World Order 2012, Mexico City

Genki Sudo in Mexico City!

Love Story – Historia de un amor

Los Panchos can make a desert weep. Spinning Mexican love ballads and boleros back in the 50s and 60s, they were at their best when American songbird Eydie Gorme came on board. Their intoxicating, syrupy sounds will wrap you in a warm embrace and send you waltzing with the lamp posts.

Cervante’s Festival of the Arts

Finnish Virpi Pahkinen, performs Aajej (nordic wind) experimental ballet

October 15 through November 2 – Michoacán, MX

The Festival Internacional Cervantino is one of the most outstanding cultural events in Latin America. The event draws tens of thousands of Mexicans and tourists to attend plays, concerts, symposia, dance performances and films.

More than 2,800 artists from 29 countries perform; special invited performance artists represent Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway and Nayarit.  This year’s theme, The Gifts of Nature, is dedicated to the environment.

Background on the festival (FIC) in Guanajuato:  http://www.guanajuato.gob.mx/ingles/FIC.htm

Festival Internacional Cervantino (FIC) official site (in Spanish):  http://www.festivalcervantino.gob.mx/

Emotional Bag Check

This was too GOOD not to share:  http://emotionalbagcheck.com/

I, and many of the people I know, live perpetually in suspense moving from country to country every three or four years.  We acquire a lot of baggage along the way, and stress.  Moving is high on the list of life experiences that cause stress and effects our lives in many ways, including our relationships with our spouses and children.  We leave friendships behind and feel physical pain when we hear the word roots.  Right now I have a friend moving and she’s finding it hard.  It would be nice to lighten her load.

For others, it’s not an international move, but illness, an aging parent, financial difficulties, loss of a loved one.  Life tests our resilience.

So, here’s something that might make your day, or the day of someone close to you, a little brighter, a little lighter:

Feeling weighed down by emotional baggage? A new web service offers a quick pick-me-up. Simply upload your drama to Emotional Bag Check—whether your burden relates to relationships, school, or work—and you’ll get advice from a stranger in the form of a song she hand-picked to help you cope. Or if you’re feeling emotionally generous, you can get a taste of someone else’s turmoil and send a song his way to help him deal.

Found on The Daily GOOD:  http://www.good.is/category/culture/

Mexican Independence Day Chiles en Nogada and video jam: Herb Alpert vs. Tres Delincuentes

This week I decided that I could only post to this blog if I discovered an original approach to the celebration and rich traditions of September 16, Mexican’s Independence Day, or bore my readers to death with redundancy.

Since I didn’t have a creative stroke of insight, I took a holiday, laid back and enjoyed the festivities.

Nonetheless, I couldn’t resist sharing a few Mexican treasures:  For the cuisine inclined, a link for Chiles en Nogada and Chiles en Nogada with fresh fruit. Chiles en Nogada is a classic for the festivities, in part, because this dish, “blistered, peeled poblano chiles filled with seasoned meat, fruit and nuts, smothered with a sauce of cream and walnuts, and garnished with pomegranate seeds” has all the colors of the Mexican flag. Click on either of these two links:  Cooking in Mexico.  Celebrating Mexican independence with chiles en nogada « Cooking in Mexico  for recipes.

Also, readers might enjoy these musical classics – thanks to BoingBoing for sharing - Los Tres Delincuentes/Three Delinquents and Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass.  Remember the days?

 

Holidays are soon over for this blogger.  How was your weekend?

7 Songs about Mexico City, DF – pure chilanga* inspiration (from Chilango Magazine)

Click here:  7 Canciones que hablan del DF | Chilango.com

I guess this week will include a lot of posts with videos and this one is of music videos pulled from the current issue of  Chilango magazine.  The journalist, Maria Fernanda Lopez, did a nice job and I particularly enjoy the first two.  Click on the link above and advance forward using the arrows at the top right hand side of the video screen to hear seven songs that feature the Distrito Federal/Federal District – what people in the capital often call their city.  The songs and bands are listed above each music video and underneath the screen is a short synopsis and excerpt of the song and lyrics.  If you have a favorite among these seven, and find the Spanish challenging, drop me a line.

Ms. Lopez, writes in the introduction,

Mexico City, so despised and loved at the same time, has been the muse of inspiration for national and international musicians who have given us diverse perceptions of our dear home.  Some touch on everyday themes, like the traffic or the city’s women, while others tackle more serious issues that all of us should give more attention, like drug trafficking.

Whatever it might be, our city has enamored and inspired many and their enchantment is reflected in these songs.  We are proud.

VOCABULARY HELP

* Chilango  is  Mexican slang and generally refers to a person from Mexico City (common usage) OR An unsophisticated person (from the sticks) now living in Mexico City.  The word derives from the word “chile”; presumably these less-sophisticated transplants ate lots of it. When most people (except Mexico City natives!) use the word they are using the first definition. Its tone is slightly pejorative or ironic, having much the same tone as the word “gringo,” referring to someone from the United States. (see the above highlighted link to chilango for more complete information about the word and the magazine).