I have found that when I witness the performance of a virtuosic guitarist, there usually is a real lack of emotional depth that comes along with it. This is quite the opposite experience I had last night with a charango performance I saw at a Jazz club last night.
As I mentioned in my last post, there is a traditional Chilean instrument called a charango which is kind of like a mix of a guitar and a mandolin. I went out to the Jazz club, El Perseguidor, with a couple of friends on Saturday night. When we walked in, there was a full jazz band, and we sat down and ordered our drinks while enjoying their sounds. After a little while, the band leader announced that his band was going to take a 5 or 10 minute break, but in the meantime he was going to have some friends play for us. He introduced them (a charangoist and a guitarist) and they thanked the jazz band for letting them play. What proceeded made my jaw drop. This guy was just phenomenal. He had long fingernails on his picking hand which allowed him a nimbleness already made difficult from the small size of the instrument. He used the charango as a percussion instrument on occasion, strummed the strings as a flamenco guitarist would other times, and finger picked individual strings at other times. It's hard to describe in words, but it was a very emotional AND virtuosic performance. I think this was one of the first times I have felt like I have a given a real sense of the passion and richness of Chilean culture. With three songs, they really stole the entire night's affair.
I'm still not entirely familiar with the different kinds of Latin American music that are prominent here in Chile, but I will reiterate what I said in an earlier post that Cumbia is some of the funnest live music I have ever heard. I'm excited to hear other types of homegrown music...but until then...
Heavy metal is HUGE here. Every day when I walk around, I see tons of long haired, often bearded dudes walking around dressed all in black with metal shirts ranging from more well-known acts like Iron Maiden and Megadeth, down to really underground bands like Immortal Rites and Deeds of Flesh. In my previous post, I mentioned that Chileans were under the rule of Pinochet, a dictator, until about 1990/1991. My theory is that during heavy metal's golden age (1980s), the genre was basically non-existent here and was suppressed. It's like the hole left by that period is now being lived. That gives a whole new meaning to what I mentioned in an earlier post when I said the 80s in general, whether it be fashion or music, is really big here. Though, this could just be BS and it could just be like it is/was in the US. That people often revert back to trends of earlier generations, but I feel like hearing 80s music CONSTANTLY at the supermarkets here gives weight to my earlier argument.
Also, I think that heavy metal operates in some of the same ways that punk music does in that it acts as an aesthetic that gives power to the powerless. Metal is often popular in countries where there is a religious paradigm that dictates social and political, countries where there are great economic disparities, and countries where the definition of masculinity is not the same as it used to be (some people see metal as escapist music for men, to express instinctive and archaic physical and emotional tendencies that is now not accepted in society, which I tend to agree with). Not to make this into a dissertation, but I think all three of the previous circumstances are applicable to Chile. I can't wait to go to a metal show!
Other notes:
Confoundingly, Chileans tend to walk at a slower pace than Americans, but they are some of the most reckless and impatient drivers I have ever seen. I always look right and left several times before crossing, but sometimes, that doesn't seem to help! As mentioned in my previous post, Chileans operate on event time, and thus it is unnecessary to hurry anywhere on foot. However, I was told that Chileans, more or less, think that a car is made to get you somewhere fast, so when it doesn't, it's irritating! Makes sense enough.
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