And you get music like this (link in Spanish), by the Banda Plástica de Tepetlixpa from the southeast of Mexico State, Mexico. I especially liked their rendition of Yellow Submarine, but be warned, this kind of music might not be for all tastes.
Tag Archives: music
Nortec Collective in Stockholm
A few weeks ago we were fortunate enough to visit Stockholm, to finally see Nortec Collective live. Nedless to say, we jumped around like crazy and enjoyed the gig immensely, especially since instead of Banda samples they actually had live musicians backing them up (who played an encore of their own). We even ended up backstage with them after the gig, and naturally welcomed them to come to the Helsinki Festival whenever they could.
It was a very welcome pause, and it was nice to see that Stockholm still looks the same. An interesting note was that everybody spoke to me in Swedish (even though I had a tejana on most of the time), while that seldom happens in Finland with or without funny hats.
Russian ska in Helsinki: Leningrad
Ленинград (Leningrad) are a Russian ska band that I knew previously, and visited Helsinki a month ago. The gig was excellent, as you can see below, even if I didn’t understand a word.
Mexican wedding receptions
One of those things that I was not used to anymore was how Mexican wedding receptions are organised. The wedding ceremony itself can be religious or not (usually you have both, as there is complete separation of Church and State in the country) but as almost everywhere else you have the reception.
In Finland, the reception is a very orderly affair, with a programme that will include the toast and the banquet, performances by a band and maybe even the guests, speeches and finally some dancing. In Mexico, it is quite orderly as well, but you don’t notice it so much. You will first have the toast and the banquet, then the first waltz and finally a lot of dancing (6 hours of it).
To keep the audience entertained, depending on the music being played the band will use props that will also be distributed to the audience, so for example they’ll have balloons when having samba, cowboy hats for music from northern Mexico, hats, shirts, etc. Furthermore, they’ll bring in certain members of the audience to dance on the stage with their respective attire, which becomes very funny with songs like YMCA.
I’m not saying one is better than the other, they’re just different.
Lucha Libre in Mexico City
I have been to different sporting events, but lucha libre in Mexico City is more than that. The masks, the chanting and the elaborate tricks show a lot about Mexican culture, if you care to dig a little.
It also helps that it’s a lot of fun to watch live: not only for the performers, but especially for the audience.
Update: I followed my own advice and dug a little about the cultural impact of lucha libre. I found this video (unfortunately only in Spanish) of a documentary on lucha libre. I bumped into another interesting clip explaining lucha libre in an article reviewing a recent performance in London. However, you might get an idea by watching this very amusing music video:
Nortec Collective at the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival
One of my favourite bands ever, the Nortec Collective, will be at the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival next Tuesday, July 15th in the night.
The ironic part of it is that I will be in Mexico then, so will miss a gig I so want to see. Who’s going?
Foo Fighters at Provinssirock
We went to see the Foo Fighters concert at Provinssirock in Seinäjoki last weekend. One of the best gigs of my life, and one I’ve been waiting for 13 years since I found their CD at a supermarket so long ago.
Korean Theatre Troupe
Quite an interesting show I found the other day in the middle of Helsinki.
Dancing in the park
Summer can be very pleasant in Finland indeed.
Viva la hueva
Algunos de ustedes, queridos lectores, tal vez se acuerden de aquella canción de "Viva la Gente" que fue especialmente famosa en los años ochenta. En un momento de extremado cansancio (y humor muy simple, cabe señalar), le aplicamos un tratamiento que les sonará conocido a aquellos fans de La Guerra de las Galaxias que se hayan encontrado con las famosísimas Pants Wars. El resultado abajo:
"Viva la hueva
la hay donde quiera que vas.
Viva la hueva
que es lo que nos gusta más.
Con más hueva
a favor de hueva
en cada pueblo y nación
habría menos hueva difícil
y más hueva con corazón.
Habría menos hueva difícil
y más hueva con corazón…"