Category Archives: Music

Until the end of the world

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Movies and music used to be an important part of my life. I used to hang out with cool friends that could speak for hours about Win Wenders and obscure soundtracks. I never knew too much about those myself but I guess I brought other things to the conversation. Fascination for example, and endless curiosity.

Courtesy of the pandemic we now have access to all streaming channels available. This includes Criterion. And yes, I finally got to watch the movie with such a great title and amazing soundtrack. It turns out that the soundtrack was more successful than the movie. I can see how excruciating it would have been to watch it at the movie theater. At home, with pauses for life and sleep, it is a 5-hour masterpiece of imagination and travel.

It got me thinking about art and artsy people that spend their lives following their passion and making a name for themselves. I admire their courage and dedication. So much to say about their time and understanding of the world. I am not sure much will be left to reminisce about in 50 years. Maybe I am already too old to appreciate new trends, but somehow I doubt tiktok will pass the test of time.

That takes me to reading. For years I have felt guilty and sad about only reading for work. I reminisce of the summers at my grandparents farm, laying in a hammock and devouring book after book. It is difficult to replicate that sense of eternity and lack of urgency that allows you to just embody the story the characters are going through. It also takes good writing. And that is as precious as gold.

I am very partial to certain authors and styles. I guess coming from the country of Macondo I was destined to enjoy the so-called Literatura Fantastica. Cien años de soledad and La casa de los espiritus are my all time favorites. I think it is also about timeless families and stories. I couldn’t get enough from Guadalcanal and now from Largo Petalo de mar.

I am not sure any of those will be the same in English. Each language has its own music and very rarely have I enjoyed a literary translation. Yet, I guess if you don’t know the original language it doesn’t matter. So if you have a chance I encourage you to try some Isabel Allende, Garcia Marquez, Benedetti, William Ospina, and let yourself go.

Life hymns

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My parents had a large collection of vinyl and my job after each party at home was to put the records back in their sleeves. That is how I first discovered The Doors, The Beatles, Bob Marley and, of course, Fania All Stars. My father also loved jazz, but that love didn’t permeate me. Perhaps if the cartoon of the three pigs and the wolf wouldn’t have had jazzy trumpets as weapons, it could have been different. I love “Take Five” by The Dave Brubeck Quartet and can listen again and again to “The Koln Concert” by Keith Jarret, but that is about it.

The love for The Beatles, on the other hand, is a family affair. My parents didn’t have specific albums. Only a compilation of 8 records that I had the fortune to find again at a flea market in Bogota. It turns out it was a very special one, as it included some different mixes of some of the tracks that were unavailable anywhere else at the time. I used to sing the songs way before I understood what they said. Later, I rediscovered the songs through their original albums and fell in love again. Still, my favorite versions will always be Hugh Marshall’s, 1980.  

I guess musical tastes are created early on and are difficult to shake. I still love almost anything from the 1960s and 1970s but there are very few contemporary favorite singers or bands that I could mention if my life depended on it. Right now, I can only think of Fleet Foxes. The Doors and Bob Marley’s songs remain recurrent hymns. It is hard to find more meaningful lyrics than “Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but our self can free our minds”. And Jim Morrison’s intense words literally light my fire.

Somehow I feel differently about music in Spanish. Recently I have been getting a huge kick out of Latin Party Anthems’ list in Spotify. While I fast forward many songs, there are some that I can’t get enough of. They just make me feel happy and upbeat in the privacy of my earphones. Marc Anthony’s “Tu amor me hace bien” and “Vivir mi vida” are my life elixirs. I am also obsessed with Santiago Cruz’s “Vida de mis vidas”. “Esta vida nos sigue sorprendiendo, vida de mis vidas, nos sigue regalando la alegría, nos muestra que es posible la utopía” resonates deeply with the way I want to continue embracing every day. What are your hymns?

Sonido Bestial

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Growing up I only knew one type of salsa dancing. And I loved it. Dancing the more than 6 minutes of “Sonido Bestial” was the closest to heaven I felt for years. In 1994 I spent a month in Cuba and to my surprise I realized that I simply couldn’t dance at all. Cuban Rueda de casino is a whole different ballpark. Couples dance to Timba music as a group following the same moves that a leader calls with signs or code words. The bit was also different and the fluidity of it was a stark contrast with the jumpy and push and pull feel of Colombian style salsa dancing. I was enamored. In 1999 I moved to Santiago Chile and discovered the most amazing place to start my journey in casino dancing. It is called Maestra Vida in Bella Vista. The ambiance is amazing, and they also have classes with amazing Cuban dancers. I made it my home.

When I moved to New York I was excited about dancing at the birthplace of the classic salsa I grew up with, Fania and all. I got ready to go out to a classic place downtown, thinking I would dance all night without a problem. I was wrong. In New York they dance on 2! I tried dancing with a kind gentleman and suddenly realized that he was not really leading. His steps and moves were very soft, and he seemed to be dancing to an entirely different song. Around me women were doing all sorts of fancy turns and Suzy Qs. My BA in Colombian salsa and master in Rueda were useless! I had to start again almost from scratch. It is tricky to dance on the second bit when you have always danced on the first. It is difficult to explain (see comments for a lengthy explanation), and I didn’t enjoy it that much.

Of course, it was just a matter of time before finding the Cuban salsa community in the city. It is an amazing group of people that love dancing and made going out a safe and exhilarating experience. To fulfill my need for dancing I also took classes several times a week. I went as far in that journey as starting to learn to lead, as women and men indistinctly lead in Rueda, but my memory couldn’t handle the many moves. I haven’t danced regularly in almost a decade. I guess after performing in public with the group a few times, I kind of graduated from a salsa PhD and it was time for new things. I can’t say I don’t miss it, but I don’t long for it either. My next step is to instill a bit of this love for salsa in my daughter. I will find a way!

Bogotá

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There are so many preconceptions about Bogotá. The city I grew up in the 1970s and 1980s was a city in which at 12 I could go to a movie with a friend and walk back home without worries. Granted, the theater was half a block from home, but still, it didn’t feel unsafe. I am sure that big battles against drug cartels and the like were being fought somewhere but I was never aware of them. That changed in the 1990s, as Michael Palin reflected in Full Circle, or perhaps I just became more aware of danger when my hippo-campus finally developed.

I recently visited again after a few years away and the feeling was that of a city inundated with cars, many of them connected to the sharing economy, and one in which those displaced from the war were finally assimilated, while the newcomers were families from Venezuela asking for food in the street. I think safety considerations have eased up or they all just got used to living with heightened precautions and smog.

Bogotá is also a city that just elected the first woman for mayor and has a Salsa al Parque and Rock al Parque music festivals. It is a city of graffiti accepted as art and great artists and museums. It is a city of magical mountains and epic restaurants that would rival any in the island I now call home. In just a week I enjoyed fusion food and muddled wine at a new brewery at Parque 93, Italians at Calle 85, Zona Rosa and in the middle of a traditional market and French at the old center of the city. Of course, the best food was at home, where my mother delighted us with a Bandeja Paisa and an Ajiaco that brought infinite memories and comfort.

It is a city I love. And I would love it anyway no matter what because my family and dear friends are there. Yet, as Mercedes Sosa says, “uno vuelve siempre a los viejos sitios donde amó la vida y entonces comprende cómo están de ausentes las cosas queridas”, which may simply mean that longing for going back is not really an option. So here it is, my tribute to Bogotá, the city that embraced me at birth, made me the resilient person I believe I am, and now welcomes me with open heart when I visit. Thank you.

Check @1538crea for Bogotá memorabilia

Give life back to music! 

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Multi-tasking is not all we were told it was. Apparently our brains are impaired by it. The thing is, I love music, all the time, and especially when glued to chair. I feel comfort and a sense of belonging. But it can certainly distract me, especially when I am trying to write.

Still, I refuse to give up the soothing companionship of a randomized list of favorites: rock, folk, old style salsa, Daft Punk and the necessary Latin hymns of Carlos Vives and the like. I also love classical music mixes…until the occasional opera aria creeps up on me. It always takes me out of anything I am doing, with chills. You see, it brings back memories of the neighbor that used to wake me up early every Sunday in my teens. Not pleasant.

Interestingly, last year I started with the motto of doing new things and doing things in a different way, you know, trying to not give constant signals of insanity. In spite of my youngster trauma I went to the opera for the first time. It was quite an experience. I finally understood the fascination many feel about it. The costumes and sets are amazing. There is humor and pain. I would do it again. But don’t ask me to also listen to it, please.

This year my motto is to be micro-ambitious. I think Tim Minchin is on to something there. He advocates passionate dedication to the pursuit of short-term goals. So here I am, putting my head down and working (not sure if I would say that with pride, as he suggests; obstinacy is perhaps more accurate) on whatever is in front on me. It has worked wonders, especially to keep up with my studies and, more importantly, my work obligations.

I don’t multitask. On the contrary, I try to make sure I have only one objective for the next couple of hours and move on to another task when I get stuck in any of the many possible ways, by now all too familiar to me. Going for coffee and writing this blog also help, especially to feel human again for a moment.

Right now, end of the day, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are here with me. The album is “Let love in”. I am going to take it as a signal from the universe to begin the healing after so many battles against shame and guilt…Give life back to music!