Emily Lau with Istanpitta

This little clip lets you hear Emily Lau singing. Her voice was so beautiful. And I loved the vielle (the medieval violin) that Shula is playing. It sounds so much nicer than a modern violin. She said that's because the back is flat so it isn't as shrill.
I had dinner with Emily and Shula and Al last night, and I enjoyed talking to them so much, but I sort of feel like they think I'm retarded. Anyway, the video is not as good as they were in life.

Dancers

Little Dancers.
In the main plaza in Tuxtepec there is a stage. And a bandstand. But the stage is where they mount public productions on the weekends. They have a lot of events: music, fashion shows, speeches, and traditional dance. I was coming home one day and passed this group of kids. They were a little shakey in their performance. Like kids do, they stood around some and stared at each other when they got lost. But they were all right. I figure they'll improve and end up being quite good at it.

Music Video from Mascaritas

Nothin' says lovin' American-style like Mexican Banda musicians in Indian costumes. I was, and remain, amazed.

Grandfather Mountain

I can't believe I haven't posted these pictures yet!!!! I must be really busy with school this semester, huh? Here are Scooter, Al, and EJ, the first time I met any of them. And these Scottish Heritage celebraters are what make these festivals fun. I'll post some pictures of ME and Miss Naincy next. This was in July and it was freaking COLD at night up on the mountain. And it was cold during the daytime. And it was dreary and rainy- lot's of 'atmosphere'. We plan to make it an annual event!

Bagpipes and drums in our hotel

The party is always at our place I guess :)
Now can you see the thing Richard is holding in one of these pictures?
Yes. That is a bagpipe. Or a set of pipes - I don't know the terminology. They played pipes and guitars and the sitar, crikey! Is that the name, I think that's not right...anyway, they played that and drums until maybe 4 am. It was LOUD. And it was in a booked-out hotel. And NOBODY complained! We were all expecting people to bang on the door at any minute but nobody did. It was amazing!
So I had to drive back to Memphis the next morning. It was a horrible drive with about 3 hours sleep and a hangover. But it was ok. I drank a lot of coffee. It was cool.

Am I a Teribus Groupie!??!?

I think I am not a Teribus groupie. Because, I believe, you have to be fucking a band member to qualify for that and I'm not. So there!
After the festival we all went out for dinner at some cool place. One of the organizers of the event took us to a trendy place downtown and we had really great food. I had a vegan Reuben sandwich and, believe it or not, it was absolutely delicious! Hmmm...I feel I'm not bitching enough about things. I'm sure I'll get around to complaining soon :) We took a lot of pictures of each other, me and the Teribus guys. It was totally fun. I really love this band and these guys. I don't know who I love more, Teribus or Jim Malcolm. HAH! Silvio Rodriguez, hands down. So I don't have to make the horrible choice b/c they both come after Silvio!

Virginia Highland Games Again

And here are some more pictures from the VA Highland Games. What should I complain about? The weather was wonderful. The music was great. The people were friendly. We had full thermoses of wine with us. It was pretty much idyllic. I can't think of anything to complain about!
Wait. We were a little late. But hey it was all good!
This old guy and the little girl were dancing and impressing everybody. And EJ went out into the audience to teach us all how to dance this ground-stomping dance from somewhere in France. It was all just SOOO fun!

Virginia Highland Games in October

This Highland Games festival was held in some little town in Virginia so I drove like 12 hours to meet Nancy there because Al and the guys were playing. Teribus. That's the name of the band. The first night we went to a scotch tasting event thrown by the sponsors of the festival and Teribus had to play while Nancy and I got to just drink :)
They had really nice cream-puffs too. I am a particular fan of the cream-puff and the eclair - in case you didn't know.
Then Al and EJ and Richard came over and played music in our room till the wee hours.
The festival was the next day and here are a couple of pictures from it.
A lot of people were in costume and several people danced the Highland Fling. Or maybe it was something else, I don't know my Scottish dances. But anyway lots of people were decked out in their coolest Scottish finery so it was total fun. I'll post more pictures of the games and the people.

Jim's Scotch

Jim was drinking Laphroaig. A very peat-y scotch with a honey flavor - but he said it wasn't sweet. I tasted sweetness. But again, Jim Malcolm said it wasn't sweet. And he's from Scotland. It is pronounced like Freud, as in Sigmund Freud. La-Freu-g. Why is scotch always better when given to you by a Scotsman?

I'm not a Jim Malcolm groupie...

...I just look a lot like a Jim Malcolm groupie. Nancy met him first and then I met him at Logan's Scottish Heritage Festival in Georgia. I have pictures from that trip posted here somewhere. Try looking in summer 2008. And so we are all friends and whenever Jim plays anywhere near us, Nancy and I go and then hang out and drink scotch with him after the show and catch up on everything. I can't decide if he actually likes us because we are cool, or if he just tolerates us because we are fans? Anyway, it's always fun to hang out with Jim!

Little Sufis - Sufiettes?

At Al Azhar park one night we found Sufis. It was a free concert and dance performance and it featured some young Sufi dancers. This little boy was really cute. AND all of his pictures have an orb. Interesting.

More Sufi Dancers...

...because they are just that damn cool!

Sufi Dances

I ended up going to see a lot of Sufi dances. Probably because the performances are free. But also because it is just kick-ass. The dances, the dancers, the costumes, the music, the hot as hell building it's in, the whole gestalt.

Las Guitarras de España

I went to see Las Guitarras de España tonight for free at the University theater. They are a sort of a loose confederation of a Flamenco group. The musicians that played at this performance were two guitarists, one percussionist, one singer, and one dancer. Well, the singer did a little dancing. I want to say first that the singer, Chiara Lucia Mangiameli was without hesitation the absolute best part of the show. Her picture is posted here. She was fantastic. Absolutely the best. I bought their CD because of her.
I mean. Really. Anybody can play the Flamenco guitar (well, you know what I mean) but a voice like hers is few and far between. Flamenco music is heavily influenced by Arabic, North African, and Indian music. Chiara's voice is perfect for that and you can feel those places in her voice. If you remember the vocalist from the movie Frieda- that sang La Llorona- well, Chiara is kinda like that but better.
The guitars were good, I don't mean to dismiss them. And the percussionist was okay too. Maybe she was really good, I'm not a good judge of that. She played traditional instruments, one called a cojón from Peru that was basically a box she sat on and hit. It sounded nice but I feel like I could have done as good a job. She also played a North African drum, again it sounded very good, but I felt like I could have done that.
The worst part was the dancer Wendy Clinard. Everything about that woman just bothered me. Her accent, the way she answered questions, but especially the way she danced. Ok, I don't know anything about Flamenco. But I hope that what she did is not traditional. If any of you have read my post about the scourge called modern ballet then you'll understand when I say that she looked like she was posing for a body-building competition half of the time. Also she had an expression of pain on her face the entire time she danced. Not pain like a soulful heart-achey pain, but like she had a toothache.
Overall it was fabulous and I'd be willing to overlook the hideous dancer again just to hear Chiara sing with the band.

A horse named Ed-Bob. Or not.

Here are some pictures from the same trip to Beale Street, but with my camera instead of Natalie's. It's pretty much the same. We had a great time, as always with Natalie! We talked to a horse-carriage dude. His horse was named Bad Bob, but I kept thinking he said it was Ed Bob and I thought that was a funny name for a horse. He said that his horse was a retired race horse. Bob seemed content and his feet looked good. But we didn't ride in the carriage.