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| from Yolanda Moreno Rivas: Historia de la música popular mexicana |
Anhelo. A beautiful word, with many meanings. Que fijense en "la etomolgía". The songs are filled with these feelings--Chavela being the master. Aun en la voz misma. And as Octavio Paz writes, people from Mexico have them no small quantity--but also hide them in ways that are particular to Mexico. Hence the title of Chapter Two: Máscaras. Which is what we'll explore this week. Can one get through the mask to the feelings. Or is the mask--the surface--what we must live with to protect them? (Consider Paz's use of the word no "rajarse"--translated by Lysander Kemp as "not step back" or "not to crack..." As in "Ay, Jalisco, no te rajes...")
Some comments on your projects (which I thought were a very good beginning).
Do: Beautiful and precise drawing, accurate as to both meaning and feeling. Keep it up.
Everto: We ran out of time, but the combo of your "foto con libros" and the exploding digital map seemed to cover two ends of a spectrum!
Gigie: the dry colors, the mysterious--older--face peering through, set in a land so abstract as to be almost unknown (unknowable?). A ver...
Patricia: Beatifully constructed, las monarchas ahora ofreciendo lugar en su mismo ser a las fotos de familia. Buen concepto. Next--más de la mano...
Andremar: Los dos lados, nos sorprendiste bien--the two sides brought out contradiction in how we find these feelings bien adentro--inside...
Lucia: Beautiful work, corazon de madera, que pesa, el olor, tocado con las manos...and connection via the poem to Queretaro (=querer?)
Vreni: Vos--bruja bonita, the mystery de como una obra-una vida misma-se desarrolla--hence the inevitable complexities...
Peony: Well stated--la tipa fuerte, poderosa--and the difficulty of the dustbowl landscape present behind her. To explore more...
Alejando: The cine pantalla (screen) becomes a kind of mascara--but the size and presence of image you gave us also reveal... Consider!
Diana Carolina: a ver la proxima--algo bien hecho a mano...
Mike: Good black and white. Remember about going with the view "que tiene mas fuerza--mejor entendido adentro..." Good bull, dude..
Brooke: A mysterious, forthright young woman at clothesline. American frontier, with the "clothing" extending across into... Many possibilities!
Ariel: Beautiful beginning. El corazón mismo, la linea de conección. You put a lot of yourself into the work--that's wonderful. Adelante!
Taylor. Just go for beauty and strength in your work. Listen to the songs, get Eliza to help you with lyrics. Paint.
Eliza. A flower on the coast del Pacífico. There's something in that. we'll see where it goes... Yes, use what you know...feel...
Naomi ???
Valdemar. Un poema que nos emociona--por su sentido, por la precision, aun la delicadez de sus imagenes... con barco de niño... brotando...
Que te muestras a nos.otros mas de la mano. (La mano es otra voz, Valdemar!)
People mentioned, listened to, looked at (you can remind me of the rest!):
Diego del Gastor (guitarra flamenca, Morón de la Frontera) y La Fernanda (cantaora de Utrera).
Manuel Álvarez Bravo, his truly great photos
Pablo Neruda: emsimismarse and the long coast of Chile--mirando al mar (Freud: Oceanic feeling)
José Clemente Orozco: pintor mexicano (the murals) Cortez y la malinche... Meaning in FORM as well as in idea...
El venadito-- Dueto Caleta y Duo America (both on youtube). Tambien: Lila Downes, Linda Ronstadt: Canciones de mi padre...
Sor Juana de la Cruz y la Santa Muerte
Buttonwillow (rostro del hombre en carro amarillo que servía antes de taxi...)
Mi chaparrita (siempre, "Adiós, mi chaparrita...)
Keep it up, everone! Next time--better organization of time on my part. Y mas canciones!!!!! A ver....!
Tony
PS. New people: purchase Octavio Paz inmediamente--read first two chapters. Use as background. Ask me for handouts in next class. Cec's will be available in class, from my printed list. I will send you basics by email.