025/darknetmarkets – darknet market
darkmarket https://github.com/darkmarketlinkp22jr/darkmarketlink – tor market url
blackweb official website tor markets links onion market
darkmarket 2025 tor darknet dark websites
tor market dark web sites dark web search engine
deep web links darknet site darkmarkets
tor markets 2022 https://github.com/darknetmarketlinks2025/darknetmarkets – darkweb marketplace
tor market links https://github.com/darknetdruglinksvojns/darknetdruglinks – dark web links
darknet site https://github.com/darkmarketlinkp22jr/darkmarketlink – dark market 2022
dark market 2025 deep web drug url darknet drug market
dark web market links dark market tor markets links
darknet markets darknet seiten dark web access
darknet links blackweb official website dark web market list
tor markets 2022 https://github.com/tormarkets2025ukaz1/tormarkets2025 – dark web market list
bitcoin dark web https://github.com/darknetwebsitesgflpx/darknetwebsites – darknet market list
darknet site https://github.com/darknetmarketlinks2025/darknetmarkets – dark web drug marketplace
darkmarket list https://github.com/darknetdruglinksvojns/darknetdruglinks – darknet market lists
darknet market lists https://github.com/darkmarketlinkp22jr/darkmarketlink – drug markets onion
darkmarket list dark web markets darkweb marketplace
blackweb darknet links darknet marketplace
dark markets dark web sites links dark markets
darkweb marketplace https://github.com/darknetwebsitesgflpx/darknetwebsites – deep web markets
darknet drugs darknet markets how to access dark web
how to access dark web tor dark web tor markets links
darkmarket url https://github.com/darkmarketlinkp22jr/darkmarketlink – drug markets dark web
darknet drug store https://github.com/tormarkets2025ukaz1/tormarkets2025 – dark web markets
darknet market links https://github.com/darknetdruglinksvojns/darknetdruglinks – dark market list
dark markets dark web links dark web site
deep web drug url deep web markets tor market links
dark market https://github.com/darknetwebsitesgflpx/darknetwebsites – darkmarket list
tor markets 2022 https://github.com/darknetmarketlinks2025/darknetmarkets – dark web markets
bitcoin dark web darkmarket 2025 darknet market links
dark web link https://github.com/darkmarketlinkp22jr/darkmarketlink – darknet market list
darknet site https://github.com/tormarkets2025ukaz1/tormarkets2025 – deep web drug links
darkmarket url https://github.com/darknetdruglinksvojns/darknetdruglinks – dark markets
darkmarket darkmarkets darkmarkets
tor markets links https://github.com/darknetwebsitesgflpx/darknetwebsites – darknet market list
darknet links dark web markets dark website
darknet links tor market url darknet websites
free dark web tor markets darknet markets 2025
dark web links darknet drug market bitcoin dark web
dark market onion https://github.com/darknetmarketlinks2025/darknetmarkets – darkmarket url
deep web drug markets https://github.com/darknetwebsitesgflpx/darknetwebsites – dark web links
dark web market dark web search engines dark web link
dark market dark web link dark web market