Ska in the Park

As part of Santiago a Mil, the Melbourne Ska Orchestra played last night (and they are playing again tonight and Saturday I believe, for those of you interested.)  We gathered a crew and headed out to see the FREE performance, and it was pretty fun.  There was lots of dancing, of course, and the park it was in, although far away, is really nice.  One thing I found really funny was that the lead guy didn't know any Spanish beyond "hola" and "muchas gracias" (unless he just wasn't demonstrating his full knowledge of the language.)  So he would say things (in English), and most people in the crowd wouldn't understand what he was saying.  For that matter, I could barely understand what he was saying at times, what with the Aussie accent and all.  The performance was overall pretty legit.

They did some great covers, and for their cover of Bob Marley's "Simmer Down", a guy came out and played this crazy half guitar half harp thingy.  It was pretty legit.

There were lots of people, young and old, having a great time dancing and kicking their legs about.  My favorite people were these two old ladies standing in front of us.  They were rocking out like it was nobodies bidness.  I aspire to one day be like them.

One final reason the Melbourne Ska Orchestra performance was so great, is it kicked off my despedida, or going away.  I guess that is not a great thing because I am kind of sad to be leaving, but it was a great way to start the end. 

Santiago a Mil is a Win

Being a poor teacher (after years of being a poor student), I am always looking for free things to do.  Luckily, Santiago has some cool things to offer, especially now that it is summer.  I went to the first performance of Santiago a Mil, and I was blown away at its amazingness.  There was a parade that ended at La Moneda, and then the performance started.  It was called Lluvia de Violines (literally Rain of Violins) and was put on by a French company.  People were performing while suspended in the air like mobiles.  That alone makes this a great performance.  Here is a video of the finale when all the groups joined together in song:

I wish the video could do it justice.  I am excited to go to more of the free performances put on by Santiago a Mil.