Tag Archives: Argentina

Nov 14 2011
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Music

Two Cities

Interpretations differ.

I wrote a song called “The City,” sometime in 2007. I then recorded it with my band at the time, Tuition Well Spent (see below for more info). I rerecorded a version in 2009 with my duo in Argentina, Harold and the Gauchos.

Even though the instrumentation is almost identical on each track, the two versions have different vocalists and display different takes on the song. I think it’s dope to see how each version contrasts.

The Tuition version is more polished. Recorded over two days using Pro Tools in the Digital Audio Workstation at Odegaard Library at the University of Washington, Mike and I took our time with takes and mixing.

The Harold version was done on the fly. Only having practiced the song a few times before pressing record, Claudia and I hadn’t necessarily perfected our arrangement. The “dale,” that I blurt out at the start of the track lends itself to the jam session vibe. However the looser more improvised feel lends itself to a different understanding of the song.

Does anyone else have experience with how changing one part of a piece can lead to new feeling, new reflection?

The City: Tuition Well Spent

The City: Harold and the Gauchos

The City

I was swimming in the River when the river but the river said he don’t mind

Said go on now got my own place to find

So I went on down to the shining deep blue sea

But none of them fishes want to swim with me

And I feel lonely, I feel blue

Get up slowly I got nothin much to do

Ladies ain’t never had too much luck with them

I see an opportunity and all they see is a friend

And 18 odd years that’s how it’s been

I finally met Shirly but shea’s already with Ken

And I feel lonely, I feel blue

Get up slowly I got nothing left to do

Bored in the city in the city it looks so drab

Wanna find a way to get away this strange land

It seems like the sky scrapers they all laugh

In a one man room playing the blues getting pennies in a straw hat

Oh I feel lonely, I feel blue

Get up slowly I got nothing left to do

Bored in the city in the city it looks so drab

Wanna find a way to get away this strange land

It seems like the sky scrapers they all laugh

In a one man room playing the blues getting pennies in a straw hat||

Reflection and Response. In whatever City.

-P

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Nov 10 2011
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Music

Argentina Thursdays: What She’ll Miss

I used to be in a band during my first few years of college called Tuition Well Spent. Before I left to Argentina I recorded a melody I had written with Mike, the vocalist from Tuition. When I was in Argentina and learning how to use Logic Express 8 I found the vocal parts and decided to see what I could do with them. I can be heard using drum sticks to tap a rhythm out in the background during the vocal track. I also let Mike know that I felt the take by the grunts at the end.

Full Track

Vocal Track


So she doesn’t want to see me I can tell

Why she takes me so high that I fell

Maybe I over-think it all but I’m not sure

I got these blues baby I need a cure

So she doesn’t want to see me I can tell

Why she takes me so high that I fell

Maybe I over-think it all but I’m not sure

I got these blues baby I need a cure

Such a princess perfect every way

Find myself losing yet still I chase

One day she’ll know what she missed

Until then I swallow this bitterness

Reflection and Response

-P

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Oct 20 2011
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Music

Argentina Thursdays: Dreams

While in Argentina I continued to write acoustic guitar-based tracks. This one uses a drum set I created from samples from various Led Zeppelin songs that I later used with my melody. The horns come from a sample of Argentine music that somehow came out as the blues.

Reflection and Response

-P

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Oct 06 2011
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Music

Argentina Thursdays: Things a Peña Does

Whatup!

So for this week’s Argentina Thursday post I would like to present two pieces. One of which is my senior thesis from the University of Wahsington, “Things a Peña Does: Everyday Forms of Nationalism.” This piece was recently published in the Jackson School Journal of International Studies, a peer reviewed journal produced by the Jackson School of International Studies at UW.  The paper was the culmination of my study abroad in Buenos Aires during the 2009-2010 academic year. The paper was one of the most difficult and exhilirating experiences of my life so far and I am indebted to the dozens of people who made this project work.

Here is the abstract with a link to the full piece:

For its entire history Argentina has been dominated demographically and economically by Buenos Aires. Poverty and relative inequalities in the hinterland have helped drive a massive internal migration to the city. A great portion of the resulting population of Buenos Aires consists of provincial Argentines who find interesting and innovative ways to negotiate urban life. This essay explores some ways that Argentine migrants use folk music parties, known as peñas, to create opportunities in the city. Importantly, many migrant accounts highlight the importance of folk music as Argentine, thus unifying folk music with other cultural representations of the nation. First person accounts show how migrants use this “entrepreneurial popular nationalism” in peñas to create their own entertainment, social networking and economic benefits. The paper presents a case for the peña, an innovative birthplace of nationalism, as a resource for a largely marginalized group.

Full Article

I would also like to present my track “Ave De Chrystal.” Made famous by the Bolivian group Los Kjarkas, my version is a remix from a recording session I did with lawyer and migrant activist Pablo Martinez. I sample Pablo’s cover version. He can be heard singing and playing the acoustic guitar. I chopped  Pablo and a group of activists are working on a social project called the Caminata de las Quenas, which celebrates the anniversary of the Jujuy Exodus in Argentina. His project is a wonderful example of how music can be used to educate and celebrate culture. A true example of Reflection and Response. If anyone has any questions about the Caminata feel free to contact Pablo at caminatadelasquenas@hotmail.com.

Ave de Chrystal

No se acaba el mundo

cuando un amor se va

no se acaba el mundo

y no se derrumbara.

Si fue verdadero

tras sus huellas volvera

si no fue sincero

otro lo remplazara.

The world doesn’t end

When a love leaves

The world doesn’t end

and it won’t collapse

If she was true

through her footprints she’ll return

It she wasn’t true

Another will replace her

Reflection and Response

-P

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Sep 29 2011
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Music

Welcome to Argentina Thursdays/Pista 21

Welcome to the first installment of Argentina Thursdays!! For the next several Thursdays I will be showcasing tracks I did while in Buenos Aires, Argentina during a study abroad in 2009-2010. Many of the tracks are collaborative efforts with local artists and the period was a truly enjoyable time of personal growth and cultural exchange.

I am proud to present the first track of Argentina Thursdays, Pista 21

Como un tizón encendido

ardiendo dentro mi sangre

tu sombra viene conmigo

y no la puedo arrancar.

As if it were a charred coal

burning inside of my blood

your shadow comes with me

and I cannot get it out

Pista 21 is named for the file of the song in my itunes I used to sample. The real name of the original track is “Zamba de un Amor en Vuelo,” or “Song of a Love in Flight,” a folk tune written and performed by Tamara Castro.

Tamara’s track is an awesome example of Zamba, a popular folk music in Argentina.

My version includes a guitar sample from the original, piano from my talented friend Leopoldo Obrégon, and vocals by my girlfriend at the time.

Has anyone else found that music or art or something else has enabled him or her access to cultural exchange? Music is one of my primary languages of reflection and response, what are some of yours?

Reflection and Response

-P

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Sep 12 2011
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Music

Quena

This track is a collaboration. While in Argentina for study abroad I befriended a man whose 15 year old son plays the quena. One day both came to a mutual friend’s house in Buenos Aires and I recorded some short samples of him playing a tune that is popular in the father’s home region of Jujuy Northern Argentina.

After returning to the U.S. I worked with the homie Clarke Reid. We played around with the sample and Clarke added some nasty keyboard and bass to the track.

It was truly a pleasure to be able to collaborate on a global level with such cool musicians.

Reflection and Response

-P

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Aug 31 2011
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Music

The Villa

The Villa comes from my study abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina during 2010. In Argentina “villa,” or “villa miseria,” describes temporary housing areas  found throughout urban areas. One day someone who worked in the apartment building I lived in invited me to dinner at his house in the outskirts of the city. He lives in Villa Caraza, south of the center and he plays in a band. During my visit I recorded an instrumental performed by a young keyboard player.

As a friend gave me a ride home back to the city we discussed life in Villa Caraza during and after the military dictatorship that ruled over Argentina from 1976-1983. I wrote the lyrics for The Villa the night after and chopped the piano player’s sample into the song. The sample in the middle is from Manu Chau. Whoever can guess what song it is on a comment gets a shout out on Twitter plus a bonus mini ep from me!

The Villa

The following is an acoustic version.

The Villa

I’ve never been to a place like this where the house is nice if it’s made of bricks

I’ve never talked to people like this who fondly remember that dictatorship

I’ve never been to a place like this where the house is nice if it’s made of bricks

I’ve never talked to people like this who fondly remember that dictatorship

Fondly remember years when/ People were behind bars that now offer drugs to their children/Psychos and they’re all on the loose/ There’s vice in the street when it used to be taboo/ Used to leave their cars unlocked/ Now there isn’t a single car left anywhere on the block/ Sure they tell me there were thousands tortured/ Now everybody is tormented by disorder/ Something we can’t understand where I’m from/ Dictatorship’s the antithesis to America/ But this isn’t quite Myrtle Beach/ I mean these places been told what do since they were colonies/ now it dawns on me/ The futility/ Of passing judgment on other societies/ Cuz life in the villa just keeps worse/ It’s hot out here these people hunger and thirst/They rumble and burst/ Quick to rob and usurp/ While we blog and research/ These places rot in the dirt/ And some of these people seem happy as hell gave me pollo a la parrilla and cared for me well.

I’ve never been to a place like this where the house is nice if it’s made of bricks

I’ve never talked to people like this who fondly remember that dictatorship

I’ve never been to a place like this where the house is nice if it’s made of bricks

I’ve never talked to people like this who fondly remember that dictatorship

The following is a short video of some of the musicians involved in the making of the Villa. The younger person is the one who plays the piano in the clip. They’re playing Chamamé, music that comes from Northeastern Argentina.

Reflection and Response.

 

P

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