Exploring Folklore

Folklore is a national pastime here. My professors at school had mentioned it a few times, and I had long since decided it was something I wanted to check out. So, I was reading Clarin, my newspaper of choice, and a review of a Folklore show not far from Palermo (technically in Almagro) jumped out at me.

Folklore refers to popular stories told in the small towns. Much like our folklore at home (Pecos Bill, anyone?)...or so it seemed at first.

I got there first and got us a table front and center and boy am I glad. You can see from the pictures below how very close we were to the action.

This was of the one man show variety, but he had his friend come out and accompany him on guitar at the end. Basically, he can play a lot of different instruments and make a lot of different sounds.  Then he has a machine where he can make the first, then the second, etc instrument repeat on loop while he adds another instrument in real time.  He wove a short story throughout (in Spanish). The story he told was more of a description of walking through a forest and feeling alone. He described the nature around him as well, and a lot of the sounds he produced mirrored that (frogs, dripping water, cascading water, etc). Sometimes these sounds were produced with the 18 instruments he had; other times, with his mouth.

This was truly a unique experience. The crowd, all Argentine, loved it. I felt like we were truly doing something the locals did, and you could tell the staff was interested in having non Argentines in the crowd...they seemed eager to share this part of their culture. Before my friends arrived, I was talking with the staff who simply love shows like this. It was cool to see such enthusiasm.

In addition to shows, there are penas (with a tilde over the n), which are like milongas are to tango- big halls where the general public can dance folklore. I think I'll make that my next stop!