Monday, May 12, 2008

Murga p'aqui, murga p'alla

I was over at Vane and Sandi's on Saturday after a *lovely* brunch date, lounging on the roof. Our original plan to sunbathe was derailed by uncooperative weather (we could use a trema on that now, couldn't we?) but Vane adapted to the situation by making some margaritas and putting on some of her fabulous music collection. "La murga" by Hector Colon and Willie Colon came on, which I hadn't heard in a while. Hearing it this weekend finally gave me the impetus to look up the word 'murga' and find out more about the style. But first, "La murga de Panama," without Hector Lavoe but with Colon singing himself. Look at all those trombones! No wonder I like salsa like this so much.


I had first heard of la murga while in Buenos Aires in 2001. I saw some young men beating drums and practicing this jumpy dance in the parks in the Constitucion neighborhood, where our little apartment was. Walking around was my favorite activity, and I covered tons of ground there, which was good because I couldn't eat enough of the queso y cebolla empanadas and churrasco . Once I asked a well-dressed older man what the guys were doing, because it was so peculiar, and he told me something to the effect of 'being unproductive and not working.' It was beautiful to watch these guys practice their jumps and leaps, somewhat reminiscent of capoeira. Indeed, sources say that it evolved from African slaves, much like capoeira in Brasil. It was then developed by lower class Spanish and Italian immigrants, much like the tango (originally danced between men, btw), and then, like tango, was coopted (trema anyone?) by the upper classes.

In subsequent conversations-- one with a taxi driver after seeing another group of guys practicing in a poorer neighborhood near Ezeiza-- I learned that la murga was being used by groups of young people who were resisting the neoliberal policies begun by the military dictatorship in the late 70's and continued to that day that made cans of soda cost $2 while teachers made $200 a month. [I was in Bs.As. in early 2001, months before the economy tanked and during the pegamiento, when the peso was pegged to the dollar. In those days, Buenos Aires was one of the world's most expensive cities.)

In some of the videos on youtube of murgueros you can see the banners of HIJOS, a group of children of the desaparecidos, and some take place during the Thursday protests of the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo, whose children, grandchildren, and relatives were disappeared by the military dictatorship. In any case, la murga has been used in those sorts of public protest, and according to the interwebs, is practiced both in Uruguay and Argentina as a sort of popular street performance during Carnaval. I never saw any murga with the elaborate costumes you'll see in the clip below, but the drumming and kicking is exactly as I remember them. Makes me want to dance! I wonder if there is a murga group in the NY area? [This clip is long, but the first few minutes give you a great idea of the dance]

Friday, May 9, 2008

The Conservation of Natural Resources in the United States

I try to do well by the environment. It's the only one we have! My roommates are impressive recyclers and I'm with them, and I am a big fan of reducing and reusing as well. Usually in the form of arts n crafts or regifting, but really, I care.

As far as conserving natural resources in this country, we have a typical capitalist accumulation point of view, in which we consider our resources to be unlimited and only there for our use. The problem with this point of view is that many of our resources are finite; they're not constantly regenerating. In addition to looking for renewable resources, like wind or sun, we need to do a much better job of conserving what we have.

Which brings me to Micheal Jackson. Why couldn't we have done a better job conserving this natural resource? Why was he allowed to fall into such a state? Why didn't our government intervene to save such a powerhouse of a resource? Just look at this guy, with his pink hat and beautiful voice. Wha happen?


Here's the full song if you want to listen to it on a loop like I'm doing this rainy morning, sans pink hat, avec good drumming:

Friday, May 2, 2008

Oh, Ellen...

Yesterday was an exciting day for this large parrot- I met a woman who I loved watching perform during the 90s, when I was in High School and definitely watching myself a lot of Saturday Night Live. Funny, because recently there was a Chris Farley Celebration Show on the tv when I came home one night and at the end I saw her and shrieked: "Ellen Cleghorne! She was my favorite!" You may not remember her, but I loved watching Zoraida the NBC Page who would harass the guests and Afrocentric Queen Sheniqua, with her big hair wraps.

My friend Sandi invited to be on a panel to offer criticism to undergrad NYU Performance majors, but I had to be late due to extenuating lunch circumstances with some out-of-town friends... which booted me off the panel, but I managed to sneak in and enjoy the performances. First, the students were great, and let's just say I wasn't expecting it to be that good. They all had their theory down and did a good job explaining themselves. Secondly, after the performance was over I was chatting with Ellen and this hot shit lesbian named Karen who was also on the panel, and I told her that she looked like Ellen Cleghorne from SNL. "That is me" she said, and of course I said "No, it's not" and proceeded to argue with her for a few minutes about it, until Karen reminded me that her name was Ellen and she did look like her.

In any case, I calmed down and tried to be cool, which meant I had to forgo telling her she was my favorite, but as Whitney says, it's not right but it's okay. We ended up going to dinner and having a lovely time. That woman is still a riot and it was so much fun to hang out with someone who I had admired for so long, especially during a time when I really was developing my own sense of humor.

This clip sucks, but it's the only one I could really find on youtube. Stop it after :32. Who you gettin loud with?