Tuesday, July 31, 2007

French word of mouth: Camille Dalmais



If you are rather conservative while picking up new music to hear, please go no further. This is not for you.

Ok, so you are open to be surprised by new sounds and styles. That's great. So what if I tell you that the album that I am going to review is composed by a single note? Doesn't sound soooo interesting, I know. Well, that's right. The album is composed by a single note that will play since the beginning of the record, and won't stop until the end. That's what, in french, Camille calls Le fil, The thread.
But my question was a tricky one. The note is there, but fortunately it's not the only thing you will be listening to. You will also get a striking voice that is used not only to sing the lyrics of the song, but also to play most of the instruments. This has been done many times already by many groups and singers, like Björk in her previous album, Medulla. But in this case, I have to say that I find this album more enjoyable and easier to listen.

Le Fil was released in 2005, and Camille has been playing it in concerts all around Europe, North and South America and even Asia. So, old album already. The only reason why I am mentioning it is because I think is just one of the best albums released on the last years.

Here are some extracts of the album review done by Mike Schiller, from Popmatters.com:

"Camille makes nearly all of the sounds on her album with her voice, and manages to create something texturally interesting and incredibly accessible. It’s no small feat, to be sure, and you’ll find yourself listening over and over again just trying to figure out the inspiration, not to mention the methods, behind some of these arrangements."


So I suggest you should stop reading and give her a try. This is the opening song of the album:



If you like it, there is more to enjoy her. Actually, I don't think that listening to her gives you the full experience, so I suggest you should also see her. This video corresponds to the song Ta douleur, and I am sure it will give you a good idea of who are we talking about:



Finally, if you are really into her and you would like to go on enjoying her style, watch this absolutely amazing performance of Au Port:

Monday, July 30, 2007

Forbidden project - Part 2

Forbidden #1
Back to forbidden things to do or bring while entering shops in Ljubljana.

I've doing some research around the city, with very interesting results. I was not sure how to publish this. Should I do a statistical count of forbidden things? Should I just focus on some outstanding cases? Well, let's see, I am not sure yet.

Generally speaking, it is forbidden to smoke inside places. This, we could say, it's the common rule. You won't find a place that forbids to enter walking upside down with your hands, without also forbidding to smoke. So, remember, don't smoke, even on cigar shops!!

Forbidden #1

Second general rule: Dogs. You can have a dog, that's not a problem. But you cannot bring it into places. You can be with him only at your house, or in the street.

Let's say you come back from work and you want to award your dog with a nice walk. Let's also say that, while your dog is doing his thing under a tree, you notice that wonderful shirt that you wanted to buy on the shop window across the street, with a nice discount on the price. So, you pull the dog's lead and run with him to the shop, to buy the shirt. Here, my friend, is when you have to stop and think. This is "the" crucial moment. Even though you're all excited about the discount, and you get anxious because they might run out of shirts for your size in any second, you have to calm down and carefully watch the shop's door before entering. Look thoroughly. Are you 100% compliant with the rules? Do you have any cigarette lighted in your hand maybe? Or maybe a dog? Do you have a dog with you? Ok! Let's get rid of him, because he cannot come in with you! Unless, of course, you want to push yourself into a violent situation with the employees.
Let's be honest. This rule does not apply only for Ljubljana, it's common to find it in many other cities, specially in food places like bars or restaurants.

But in any case, if you have a shop and find yourself needing to forbid dog's entering on it, would you use this sign?:

Forbidden #1

Besides the pipe and the roller blade, you have a beautiful little puppet with a red forbidden sign on it. That's not just a dog. It's a little puppet. And if you look closer, you'll see that he's moving his tail. This is mean!! It doesn't just imply that you cannot enter with dogs. They want to emphasize that, even if you have an innocent small, super cute baby puppet willing to play and make new friends, it is FORBIDDEN to let him in. Doesn't matter how cute he is. Yes, that's cruel and, of course, mean.

Same applies to this one:

Forbidden #1

Again, look at the dog. What does it mean? Does this apply for all dogs? Or they have specifically something against fox terriers? (well, it seems like a fox terrier to me!) It's not clear at all.

But let's put dogs on the side for a moment, and let's focus on other dangerous things that are more specific to Ljubljana. Roller blades, for example.

Forbidden #1

You will find it's forbidden to enter roller blades almost everywhere. So, why roller blades and not ostentatious multi colored Nike boots, for example? Well, because they are not forbidden based on fashion horrors (although they should be). Since the city has reserved paths, it's common to see people using them everywhere to move around. Everywhere, but on shops. I mean, the idea is great. You want to go to the grocery store, so you put your roller blades on, use the designed path and get there in a couple of minutes. Once there, you have to take them off to enter the shop.
The basic message would be: You can hurt yourself, hurt anybody else or break anything while using them on the street, but don't even think about creating any kind of problems inside my shop. So, even I know it's very uncomfortable for you, if you want to enter, take them off!!
Very impolite, don't you think?

So, up to now, no smoking, no dogs, no roller blades. Anything else? Yes, still a few things to take care of before entering a shop. One of them it's also very common in Ljubljana and if you are into details, you may have noticed a couple of them on previous pictures. Yes, we are talking about ice creams.

Forbidden Part 2

I have an explanation. Maybe it's not the right one, but let's give it a try. For what I've seen, people in Ljubljana like ice cream very much. They eat lots of ice cream. During hot season you can buy it everywhere, almost in every corner. Of course, that's only during the hot season. Since here in Ljubljana hot season doesn't last for long, they need to satisfy their need for ice cream in a short period of time.
Why is that a problem? I guess that the problem is not related with people eating ice cream, but with people having ice cream in their hands, but not eating it. It basically melts. And melted ice cream is known to be dangerous.

Forbidden Part 2

So, if you want to stay safe, DON'T enter with ice creams!!

Finally, a couple of additional things. Let's say it's ok to have some common rules to avoid problems. But what happens when you get picky?

Forbidden Part 2

Forbidden Part 2
Forbidden Part 2

At the end, you need a tutorial book to enter each place. Sounds a little bit rude. Why being so specific? What do you have against hot dogs or plastic cups? And mobile phones?

Last, but not least, people has its own judgment about what is the right or wrong thing to do in certain places. This was found on the street:

Forbidden Part 2

That's it for today!!

Friday, July 27, 2007

Ljubljana rain




Rain, as in a storm


Rainbow over Ljubljana

It could have been a simple, unpretentious rainy moment.

But instead it was a shiny, bright, delightful rainy moment in Ljubljana, city of wonders.
That's how things get done here.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Prešernov trg



It's highly probable that you have no idea what I am talking about. Of course, that's only if you don't speak Slovenian.

Prešernov trg, or Prešeren Square, is the main square in Ljubljana. It's also the heart of the city, and where most social events happens. This is the most common meeting point when you go out with friends, and also the place where you find the biggest number of tourists. If you have not seen Prešernov trg, you have never been in Ljubljana.

The square's name is a tribute to France Prešeren, considered the most important poet in the history of Slovenia and one of the most important european poets that followed the Romantic school. To complete the tribute, a huge statue with his figure stands erected below his inspirational muse at one of the sides of the square.



Besides Prešeren statue, the Franciscan Church of the Annunciation stands as an icon in front of the square, flooding it with its eclectic character, a mix of solemnity coming from its baroque architecture, and informality provided by its pinkish color.

Other important buildings, like the Central Pharmacy and the first department store of Ljubljana complete the architecture of the square on the east side. On the south side, the Ljubljanica river shapes the other end of the square, crowned by three bridges that connects it with the old town.





Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Natural High: Sainkho Namtchylak

There is music, and there are many other things.
Among these many other things, there is Sainkho.

First experience with her is far beyond what could be called a musical one. Natural reaction while hearing her songs is a mixed baggage of astonishment, amusement and joy. Her music is in the border, sometimes difficult to hear, sometimes wonderful. All in the same song. You could be loving her for what you hear in one second, and wanting to cover your ears with your hands in the next one, just because it's too much.

Let's start from the beginning. Sainkho was born in Tuva, an autonomous Russian republic north of Mongolia and south of Siberia. That's far away, from an occidental perspective. You could say that literally and metaphorically. Tuva is not famous worldwide for many things, although they are known as one of the main regions where throat singing is more popular. That was the influence that marked her musical roots and set the base for her singing and composition style.

While studying in Moscow, and also after graduation, she was influenced by other music forms, like jazz and classical, that helped her to craft the blend of styles she has shown later on each one of her multiple albums.
She lives actually in Vienna, and periodically releases new records which normally have two things in common: her tuvan roots and an unclassifiable mix of styles both in her singing and in her compositions.

"Stepmother city", released in 2002, is probably her most accessible (easy to listen) album. "Dance of eagle", as its opening song (after a short instrumental introduction) is a good example of how listening to her can show you that not everything has been written yet when we talk about music styles.
Pay attention to the rather "strange" sounds you hear along the song. This is Sainkho doing her well known throat singing.

Enjoy!



Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Self criticism

Ok, I admit it. The last one was not the best post ever. Far from it. Let's say it was not good.

Let's be honest. It was terrible. I mean, what was I thinking???? A cooked fish and a salad???? Is this the worst post ever in the history of all the blogs or am I wrong?

I feel so bad. Soooooooo bad. It was about pictures, mainly. I have lost my track. I know. So early and I am lost already.

Give me some room for improvement. Please. Good things will come soon. Believe me. This was nothing to write home about. I know. But it will get better.

In the meantime, let me make it up to you. Is this a better fish? I am sure it is!! Sorry for the last one:


See you soon!

In the mood for: Fish & Chips (??)

Well, not quite right. Fish & chips may be the best exponent of fine british cuisine, but not the best option when trying to stay healthy.

I couldn't reach Pula on the weekend. I was pissed off, and tired. So the mood was not the best after spending more than four hours driving to get as far as the starting point. I needed to do something to spoil myself and get me back into the right mood. That's normally solved with food. Good food. So, in order to forget about the heat and the bad experience, I decided to cook myself a good piece of fish, with a very tasty side salad.

First of all, there is a physical need to have a fish to cook, and some vegetables in order to prepare the salad. In Ljubljana this can be easily solved, as in most of the the cities in the world, by going to the supermarket, a grocery store nearby or, if you are lucky enough, to the local market place. I was lucky enough. Ljubljana has one of the nicest markets I have seen so far (I'll come back to this on a future post). So I was able to buy fine products to put on my dish.

Back to the kitchen, I started with the fish. A nice piece of Orada (Golden Fish) that grew and was captured in the ocean, end up in my oven, filled with fresh rosemary, coriander and lemongrass.

This is how it looked when coming out of the oven:


Yummy!!!
Salad was still pending, but fortunately I've managed to do it while the Orada was getting its "tanning". That was easy. Just mix arugula, lettuce, radiccio, tomato, coriander, basil, olives, bitter sweet cucumbers, some capers, fresh cheese (locally made in the market!!) and maybe some other ingredients that I don't remember now. It looked like this:


Again: Yummy!!

Now we are talking! Buy the time the food was done and ready to be eaten, the heat was gone, and the mood was starting to be the right one again. I was ready for dinner:


Good treatment... don't you think?

Monday, July 23, 2007

On my way to Pula (or not!!)


These are definitively hot days in all eastern Europe. Very hot. So hot that it's difficult to live without any type of refreshment. Air conditioner, ventilator, swimming pool, beach... any of these are necessary to survive during the daylight.

At the office the situation it's not easy at all. Since the heat only last for few days, nobody worries much about having a good air conditioner system. It's ok while it's not hot. But it's terrible when it is. So the only thing you can think about while sweating like a pig at work, it's how you're going to enjoy your weekend at a relaxed beach in Croatia. It's close (little more than two hours distance by car), and seems like a perfect solution to cool down.

The idea was to spend saturday and sunday on the beach at Pula. Unfortunately, it stayed only as an idea. I could never reach Pula. As you see it seems that I was not the only one thinking about cooling down for a bit. A few other thousands were thinking just the same. Germans, dutchs, austrians and italians (among others), use this same route to go down to Croatia and spend their holidays at the beach. After my fourth hour in the car, and being unable to see how far away I was from the border, I turned the car back home.

Next time maybe...

Damn hot chilli: Héctor Buitrago

Let's go back to some music.

Héctor Buitrago is a bassist and head musician of one of colombian most famous bands abroad, Aterciopelados. During 2006, he took some time off to record his own album, Conector (A game of words in spanish that means both connector and "Con Héctor", literally "with Héctor"). Taking some time off is a way of saying, because the other musicians involved in his "solo" project were mainly the ones from his own band, including a wide participation of Andrea Echeverri, the other head of the band.

The original idea was to record an instrumental album, "connecting" typical latin american music styles with electric sounds. Only after hearing the first results of the recording Héctor decided that instruments were not enough to emphasize the type of sounds he wanted to hear, so he began to add some lyrics and voices.

The result is an album that mixes a broad range of music styles, like pop music, latin american folk and even some mantras in a very original way. The result is a blend of styles that may not have been born to be together, but played by Héctor fit perfectly well.

Julieta Venegas, Andrea Echeverri and Alex Ubago are, among others, the musicians that help to create, with their voices, one of the most personal and sensible work up to date for this latin american pop star.

As a sample, you can hear "Fruto Real", one of the best songs in the album, and a perfect tribute to the act of eating "hot chilli peppers":



Deconstructing sky


Bible says that Moses opened Red Sea waters... But that's just a saying. I saw Red Sky wide open, showing me the way of destiny. Or maybe what I saw were a couple of clouds illuminated by the sunset light, your choice!

Friday, July 20, 2007

In the mood for some music: Aga Zaryan

Yes, it was about pictures. But then I changed my mind.

Working on a multicultural environment has some advantages. You get to know people from all over the world, and if the mood is good, you begin to share things with them.

Exchanging few tips on learning how to insult in other languages is among the first thing you normally do. As time passes and confidence settles down, other things may come up while exchanging stories about personal live experiences. Sometimes, somebody will cook its local delights for the rest of us. On other occasions the name of a rarely known local movie that we shouldn't miss comes up to illuminate our knowledge.

In this case, I was illuminated by a polish jazz singer named Aga Zaryan. I came to know her on one of this cultural exchanges with a polish friend. He passed to me a vast amount of information about polish and eastern European music, so much that I still couldn't hear all of them although a couple of months has long gone by.

So, back to Aga. As I said, she is a polish jazz singer, and she is fantastic. Her voice gets your attention easily, as she slides it through the eclectic instruments that completes its compact and talented group. A little bit about her biography, as it is stated in her own web site:

"Graduated with honors from the Fryderyk Chopin Public School of Music on Bednarska St. in Warsaw, where she also completed the post-graduate Jazz Studies program under the tutelage of legendary Polish jazz vocalist Ewa Bem.

In 1998 she was awarded First Prize at the International Jazz Vocalists' Competition in Zamość. As a two-time recipient of international study grants, Aga travelled to the United States to participate in the Stanford Jazz Workshop and Jazz Camp West programs, which gave her the opportunity to hone her talents under the direction of world-renowned vocalists like Rebecca Paris and Madeline Eastman, among others. In 1997 she performed at the Warsaw Fall Festival of Modern Music with an orchestra conducted by Jacek Kasprzyk, and appeared with a string quartet at the “Passage” Panorama of 20th Century Music festival the following year. In 2000, she returned to the United States, performing a jazz repertoire with pianist Michał Tokaj.

March 2002 saw the release of Aga's debut recording “My Lullaby”, on which was accompanied by Tomasz Szukalski, Darek Oleszkiewicz, Michał Tokaj and Łukasz Żyta. The CD received excellent reviews in Poland, as well as in Japan, where it is officially distributed. “My Lullaby” was also nominated for the Polish Phonographic Academy's “Fryderyk” award.

Since that time, Aga has appeared at a large number of clubs and festivals in Poland, the UK, the USA, Isreal and the Czech Republic. In Jazz Forum Magazine's annual Jazz Top Readers' Poll she was recognized as one of Poland's leading jazz vocalists in 2004 and 2005. In 2004 she became a licentiate of the Department of Musical Therapy at the Academy of Music in Łódź, where her work focused on the incorporation of certain elements of jazz music into the process of musical therapy and teaching music to children and youths. In 2006, she received an award at the “Jazz Struggle” International Jazz Vocalists' Competition. "

Here you have a sample of her last disc, "Picking up the pieces". The song is called "Woman's work", and it was composed by her bassist, Darek Oles. Enjoy it!



Thursday, July 19, 2007

20 Favorites

I do have a space in Flickr. Of course, I am cool and modern. I keep my balance between trends, fashion and personal taste.

Now, back to reality.

There a couple of cool tools around, and I have managed to combine them in order to get this slide show: My 20 favorites pictures in Flickr. That means, the 20 pictures out of 1000 that I have uploaded up to the moment, that have been more commented, favorited (does this word exist?) or viewed.

This will be updated daily, so I recommend you to come back and check for changes.


Secret gathering over Ljubljana


This is the view I get from my office.

Below, the Tivoli Park rarely changes its form or color througout the time.

Above, well, that's a different story.

I do some programming at work. IT programming. That means that I give instructions for things to behave on a certain, controlled way. And that's basically all I can control. Or maybe not even that.

Everything else is on hands of chance. As it is the sky on the picture above. Impossible to control, and impossible to know when it will happen. So, a picture like this is the result of a baggage of facts:

1. things are happening
2. I watch them happening
3. I realise that they are happening and that I should register that moment
4. I have a camera with me
5. Batteries, memory card, etc. are in place
6. I am willing to take the picture
7. I am lucky enough to set up a nice composition, exposure, etc.
8. I do want to work this picture in order to show it in Internet.

Enjoy the hard work.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Forbidden project - Part I


Ljubljana is a friendly city. Very friendly, in fact.
Everything is prepared for you to enjoy: bike and roller paths are all over the place, bars around Ljubljanica river are wonderful to be around, Tivoli Park is a forest that invites you to get lost just a few meters next to the center, and a freedom feeling is in the air wherever you go. You can even feel that in the mood of the people; everything seems very relaxed. Everything but just one thing: Rules for entering shops, museums, houses and any kind of building.

Julio Cortazar, one of the most prestigious argentine writers, wrote a short story called "Vietato introdurre biciclette", about how these rules seem to be nothing more than a discrimination. Of the infinite possible actions a person could be doing while entering a place, only a few of them are specifically forbidden. Why? In this case, Cortazar speaks about entering places with a bike. Here is a short extract, in spanish:

“En los bancos y casas de comercio de este mundo a nadie le importa un pito que alguien entre con un repollo bajo el brazo, o con un tucán, o soltando de la boca como un piolincito las canciones que me enseñó mi madre, o llevando de la mano un chimpancé con tricota a rayas. Pero apenas una persona entra con una bicicleta se produce un revuelo excesivo, y el vehículo es expulsado con violencia a la calle mientras su propietario recibe admoniciones vehementes de los empleados de la casa.

Para una bicicleta, ente dócil y de conducta modesta, constituye una humillación y una befa la presencia de carteles que la detienen altaneros delante de las bellas puertas de cristales de la ciudad. Se sabe que las bicicletas han tratado por todos los medios de remediar su triste condición social. Pero en absolutamente todos los países de la tierra está prohibido entrar con bicicletas. Algunas agregan: "y perros", lo cual duplica en las bicicletas y en los canes su complejo de inferioridad."

Shop owners and other kind of administrators in Ljubljana seem to have a clear idea of what they don't want to see in their places. These series of posts will document the wonderful list of things that could lead you into trouble. Take note.

What a forecast!!!

It's a very hot week in Ljubljana. Maybe in all eastern side of Europe. Even the weather forecast bar in my navigator is extra shiny, as you can see:



Difficult to think about a rainy weekend, isn't it?

Mestni trg

A little more about Ljubljana.

Now we know it's the capital city of Slovenia. We should also know that this is not a crowded country. In fact, estimated population is a little bit over 2 million persons for Slovenia, and over a quarter million of them live in Ljubljana. Counting also that the biggest university (University of Ljubljana) is in town, the approximately 60.000 students enrolled on it help to bring the average age of the city inhabitants to one of the youngest ones in Europe. Facts translated: lots of bars and night entertainment for young people can be found easily.

But lets focus on the picture. I took it in Mestni trg, which is the old center of Ljubljana. In front, you can see the Fountain, which is a brand new duplicate of the original one, and behind it it's possible to see the towers of the main Cathedral.

This is what the official site of Ljubljana has to say about Mestni trg:

"Since the 12th century, the Mestni trg square (Town Square) was one of the centres of medieval Ljubljana. A large number of medieval buildings destroyed in the earthquake of 1511 were replaced by Renaissance and later Baroque buildings, which still give a special character to the square. The best known among them is the Town Hall building (Magistrat) with the famous Fountain of the Three Carniolan Rivers in front of it, built by Francesco Robba between 1743 and 1751. The Town Hall complex also includes the flanking buildings, which were purchased by the municipal government in the 17th and 18th centuries. The building located at 2 Mestni trg square used to belong to the distinguished Dolničar family. Its façade was redesigned around the year 1780.

Giving a special character to the Mestni trg square are also a whole range of other buildings, including Haman House (Hamanova hiša), which presently houses the Municipal Gallery (Mestna galerija), Lichtenberg House (Lichtenbergova hiša) with a façade which was in 1540 decorated with reliefs by the sculptor Osbalt Kittl and a staircase dating from the 18th century, Skoberne House (Skobernetova hiša) with a façade dating from the same period, Rakovec and Obrez Houses, which were built by architect Matija Persky, and, the highest of all the buildings in the square, Souvan House with an Empire style façade. The reliefs decorating this façade, which was designed by Francesco Coconi in the 17th century, represent art, trade and agriculture."

This is the exact location of Mestni trg on the map:

Back to: Basics - Where am I?

First comes first.

I am based in Ljubljana. Ljubljana is the capital city of Slovenia.

Enough? Maybe not.

Slovenia is not Slovakia. This is the first mistake that people do.
Slovenia was a former Yugoslavia state, actually the first one to be declared independent, back in 1991. It's limited up north by Austria, east by Croatia and Hungary and west by
Italy.

Let me show you in the map:


So, I am based in Ljubljana. But I am from Argentina. I am assigned here only for a short term, so everything I learn from this wonderful country will be shared on this blog as soon as I get it.
Now, let's continue with more pictures and info.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

My idea of heaven is heaven


So, first official post.
Eye catching situation on a plane from Ljubljana to Madrid. Impossible to avoid taking the camera out and trying the best shot.
This is exactly the idea I had from heaven. Something is going on in there, I am sure...

The beginning, or a light definition of what to expect

Let's say one entry per day. Not much effort, just to keep it going with the feeling of something new coming every day.

Let's say it's about pictures, mainly. Not all, but mainly about pictures. And that's it for definitions. Let's roll.