my soundtrack

since i'm at a computer for a large part of most days, and not necessarily always with things to do, i try to be productive with my time. i've been writing a lot more. but also, i've been searching for and listening to a lot of new music. so, i thought i'd share with you all the music i've been learning and loving and living during my time here this summer. most of it's not in english. but, who actually knows the words to the music they listen to? so don't write it off just because it's in a different language.

1. ximena sarinana--album "mediocre"
this album came out last year, and i'd heard her before coming here (in fact, one of her songs is my favorite to play/sing on guitar, called 'las huellas'). she has a really unique, jazzy, soulful voice. this album is a kind of satirical criticism of a "woman's role" of mediocrity.
sample: mediocre

2. 'dark was the night' by various
this is a compilation album put together by 2 brothers from the band 'the national', one of my favorites. they have their own label and for this, they also worked with an organization that does aids relief work. it's a double album, 31 songs, half of which was their attempt at capturing some of the best blues today. the other half (it's all kind of mixed, actually) is their attempt at capturing the best independent music today. it has all the highlights. you can hear each song on youtube, but here are a couple links to my favorites. of course i have to put the sufjan on there, because he is my favorite artist.
sample: 'train song' by feist and ben gibbard
'you are the blood' by sufjan stevens

3. 'youth novels' by lykke li
this is a great, unique album. she has a very unique sound, with a mix of electronic and hip hop beats, with her light, young voice on top. some songs lyrically emotional, others just fun to dance to.
sample: 'little bit'

4. 'vid og vid' by olof arnalds
i know. it's crazy. this is an icelandic artist that i actually learned about by listening to an npr podcast with bjork, another icelandic artist. she mentioned arnalds as one of her favorite new artists and they played one of her songs and i really loved it. she has almost a similar voice to bjork (maybe it's the crazy language too) but much more of a folksy sound. it's been very peaceful for me the last month or so.
sample: 'i nyju husi'

5. 'the spirit of apollo' by N.A.S.A.
nasa stands for 'north america south america' and they aim to capture the best sounds of both continents on this debut album. and i can't say i know the best sounds on both continents, but they definitely have a great mix. with a stellar list of cameos--david byrne, chuck d, method man, rza, krs-one, karen o from the yeah yeah yeas, odb, tom waits(!), kanye west, santogold, lykke li, george clinton, mia, the cool kids, etc. the first song below is one of my favorites from the album--talks a lot about the history of hip hop. the second is probably the most famous from the album, with kanye, santogold, and lykke li, all faves of mine.
samples: 'hip hop'
'gifted'

6. 'hu hu hu' by natalia lafourcade
this is another brand new one that i just got a few days ago, and just came out about a month ago. i reallllly love it. i actually started listening to her in high school, thanks to my amazing spanish teacher, barb lipnick. she has a very similar style to ximena, very similar to what i like to play/sing/write. in fact, i thought they were the same people for a while...it's a really great album that i'm still discovering, and listening to constantly.
sample: 'hu hu hu'

ok. i could go on, i'm sure. but for now, those are the highlights. i hope you enjoy them and give them a chance! they might just change your life...

just fotos

here

mexico does a blues fest and a circus

this past weekend was a GREAT one. i went, along with 4 of the Mexican students i work with and one of the other gringos to the town called Pozos that the fundacion works in for a blues festival. it was soooo much fun. the Mexican students that are living/working there in pozos are some of my favorite people too, so it was great to see them. plus, it was a blues festival. sitting there, at the festival, really filled me with a strong sense of peace and nostalgia. anyone reading this knows how much i love music, especially live. and outdoor festivals? beautiful. plus, the scenery there was incredible. the pictures show that pretty well.
here's a couple of the venue:





it did start raining after a while, which was freezing, and caused us to huddle under the 3 tents they had for about a half hour, but after it passed, we put on jackets and went back out and listened to music and danced for about 4 hours. it was really great. and the music was good as well. i mean, being from Chicago, i was somewhat skeptical. but it really was good. i mentioned to ian, the other gringo, that i kind of wished they wouldn’t sing in English at all, because that did detract a bit. my favorite? “i’m gonna bang all the pretty womens.” ha. plus, it was free and a liter of beer was about $2.50. you can't find that in chicago.
here some "pretty womens" all bundled up from the rain--




and two of my FAVORITE mexicans, dany and mario:



and then, last night, those of us in irapuato decided to go to the circus! it was pretty fun. the barley circus—the biggest in the country. they did have lots of animals, but it kind of depressed me a bit. some were clearly not happy. but, it was fun to look around at the kids faces that were watching. we weren’t supposed to take pictures, so i only have a few, but they give the general idea.
here are a couple of the circus:





this weekend is Guadalajara with my friend Daniela. i’m realllllly excited.
here's a picture of us!

mas fotos

first--some clarification--in the picture from the last post, i'm not about to hit that guy in the head with a sledgehammer. there were 4 of us hitting the same piece of copper, and he was right before me. he chose to wear the kick-ass spartan-style helmet while we "worked."

and then, here are a couple more pictures. (i think everyone that reads this is pretty much on facebook, so you've probably seen them, but just in case...)

the first is a group of my good friends here. these are all the people that live in the same city as me and work in the community called tamaula that's nearby. and the second one i just think is hilarious. it was one day that we were working in tamaula. the "mexico" version of me. jajaja.

one more

this is me getting to hit hot copper with a sledgehammer. i love it, and couldn't resist putting it up.

a couple pics

these are a few pictures taken by one of the other girls here. she's a photography student and she's really talented. i liked these and thought you might as well. they are all from our trip to michoacan a few weeks ago. enjoy!

i've been doing a lot of traveling, and it's been fantastic. since i last wrote, i've traveled to guanajuato city (again), mineral de pozos (again), and mexico city.

in guanajuato city, we did a few more touristy things that we missed the first time, like going to the mummy museum, and the pipila monument. i have descriptions of both of these along with pictures here on facebook. we also hung out with some of the volunteers from mexico city, who i'm now pretty good friends with. it was a really fun weekend.

the trip to mineral de pozos was the beginning of a "tour" with a professor from the university in mexico city where the volunteers are from, who has to come see the projects they're doing. it is a FEDERAL LAW in mexico that all university students must do a semester or summer-long social service before graduating. the interesting thing is that, although i feel that the average college student in the states may be naturally more willing to do this kind of service, i can NEVER imagine it being made into a law. it really is fascinating because i've learned a lot and had a number of discussions on the problem of philanthropy in mexico (no tax-deductible laws, high levels of religiosity/giving to the church, low levels of money to feed one's family, etc), and yet they have a program like this. it's really been interesting to discuss.

and mexico city. incredible. huge. unfathomable, really. the first day we went downtown to see the zocalo (main plaza), the catedral, the templo mayor, and the immense amount of life there. it was incredible. the second day we went to the pyramids outside the city, where i got significantly sunburnt. but, i was standing on the temple of the sun, so it's only fitting right? and both nights...lots of dancing. it was really a great trip, that i'm still recovering from. pictures from that and a birthday party for one of the men in one of the communities can be found here on facebook.

the tour, starting in pozos and going through all the communities was both good and bad for me. it was good because i got to see and be in the communities with the people, which is always fantastic. it was bad because 1)it made me wish again that i was living in the communities instead of the city, so i could really know the people. and 2)it made me be aware of some of the incredibly difficult realities of the communities, like depression, alcoholism, and crazy high rates of dropout (from really shitty schools to begin with). pero, sigo aprendiendo. i keep learning.

this weekend i'm traveling briefly to a town called queretaro, then next week quickly to guadalajara, the next weekend back to pozos, and the next weekend to guadalajara to really see the city. i know, it's a rough life i lead.

thanks for checking in!