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“Soy Andina” Now on YouTube
Back in 2008, I befriended a New York filmmaker who had made an intriguing documentary set in my newly adopted country. Mitch Teplitsky's "Soy Andina" traces the journeys of two New York women who travel to Peru to connect with their heritage through dance.
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El loco y el mar
El Fotógrafo took this photo in 1989. He was walking along the Malecon, in Miraflores, when he saw a man standing on the cliffs, waving a stick back and forth in front of the ocean, like a conductor. There were no violins or flutes or kettle drums — just the crashing of the waves on the rocks below. The stick rose in the air, sliced down, swept to the right, then rose again. He swayed back and forth, then lifted his finger to his lips: Shush. El Fotógrafo calls this diptych “Creador.” Creator.
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U.S. Embassy to Tourists in Peru: Don’t Confuse Political Protests with Folk Dancing
Maybe it’s the mood I’m in lately, but I found this recent Warden Message (sent from the U.S. Embassy to U.S. expats in Peru, via email) rather hilarious. The U.S. embassy warns that gringos have been arrested in prior years for inadvertently participating in political demonstrations that they mistook for folkloric events.
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Conversations in the Gym
Bicep curls, by Ron Burgundy. Yesterday I was chatted up by the manager of the gym where I (sometimes) work out. Cinco Pirouettas is a stout man in his forties who claims to have been a ballerino when he was young. He spends most of his time talking to girls at the machines. He also bosses around skinny young men who appear to have never lifted weights before. He sometimes talks to mothers. “Did you do ballet?” he asked me point blank one afternoon, about a month ago. I was stretching on the floor. Yes, I told him, a long, long time ago. He puffed up his chest. “I did ballet. How many pirouettes in a…
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Thoughts on Vargas Llosa’s Win
I first became aware of Margio Vargas Llosa and his work in the 1990s when I heard him speak at the Miami Book Fair International. He was always a hit with Cuban Miami (anyone who is an enemy of Fidel….), but political issues aside, what drew me (and many readers) to his work is the authenticity and power of his fiction. Today the Swedish Academy said that it is honoring Vargas Llosa for outlining the “structures of power” and for “his trenchant images of the individual’s resistance, revolt and defeat.” The Academy’s permanent secretary, Peter Englund, called him “a divinely gifted storyteller” whose writing touches the reader. I agree on…
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Mario Vargas Llosa Wins Nobel Lit Prize
Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa has won the 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature, the Academy in Stockholm announced early today. Vargas Llosa has written more than 30 novels, essays and plays, including Conversation in the Cathedral, Feast of the Goat and Death in the Andes. He’s racked up scores of literary honors, including Spain’s highest, the Cervantes Prize, in 1995, but the Nobel eluded him for decades, probably, many believe, because of his right-leaning political identity. (See article from Christian Science Monitor here.) A former leftist, Vargas Llosa gradually embraced economic liberalism and was an outspoken critic of Peru’s two-term president Alberto Fujimori, who shut down Congress and the judiciary…
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Scenes from Noche de Arte 2009, Opening Night
El Híjo and I accompanied El Fotógrafo to last night’s opening of Noche de Arte, in San Isidro. The art show was held in an enormous gallery owned by a Peruvian bank, and one of the amusing things about it was how the bank stayed open to accept deposits from art buyers. Oh, and did I mention that more than 400 works were for sale? The paintings were displayed in several indoor galleries. The photos were hung in an outside atrium that is not appropriate for an exhibit of delicate photographs. EF didn’t like that his photos were being exposed to the elements. Oh, well. He did complain. Technically the…
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El Fotografo’s Works in Noche de Arte Benefit Sale
El Fotografo’s photographs will be among the artworks for sale at Noche de Arte 2009, which opens tonight in San Isidro (BBVA – Banco Continental, Ave. Republica de Panama 3055), from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Proceeds from the three-day event benefit the Anne Sullivan Center, the Carrion Hospital Burn Unit and other institutions and charities. Works on sale by El Fotografo (Jorge Vera) include “Atlantic City” (above), which is a very striking 100 cms by 100 cms, and “Sphere” (below), 70 cm x 70 cm. I think they are two of EF’s most beautiful works. “Sphere” was shot in our pool in Florida, by the way. EF nearly fell in waiting for the…
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Three Jacks Play Miami Tonight
My bandmates The Three Jacks will be rocking downtown Miami’s Gusman Center tonight to raise funds for Jackson Memorial Hospital. Remaining tickets are on sale for $15 each, $10 for students. Sharing the stage will be champion step dancers from the Breffni Academy of Irish Dance. Those of you who saw The Three Jacks in Lima this past May will remember Carolyn, Caroline and Kiera’s remarkable footwork. (By the way, 17-year-old Kiera just won 5th place in the U.S. National Championships. Riverdance, watch out.) I highly urge all Peruvians in Miami to show their support for this remarkable group of musicians and dancers, who have raised more than $50,000 for earthquake relief in…
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Finnish Designer Trees Bear Fruit in Andes
Last week I dropped in on a very cool Finnish design exhibit being hosted at Lima’s ICPNA center. “Northern Stars” showcases more than 100 years of innovative design from Finnish designers and design firms such as Marimekko, Arabia, Nokia and Metso. El Híjo and I were hoping to catch sight of some Moomintrolls, the eccentric woodland characters invented by Finnish children’s author Tove Jansson, but as it happened there weren’t any velvet-snouted trolls lolling about the art gallery. There were, however, some playful tree-shaped room dividers, rather like props from a children’s fantasy, that caught my eye. “The Tree,” as it’s called, is a piece of functional art created by the Finnish designer Eero Aarnio (creator…
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Soy Andina Film Premieres on New York PBS Tonight
Cynthia Paniagua (R) in Chincha (photo: Florencia Castello)Peruvian culture will get a major public-awareness boost tonight when New York PBS stations broadcast the awarding-winning documentary Soy Andina. (Sept. 10, 10 p.m.; check local listings. The film airs throughout the country starting Oct. 11.) Soy Andina is one of eight documentary films selected for the new season of Latin Public Broadcasting’s VOCES series on National Public Television, introduced by actor Edward James Olmos — and the first-ever film in the series about Peru. Soy Andina tells the intersecting stories of two New Yorkers – a modern/hip-hop dance dancer raised in Queens, and a folkloric dancer from the Andes – who embark on dance odysseys through Peru to search…
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Child’s Artwork in Huaraz: Care for Our Water & Air
We visited a school in Huaraz, where the children had created art works about the environment. Some showed melting glaciers, or apus -- mountain deities -- losing their "ponchos" (white snow). This child's picture depicts the need to care for our water and air.
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The Three Jacks & Breffni Dancers Conquer Peru
Just a bit of exaggeration in that headline. But I’m entitled to gloat about the success of my band last weekend at Auditorio Santa Ursula, in San Isidro. We had two fabulous concerts, Friday and Saturday nights (May 15 & 16), and got loads of people to contribute money to build a hospital in Pisco. Plus I met a lot of great people — Peruvians and expats and even some readers of this blog — which made the event truly special. [photo above by Robert Stolpe 2009, Three Jacks rehearsing in Miami] I’m still coming down from the high. Media buzz went into high gear two Sundays ago when TV…
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Irish Music & Dance Concert for Peru Earthquake Relief, May 15 & 16
Come out for a rousing night of Celtic rock, Irish step dancing and storytelling in Lima on Fri., May 15, and Sat., May 16, when my band The Three Jacks plays two benefit concerts for victims of the ’07 Peru earthquake. I promise it will be an excellent time because (1) the musicians and dancers are world-class; (2) our lead singer is a rowdy, sometimes bawdy storyteller; and (3) you’ll be helping to build a desperately needed medical center in the ravaged town of Pisco. Here’s the press release that recently ran in Living in Peru: Renowned Celtic Rockers and Irish Step Dancers to Entertain Lima May 15 & 16 The month…
