Post Tagged with "culture"

Is California Splitting Apart?

Golden Gate Bridge (from Curreyuk; Flickr, Creative Commons)

The San Andreas Fault runs parallel to California’s Pacific coast for 810 miles, a seismic fault line that separates the Pacific and North American tectonic plates. The result is that San Francisco and Los Angeles are actually moving closer to one another at the rate of an inch and a half annually, getting ready for a head on collision in a mere 12 million years. Despite this convergence, the two cities and their respective halves of the state could not be farther apart culturally. 

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Brazilian Music Series – Powerful Women Singers

On my last post about Brazilian music in which I talked about a very special beat, Chorinho, I mentioned the need to go a bit beyond of what is stereotyped about Brazil all over the world. Yes, of course Samba is huge, and I just love it. It is part of our tradition and it goes in most Brazilians’ veins. However, our musical scenario is such a rich encounter of rhythms, sounds and voices that it wouldn’t be fair to insist on just one type of music.

Vanessa da Matta

So, I dedicate this post to the women in my country who inspire, empower, allure and make us proud. To those who are tremendously talented and represent our most voracious, enchanting voices. Those women whose stories and musical paths are unique, but they share their passion for every word they sing and pronounce. Our language, Portuguese, becomes pure poetry or a cry for justice in the mouths of these powerful women.

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What's polite in Peru?

“Pucha, Cam, estás gordita!”

It wasn’t really news that I’d put on a little weight in my month in Australia. It was a month of good cheese – very good, rich, fattening cheese, blue and brie and goats’, the kind I’d missed terribly in Peru. A month of wine and all those Aussie beers I love so much. Dinners out, desserts, birthday cake, Tim Tams. And a distinct lack of the exercise I get in Cusco simply by walking across town at 3,300 metres above sea level.

Image: vvaiting via flickr

But I certainly didn’t need it pointed out so bluntly. “Geez, Cam, you’re a little fat!” And I really, really didn’t need it pointed out over, and over, and over again, until I finally told the boys that in Australia you don’t dare comment on a woman’s weight, and that I wasn’t seeing the funny.

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How Do You Eat Your Vegemite?

Photo Credit: noodleator

Love it or hate it, I’m sure you’ve heard of the famous spread that us Aussies grow up on.

Maybe you’ve found yourself in a Marmite Vs. Vegemite debate, or been force-fed by an eager Aussie friend, keen to witness this life-changing moment.

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Brazilian Music Series – Chorinho

When we talk about Brazilian music anywhere in the world, inevitably samba and bossa nova are some of our Brazilian beats internationally and instantaneously remembered and recognized for their originality, contagious rhythm and melody. However, except for the foreign visitors who have been to Brazil, especially to Rio, or have a Brazilian friend, not many people know about one of our musical traditions, which is a mix of European and African sounds from the 19th century, that has a very special Brazilian beat flavor.

I introduce you to a very sophisticated type of music that blends the sophistication of instruments, such as the trumpet, flute, guitar and a pint of improvisation, a type of music called “chorinho“. The literal translation of “chorinho” would be a “little cry or lament”. Though the songs in this style are a bit nostalgic, they don’t make us cry at all! In fact, when you go to bars and there is a group of chorinho (“roda de choro”) playing, you feel uplifted because of its upbeat sounds.

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How to Name Your Compound: place names in Zambia

Thanks to a friend of mine, I have become a regular at the huge second hand clothes market. The taxi driver I always use is not only reasonable but is something of a mine for information on the history of Lusaka. When driving me to the market recently he mentioned that it is on a large compound called ‘mandevu.’ Now I know ‘mandevu’ means beard in the local language Nyanja, so I of course asked why the compound was called, well, ‘beard’. He explained that mostly Zimbabweans had settled there years ago and they had the habit of shaving their heads but leaving their beards to grow. Zambians would refer to Zimbabweans as ‘the ones with beards’ and as a result the compound where they lived adopted the name ‘beard’.

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