Chile’s Fiestas Patrias: Fondas for September

Another major part of Chile’s Fiestas Patrias—Independence Day celebrations—are the “fondas.” Also called “ramadas” because they are often made with branches (ramas) these temporary fairs are set up in parks all over the country for about 10 days of food, games, drinking, dancing, crafts of all sorts, and general good times to be had. Some of the bigger (and/or more rural) ones have rodeos and most will have cueca contests.  There are the municipal versions as well as some of the more popular ones such as the now-famous “Yein Fonda” (which in Chilean sounds just like the actress) and the Guachaca version full of cueca chora.

Fondas kick off the weekend before the September 18^th holiday and close up the Sunday following, although they sometimes reappear as “18 Chico” the following weekend.

Girl in traditional flowered "huasa" dress buys a treat from the organ grinder

They are very family oriented by day, although by no means cheap. Entrance fees can vary widely from a luca or so ($1000 pesos, about $1 USD) to $10,000 pesos for some of the more upscale versions with more bands. And once inside, prices of everything are considerably higher than anywhere else in town.

Price doesn’t seem to matter much though. Families save up to go (reminds me of going to the State Fair as a kid). Organ grinders crank away and the kids line up to buy their pinwheels, slinkies, glow-lights, and other souvenir treats.

Magicians and other entertainers draw crowds

The food is one of the biggest attractions.

This menu for an informal sit-down restaurant offers all the favorites: pork, cazuela, salads, soft drinks, choripan (grilled sausage on a roll), empanadas (savory baked beef or fried cheese pastries), anticuchos (skewered meats), beer, chicha (a partially fermented and very sweet almost-wine), french fries, mote con huesillo (a wheat and peach drink/dessert), terremoto (rustic wine with pineapple sherbet), wine, coffee, or tea.

Pork ribs on the grill, empanadas in the oven

Fried cheese empanadas

Snack food that can be eaten out of hand while strolling through the fonda is perhaps the best of all.

A fan of choripan (note the anticuchos on the grill behind him)

Cueca in Providencia-Fonda at the Parque Inés de Suarez

As night falls and the level of alcohol consumed rises, the families tend to clear out and leave room for the revelers who come for the shows, dancing, and more booze. Amazing quantities of chicha, beer, and wine  are consumed. In fact, this is Chile’s biggest drinking holiday, much akin to New Year’s Eve in the US.

It seems that 2009 is the year of the Cueca Chora (also called Cueca Brava). Young people who were long reticent to twirl their handkerchiefs and stomp their feet have taken new pride in the national dance.

White handkerchiefs fill the air when Las Niñas take the stage

For more on September 18 Fiestas Patrias activities, see “El Dieciocho“.

Concón, Chile: Lookin’ good after 468 years! (Part 1)

Concón, one of Chile’s popular beach resorts, goes all out with murgas, comparsa, cueca, cumbia, ranchera, diablada, and bailes pascuenses to celebrate its 468 years of history.

I have to admit, I’m a sucker for a good parade. Chile, however, is not so big on them. Processions, yes—usually saint-inspired—and then there’s the occasional civic type with the fire department and uniformed school kids marching along all fresh-pressed and scrub-faced. They’re also usually small town affairs—most of the marching going on in Santiago tends to end up involving tear gas and water cannons.

But I discovered something new the other night. A murga, Chilean style. As I pulled in to Concón last Saturday night, I heard the drum—one of those really big ones—and then the horns (lots o’ brass). I did a mental run-down of the usual saint day celebrations—nothing I was aware of. I had to find out. I’m drawn to these things like, well, what can I say, I’m an anthropologist! I have a degree in stick-your-nose-in!

I could hear them moving—first up by the church, then beyond the plaza. C’mon! Let’s go!! I tell my husband, who is oddly not drawn to these things like I am, but he humors me and off we go. We discover a large group of brightly dressed dancers stopped a block from the church and waiting for mass to end (there always seems to be a mass) so they can continue on their merry-raucousy way. They’re in black face. BLACK face? My inner anthropologist is leaking out all over the place. I have to ask.

Comparsa Cerro Alegre San Antonio in Concón, August 2009

They’re the Comparsa Cerro Alegre San Antonio, they tell me, and they usually march during carnival season. When I ask why the black face, they stare back blankly as if it were self-explanatory. It has something to do with Brazil. (I later look up Comparsa—which Wikipedia tells me is Krewe in English—and discover that its an old tradition, brought from Spain, and much more popular in Uruguay, where the black face tradition goes back to colonial times when white people painted their faces to be able to participate in black celebrations, which were apparently much better parties.)

Inside the church, the last amen is said, and before the priest can finish the may you go in pe…. the drums are pounding, the brass is blaring, the dancers are whirling, and the party is on!

It turns out that the hoopla is in honor of Concón’s 468^th anniversary, and they’re doing it up big.

Comparsa Cerro Alegre San Antonio in Concón, August 2009

Next up: the ever popular cumbia by the Nueva Invasión Tropical.

Nueva Invasión Tropical in Concón, August 2009

Then local favorites Los Hermanos Morales (below), who do a rockin’ ranchera—and have you ever seen such a gorgeous accordion?

Los Hermanos Morales, Concón, August 2009

Los Hermanos Morales, Concón, Chile, August 2009

And although the much-hyped double of Marco Antonio Solis would keep the crowd hoppin’ til 2AM, I’m done for the night.

Be sure to take a look at: Concón Celebrates Part II: folklore day.

Choro el Piernal de Cueca Chora

La Cueca is cool.
Forget the whole huaso bit and the women in the silly square dance type dresses, we’re talking la Cueca urbana, la Cueca brava… la Cueca CHORA!

Quilombo Ediciones 2009

After years of having gym class-style dancing shoved down their throats at any and every cultural event, there’s a quickly growing movement among Chileans to take back the “real” cueca. The cueca that always existed.
The cueca that the  “rotos chilenos” proudly danced in the chinganas, fondas, and ramadas where people from the city and the port went to let their hair down, swill some chicha, hoist a few pipeños, sing a bit, and dance a lot. And that dance was the cueca. A dance that can take flirting to the edge of social mores—without touching—and that when done well, eye-to-eye and with just the right whisk of the pañuelo, turn of the head, tilt of the hip, and stomp of the foot, can bring a flush to the cheeks and set the heart aflutter.

The problem is that until just recently, that spirit of the pueblo cuequero was all but lost, buried under a 1960s wave of imported rock and then appropriated (and toned down) by the military right in the 1970s-80s in an attempt to impose, instill, and imbue “true national values” with an official and state-sanctioned version that involves a manly poncho-wearing huaso patrón who flirts with and wins over a demure and oddly dressed woman called a “china”… Yeah… exactly… No wonder no one I know ever wanted anything to do with it!

La cueca chora, step by step. Illustration by Alberto Montt

But there’s been a movement of late to take back Chile. To take pride in the real Chile. To take a stand and raise the pañuelo.
¡Éjale compadre!, put those hands together chiquillos, clap-clap, clap-clap, and tiki tiki tiki…
Get a guitar, a pandero (tambourine), and a voice and you’re good to go.
Find an accordion and there are definitely some hot times ahead. And there you are…. The cueca is hot and Chile is cool! ¡Chile es choro and la cueca es más chora aún !

Okay, so there’s a lot more to be said about how I feel about Chile in general and the cueca in particular… but all this has been a long-winded wind-up to the real topic of this post, a new book on how to dance the cueca chora.

Editor Camila Rojas (left), author Araucaria Rojas (right) © MSnook 2009

Araucaria Rojas, daughter of the Gran Guaripola himself Dióscoro Rojas (drawing a blank? You’ve got homework: go study up at the Guachacas web site) and who is now finishing up a degree in history, just launched her book “Piernal de Cueca Chora” a guide to everything you need to hold your own amongst the choros, from the color of your pañuelo to just how high to hike your skirt.  ‘Piernal,’ in case you’re wondering, is one of those words invented by necessity because a ‘manual’ refers to something done with the hands, but in this case it’s the legs (piernas) following all the steps that are so explicitly described in words and images (illustrator Alberto Montt of “Dosis Diario” fame weighs in with his signature style). Cousin Camila Rojas edited the book for her newly-formed publishing company Quilombo Ediciones and came up with some pretty clever touches like resolving the twisted spine problem (English books write the title down one side of the spine and Spanish books, the other) by wrapping the book—along with a nifty stamped pañuelo—in a box that allowed her to print the spine in both directions! (¡Bien hecho Camila!).

Chilean journalist /Guachaca Queen Mónica Pérez

The Santiago launch was held last night (Sept 1) at the 100% chileno bar Piojera (could there ever have been any other option?) with a dedication by the paternal Guaripola and the reigning royal Guachacas Queen Mónica Pérez and King Ricarte Soto, among others, followed by a few patitas de cueca, and a healthy round of terremotos and pichanga. Be sure to check out Eileen’s  bearshapedsphere version of the evening—she can even show you food & drink pictures because by that time I was much too busy sipping and munching to take pictures. An excellent way to kick of this month of fiestas a la chilena!

Araucaria and Dióscoro Rojas dancing cueca

Araucaria and Dióscoro Rojas (© MSnook 2009)

Matt Harding: Dancing Around the World

Matt Harding, the guy who danced his way (badly) around the world and author of the hoax that was not a hoax.

Matt Harding--Bad Dancer 2008 (NPR)

It’s Sunday morning and I’m listening to NPR (National Public Radio).  I hear a piece on Matt Harding, of Where the Hell is Matt fame. This guy travels the world and puts up videos of himself happily–though badly–dancing on You-Tube.

What does this have to do with Chile, you ask? Not all that much, but he’s been here in Chile, danced on Easter Island (yes, that’s part of Chile), and his project is really cool, so please bear with me!

He’s one of those guys who seems to glide through life on a sense of humor, dumb luck, and a healthy dose of right-time-right-place. He quit his job, slung a backpack over his shoulder, and set out to see the world (literally) in 2003. Somewhere along the line he had the bright idea of doing a dumb dance on camera and posting it to his web site. You Tube lofted him to new heights, a gum company sprung for further travel-dances, and the dream career he never knew he wanted was launched. He’s been traveling, dancing, and uploading videos ever since!

His 2006 video proves he was in Chile (on Easter Island, 2 minutes in). He’s also posted his notes on his trip through the Southern Cone.

All well and good. Fun guy, nice gimmick, found his niche and the way to follow his heart’s desire on someone else’s dime. Cool…

But wait-there’s more!

Matt, it turns out, is a prankster, and he came up with–get this–not a hoax (anyone can do that), but a HOAX of a hoax… Sheer genius.

Spurred on by comments on YouTube that claimed his video was a green screen and Photoshop scam, he decided to come clean. Speaking before a large audience at the December 2008 EG Conference he confessed his sins and revealed all the secrets behind this elaborate viral ad campaign. That he was an actor and afraid to fly. That Photoshop was, indeed, and essential element in his video-making process. That the project was top secret and his sponsors (Buzz!Brain) couldn’t risk hiring loose-lipped actors to dance with him, so they spent $5 million building 100 animatronic puppets (electronic robots). That they had sunk a stripped-down Boeing 727 in a swimming pool to mock up the weightless dancing scene ($17 million). And to eliminate any trace of a doubt in the audience’s mind of what he was up to, the still straight-faced Harding concluded with a pie chart that revealed a budget that included expenditures for robot uprising insurance, animatronic masseuses, hush money, and hair extensions. His audience rolled on the floor!
Man, did those Photoshop conspiracy theorists look dumb then!

But here’s the irony… EG uploaded the video(Matt Harding-Where the Hell is Matt and Elaborate Hoax), Digg picked it up (Matt Harding: Where In The Hell Is Matt? It’s a Hoax), and Jaunted, who had not bothered to read beyond the headlines, put it in their Hoax category (Matt Comes Clean: He Was Faking It All Along and it just spiraled out from there.

The media had fallen for the gag and unwittingly (or dumb-wittedly) played its part in propagating the hoax that was not a hoax and the not-hoax that turned out to be one!

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PS:
I just discovered a couple more links worth adding. It seems that when Jaunt figured out that it was a joke, they came back with “we were joking too”… But they did an interview with Matt that bears checking out: Matt Harding Tells Jaunted All About His Real Dancing Videos

And in the course of that interview, I came across a spoof of Matt at Funny or Die. It takes a while to download, so be patient. And just for the record… it’s a hoax!