Day 15: The Murga

I apologize for the lateness of this post, my only excuse is watching the Olympics...

Judy left this morning, she should now be settled in her hotel after her short flight this afternoon. The most exciting part of today took place after the sun had set.

The "murgas," as I briefly described earlier, are street celebrations during the weeks of Carnaval. The majority of them take place on the weekend nights, but there is supposed to be one tomorrow night as well. The one I went to was no more than 5 or 6 blocks away, a very easy walk. The police had three blocks of the street barricaded off for the traffic, and people were crawling all over the street. All ages were represented, all gathering around the sides of the street in preparation for the parade that was to shortly come marching through. I arrived around 9.30p and I think I had missed the beginnings of the celebrations, but just when I arrived a parade was lined up ready to dance their way to the final block where there was a small stage, a mic and speakers, and brighter lights.

All of the performers were dressed in a light satin-like material that was pink, black and white in all manner of stripes, frills, spots and squares. Sequins and other shiny jewels decorated the costumes, the female dancers in the front of the parade were wearing coattails that had personalized adornments on the back, along with frilled-brimmed hats and slitted pants. All these women in the front would dance for a while then signaled by whistles in the front, would begin 45-70 second choreographed routines that involved high and aggressive kicks, and a very hip-hop/break dancing theme.

Behind these women were umbrella twirling people and some men who were dancing in front of the musicians who followed. There were about 6 or 7 brass instruments and 10 drummers with traditional marching-band drums, but with the addition of symbols attached to the top (just for the extra noise). At the rear were four men bearing different sized flags.

From origins currently unknown, there seems to be a long-lived tradition at these murgas for the attendants to bring (and/or purchase on the streets) shaving cream canisters. Although shaving cream evaporates quite quickly (without staining) some people, well actually a lot of people, were literally caked in it. Expired bottles lined the gutters and sidewalks, and a common pocket-item (which I will bring next time I go to a murga) is a handkerchief or a hand towel to wipe the eyes, ears, and nose where the shaving cream is least welcome. Yes, I got my fair share of spray, so I am now satisfactorily sticky, even though the spots have dried.

I have two clips up on "youtube," I hope that the fútbol one worked as well as possible, again, I'm sorry that you have to leave the blog to view them. Hopefully the video/audio quality is good enough to give a feel for the experience.

Here are the URLs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZQtJJGR998

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psdgQRfkPUI

Now, I must be off to bed immediately, because I have to get up in about 4.5 hours!! The Olympics are strenuous to watch....let alone be a participant.

Chao.