Two Ballets in One Week

Last week I went to two performances of the Ballet Folklórico within a couple of days of each other.  When my friend Heather was here we went to a performance on Wednesday evening at the Palace of Fine Arts.  Two days later, when Charles was here, we attended a special Day of the Dead outdoor performance at the lake in Chapultepec Park.  I have been to the Ballet Folklórico countless times, and I never tire of seeing it.  In fact, each time I come away with a renewed love for Mexico.

Two of my favorite segments of the ballet are those which deal with the music and dance from the states of Veracruz and of Jalisco.

Last year Alejandro and I went to the Day of the Dead performance in Chapultepec Park.  We enjoyed it very much, and when we knew that Charles would be here at that time, we asked him if he would be interested in seeing it.

"Death in Mexico is more alive than ever."

This performance is quite different from those at the Palace of Fine Arts.  Seats are set up along the edge of one of the lakes in the park, and the dancers and musicians perform on an island.  We arrived early enough that we were able to get front row seats.

The performance begins with a segment devoted to the pre-Hispanic civilizations of Mexico.

Throughout the show, decorated boats sail across the lake.

A song from the state of Michoacán

The show ended with a mariachi band and the dancing of the "jarabe tapatío" (known north of the border as the "Mexican Hat Dance").

 It was, as always, a spectacular performance.

For both Heather and Charles, the Ballet Folklórico was a highlight of their visit.

Another DVD

Yes, I am a dinosaur.  One of the few pieces of furniture that I had shipped from Ohio when I made the move to Mexico was the cabinet which holds my collection compact discs of music and the DVDs of photos from my travels.

The top four shelves are filled with DVDs, each one of a different trip that I made. Before I moved, I bought a new DVD / Blue Ray player and a large supply of blank discs and cases in case those products should become obsolete.  I figure I have enough discs to last for my remaining years of travel.  Since my laptop does not have a disc drive, I bought an external drive so that I can burn new discs.  And, yes, every so often I will pull one of those discs from the shelf and watch it.

I recently finished another disc to add to the collection... one of our trip to England this summer.  I have a "video studio" program on my laptop to produce these picture shows.

I selected my best photos and video clips and organized them.  The program allows me to add musical background (which I select from my compact discs).  I have lots of music from Mexico, but selecting appropriate music for a travelogue of England is a bit more difficult.  For the grandiose architecture of London I used some pieces by Baroque composers recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra.  On another CD I have some pieces by the British composer Edward Elgar.  For lighter music, I used some cuts from a disc I have of the flautist James Galway.  (Yes, I know he is Irish, but close enough.)

After finishing, I then burned the show onto a disc.  Here's a snippet with pictures of the interior of the medieval Christchurch priory and music by Elgar. 

Now it's time to work on the photos of Switzerland.

The Rebel Novice

I wrote in an earlier post that we had tickets for a stage production of "The Sound of Music" (known in Spanish as "La Novica Rebelde"... "The Rebel Novice").  Last Saturday we attended the performance at one of the theaters in the Plaza Centro Cultural.

It was a full house, which in a way surprised me since this production was in English.  (At either side of the stage there were screens with subtitles in Spanish.)  It was a road company that has been touring the U.S. since last year, and it was performing in Mexico City for just one week.

It was a very professional production.  The actors all had very good voices, and the stage settings (even if they could not match the spectacular Alpine cinematography of the movie) were impressive.  The show followed the original Broadway musical of 1959, which means that there were numerous differences from the 1965 movie.  There are a couple of songs in the stage play that were omitted from the film.  The placement of some of the songs is also different.  In the movie, "My Favorite Things" is sung by Maria to calm the children when they are frightened by a thunderstorm.  In the original play it is sung by Maria and the Mother Abbess before the former leaves the convent to take her job as governess.  During the thunderstorm Maria sings "The Lonely Goatherd" to the children.  The marionette scene in the movie does not appear in the play.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable performance.  However, at the risk of sounding like a grumpy old man or a crabby schoolteacher, there was one annoyance.  I was seated next to a brat that was constantly fidgeting, bumping me and turning on his cell phone.  He was probably eleven or twelve years old, so he was old enough that he should have known how to conduct himself at a performance.  His mother was oblivious.  If I were his parent, I would have told him to sit still and turn off the damn cellphone! 

Police Music

It seems to have become a regular event at the "Glorieta de Insurgentes", a transportation hub with a subway station and Metrobus stop.  As I passed through, once again the mariachi band of the Mexico City police department was giving a concert to the public.

 

An Instrumental Exhibit

The other special exhibit at the National Museum of Anthropology is called "Musical Instruments from Mexico and the World".  It contains 358 instruments from the collection of Mexican ethnomusicologist Juan Guillermo Contreras Arias.

Here are a few of the instruments in the exhibit...

From Mexico, a "tlalpanhuéhuetl", an Aztec style drum carved from the trunk of a tree

A native American drum from Canada

An intricately carved drum from China

This Mexican drum bears the national emblem of the eagle and the serpent.

A drum from West Africa

A drum from Colombia

A military cornet from Mexico

Not all bagpipes are from Scotland.  This one is from Cataluña in Spain.

A dragon horn from Tibet

This horn from Ecuador is made from a plastic hose covered with yarn.

Mexican horns made from the stalks of agave plants.

A "zampoña", a pan pipe from the Andean regions of South America

Zithers from Austria

A 17th century lyre from Arabia

A "kayagum", a type of zither from Korea

A Mexican marimba

An 18th or 19th century piano from Germany

Banjos from France

A German mandolin

A 19th century balalaika from Russia

A collection of different kinds of guitars from Mexico and Spain

From Mexico, a turtle shell and deer antlers used as a drum

These rattle-like instruments are worn by the Yaqui tribe of northern Mexico on their ankles when they perform their traditional deer dance.  They are made from dried butterfly cocoons and filled with small stones.

Two 19th century wooden rain sticks from Mexico

They are filled with small stones, and thorns are hammered into the wood.

When the sticks are turned, it simulates the sound of rain.

Making Music

It seems that there is always a special exhibit to see at one of Mexico City's many museums.  In fact, Thursday has almost become my "museum day" when I go to see something new.  Last Thursday I went downtown to see a show at the National Museum of Art that I had somehow missed before.  However, before I ever got there, I saw that there was a new exhibit at the Museum of Popular Arts.  It was a small but interesting display of items related to music... traditional instruments, art depicting musicians and dancers' costumes.

At the entrance there was a wall of stringed instruments.  The classical guitar was brought to Mexico by the Spanish, and is an integral part of Mexican music.

A "salterio" or psalter, an instrument similar to a zither

This guitar is made from the shell of an armadillo.

This guitar is decorated with the beadwork typical of the Huichol tribe of western Mexico.

A representation in painted wood of Mexico City's Plaza de Garibaldi, a favorite hangout of mariachi musicians.

I think the crank in the front makes the dancers go round and around.

An antique table organ

The costume of a "parachico", a dancer from the town of Chiapa de Corzo in the state of Chiapas.

The elaborate costume of a "chinelo", a traditional dancer from the state of Morelos

The costume of a "carnaval" dancer

The tiger costume of dancers from the state of Chiapas

The costume of the deer dance performed by the Yaqui tribe in the northern state of Sonora

This painting done on bark paper included a band of musicians.

A modern recreation of a "teponaztle", a wooden percussion instrument used for the Aztecs and Mayas.

A marimba from the state of Chiapas

A collection of drums

This painted, wooden drum is from the state of Tlaxcala.

A ceramic whistle in the shape of a bird

A papier mache figure of a skeleton playing the guitar