In my confusingly shaped and colored apartment complex area, there is a goodly sized cement plaza area with a sort of raised up semi circle where the jovenes like to skate, the little kids like to run around chasing ambiguously domesticated stray dogs, and old folk like to sit and chill at night. The semi circle and plaza extension is also the site of a weekly Wednesday night concert series, put on by the municipal government of Providencia, the comuna where I live.
They set up a big stage with professional lights and audio and then they add some chairs out front, and voilá! Insta-culture! When I lived in the big apartment building a little ways away I could hear the music on Wednesday nights, and see a general area where sometimes there were flashing lights, but I didn't really know what it was. Several weeks ago all I could think was "Who the hell is blaring Sting so loudly at 9pm?" Well, lo and behold, it is the municipality trying to entertain its residents.
Today they had a band playing jazz but with an interesting twist. And by that I mean the Darth Vader star wars theme but with lots of spaced out improvisation squeezed in. Other sonic appearances were "Somewhere over the rainbow" and "My Favorite Things". But, to make a long story short, it was a great event. People come out of their big apartment buildings to sit and hang out, little kids run around chasing each other, couples sit holding hands, people bike or walk over from other nearby areas; in short, people are brought together, and I smile.
No comments:
Post a Comment