Tracing the Vibrations

El Fin

2008-08-22T16:05:00.000-07:00

The awesome black white and red wristband I got in Jujuy, Argentina broke today. That and the fact that I've started work as an engineer means the end of my hippy traveling days...for now...

p.s. I've been wearing that thing since April and it had just started to be enriched with its own odor so I guess it was a good thing that it broke.

Back in the U S of A

2008-07-21T11:38:00.000-07:00

So much time, so few friends to visit...wait reverse that. In addition my cousins have come to visit so I've been showing them around. One day I took them to Santa Monica and it just happened there was a free event called Pinkapalooza...and there was a stage. At an Amoeba stand I asked who was the band that was going to play and to great surprise it was Fall Out Boy!!!

Iglesias Guitars

2008-06-10T12:44:00.000-07:00

Today I got to meet Ramon Iglesias. In his younger hippy days he traveled to Barcelona, Spain and Italy to study guitar making. Then he went to the US to work for Martin guitar company in 1977. He returned to Guatemala to continue making electric guitars and bases because of the quality of hardwoods found in areas of Guatemala like Peten, Coban and Escuincle. The more interesting part about his shop was the machines. He built a circular saw for making the frets out of an old photocopier.

In addition, he took a microscope used for checking eyes and now uses it to make sure his fretboard is lined up correctly. At this interview I realized that I was asking less “how do you do that” type questions and instead asked more specific question about what materials he uses to accomplish such and such. This was a confirmation that hey, I actually learned something on this trip!

Winter in Summer

2008-06-06T19:13:00.001-07:00

Last weekend I went to the Pacific Ocean, this time from the Guatemalan coordinates. The beach was volcanic black sand and the water was way warm. The downside was the rain. No one told me that June was winter in Guatemala, it rains all the darn time.
We went to Puli's dad's casa del puerto to celebrate Ixmuy and Yu Tzu's bdays. Of course there was a piñata! And we sure did surprise Ixmuy. Good times.

Interview with Joaquín Orellana

2008-06-05T16:40:00.000-07:00

Wednesday a group of us from INDIS went to meet with Orellana. He had been sick the last few weeks so this was the first time I got to meet him. We clicked, something that I was hoping for especially since we are both violinists and studying in Buenos Aires at some point. Besides the interview, some highlights are...
I told him that I had built a guitar in BsAs and then he mentioned the vihuela at which point we both begain to recite Martin Fierro, "Aquí me pongo a cantar, al compas de la vihuela...."

We went to lunch afterwards where he told mexican joke. Half of them I didn't get because of the vocab, but man does he do a great accent.

I'll be working on a grant proposal involving his instruments. The Canadian Langlois foundation gives supports science art projects in developing countries. The entry date isnt until next january, but it doesn't hurt to start now. Plus, this has been a great way to end my Watson year...after studying traditional regional instruments, to study innovations.

Joaquín Orellana conversa con Gustavo Berganza

2008-05-28T10:52:00.000-07:00

GB: Carlos Chaclán y Ranferí Aguilar han intentado recrear los sonidos precolombinos, partiendo de dibujos de instrumentos que muestran los códices mayas.

JO: Si, conozco El hacedor de lluvia, de Ranferí Agular. Creo que tratar de "extraer" una música de tipo precolombino utilizando los instrumentos que ellos usaban no puede dar un resultado muy autentico, porque no sabemos en qué forma ejecutaban los mayas esos instrumentos y tampoco sabemos como manejaban ritmicamente la intervalica tonal, porque los pitos precolombinos no muestran ninguna escala.

No hay vestigios que permitan saber como era la musica maya precolombina. El problema de la musica es que esta no tiene imagenes. Por otra parte, no hay que olvidar que nuestros indigenas son de origen asiatico y lo mas problable es que al asentarse en este territorio, su expresion musical no haya buscado el diatonismo, porque este es de origen europeo. Ya ve que el pentafonismo de los asiaticos es de una vigencia constante por el hecho de carecer de centros de gravitacion, como sucede con la musica europea. Es una musica tan tonal... El pentafonismo asiatico es flotante y cualquier mezcla intervalica suena bien, con la caracteristica especial que cada creador pueda desarrollar dentro de ese pentafonismo. Una persona con ingenio musical con solo dos notas puede hacer una serie infinita de variantes ritmicas. Si nosotros remontamos la imaginacion para especular acerca de las nociones musicales de los antiguos pobladores de este continente, lo mas probable es que usaran pentafonismo y musica con intervalos no determinados, lo menos occidental que uno puede imaginarse. El vistigio de los pitos, las trompetas, los tambores, el atabal sumado a lo que puede darnos la imaginacion, remontandonos hasta el tiempo de los antiguos mayas, es una musica indeterminada. Lo unico que podemos aventurarnos a decir es que esa expresion era mas que todo ritual, porque la musica como hecho autonomo tardo mucho tiempo en producirse. la musica estaba integralmente asociada a espiritu ceremonial del ser humano.

La conversacion tambien tiene muy buenos ejemplos con la musica mexicana:

(hablando de la audencia): Por ejemplo, veamos el ritmo de un corrido mejicano, es tan obvio y tan elemental que lo captarian hasta las hormigas. En cambio, cuando hay una obra en donde hay elaboracion del pensamiento musical, un oyente comun ya no la puede seguir.

GB: ¿Como evalua usted los productos de la cultura de masas?

JO: Tienen un valor artístico. Al igual que sucede con el arte académico, hay categorías de calidad. Por ejemplo, a mi que viajo tanto en atuobus urbano, me toca escuchar lo que oyen los chóferes en la radio. En un recorrido largo me doy cuenta como en diez canciones hay una que tal vez tenia un poquito de chispa y nueve que son una repetición banal, la peor escoria. Sin embargo, gracias a los adornitos del sonido digital, que ahora son tan accesibles, cualquier berrido se arregla para que resulte bonito. Un chófer que seguramente era un poco mas avezado, me decía: "Fijese usted que yo fui al concierto de los Tigres del Norte y en vivo no suenan tan de a huevo como en las grabaciones" Es decir, existe una escala de valores general de lo académico y lo masivo...

(sobre la expresión musical): Es lo mismo que si un músico situado solo en el pensamiento musical le dijera a un mexicano: "A usted le gusta esa música para borrachazos que están en el rincón de una cantina, llorando por el amor de la Lupita?" Lo que pasa es que la sensibilidad debe experimentar con otros campos sensoriales. Y lo mismo sucede con el mexicano amante de la música ranchera y el chófer de taxi aficionado a la música de los Tigres del Norte: cuando escuchen una variación de Bach, se quedaran perplejos de que a alguien pueda gustarle lo que para ambos no es mas que una música de saltitos. La cultura musical de esos individuos esta fincada en las canciones rancheras. Es un problema cuya responsabilidad recae sobre las autoridades encargadas de regir el sector cultura, que no han encauzado la formación cultural con criterios globales.

Tacos!

2008-05-26T22:32:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I went back to the lake to hang out in Panajachel...good times! On the way back we stopped by a town called Chichi (jeje) to check out their Sunday market. I got to eat tortillas negras, tostadas. This reminds me, I feel like I'm playing Russian roulet every time I eat street food (especially when its at 2am on a taco stand).

I spoke spanish like a gringo

2008-05-26T22:25:00.000-07:00

Today I found a recording on my interview with a Valencian guitar constructor that I thought I had lost...I had just named it incorrectly. The way I found it was random on itunes and recognizing the voice of the artisan.

Thats also when I realized that I spoke spanish like a gringo. I've gotten better, but I still stumble at certain phrases that don't have literal translations.

Also, when I made the interview I didn't really fully understand the answers he gave, but now after building my own guitar I understood exactly what he was saying...NBC the more you know.

I: Este es el la herramienta que se calienta a 180?
V: Si, el problema es doblarlo. Entonces yo tengo una técnica diferente donde tengo dos aros pegados para que no se rompan cuando se doblan. Cada uno es menos de un milímetro.

I: Como busca el diseño para las barras armónicas?
V: Tome una de la guitarra Western. Pero entonces me daba mucha potencia pero no con medios profundos, ni sustain. Puse otras barras para compensar. Y también pongo fibra de carbono para que tenga mas resistencia aun siendo flexible. Cuando la tapa es muy blanda tienes que reforzarla. Si hiciéramos una tapa sin barras sonaría mucho mas pero el puente no aguantaría la tensión de las cuerdas.

I: Mi guitarra de Ricardo Quiles no tiene esos tacones adentro.
V: Es que solo están del lado de la tapa…se pueden ver con un espejo.

I: Cuales son las diferencias entre las guitarras flamencas y clásicas?
V: Se busca calibres muchos mas finos. Se empieza trabajando palo santos ciprés que pesan menos. Yo las ago con los mismos planos del body pero las grosuras mas pequeñas. Los tiros de las cuerdas no tienes por que ser mas cortos. Si son mas pequeñas el sonido va ser mas acampanado.

I: Hablemos de las diferencias entre las guitarras artesanas y las de fabrica.
V: No puedo entrar en la política de esto. Garantizo que si la guitarra esta de bajo de 2000 euros va ser echa mucho con maquina. Para los muebles en Valencia usan muchas maquinas de CNC pero nosotros no hacemos las guitarra automatizadas así. Tambien los artesanos hacen “trampas” con enchapados.

I: El reforcé de tras del diapasón también se ve del mango?
V: Es mas artesano que no se vea. Si no se ve es mas lujoso saber que no se va doblar el mango sin tener que se vea la barra de reforcé.

I: Como le gustan que le llamen, constructor o luthier?
V: Yo prefiero constructor.

I: Como empezaste con este oficio?
V: En la época de la post guerra civil tenía 9 años y tenia que trabajar. No soy de familia de luthier. Encontré una puerta donde hacían guitarras y empecé a trabajar trayendo agua, barriendo…haciendo cosas de niño. Después empecé a estudiar música y estar en un grupo. Yo creo que la música me escogió a mi.

When will NFG become "old school"?

2008-05-22T13:44:00.000-07:00

This band takes me back to a time of innocence and purity...or was it just puberty. In addition...CRB 4 ever.

In other news I went from huevoneando to working on multiple projects at a time. Either I'm getting better at making business connections and forming proposals and/or Guatemala has more oportunities than I expected.

New City, Different MTV Latino, Different Music Videos

2008-05-20T15:40:00.000-07:00

For example:

Amandititita-Metrosexual

She's my comadre from DF that has a cumbianchera style of music with a great sense of humor. Here are some more quality videos:

La Muy Muy
"eres mas fea que chupacabras, mas mala que bush"

Mata Viejitas

Mechanico

100th Entry! Woohoo

2008-05-19T22:02:00.000-07:00

And to think that 11 months ago I had a thing against blogs.

So these last two months in Guatemala are all about coming up with new ideas for musical instruments, so here's one. I had bought electric drum sticks that are activated by shaking them in the air. I didn't like them because the don't work just by hitting them againt a surface. I also have these checkered Vans wannabes that are torn to pieces but I didn't want to throw them away...so I combined these two things and am working on making beats with my feet:

The Fountain is so symbolic

2008-05-17T23:45:00.000-07:00

Hey party peoplez, I just watched The Fountain, a trippy movie about the circle of life including christian, buddhist and Mayan religions, with Ferro, Puly and Guillermo Muñoz (my cousin, but not really). What's sweet is that the movie centers around Guatemala and as Guillermo put it...it's symbolic.

Afterwards at midnight we head over to the taco stand on the corner of a 24hr minimart. Btw, the minimarts here have like a walk-through window at night. As I'm buying a juice, two huge trucks pull up and out come four armed men. Ferro almost sh#ts his pants as he's waiting for his tacos talking to Puly. Well it turns out that these are the bodyguards of the President of Guatemala's son, Antonio Colom Szarata. It also turns out that he's pretty famous because he plays bass in a band, Viento en Contra. He still keeps it real by getting ishfaced at local bars and calming the munchies at streetside taco stands. But dang, those bodyguards really made me paranoid something was going to go down cuz of the way they kept looking around.

Btw, last night after going to a Euro cine festival where we saw the Spanish/Catalan movie Salvador Puig, we went over to 100 puertas bar. Hanging out there was also a famous bohemian cartoonist Telcoco. Guatemala is a small place.

Musical Instrument Automatization

2008-05-16T10:32:00.000-07:00

That's my current project so I've been looking up past works such as this sweet Hupfeld Phonoliszt Violina from the Music Box Society Insternational:

I also found a new instrument by grad students at Virginia which is kinda tight, but not that impressive: http://youtube.com/watch?v=A0iounRCJzk&feature=related

Then I found something that was really sweet, Toyota's new music playing robot: http://youtube.com/watch?v=FcZ2NcCEC0o&feature=related

I heart tamarindo

2008-05-15T09:30:00.000-07:00

The closer I get to mexico the more I realize the differences with south america. I am now back in the land of tamarindo! And for more mixture of cultures...I bought a tamarindo powder that is used to make liters of the drink and started putting it in my mate!

That reminds me, on the beach of El Salvador I had shaved ice (minuta in el salva, but raspado in mex). One of the toppings was tamarindo honey.

Yuka frita con mojito

2008-05-12T21:32:00.000-07:00

That's yuka (a root that tastes like potato) with chicharron.

Dude, I didn't know intense until I came to a place where every security guard packs a shotgun. The place is called Central America.

Also, it felt really good to feel warm Pacific Ocean waters.

Guatemala Vanguard Musician

2008-05-08T15:01:00.000-07:00

http://www.prensalibre.com/pl/domingo/archivo/revistad/2004/noviembre04/141104/dfrente.shtml

I was surprised to find out about Joaquin Orellana, a very modern compositor and vanguard instrument maker.

He derived sound devices from the marimba. I'm thinking about jumping in an continuing his cause while in Guate.

To get me started I'm reading "Tradiciones de Guatemala No. 66 Etnomusicologia en Guatemala"

Martin Fierro

2008-05-05T21:22:00.000-07:00

While in Cordoba I was pretty freakin tired and a bit sick so I picked up the ultimate gaucho book: Martin Fierro. Here are some phrases I liked:

Aquí me pongo a cantar
al compás de la viguela,
que al hombre que lo desvela
una pena estrordinaria,
como la ave solitaria
con el cantar se consuela.

Famous opening phrase. Its true, music me consuela.

Con la guitarra en la mano
ni las moscas se me arriman;
naides me pone el pie encima,
y, cuando el pecho se entona,
hago gemir a la prima
y llorar a la bordona.

...

(I also started circleing words that I didn't understand but then got lazy. Reading gauchesco spanish is a bit rough.)

Tuve en mi pago en un tiempo
hijos, hacienda y mujer,
pero empecé a padecer,
me echaron a la frontera,
¡y qué iba a hallar al volver!
tan sólo hallé la tapera.
...

Mi gala en las pulperías
era, cuando había más gente,
ponerme medio caliente,
pues cuando puntiao (borracho) me encuentro
me salen coplas de adentro
como agua de la virtiente.
...

Y la pobre mi mujer,
¡Dios sabve cuánto sufrío!
Me dicen que se voló
con no sé qué gavilán:
sin duda a buscar el pan
que no podía darle yo.
...

Yo he sido manso primero,
y seré gaucho matrero,
en mi triste circunstancia,
aunque es mi mal tan projundo;
nací y me he criao en estancia,
pero ya conozco el mundo.
...

"A los blancos hizo Dios,
a los mulatos San Pedro,
a los negro hizo el diablo
para tizón del infierno."
(some harsh racisim there)
...

No hay cosa como el peligro
pa refrescar un mamao;
hasta la vista se aclara
por mucho que haiga chupao.
(That's what people tell me about driving drunk and seeing a policeman pass by)
...

Y al campo me iba solito,
más matrero que el venao,
como perro abandonao
a buscar una tapera,
o en alguna bizcachera
pasar la noche tirao.

Sin punto ni rumbo fijo
en aquella inmensidá,
entre tanta escuridá
anda el gaucho como duende;
allí jamás lo sorpriende
dormido, la autoridá.

Su esperanza es el coraje,
su guarida es la precaución,
su pingo es la salvación,
y pasa uno en su desvelo,
sin más amparo que el cielo
ni otro amigo que el facón.
(how I felt traveling alone)
...

Yo me voy le dije, amigo,
donde la suerte me lleve,
y si es que alguno se atreve,
a ponerse en mi camino,
yo seguiré mi destino,
que el hombre hace lo que debe.
...

Es triste a no poder más
el hombre en su padecer,
si no tiene una mujer
que lo ampare y lo consuele:
mas pa que otro se la pele
lo mejor es no tener.
...

Las mujeres, dende entonces,
conocí a todas en una.
Ya no he de probar fortuna
con carta tan conocida:
mujer y perra parida,
no se me acerca ninguna.
...

Y son tantas las miserias
en que me he sabido ver,
que con tanto padecer
y sufrir tanta aflición,
malicio que he de tener
un callo en el corazón.
...

Tampoco a la sé le temo,
yo la aguanto muy contento;
busco agua olfatiando el viento,
y dende que no soy manco,
ande hay duraznillo blanco
cavo y la saco al momento.
...

Chapin

2008-05-05T10:27:00.000-07:00

Now that I've been traveling so much I feel it payed off to watch Where in the World is Carmen San Diego, lol.

Also, reading my fellow Watson Fellow, Marlon's blog (http://marloniousthunk.blogspot.com/) I got inspired to be more descriptive.

Well, I've made it to the last country of my crazy trip; Guatemala. I'm so glad I have my friend Puli to help me out here. What would have taken me at least a week to find a place and set meetings with musicians/luthiers, she and her friends had already done before I even got to the airport.

I got to see the city as I landed. It reminded me of Bolivia with ravines and houses clinging to the hillsides. Landing through the clouds I saw that at the end of the runway was a steep cliff!!! No wonder people told me that this airport was hard to reach.

There was no time to unpack because we were off to party in Antigua that same night. I got to meet Puli's friends. Luis "Kalimba" with whom I'm staying. Ferro "El Turko" and Ishma. Btw, I have to say that I am Issac "El Mex." Another aside is that I'm growing a slight panic at the sight of mosquitos because of a recent dengue outbreak. Also, man am I happy to be back in the land of tortillas and tacos!!! Guatemala food is different but at least those two things are the same. Ishma feels my pain because she is also from Mexico so we both miss our chile and tortas. There's choripan (bread and sausage) here in Guate which is good but completely different fromt he argentine choripan. Oh, there's also tamarindo and did I already mention tortillas. I didn't know I would be so homesick for food.

Antigua was way chill, and as colonial as everyone says. The story goes that there was the founding city of Guatemala beneath the volcano Aguas which held water in its crater. One side of the crater broke and covered the city. Thus the city moved further to what is now Antigua. And its called Antigua Guatemala because after I think an earthquake, the capital was moved to its current location. I should really just have looked this up on wikipedia, but the story was told to me yesterday as I was coming back from Lake Atitlán.
The place was crazy hard to reach and yet there were swarms of tourists at the city of Pana and on the other side San Pedro. SP is where Puli has uncles who are artesans by day and musicians by night. Luckily I got to meet them and when they brought out the pastel (cake) I busted out my mate. Hurray for mixture of cultures! On our way to their house we took a Tru Tru taxi which is just a moto with a carriage. The streets are so narrow, hilly and there are secret alleywas to different bars and hotels. We talked music with one uncle and then Charlie Chaplin with another...good times. San Pedro has a very chill, free attitude.

Then I found myself at a Reggae festival on a dock behind Casa Elena. Unfortunately it was raining so there was only DJ music. We were about to leave when a live cd of Daft Punk came on and then the dancing in the rain began (I'm still waiting to see when I get sick because of gettting drenched). The other reason for coming to the lake was to see her uncles play latin music at Buddah bar. They only had a guitar and percussion but dang did they get people dancing. Then at intermission when it stopped raining we went back to check out the performance and chilled on the dock while listening to some Guatemalan reggae.

I feel loved

2008-04-24T21:22:00.001-07:00

Shout outs go to team Bethany (including bride to be Stacy).

I was traveling through northern argentina the last three weeks having some pretty amazing experiences, but I found that there is something comforting about returning to something you're familiar with. The girls really warmed my heart as I read their letters. In addition, there was a t-shirt...gotta tell them that even thought the UCLA t-shirt Jennie gave me used to fit, my shoulders have grown a bit since then, but its all good...I'll just look even more fit, jaja.

Sad to miss my stand partner's wedding, but such are the sacrifices of being a Watson Fellow.

If anything these letters have told me that even thought I may not have a job or school waiting for me when i get back, at least I'll have friends waiting for me.

Tranquilo

2008-04-13T12:02:00.000-07:00

Here's a song I wrote in the Chacarera style:

Valle tan lindo, valle re-tranqui
Al paso del queso corren aquí.

Ratón de ciudad, ratón del campo
Se mezclan acá un poco tiempo.

El avión ha sido mi caballo
A ver si esta vez no me caigo.

Ando pa’ merecer mis hebillas
Espero no terminar en silla.

Mate 2

2008-04-13T11:50:00.000-07:00

Yo aprendí a tomarlo
sin nada de azúcar,
para acompañar toda
la amargura de mi vida.

Pero esta yerba se
convirtió en mi mejor amiga.
Anda siempre conmigo
y me llena de energía.

Otro beneficio que
l'hace mejor que una chica,
después de sacarle el sabor
se saca y se tira!

Mate

2008-04-13T11:42:00.000-07:00

I've started writing lyrics!!!

Droga que nunca tomaba
yerba de mil verdes colores.
Que antes se encontraba
afuera de mis tentaciones.

Esta costumbre de otros
ahora del joven viajero.
Lo tiene adicto como
cualquier fulano callejero.

Mamá, no se preocupe
de que yo tome esta droga.
Como la coca no es polvo
que yerba mate no es mota.

Contramano

2008-04-13T11:22:00.000-07:00

It's raining in Jujuy...suckagawea :(

Instead of going to the Quebrada de Huamahuaca (Patrimonio de la Humanidad) I had breakfast at San Martin Park (granola, bread and dulce de leche). To pass the time I played some cueca on my charango and then went to a video arcade. Now that the internet place is open I'll spend the rest of my afternoon here.

This next music video comes to mind whenever I read the "wrong way" red and white street signs. Its also pretty cool video and makes me want to get tight white shorts. Sometimes I do feel like i'm going contramano (seeing as how I'll be unemployed pretty soon) but at "least I know who I am."

Kapanga - Contramano

Muy temprano a la mañana
Se levantan y trabajan
Yo en ese momento me arrastro a mi cama
Para llegar y dormir

Me sentí un poco perdido
Y agarre por un desvió
Sabia muy bien para donde iban todos
Pero yo no quise ir

Al revés del mundo, yo sigo mi rumbo
Buscando mi propia salida
Yo sigo el camino que nadie camina
No hay huellas por donde yo voy

Siempre voy a contramano
Si todos vienen yo voy
Siempre voy a contramano
Pero sabiendo quien soy

Si doblan a la derecha
Yo giro para la izquierda
Si es muy importante, me importa una mierda
Yo se donde tengo que ir

Ellos rezan oraciones
Yo prefiero mis canciones
No le creo a nadie, ni al representante
De alguien que llaman señor

El Gaucho Viajero

2008-04-12T16:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had the most intense traveling day.

I had breakfast in Tafi del Valle. (tortillas tucumanas and mate cocido).
I had lunch in a plaza in Cafayate. (cheese and bread I had bought back in Tafi, plus mate).
I had dinner at plaza Belgrano in Jujuy. (empanadas de queso, choclo y pollo)
Then a folklore show by Maestro Ramos at the old Teatro Mitre.

Deserving my belt buckles

2008-04-12T15:55:00.000-07:00

As a norteño (from northern mexico) I grew to like those big cowboy belt buckles. The funny part is that my family moved out of their ranch before I was born. I had only rode a horse when I was 5 and we were on vacation.

When I was little I watched the Disney movie where donald went to South America. Well, I already acomplished the part of going to Lake Titicaca. In another part Goofy goes to Argentina and trys to be a Gaucho. Well, I just went to Tucuman at the Valley of Tafi where I too was Gaucho for a day.Its been two days and my whole body is still sore from the cabalgata. The ride up was slow and steady, slow to the point where I wanted to go faster but didn't know how. Come to think of it, the real Gaucho, Amaiso, didn't really give me any instructions just told me to get on and follow him.

We rode up to an ecological farm at the top of a nearby serro (hill). Roberto, the owner, came out to give me the tour. I was thirsty so I started getting my mate ready. Things kicked off good when I was offered some regional wine called Patero. Roberto's mission is to turn back the damage that man has done to Pachamama (mother earth). The little ranch has various livestock, bee hives, herb garden (took down notes on the medicinal ones for Cindy) and is all run with natural compost. After the awesome Andean Captain Planet tour which included me hand feeding corn to a dozen llamas, it was time to go. But before that, Amaiso shared more of the wine and Roberto had me try other type of wines he makes. There was also a licor made from nuts that was similar to Baileys but more delicious. It is fermented with aguardiente. Before heading out we toasted with shots of aguardiente. You can imagine how the ride down went...I was flying with the speed of aguardiente! One time as I was bouncing up and down, my axis slowly tilted away from perpendicular and I felt close to falling off the horse. At a few parts we stopped, at first I thought it was to take a look at the amazing view, but really Amaiso and I took swigs of the Patero until the bottle was empty.

Back at home base he showed me how the bolas worked to take down a horse. I wanted to chat with the gaucho some more so I invited him to lunch. We ordered empanadas and when it came time for bebidas I just wanted some water or coca light at the most, but we ended up splitting another bottle of Patero. I ended my cabalgata experience with a well deserved siesta.

On a sidenote, I was having mate at the plaza in Tafi when I took out my charango and started playing around. I had found some chords that fit the Chacarera style. To my surprise, a person walking by recognized the style and said "play me a chacarera, friend."

A dying breed

2008-04-12T15:22:00.000-07:00

Traditional artesan instrument makers appear to be a dying breed. The music stores now stock instruments with the label "Made in China."

I went to Tucuman to visit the Folklore Museum which has a small collection of instruments. There was an old violin that I found interesting. My goal in traveling through northern argentina is to find regional violins. La Chacarera is the northern argentina musical style that I really like and includes violins. Unfortunately when I asked the curator if he knew anyone that still made those regional instruments. Apparently there used to be people that repaired instruments that came around the museum, but not anymore.

We'll See

2008-03-25T18:05:00.001-07:00

But this time my vision is a little blurry.

Buki the Bukmeister Bukiri Buk Buk

2008-03-20T11:51:00.000-07:00

Dude, those were some intense five days. That's what happens when your friend visits you in Buenos Aires and stays for only four nights.

Besides being able to see my friend again, I finally went to San Telmo for the Sunday fair. That's where I started talking to this one señor that was playing the guitar. His name is Juan Carlos Balvidares. Aparently, he is the number one traveler of Argentina and he "takes the patriotic colors as he travels through Argentina at a pace of 50Km per day. He is the author of milongas, zambas, vals and chacareras... poet by experience." He hangs out in the Flores, Recoleta and San Telmo neighborhoods.

This 75 year old man was legit, not like the person impersonating Gardel (a famous tango singer) down the street. He even signed the cd I bought and he asked me who I wanted it dedicated to. There was a time I would have dedicated it to someone else, but this time it was for "mi querida mamá, con todo cariño, tu hijo Issac, que tanto te ama."

I took the oportunity to send back some stuff with my friend. So now I don't have my flamenco guitar nor my djembe anymore. But at least I have the djembe sampled so I can make virtual beats.

Clotheshanger Stereo Microphone

2008-03-14T19:26:00.000-07:00

Since I'm going to return my electronic tools I finally decided to make the stereo mic I meant to make a while back. It doesn't have the fancy preamp that I wanted to add to the capsuls, but the original setup works fine. To record my flamenco guitar I used a clotheshangar to hold up the two mics and position one in front of the "golpeador" and the other in front of the fretboard. Oh, and my djembe came in handy as a stand. And if you are wondering why there's a sleeping bag hanging in the corner, well its to drown out the reflections from that corner. Another interesting thing to note is that when I started to work on the video and audio recordings, the noisy saturated audio from my camera is a good reverb for the close-up stereo track of my new stereo mic.

Also, I'm almost done building my very own guitar. I'm trying to finish it faster now so that its ready by the time my sister leaves so she can take it home with her. My hand is cramping up now after a 12hour work day. I have to wake up in four hours to meet my friend Bukzilla at the airport!

Arruinarse

2008-03-14T18:47:00.000-07:00

This video does a fantastic job of expressing how I've been feeling inside the last months:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=lB67ebNlH-s

The group is a Buenos Aires rock band called Tan Biónica. But like an Argentinian would say to me "dejate de joder la puta que lo pario."

In other completely unrelated news, mi amiga just got the Watson Fellowship. I've kept in touch with her so I think she has a pretty good idea of what she's gotten herself into :-)

You never know

2008-03-09T17:12:00.000-07:00

First, let me say that last weekend I went to Mar del Plata with my "host family." It was awesome, I missed the beach! We lucked out because the last two weeks it had been raining but then we got perfect weather.

Something that overshadows this weekend trip is hearing that http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7286435.stm
we actually saw the train on our way back to BsAs. The scarier part is that next month I'm going to be traveling from city to city by overnight buses like the one that got wrecked by the train, so you never know...

That was intense

2008-03-02T11:06:00.000-08:00

Last night I went to watch Calle 13 at Luna Park in centro BsAs. The show was awesome and there was tons of adrenaline in the crowd. I heart standing room only shows more than seated. It was missing someting, though, that Cafe Tacvba show had...the connection with the band. That and the fact that I had to keep my hand on my wallet the whole time because there were people that just walked around the pit stealing. I sacrificed my cell phone at the concert because it either just happened to fall out of my backpack's side pocket or someone stole it. Oh well, it only had $10 credit, but the real hurt was in the enjoyment of the show.

I did appreciate how Residente dedicated all his hateful songs to Bush which fueled the anti-american atmosphere. Another cool thing was seeing Visitante using Ableton Live to run the show...on the ride back to my apartment I was thinking about how all the songs seemed to have the same BPM (at least different from the CD versions) and thought that it might have something to do with them using Ableton. The sweet part was still that they brought a live band with them and not just a cd player.

Other highlights were a drum group for the song Pal Norte and Bajofondo Tango Club violinist and bandoneonist for Tango del Infierno.

At the end of the show as everyone was leaving a huge fight broke out in the middle of the pit (where I was) when one guy was caught stealing. After years of going to rock shows in California I'd never seen something like this. After moving away from the action, I started a useless search for my cell phone. Still, in accordance with the governing laws of the yin and the yang, I may have lost my phone but at least I caught the right colectivo immediately instead of the usual hour wait at 2am.

Oh and funny thing is that the opening band was Emmanuel Horvilleur, whose music video (here) I had seen when I arrived in Argentina and thought (to be pc) that he was a bit extravagant.

PS: here's a dude back in the US mixing psychology and andean music: http://www.doctorsiles.com/index.html

RokEnRol

2008-02-29T21:43:00.000-08:00

Hanging out at the recording studio has been great. My project deals with musical instruments and really microphones can be considered and instrument because they all modify the sound of the instrument being recorded. I also feel that learning about audio recording closes the loop which starts at the construction of the instruments and ends with the cd or ipod we listen to.

Now I have an itch to do live sound because this time I'll actually know what I'm doing when I do the sound for Ricketts Punk Night or some backyard concert in East LA.

It's also good to note that rock bands come from all over south america to Buenos Aires to record because of the experience recording and mixing rock bands (even thought Bogota and Santiago have better equipped studios).

I am not so fashion

2008-02-25T19:32:00.000-08:00

Here are two that caught my attention.
1. Sos Tan Fashion by Kevin Johansen

I have to say that Buenos Aires has the most beautiful women per square meter in the world. The downside seems to be that they are also the most difficult to deal with. Maybe its because they are "so fashion" like the song says.
Then I found this
1b.Political Commentary remix of Sos Tan Fashion

which makes fun of Christina, the current president of Arg.

2. Yendo a la Casa de Damian by Cuarteto de Nos
With lyrics
Its just a badass rock song that puts the sex drugs and alcohol back in rock and roll. There's a line that says "I spit on his t-shirt of Bush." When I go to the guitar luthier class I pass by a mural that says-AFUERA YANKEES- which means "Get out Americans." This is not the first sign of resentment due to American corporate domination. Like my fellow watson friend said, "people are somewhat shocked to find out that I'm not a Bush loving capitalist." And in my case people have told me that I'm more south american than they are.

I'll always be Mexican, except now I'll be Mexican-American-Chilean-Argentino...etc. I'm just absorbing my favorite parts of each culture.

Tenia ganas de echar desmadre y lo hice!

2008-02-24T20:11:00.000-08:00

Last night I went to see CAFE TACVBA at the Gran Rex theater in Buenos Aires. Wow, amazing. When the band first came onstage and I saw them from my third row seat that I had gotten by getting my ticket a month in advance, I was filled with so much emotion that I stopped breathing and the blood rushed to the surface. Another benefit of being so close was seeing the band's joy that came from a sold out crowd chanting their name in a country far from Mexico City. I rocked out so hard that today my body was sore.
The lead singer and I have the same taste in music and clothes, must be because we're both Chilango. Althought I think my white suit for ASCIT formal was more kickass. He was wearing a shirt with a dog on it that looked like my chihuahua Panchito.
The downside was waiting an hour for the right bus back to my apartment after the show and then having to walk 2km because the right bus didn't show up. I miss my car, but I do feel better about not polluting and just using an established system of transportation.

Now in news relating to my Watson project...I joined an improvisation stringed instrument ensemble. The people who brought guitars thought it meant all kinds of stringed instruments but it was actually supposed to be bowed stringed instruments. Since I don't have my violin in BsAs I took my charango. So there I was, improvising on the charango and playing with three cellos, one violin and six guitars. Next week I'm going to take a violin that I'll borrow from someone.

Copado

2008-02-23T06:46:00.000-08:00

Djembe Recording

Yesterday I went to Tecson recording studio to sample the djembe drum I made back in Santiago in November. The two mics on top are a sure 57 and an AKG 414. Under the seat I tested out another AKG 414 and a shure D112 and shure beta98 to pick up the lows from the resonating chamber of my drum. The best combination was the two 414 although the 414 on top and d112 on bottom was good also.

Now I have 44kHz, 24bit recordings of my drum to use as samples when I create beats and loops using Ableton Live. I'm going to start doing this with all my instruments that way I have the sounds on my laptop. I plan on sending my instruments home with a friend and my sister who will be visiting me next month. When I reach Guatemala I want to be traveling light because I don't plan on staying in any particular place for too long.

In other news, restringing my charango was a perrada. My fingers hurt from winding the tremendously hard machine tuners. This makes me appreciate better craftmanship. It also took hours to tune it because of how much the strings strech. But now I'm happy that I have my charango in working order. This time I used cianocrilato, an instant adhesive that's pretty much crazy glue.

Uruguay!!!

2008-02-18T20:12:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I went to Uruguay. What an intense trip. I left at 6am on friday from Buenos Aires and hopped on a ferry to Colonia, Uruguay. There a bus took me to Montevideo where I met up with Marlon. His apartment building looked like it was about to be demolished because the stores on the bottom floor were abandoned and the elevator was all the way in the back. The elevator was sweet also cuz you could open the doors from inside the elevator while its moving.

That night we headed to tabladas, which are outdoor stages that have murgas playing. They are really awesome at harmonizing their vocals. The percussion section was less important than I had thought. After only three groups and a choripan it started to pour like we needed an arc. We ended up staying dry in the lady's bathroom. That was the most interest form of meeting people. There was an old guy from Mexico that reminded me of my tio antoño. He was working in low income housing on behalf of the UN. We then hung out with those people till late (when it stopped raining).

Saturday we struggled to wake up and head over to Durazno. Because we couldn't get ahold of the guy that was supposed to host us (cheers to being homeless like last weekend at Gualeguaychu) we headed to the river. You can tell you're in a developed country when there's a lifeguard on a beach at the river.
Then came the llamadas which is hard to describe so I'll just say this...

What's more fun than watching paint dry or counting sheep?

2008-02-14T17:24:00.000-08:00

Identifying beats!

In the Pro-Tools class tonight we learned how to manually set the tempo according to the transients of the snare or kick drum. This is usefull for later snapping to the grid any notes from the other musicians that were out of rythm.

So I spent an hour placing markers at each measure, fun stuff.

Dreaming of What Once Was

2008-02-14T07:35:00.000-08:00

Sigh, respiro y esperanza.

What about you...I mean Gualeguaychu

2008-02-10T17:25:00.000-08:00

Last night I went to Gualeguaychu to watch Carnaval del País. I was supposed to leave at 1pm from Retiro, BsAs, but the next bus available left at 6pm...so I hung out downtown until it was time to go to Gualeguaychu. Its a three hour bus ride ($72) afterwhich I arrived just in time to get my entrance ($30). The first weekend of January I had seen this on TV from BsAs and I thought it was cool to check it out for myself. Unfortunately, like most of my Watson travels, I was traveling by myself.

The first thing I thought about when the music started playing (well, first was a thought about the dancers) was where is the band? Its helpful if I mention that I was in one of the last stands so by the time the first comparsa came around I almost thought the music came from a tape deck because it was so repetitive...but I realized that each comparsa has their own song and they play it all along the corsodromo. The entire band was placed on a float! The console and audio equipment rack was in the back followed by the audio staff who looked out of place (because they were fully clothed).I then wondered the setup for them sending the audio signals to the speakers because it had to be wireless transmission and the speaker towers independent. As one band makes it to the end of the corsodromo the one following starts playing. The audio changed from tower to tower (don't know how to better explain that right now).

It was a bit of a rough trip because I didn't book a hotel room at Gualeguaychu, just hopped on a bus back at 3am. At least I wasn't driving. I also wish that the subte would start sooner on the weekends like it did in Barcelona, but at least I now know what colectivos take me back to my apartment so I can find my way back at 6am.

p.s. The fact that I'm now getting music recommendations from my little sister confirms the fact that I have the musical taste of a 15 year old girl. Oh south Orange County what did you do to me? Hand me my skateboard and guitar cuz I don't want to enter the working world.

Mi Segunda Guitarra...well soon enough

2008-02-05T20:17:00.000-08:00

So that's what my guitar looks like right now. This will be the top of my guitar. I chose wood from the alerse tree because its regional to the cordillera. For the back of the guitar I will be using algarrobo, which is also found in Argentina. This combination will ensure that my guitar is unique.

I can tell I'm new at this whole luthier thing because my throat is not used to all the sawdust...fireballs anyone? Also, my wrist hurts from using the tools, an old skateboarding accident is acting up (that makes me feel old).
On a sidenote, I'm excited about applying to jobs. The grad school thing is postponed. I enjoy learning what I want when I want, which is exactly what I'm doing right now with the Watson fellowship. First up will be Dolby Laboratories.

Its not what you think

2008-02-05T20:06:00.000-08:00

You know its Carnaval time in South America when you get sprayed with foam. I was waiting for the colectivo (bus) to go downtown when a colectivo passed by and a girl leaned out the window. Next thing I knew my eyes were burning and I smelled like detergent. The spraying usually occurs at night while watching the murgas, but you know...

...crazy kids.

Ozomatli BsAs LA connection

2008-02-03T11:59:00.000-08:00

Last night I saw Ozomatli at the Roxy Club (formerly el Teatro), and guess what...it was free!!! I got there about an hour before the show started so I had plenty of stitting by myself to do. Luckily two gringas asked if they could sit down next to me. I asked them where they were from and they said Buenos Aires...jaja. They're actually from Westmont.

The show rocked!!! Of course, cuz its Ozomatli. Everytime they said Los Angeles I went nuts and screamed out "yeah LA!" I got to see a sweet djembe performance by Jiro, the Japanese percussionist. Towards the end they came down to the pit and played in the middle of the crowd. During one of the songs, the guitarist, Raul Pacheco, said he wanted to meet argentinians and establish a connection because part of their tour experience is learning about the people. And true to his word he came out to the crowd after the show with his camera to document his trip to BsAs. He took a picture of me, I wonder where it will end up? After that I took one with him.After the show I headed out with my new found friends. Luckily this was also the first night of the carnaval celebration in BsAs. The celebration is not very big, but there's murgas, street bands composed of fancy dresses, percussion and singing, that compete in february for being the best murga.But the night didn't stop there because it was still early (2am). Thus we headed out to Palermo where we went to:Which is a bar/boliche. There was this one guy dancing by himself that could have definitely been a Tech alum. He was even teaching girls how to do rave moves. That was at the top floor where it was non-stop marcha. On the first floor there was pop and this one guy with a headlight and a chick deafeaning everyone with a whistle.

What does golf have to do with jazz?

2008-02-03T11:31:00.000-08:00

That's Roberto, whom I met at Palermo Golf Club a few weeks ago. After the usual explaining my Watson project, he asked what instruments I play, he showed me his drum key. It turns out that he has been playing the drums since he was 15 and now plays in a small jazz group.

Yesterday he invited me to listen to his group play. The guitarist was still on vacation so there was only sax and trombone. It was pretty sweet and I was invited back to learn some jazz beats.

Revelation of the day

2008-02-02T08:23:00.000-08:00

Filters not only change a waveform by attenuation, but distort it by individually phase-shifting the harmonics within it.

Duh, I'd done lots of freq/phase response plots in the feedbacks course at Tech, but the moment of enlightenment comes when you take that to the real world. When doing multitrack recordings where one mic is closer to a source than other mics taking that same source there is phase shifting.
Then in mixdown, to compensate we delay the signal from the closer mic until it sounds better (Another way to do so could be to measure all the distances and manually calculate the delay times, but that's not very practical when you have a band waiting to record). Then the equalization begins on the individual tracks using all sorts of filters. Last week when doing this in practice I'd totally forgotten about the phase after setting the time delays....but if I would have remembered the feedback course I would have realized that when adding the equalization, phase shifts are being introduced.

Bottomline: you need to have a good ear to be a recording engineer.

Brixton at Pueyrredón

2008-01-28T21:04:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I went to Salon Pueyrredón to see the punk rock band, Brixton. I had met the lead singer the weekend before at Podesta bar. The band's website said that the show started at 24hrs...so I was like well it might start by 1am then. I get there at midnight and the place hadn't even opened yet! When I asked when the band would be playing they said around 3am! Well I took the oportunity to walk around Palermo. I certainly like the liberty of walking around at night without the fear of being robbed like I had back in Santiago. I would say that where I stayed in Santiago was kind of like East LA and where I am in Buenos Aires is more like WestWood.

The band was ok, but the acoustics of the show were horrible. I couldn't understand the singing because the guitars masked it. This was partly because I was in the front center and the speakers were off to the sides so I was only getting the low frequencies from the speakers at that angle.

I want to discover what has already been discovered.

2008-01-25T22:44:00.000-08:00

Calle 13 - Pal Norte

Calle 13 - Pal Norte at the 2007 Latin Grammys

First, great song, great band. Not only did they film in Jujuy, Argentina, but they also brought those people to the Grammys. Did Shakira ever take real Colombian folklore onstage with her? Calle 13 and Orishas really represent and back up the theme of the song...immigration and that we Latinos are alike. This song really represents my trip through Latin America.

For my non-spanish speaking friends and to highlight what pertains to my travels:
"With the stories of the moon I learned to walk without a map. Traveling without comforts, without luxuries...protected by witches and saints.

In your smile I see an adventure, a movement. Your language, your accent, I want to discover what has already been discovered.

Today I'm going north without a passport, on foot, but it doesnt matter because this man hidrates with what his eyes see. I carry landscapes in my backpack, carry chlorofil, carry a rosary that protects me.

Grandma don't worry cuz around my neck hangs the Virgin of Guadalupe."

Spanish lyrics:
Unas piernas que respiran… veneno de serpiente… por el camino del viento… voy soplando agua ardiente

El día a día ha comenzado entusiasmado y alegre
(ROLDAN)
dice… Pasaporte

[Estribillo]
Tengo tu antídoto… Pal’ que no tiene identidad
Somos idénticos… Pal’ que llegó sin avisar
Tengo tu antílico… Para los que ya no están para los que estás y los que vienen (x2)

Un nómada sin rumbo la energía negativa yo la derrumbo
Con mis pezuñas de cordero me propuse recorrer el continente entero
Sin brújula, sin tiempo, sin agenda…
Inspirado Por las leyendas
Con historias empaquetadas en lata, con los cuentos que la luna relata aprendí a caminar sin mapa…
A irme de caminata sin comodidades, sin lujo… protegido por los santos y los brujos…
Aprendí a escribir carbonerías en mi libreta y con un mismo idioma sacudir todo el planeta…
Aprendí que mi pueblo todavía reza porque las “fucking” autoridades y la puta realeza… todavía se mueven por debajo’ e la mesa… aprendí a tragarme la depresión con cerveza…
Mis patronos yo lo escupo desde las montañas y con mi propia saliva enveneno su champaña…
Enveneno su champaña…

(ROLDAN)
Sigo tomando ron…

[Estribillo]

En tu sonrisa yo veo una guerrilla, una aventura un movimiento…
Tu lenguaje, tu acento… Yo quiero descubrir lo que ya estaba descubierto…
Ser un emigrante ese es mi deporte…
Hoy me voy pal’ norte sin pasaporte, sin transporte… a pie, con las patas… pero no importa este hombre se hidrata con lo que retratan mis pupilas…
Cargo con un par de paisajes en mi mochila, cargo con vitamina de clorofila, cargo con un rosario que me vigila… suelo con cruzar el meridiano, resbalando por las cuerdas del cuatro de Aureliano…
Y llegarle tempranito temprano a la orilla…por el desierto con los pies a la parrilla…
Por debajo de la tierra como las ardillas, yo vo’a cruzar la muralla… yo soy un intruso con identidad de recluso… y por eso me convierto en buzo… y buceo por debajo de la tierra…
Pa’ que no me vean los guardias y los perros no me huelan… abuela no se preocupe que en mi cuello cuelga la virgen de la Guadalupe…

(ROLDAN)
Oye para todos los emigrantes del mundo entero… allá va eso… Calle 13

[Estribillo] (x2)

(OFF) Esta producción artístico-cultural hecha con cariño y con esfuerzo sea como un llamado de voluntad y esperanza para todos, todos...

Too few ideas too much time...wait, reverse that...

2008-01-25T20:54:00.000-08:00

The recording course at Tecson is going great (btw, I think Tecson comes from Tech and Sound but with an argentine accent). For example, today we covered spacial effects; delay, flange/chorus, reverb. A student from Columbia asked a lot about creating a flange effect with his DJ equipment because he's producing electronic music. I realized that I thought about the analog circuits and DSP algorithms behind the machines/plugins we were using.

Then I write myself notes for tasks to work on, like write guitar distortion programs in matlab or simulate analog delay circuits. I've been doing this for a while by myself trying to apply what Caltech has taught me into something practical that interests me. The problem was that I didn't have the background or experience to complete my tasks (as i get more involved I realize that most of the time I still don't). The issue now is that I have so little projects I want to do, but not enough time to do them and when I start one I move onto another.

Well, today one of the matlab stuff I messed around with came from a frenchperson. My french is terrible now, but at least I knew how to follow the help file to make the guitar effects work (at least something good came out of my senior thesis).

I'd forgotten how frustrating programming is...

2008-01-22T22:17:00.000-08:00

I wasted a few hours trying to get sample VST code to compile. The error was that the include file windows.h could not be found. I tried adding paths and directories to get the Visual C++ compiler to recognize the include file. The solution is that I hadn't loaded the Platform SDK onto my new laptop nor had I followed these instructions:

Update the Visual C++ directories in the Projects and Solutions section in the Options dialog box.

Add the paths to the appropriate subsection:

Executable files: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Platform SDK for Windows Server 2003 R2\Bin
Include files: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Platform SDK for Windows Server 2003 R2\Include
Library files: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Platform SDK for Windows Server 2003 R2\Lib

Note: Alternatively, you can update the Visual C++ Directories by modifying the VCProjectEngine.dll.express.config file located in the \vc\vcpackages subdirectory of the Visual C++ Express install location. Please make sure that you also delete the file "vccomponents.dat" located in the "%USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\VCExpress\8.0" if it exists before restarting Visual C++ Express Edition.

Step 4: Update the corewin_express.vsprops file.

One more step is needed to make the Win32 template work in Visual C++ Express. You need to edit the corewin_express.vsprops file (found in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\VCProjectDefaults) and

Change the string that reads:

AdditionalDependencies="kernel32.lib"

AdditionalDependencies="kernel32.lib user32.lib gdi32.lib winspool.lib comdlg32.lib advapi32.lib shell32.lib ole32.lib oleaut32.lib uuid.lib"

Step 5: Generate and build a Win32 application to test your paths.

In Visual C++ Express, the Win32 Windows Application type is disabled in the Win32 Application Wizard. To enable that type, you need to edit the file AppSettings.htm file located in the folder %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\VCWizards\AppWiz\Generic\Application\html\1033\".

In a text editor comment out lines 441 - 444 by putting a // in front of them as shown here:

// WIN_APP.disabled = true;
// WIN_APP_LABEL.disabled = true;
// DLL_APP.disabled = true;
// DLL_APP_LABEL.disabled = true;

Save and close the file and open Visual C++ Express.

From the File menu, click New Project. In the New Project dialog box, expand the Visual C++ node in the Product Types tree and then click Win32. Click on the Win32 Console Application template and then give your project a name and click OK. In the Win32 Application Wizard dialog box, make sure that Windows application is selected as the Application type and the ATL is not selected. Click the Finish button to generate the project.

As a final step, test your project by clicking the Start button in the IDE or by pressing F5. Your Win32 application should build and run.

Mi Pobre Charango

2008-01-21T21:04:00.000-08:00

I can handle the Buenos Aires summer heat, but unfortunately my charango can't:

One day when I returned to my apartment I found that the bridge of my charango had come unglued. Last weekend I tried fixing it with contact cement. First I sanded the bridge and the spot where it was glued onto the body. After joining the two with the cement I let it dry with pressure for a day. Then when I went to restring the charango, it only held for a bit before it slowly started coming undone:-( So now I will try the same thing, but this time with cola (wood glue).

Here's the procedure from Jose Villar Rodríguez's La Guitarra Española book:
Se trazara el puente con toda exactitud y se construirá de madera de palo santo. Al construir la curvatura del puente, que se conseguirá con bastante facilidad usando una cuchilla de ebanista muy afilada, se registrará constantemente sobre la tapa, por el procedimiento del grafito, hasta que el puente y la tapa ajusten perfectamente. No se olvide que de esta unión dependerá, en buena parte, la potencia sonora de la guitarra.
Operación previa a la colocación del puente será la de trazar el lugar exacto de su ubicación. Para ello se tendrá muy en cuenta que la distancia desde el hueso superior al inferior es de 650mm y que la distancia entre la unión de la caja y el mastil a cualquiera de los huesos es de 325mm. El puente es una pieza que tiene gran importancia en la guitarra, por ser el elemento que mas fuerza ha de soportar pese a sus limitadas dimensiones; por esta razón, antes de colocarlo en la tapa se le hara un rayado.
Se llenará de cola el hueco que dejan las rayas, por poco profundas que sean, con lo cual se proporcionará mucha resistencia al puente. Asimismo estaría muy atinado que en la misma base se le pusieran dos clavitos que entraran 2mm en el puente y 2mm en la tapa armonica, y asi quedaría un puente de la máxima resistencia.

New Year's Resolution

2008-01-12T20:08:00.000-08:00

Since all the cool kids are making new years resolutions I thought I would too:

My new year's resolution is to make it back home safely. Part b) of the resolution would be to find a job.

Tecson

2008-01-11T20:22:00.001-08:00

This week I started sound engineering classes at Tecson, here in Buenos Aires. I realize how much I just f-ed around with mixers and digital recorders. I also realized how much I learned about microphones at Audio Engineering Associates and basic electronics from Caltech. One class this week covered decibels to measure sound pressure levels and I was able to derive on paper the numbers that they just listed as given. This was pretty simple but I felt good remembering this after months of not doing any math, jaja.

I also get to learn really cool stuff like DI boxes, especially the Red Box with speaker emulation.

I'm also messing around with sound programs (Acustica Mixcraft cuz ProTools is too expensive for me right now) and VST plugins. This makes me almost give up on free plugins that supposedly take out the vocals.

On a side note, I heard this back in Barcelona and now I finally found out (through watching tons of MTV):

Destination Calabria

Once a Techer always a Techer

2007-12-28T17:03:00.000-08:00

As much as I've had a blast living away from modern civilization in Chile, Bolivia and Peru I've missed my laptop and 24hr internet access.

I've uploaded more sounds of the instruments I've found to the freesound project. My latest addition is the Phukuna, a flute that sounds like the wind.

I've also started using the music programs I'd installed, like Beatcraft (http://www.acoustica.com/beatcraft/). This program makes it simple to synthesize percussion loops without a MIDI controller. Like MIDI, it uses sound files to synthesise the instruments, but the cool thing is that it works with different file formats (I've tried ogg and mp3). So the next step is to record my djembe with the different hits. Then I'll have the sound on my laptop and can create beats without having to annoy my neighbors by playing the real thing.

Never too old to mosh

2007-12-26T22:14:00.000-08:00

Last night I went to the Trastienda Club in downtown Buenos Aires to see Árbol. I was supposed to go with Mary, but I took my niece, Carolina, instead. It was a sweet show and sweeter was the fact that it was Carol's first rock show (she's 15). She hung back while I started some kilombo in the pit. After eight years of going to shows like these I realized that I got used to being stepped on, being drenched in sweat, having my hands smell like other people's BO from pushing against them, brusing my hands from hitting people, and falling down. What I wasn't used to was someone karate kicking my thigh. Good times.

Also, while I looked up how to spell kilombo I found this website: AsiHablamos.com which seems like an urbandictionary for latin america. I'm starting to need it after traveling through various countries with different slangs.

Pork is awesome

2007-12-21T19:07:00.001-08:00

The best thing about screening Pork on my friend's linux server is that I can use it as my answering machine because its always on even when I'm not connected. For those non-techy people this means that I can stay online with AIM and check any away messages whenever.

I got this message today:

evertime i see you online, you're in a diff. place
go you!

This from a guy I haven't talked to in years.

Guilty Pleasure

2007-12-20T19:25:00.000-08:00

No need to say I've got some weird taste in music, but some likes (for example Aqua) are better left unsaid unless its to a very good friend. Well, these next two bands are just that, a guilty pleasure in music. I also mention them because they're both from Argentina, which is where I'll be for the next few months.

Primero, Árbol. I'm going to their show on the 26th (would have gone with a friend but that didn't work out so i'm going alone). They are the good kind of pop rock that I grew up with in my OC HS. This is a guilty pleasure because I feel I'm getting a bit old.

Favorite songs->
Soy vos
Revoloteando

Why do I like the next band in secret? Well its because
"Los shows de la banda en vivo son caracterizados por bailes, maquillaje y prendas estrafalarias en sus integrantes." Which means its a pretty wierd eletropop group, but what can I say I'm hypnotized by the guy's falseto.

Favorite songs->
Don (Hot nurses)
Perfecta

Y uno bien pajero es El Profe ("yo quiero ser tu profe. te voy a engañar solo para tocarte un poco")

El que no salta es Pinochet

2007-11-28T12:23:00.000-08:00

I like starting my entries with..."Last weekend I..." because that means I did something cool.

Well, last weekend I went to an Audio Engineering Society Conference!!! What? were you expecting a rock concert? jaja, well I went to one of those also! It was for National Chilean Music Day. I saw the young rock band Difuntos Correa and the gypsy folk band from last weekend Mano Ajena as well as Inti-Illimani.What's awesome about rock shows in Chile is that the crowd of youngsters get pumped up by yelling "El que no salta es Pinochet." If you don't get it, then ask me.

Btw, this is how I dry my clothes:

Theremin

2007-11-19T13:49:00.001-08:00

This last weekend I went to Plaza Yungay (in spanish it sounds like "and a gay") to check out their festival. The Yungay barrio was trying to prevent tall appartments from being built, preserve their culture and keep the place clean.

One band with a gipsy folk style came out with a theremin. The guy who played it was their guitarist and he made a little speech about it before the song. He actually got a melody out of the theremin and not just a special effect.

Same hat different stories

2007-11-19T13:37:00.000-08:00

On the metro I saw a blind man finding his way to a seat. When I saw that he was wearing a Florida Marlins baseball cap I remembered that I used to have the same one. The one I had I won at some game in Las Vegas many years ago (at least ten). His looked almost as old and had the inner rim turned inside out with the tag sticking out. It made me wonder what a different experience that hat goes through than my old one.

My butt hurts but not because of Matt OK

2007-11-15T15:30:00.001-08:00

I'm sitting on the floor of the Baquedano metro station because there is free wifi here. The library closes at 8pm so I think this is what I'll be doing for the next three weeks when I want to get online.

Hopefully by next week I'll be building something at the Plaza de los Dominicos with constructor Enrique Rebolledo.

Trip Summary

2007-11-14T13:22:00.000-08:00

I just came back from an intense one month trip through Chile, Bolivia and Peru. I'll sum things up city by city.

Antofagasta:
I thought I was going to stay here overnight because I arrived from Santiago (17 hour trip) at 8am. I walked around trying to find a laundrymat but the one that Lonely Planet points out was gone and the other one that someone told me about was under construction. Then I walked with my dirty clothes (didn't have time back in Santiago to wash them) around the pier and the historic center and decided that this city was not very interesting. So I went to buy the next bus ticket to San Pedro de Atacama.

San Pedro de Atacama:
Awesome!!! I got to go sandboarding, but the ride to the dunes was tought because I was crazy enough to get there on bike. Oh, also, I met up with kids from Stanford that are studying abroad in Chile. I'd met Shira the week before when I went up to the cordillera to go hiking.
Even crazier than going sandboarding was riding a bike to Valle de la Luna which was a 15km ride. The way there was ok and the sunset was spectacular. But then the ride back, even though it was downhill, took place at night with trucks and cars passing me by on the highway. The big rigs were the ones that pushed me around with their currents.

I'm Still Alive!

2007-11-07T18:28:00.000-08:00

I'm back in Chile...Iquique!

The Saddest Trip to Machu Picchu Ever

2007-11-01T19:48:00.000-07:00

I was even wearing her Stanford t-shirt when she broke up with me.

The ride to Machu Picchu was the loneliest ever. The broken pieces of my heart were cutting a hole in the pit of my stomach.

Granted, its my fault for leaving, my fault for following a dream.

Before, when I was traveling by myself I didn't feel alone because I had the reasurance that she was still my girl. The break has come at a time when I'm the most alone, the furthest from home, with no friends and sick from the food. This takes away the courage I had to travel.

This trip has cost me the one thing I valued most in my life. Now there is mostly uncertainty and only a bit of hope.

Peru Here I Am

2007-10-31T12:11:00.000-07:00

Man, that was a rough ride from La Paz, Bolivia to Cusco. I left at 8am and got to my hostal at 11pm (10pm Peru time). On the way here I saw a lot of half finished houses and apparently that's done to avoid paying taxes on the house, jaja.

As I was running errands this morning in Cusco, there was a Halloween parade starting at Plaza de Armas. It turned a bit violent when kids on top of the church threw water and other things down at the paraders.

I'm uploading photos and man, the internet is twice as fast here as in Bolivia. The downside is that it rains every day now.

Time to go visit some Inka ruins

Alaxpacha

2007-10-29T10:38:00.000-07:00

Is the name of the group that I watched last night at the Municipal Theater of La Paz. Right now there's a political campaign to move congress and the president's office to Sucre. A pacheño (person from La Paz) told me that one reason is to bring more jobs of Sucre. But he also said that people from Sucre are often called locos because the country's largest mental institution is in Sucre. Apparently there's also an east/west rivalry in Bolivia (jaja, reminds me of gansta rap) where the two groups, cambas and cayas dislike each other. For example, if a person from Santa Cruz were to come to a disco in La Paz there would probably be a fight. The more important part is that the different regions, besides their rivalries, are continuing to develop their different music dance styles (for example chacarrera in Tarija). This reminds me, my favorite dance here is not the cueca, but the diablada. And one of my favorite andean songs is Señora Chichera (video).

Well, back to Alaxpacha. One of the music video dvds that I bought at the sunday market has their videos so I'm excited about finding a dvd player back in Chile.

In other news, I can't find Bolivian violins in La Paz. They would be located in Tarija or Santa Cruz (the part of Bolivia I didn't visit). They're interesting because one is three stringed with alternating tuning and the other is just a hollow stick with a bridge and pegs. I've found a bunch of wind instruments, though. Don't know how I'm going to travel with so many instruments.

BTW, I leave for Peru tomorrow morning at 8:00. Its a 12 hour trip to Cuzco so hopefully everything goes well and I'll be back online sometime Wednesday.

Tonight I'm going to travel back up to El Alto to interview another wind instrument artisan. Today I interviewed Señor Walata, which was more of a chat about the topless beaches of Barcelona than about the instruments because he too has traveled to Barcelona.

No visit to a 3rd World country would be complete without...

2007-10-29T10:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the Sunday market in El Alto, a town next to La Paz and by next to I mean on top of the plato overlooking La Paz. One of my greatest achievements so far has to be being able to take public transportation. This SoCal guy was so used to driving everywhere that catching a bus to El Alto (2 Bolivianos) was no small feat.

There was everything from alternators to a Chavo del Ocho stuffed doll. I bought lots of music and music video DVDs.

My visit to Bolivia wouldn't have been complete if I hadn't gotten the runs. Great! Now I can move on to another 3rd world country. The food here tastes great, but it doesn't go well with my stomach. Neither did the pitchers of an orange cocktail I drank Saturday night. To back up, Saturday evening I went to Peña Parsona Bolivia to watch my charango instructor play with his group Waipala. (The name of the group is also the name of the indigenous flag which has become a big symbol now that Evo Morales is president). That peña was filled with tourists and the ten dollar cover charge felt like a huge hit to my wallet because everything else in Bolivia is so cheap (for example the 5 Bol. cover charge for the Jamuy peña/disco).

Well, after their show I hung out with my teacher, the drummer and their manager as we went peña hopping. Gota de Agua, had a cultural group playing with large drums that they carried on one shoulder and each of them playing a different style of zampoña. This is where that orange drink came into play. But as long as I don't get the stomach flu or something worse I'll manage.

¿Mande?

2007-10-27T14:18:00.000-07:00

Jaja, on my trip trough Bolivia there's been several times when people correctly identify that I'm from Mexico. At first I thought it was because I'd grown a mustache, but the real reason I found out was when I say mande. Its an automatic response for me when I didn't understand what someone said. So much for my mexican mustach.

Homesick

2007-10-27T14:10:00.000-07:00

Ever since I started my trip I'd always miss my gf, but I'd been ok with not being home. Then last night I had dinner at my hotel watching cable tv and...an episode of The OC came on. This did it, that show for some reason made me miss everything I left behind, and my gf even more. Stupid show.

Favorite Band

2007-10-27T13:57:00.000-07:00

I've decided that my favorite band is Cafe Tacuba. Two nights ago I watched them on my hotel's cable tv playing at Viña Del Mar, Chile. They rock! With Aryan I played one of their songs for Caltech's Metal Night: Ingrata.

2007 Viña del Mar: Tirate
2007 Viña del Mar: Las Flores

Viva Mexico Cabrones!!!

Speaking of bands, last night I went to a club (Jamuy) that had a 5 Bol. cover charge and the band Sol Mayor played. The funny part is that I thought the band name refered to the sun, but actually its translation would be G Major, jaja. I saw some awesome dancing to the andean music. The band had an electric drum set, two wind people playing quenas and zampoñas, a woman singer, a charango and guitar. The charango was a shiny acousticelectric one. Good stuff, and with the cover charge we got a free mixed dring shot. I think it was pinaple juice and ron.

The sweet sound of stability

2007-10-25T15:28:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to a choir and orchestra concert (Concierto en Homenaje a La Paz, Coro y Orquesta de Camara de la Universidad Mayor de San Andres). The director was a young man Maestro Eric Castro Murillo, whom I had seen two days ago at the cultural discussion group. Thanks to Professor Neenan and his Caltech Mu27 class I began to take notes of the concert:

1. Canto a Don Pedro Domingo Murillo
2. Homenaje a Astor Piazzola: This tribute would have made Señor Piazzola shiver from the lack of intonation. The libertango had a cool cello introduction as well as the Buenos Aires Hora Cero. The Meditango had horrible intonation and in the finale there was actual unresovled dissonance written into the music that just seemed like a continuation of the previous parts.
3. Musica de la Chiquitania: These were various pieces of spanish influence in the baroque mestizo style. The intonation throughout these pieces improved with their best piece being...
4. Musica Sacra by Haendel: The audience ate it up when they played Aleluya. (It was great to hear them singing "foreber")
5. Himno a La Paz (we stood up for this one)

I had arived early and sat in the front row not knowing that when the show actually started (45 min after the original time) that the front row would be filled with important people. For example, the director of the Amigos de la Vida foundation and the director of the Bicentennial planning committee.

Overall, the concert reminded me of my middle school orchestra even though they were a University orcherstra. They didn't have their music ready and were shuffleing to find it while on stage. They were practicing and talking while they waited for the many people that arrived late. It was very disorganized, which made me feel less bad for showing up in jeans and a t-shirt (hey, i'm traveling by backpack). What was funny was all the honking from the street below each time in the silence before the conductor began the pieces. The concert made me realized that I was being very critical because this is an area in which I am familiar. But then the words from Maestro Eric after the program enlightened me of the situation.

The choir was founded in 1973 and sang to the campesinos and the workers in the mines. Then for twenty years it was dormant because of the political chaos. It wasn't until 1993 that it picked up again. Therefore the program is relatively new which accounts for most of my criticizm. The most important part now is that even thought the intonation is slightly off, this is now a stable program that fuels the spirits of the people with music.

Evo Pueblo

2007-10-25T14:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday after my charango clases I went to mirador Laikakota to check out the view of the city and on my way back I stopped by a movie theater and saw that Evo Pueblo was showing. Its a movie about the current Bolivian President, Evo Morales. It had the production value of one of Todd's (HS friend) first films, but was powerfull. It showed Evo from birth to being elected president. I also found out that one of the first things he did as president was to decrease his salary from 60 thousand Bolivianos to 14 thousand, which forced the entire elected government to do the same. This was a positive step away from all the corruption that has plagued Bolivia in its 20some years of democracy. I was told that the people (majority indigenous) were tired of having right wing governments and that is why Evo won with a majority. El pueblo unido jamas sera vencido.

Jornadas Culturales de La Paz 2007

2007-10-23T16:30:00.000-07:00

I'm in La Paz, Bolivia. Things are pretty sweet, I started my 12 hour course in charango. I'm diggin my new charango that I bought in Aiquile on my way to La Paz, but its so small I'm having trouble changing chords. The right hand fingering is being learned fast because of all the flamenco exercises I've played. (Btw, the classes are costing me $1.65 per hour...which reminds me that the best deal so far was a night in Aiquile ($2.63 even though I slept on a straw mattress) and lunch at a Sunday market (less than a dollar). Beat that McDonald's value menu!) Boy that was a lot of parenthesis.

So about the Jornadas Culturales, its a yearly meeting in La Paz to discuss the state of culture in Bolivia. I joined the panel discussing music not really knowning what to expect. There were the main problems they talked about, in addition to preparing for the bicentenial celebration in 2009 (BTW, These are mostly notes to myself and not really interesting):
- The music consumption has moved to a majority of outside authors and music instead of national authors.
-Maintaning local cultural music; for example in La Paz there is an increase in Chacarrera style from the south of Bolivia, while more regional styles are being forgotten.
-Need for an organizational body to represent all musicians from every subsection of music. It seems like there are organizations already joining musicians and composers but there is misscomunication or the demands aren't being met.

One of the participants said, that Bolivia is a country of rich musical culture, but there is no such global presence.

Now for my opinions: I believe that it is important to promote music in the schools, because even though not every student will become a musician, at least this exposure will enable them to become a better listener and participant.

Another btw, my spellin in da last few entries must suck because i've been using internet cafes which use internet explorer which don't enable the spellcheck feature of blogger.

El internet mas raido

2007-10-19T08:35:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting at a punto entel (internet place), listening to the recordings of last night's CIES (http://cies-saludweb.org/) youth festival promoting sex ed at the Casa Cultural de Sucre. I'm uploading pictures of the past week and while I'm waiting for them to load I look around and see a french guy doing the same thing.

That reminds me, everywhere I go I end up hanging out with frenchies. In Barcelona it was my friend Emilie. In Santiago, Lyonel drove us to the cordillera. Crossing the Uyuni salt flats there was a french couple and an old french man, Bernard. I give that guy props for going on the adventure because he is 70 years old. The props decreased when he snored tremendously the first night when all six of us shared a room. They dropped even more the second and third day when he wore the same crap stained pair of pants and followed me around coughing and complaining of a sore throat. Well at least my french improved.

All the internet places that offer the fastest broadband use ADSL. Boy am I spoiled, 5kbs upload is like watching paint dry. But that's ok because today is my day of rest after a looong week.

Alturas

2007-10-18T12:04:00.000-07:00

I left Santiago a week ago and have been traveling north by bus.

Antofagasta, Chile: I was going to spend the night here but when I walked around the only interesting thing was the port. At least it was a good break from the long bus ride from Santiago. I was hopeing to check out the portada, but there were no public buses going there that day.

San Pedro de Atacama, Chile: I got here at night and found out what hostel the stanford kids from Santiago were staying at. It was definitely a lot of fun hanging out with them. I went bike riding to the ruins of Quitor then sandboarding at Death Valley. The next day I rode a bike 15km uphill to Valle de la Luna to watch the sunset. Yes, that meant that I rode back to town in the dark with a little headlight. Well, in between all this goodness, I actually do things for my project. At the town square at noon there was a cueca festival featuring youth group champions from every region. The cool part was that there was a live band with two guitars, an acordion, a mesa and three women singers.

4x4 three day adventure: I had originally thought to go back to Calama and take a bus to Uyuni, but I found out that there were three day tours from San Pedro that cross the altiplano to Uyuni. For $100 I took this trip with everything included (transportation, Bolivia entrance fee, breakfast lunch dinner, accomodations and park entrance fees). For anyone that doesn't know about the altiplano, it was above 3,000 meter peaking at 5000 and bitterly cold even with the crystal clear skies. The first night I slept with two t-shirts, two long sleves, a jacket, gloves, my beenie and two pants in addition to the four blankets.

There were several things that made this trip worth the cold. The first was that I saw llamas! I felt like Jimmy Neutron's fat friend that is in love with llamas. There were also alpacas and vicuñas (smaller versions of llamas).

The second experience pretty much made my trip to Bolivia already. On the tour we passed by a REALLY small town to take a break. That's when I saw a kid (10) walking down the dirt road playing a zampoña. I started a conversation with him and then asked if he could play a tune for me. After a few minutes of encouragement because of his shyness, he played a song and in the middle of it sang in Quechua, his native tongue.

Uyuni, Bolivia: The downside of the three day trip was that I felt sick when I reached Uyuni. Could have been due to the food or the altitude. There was nothing for me so see in Uyuni so I took the next bus to Sucre which left at 7pm yesterday and passed by Potosi at 3am and reached Sucre this morning at 7am.

Sucre, Bolivia: Now that I've had such an adventure in just a week its time for a break. I'm going to stay here two nights. I plan to check out the museo de folklore and maybe catch a show at one of the two theaters.

I wish I could upload the pictures I've taken because I'm afraid of loosing them. Especially the video of the kid from San Juan.

The Metro

2007-10-10T12:32:00.000-07:00

I ride the metro almost everytime I need to go somewhere in Santiago. The people here have complained a lot about the recent changes to the micro (autobus) system called Transantiago and about how crowded the metro gets. Well, since I have to car I can't complain and I am experiencing life here so this is just another experience. One thing I've noticed is that many people (including myself) take their mp3 players on the metro, which creates an environment of isolation. This is where my idea comes in (I think a new cell phone company in California already thought of this or is in the process) that the audio players interact with those around them. This would facilitate conversations with strangers while riding the metro if they are interested in what the other person is listening.

La Cordillera

2007-10-10T12:22:00.000-07:00

This weekend I went to la Cordillera de los Andes right next to Santiago. Randomly as I was visiting relatives of my HS friend Rodrigo Lois, a niece named Paloma (like my first grade gf in Chihuahua) invited me to go with her and her friends to the mountains.
This is where I thought, el mundo es un pañuelo (the world is a hankerchief) because her friends were a frenchman, Lionel, who worked the last four years in Mexico City and a girl from Stanford, Shira.
We tried going to some thermal waters but they were more room temperature than thermal. Then we hiked six km up the mountain to a supposed lagoon. Well, it was frozed over and our feet got soaked in the process. Good times.

Just When Things Were Looking Up

2007-10-05T16:03:00.000-07:00

For unknown reasons, the guy who's renting a room in his apartment to me changed his mind about an earlier agreement we had and will now start charging me $25 per day if I choose to stay with him. What this means for me is that I am now going to start my trip north and leave this apartment.

Things are looking up

2007-10-05T15:54:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I went to Plaza de los Dominicos where I was told there was a good artesan center. I finally found the music store that had traditional south american instruments with Mapuche (Native Chilean) horns that I'd never seen before. The storeowner apparently was out to lunch so I just took some pictures and kept walking around. When I passed the store a second time I felt like I was being followed. That person finally asked me if I was looking for him. Since I had no idea who he was I said no. But then I found out that he was Enrique Rebolledo, luthier! We had a short conversation about the instruments before he left for lunch.
The interesting part is that he was warned about some guy taking pictures (me) because there have been times when Chinese people visit, take pictures and then make copies of the crafts that they find.
Things look good because when I return from my trip I might be able to help him out. We'll see how things go.

"Papi yo soy gay...no mijo, tu eres un pobre..."

2007-10-05T15:44:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I went to visit Santa Lucia, which is a small hill in the center of the city. On the way I crossed Alemeda street, but to my surprise there was a gay pride parade. Props to the people.

Naranjitos de Maipu

2007-10-05T15:12:00.000-07:00

The turist office of Santiago put on a turism fair. This included having groups perform in front of the building. The group above is Naranjitos de Maipu that performed dances from all over Chile. Afterwards there was a group from the island of Pascua. I was a bit emberassed when one of the dancers (the one with the coconuts) pulled me up to dance. This is one of the times that traveling alone is a problem because then no one documented this moment.

Los Blancos

2007-09-28T18:38:00.001-07:00

Tonight I went to EL UNIVERSO AUDIOVISUAL DE LOS PUEBLOS INDÍGENAS at the Cultural Center of Spain (http://ccespana.cl/).
I saw a documentary (Jaguares) about indigenous groups in Brazil. It was really sad about how they lost their culture due to the blancos (white man, the priests) and how they are just now returning to their traditions.
The other film was about the Jaipo group in Colombia that was protesting to gain more land. Before I had to leave to take the bus back to my apartment, I saw images of police cruelty against those people, chanfle.

Look mom, I can make tortillas

2007-09-28T14:26:00.000-07:00

In spain I didn't really complain about not having tortillas because I went out and got fresh baguettes every day. I tried the bread here in Chile, not my favorite...so now I really have the cravings for my tortillas. The first batch I made I used a glass cup because I didn't have a rolling pin. Maybe the third time I try they will come out more round instead of square. Buying some bakeing powder might help also.

Latin people are passionate

2007-09-28T14:01:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting in the Santiago Library (where I can get free internet) and there is a couple sitting across the tabled from me "reading" a book together. All of a sudden I glance up and see the guy kissing the back of her neck. She looked liked she was going to melt or faint. Just and observation.

This song is dedicated to...(love you mi reina)

2007-09-28T13:45:00.000-07:00

Band: Sinergia
Song: Te Enojai Por Todo
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBxllb_ZxfE

Last week while I was waiting for Movistar to register my new cell phone number, I watched TV in their waiting room. At noon on channel TVN music videos are shown. I really liked this band, Sinergia, even though its very 'ordinaria' and could even be considered 'flayte' (lower class). Which brings me to the point that there is a lot of class division in Santiago. From plaza Italia to the east (towards the Cordillera) is the barrio alto of the upper class. On the other side the lower class whose slang and customs are called flayte.

Artesania of diminishing return

2007-09-27T17:46:00.000-07:00

I went to the artesania market today and there was a discussion where an artesan was saying how now a days the artesans in Santiago (or in general) are becoming more like merchants and less like craftspeople.

In other news: reggeaton is BIG! I heard it in Spain and now its even more popular in Chile. When I went to a fonda for independence day celebrations I danced cueca (the national dance since 1974). Immediately after that dance I remember that the dj put on a reggeaton song. Even someone's grandmother was dancing to this music! That's a big difference I see here, old people listen to it. Today I also went to a folkore show at the santiago tourist office and the sound engineer put on some reggeaton to sound check. The group was composed of elderly women from comuna florida here in Santiago and when the music came on they began to dance to it, oh snap. Daddy Yankee would be proud.

Thank you google maps

2007-09-26T17:59:00.000-07:00

Between the time I left Barcelona on my trip to Andalucia and right now, Google has updated their maps to include Chile!!!! Now I hope that by the time I get to Argentina Google will update those maps.

Down with the Sickness

2007-09-25T19:02:00.000-07:00

I made it to Chile....brrr its cold. I hated going from a nice 30 to a max of 10. Well, I got sick and made myself bedridden. But, before that I was able to take part in the fondas, ramadas and dance cuecas in the independence day celebrations. I would have a bunch of pictures to show, but when I was out at an asada, my pictures from the last two weeks were erased (long story). Its 10:30pm so I've got head back to my apartment from this cybercafe...can't stay out too long or else I might get mugged and stabbed on my way back.

Mi Carro

2007-08-26T12:12:00.000-07:00

There's a television channel that plays music videos, TeleTaxi. Its in catalan, but most of the videos are in castellano. One of my favorites from this summer is "Mi Carro" a cover by El Koala.

To see the video haz click here: The rock cover

The original was done by Manolo Escobar in 1969: Original

Now if only I knew how to sing. Here are the lyrics:

Mi carro me lo robaron estando de romería
Mi carro me lo robaron anoche cuando dormía

Dónde estará mi carro.
Dónde estará mi carro.

Me dicen que le quitaron los clavos que relucían
Creyendo que eran de oro de limpios que los tenía.

Dónde estará mi carro.
Dónde estará mi carro.

Donde quiera que esté mi carro es mío,
porque en él me crié allá en el río,
si lo llego a encontrar, vendrás conmigo
en mi carro de amor por el camino

Les digo, por el camino hablando con los romeros
que lleva sobre sus varas Antonio grabado a fuego.

Dónde estará mi carro.
Dónde estará mi carro.

En mi carro gasté una fortuna,
en mis noches de amor llevé la luna
Preguntando busqué por todas partes
y por fín lo encontré y s’acabao.

Ska's Not All Fun and Games

2007-08-26T05:47:00.000-07:00

With all the street festivals in Barcelona, I saw a bunch of ska bands. The flavor is a bit different than I was used to in California. Back there when I heard bands like Reel Big Fish, and Suburban Legends the songs were more fun and games. Suburban Legends played in Downtown Disney.

In Barcelona, ska and punk are the styles that young people use to be political. One group was pro Catalan independence, another yells grievances against the police. Not only are these kids more well informed, but they also play kickass music to spread the word. Back in Cali punk used to be like that, but now pop punk is all about skateboarding and girls (which I enjoyed).

Festa Major de Gracia

2007-08-24T10:18:00.000-07:00

Wow, this was the biggest street festival EVER! A weeklong event of music, food and fun. Even before the event began I went online (http://www.festamajordegracia.cat/) and looked up the acts.

All I can say is that the decorations of the street reminded me of building Interhovse parties. I was also in the midst of street fireworks!

Directions...Oops!

2007-08-24T06:56:00.000-07:00

What's worse than being lost? Asking a blind man for help with a map. That's what my floormate did the other day. Throughout Barcelona there are posts, that sell lottery tickets. La Organización Nacional de Ciegos Españoles, ONCE, is the group that serves these posts. They employ blind people to sell the tickets. Just an fyi.

Blisters

2007-08-22T15:25:00.000-07:00

I've grown out the nails on my right hand to help me play guitar. It feels weird typing with nails, much harder to hit the keys correctly. I also have a blister on my thumb that prevents me from playing guitar every day. At the beginning of August I played for a few hours straight one day and had to stop playing for a week until my blister popped and became callous again.
In other news, today is the first day I actually noticed a piezoelectric pickup (like the one shown above). There was a guy in the metro playing the guitar with one of these. Very timely as I have been reading about the "tapa armónica" which is the front piece of the guitar body where the pickup is placed. The book describes the need for the wood to resonate and I wondered the effect of the pickup. It is definitely negligible especially considering that I press onto the body with my middle and annular fingers when I pluck with my thumb. Anyways, just a thought.

While I'm at it, another thought is about optically imaging the "tapa armónica" to map out its modes. The only thing regarding optical imaging I've found so far (I haven't searched hard) is someone using light to pickup guitar fingerings.

Crazy weather

2007-08-21T11:52:00.000-07:00

Earlier today I went and read more of John Eargle's The Microphone Book at the beach. It was a partially cloudy 85 degrees F. Right now its raining and there will be no music festival tonight for me. In case the reader is not aware, I do not like the rain. You can't play an electric guitar outdoors when its raining. You can't dance around in a crowd of umbrellas. I don't feel like cooking so I think I'll go grab something to eat and bring it back here. Tonight will be a good time to catch up on mastering my recordings and adding blog entries about the festival I'm missing tonight.

Busker's Festival

2007-08-16T09:38:00.000-07:00

August 2-5 was Bursker's Music Festival in Barceloneta. About 12 bands lined the streets each day along the port and the beach of Barceloneta.
Los Pacos was the first band I saw. They sang hilarious rock music and even covered "la puerta negra" which is a tejano song that I played for Dabney Metal Knight. I liked their matching red converses and ties as well as the cajon instead of a drumset.
What I was really excited to listen was a rumba band called Rumbé (I even bought their shirt afterwards). I stayed here for almost their entire set. In addition to the music, they had a Russian performer in training that did pole climbing. He did acrobatics on a pole they setup until he ripped his pants. What was amazing was that he slid head down about five meters and stopped five cm from the ground. I did a brief mastering of the recording I made of them and gave them to mi morrita to listen. The cool thing about all these street festivals is that there is no rule against recording if I don't sell them.
A fun band was Pegatina that had a guy on stilts pumping the crowd. The style is rumba-reggae. Then moving onto folk internacional bands there was Gattamolesta:
This band had a few vagabonds dancing in front.
As I kept walking down the beachfront I made it to a tango group called Violentango.
The rest of the bands were variations on rock and weren't as impressive or fun as the above mentioned bands.

There is a difficulty with my M-Audio recorder when recording sound reinforced concerts because of the loudness. There is a lot of clipping that occurs, especially with the bass drums and snares.

Dark Side of Barcelona

2007-08-01T07:49:00.000-07:00

Last night I was almost robbed (don't worry mom, I'm ok). I went out with a group of student from University of Barcelona to celebrate Emily's 21 birthday. When it was time to go home (5am) we decided to walk along the beach. At one point we sat down and some guy came over asking me for a cigarette. After I told him that I didn't have one he proceeded to try to greet us and shook my hand and all that. Later on he tries to pickpocket me and at that point I just walked away and made sure I wasn't missing anything.
But wait, there's more.
There's no need to go to a brothel because at night there are prostitutes all along Las Ramblas street. Last night I walked home Emily, a french girl, because her neighborhood is a bit sketchy (don't worry Mary, she has a boyfriend). Anyways, I walked back alone. Usually the prostitutes (more commonly referred to as "putas") just blow me kisses as I walk past and also say stuff like "cute boy." This night one was walking past me and grabbed my arm, eww. I quickly shook her hand off and kept walking. The weird part was that it happened again further on. What a bad way to end a night of celebrating someones birthday.

Guitar Trick

2007-07-31T08:49:00.000-07:00

When I went in for flamenco guitar lessons last week I noticed that with certain chords my guitar had a weird resonance. It sounded like one of the metal pegs was loose...now that I think about it I wish I would have recorded that sound. The instructor, Javier, knew what it could be and asked to borrow my guitar instead of me taking into the shop. He said, "no te asustes," before he began to reassure me that he knew what he was doing. He began to move the strings to one side of the fretboard, off of the nut. He continued until all the strings were set aside and the nut came right off. I had didn't know that it wasn't glued on. I was used to a violin, which takes more effort to raise the strings off the fretboard. He then placed a thin piece of wood underneath to raise the nut and then replaced the strings. This solved the problem! and without having to unwind all the strings.

Montjuic

2007-07-26T07:25:00.001-07:00

Montjuic is a public park at the top of a hill where there's also a museum of history, gardens, a greek theater and a castle. On one wall of the castle there is an outdoor theater where films are screened Monday, Wednesday and Fridays in July. I've seen Memento and this past Monday I saw Contra la Pared. The sweet deal for me is that before each movie there is a band that plays on a stage to the left of the screen. This past Monday it was a German folk band. The only downside was that it was windy and the noise was heard in the speakers.
And the movie had intermissions where a Turkish band played and sort of narrated the next phase in the movie. What I enjoyed is that towards the end of the movie, only the music was herd in the intermissions, which I thought was to set the mood and let the audience interpret the ending instead of giving lyrics to set the ending.

¡Viva Colombia!

2007-07-26T07:02:00.000-07:00

Colombian independence day is July 20, so on Sunday July 22 there was a huge festival at the Forum Park in Barcelona. Apparently there's about 50,000 Colombians living in Barcelona. It was surreal for me to see them celebrating their independence from Spain while living in Spain. For example, one of the songs talks about a married slave couple where the wife was being mistreated by the Spaniard.

One cool thing about this festival is that I was about to just hang out by the stage watching the sound crew and the performers setup for their gig. The sucursalsa band has 10 people and took a really long time to sound check. So long in fact that the audience was getting restless and loud "ya pongan musica para bailar." The congas were checked first, then the brass section, then the strings. For each section each instrument (mic) was checked independently and then the whole group. Throughout the whole show the biggest problem was with the monitors. It is very noticeable, at least for me now that I've been interested in mixing shows, when a performer is trying to get the attention of the sound engineer to change the monitors. And a lot of the time the sound guy isn't paying attention or is hard to get. Also, the power to the bass amp went out a few times during their performance.

There was a carnival game where you threw bean bags into a clay pit and tried to make them stick. The distance was pretty far so it wasn't easy. I didn't try the game because I ran out of money after getting food. I had arepas for the first time.
I would never have thought there would be this much variety in music festivals, but I'm excited because it fits my varied taste in music.

Fiesta Major de Poble Sec

2007-07-26T06:38:00.000-07:00

My second Fiesta Major was last weekend in the barrio of Poble Sec. The way I found out about this festival was walking back from visiting Montjuic and seeing the fliers on the walls. On Saturday July 21, Rachel Hall has asked me if I wanted to meet up for dinner. When we met up I told her about the festival and so we trekked over to Poble Sec. The first stage we arrived at (each street had a stage with 5 or 6 stages total) was a dance group composed of elderly women and dancing a southern style. After the dancing came an elderly man singing a few songs and then began the bingo. Needless to say that this was the retirement stage.

Barcelona is an international city and so every little barrio has their own mixture of immigrants. In Poble Sec there is a large group of Dominicanos and so one of the stages was a group that right away I recognized sounded like Aventura. Then later on they played some covers by that group.

Now it was about 10pm and time to eat dinner. We went into a small dinner and to our surprise began a show like the Buena Vista Social Club. The first act was a man singing Cuban songs and afterwards came out the owner of the restaurant. She was a woman that was definitely past 40, but also very well kept because she came out in a Las Vegas showgirl outfit!!! Thus, this was one of the most interesting dinners I've had and the food was new also. I forgot the name of what I ordered, but it was white meat on top of a huge piece of bread.

Univesity of Barcelona

2007-07-26T06:23:00.000-07:00

Last week I went to two shows at the University of Barcelona (UB). Behind the old two story stone building of UB is a garden where bands played Tuesdays and Thursdays in July. One night the music was a colorful gypsy folk band and the other night there was an English soft rock band. Most of the students of UB in the audience were foreigners. I heard some very different and interesting accents in Spanish.
My floormate, David Visvanathan, is from Denmark and is studying this next term at UB. I got lucky that he's into music so that we inform each other about what concerts are coming up.