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Kosmos pics

Postby windhorse » Mon Jun 16, 2008 3:24 am

More pics of Kosmos
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brazilian.jpg
Samba Class With Kim Atkinson
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Flamenco Ensemble
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This Frame Drum Jam had us mesmerized!
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Re:

Postby windhorse » Mon Jun 16, 2008 3:27 am

More from Kosmos
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Frank - Louis's Decipal
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Guiniean Dance
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guiniean dance3.jpg
Some more Guiniean Dancing at the Saturday night show
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Re:

Postby windhorse » Mon Jun 16, 2008 3:30 am

Can only do three at a time! :D
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guinieanconc.jpg
African drum and song Saturday night! Kim Atkinson joined them!
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Jeanette and I at Mark's house Wed. night after the camp
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The stream every crosses to get to camp Kosmos
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Re:

Postby windhorse » Mon Jun 16, 2008 3:34 am

Three more.. :)
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Camp Kosmos occurs 100% right under these Redwoods
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Camp Kosmos uses tented platforms with cots you sleep on.. They aren't bad since they inserted flat wood supports under everyone's matresses.
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kosmos5.jpg
The bridge you cross to get to camp Kosmos
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Re:

Postby windhorse » Mon Jun 16, 2008 3:39 am

And yet 3 more..
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louie.jpg
Louis Romero on the left, and Patty, one of his students on the right
louie3.jpg
Louis's Band Mazacote on Saturday! Groovage maximus with Danceous Maximus!
morensemble.jpg
Moroccan Ensemble.. Beautiful!
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Re:

Postby windhorse » Mon Jun 16, 2008 3:42 am

That concludes this year's car camping trip to Kosmos!
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The owl which hung out over my tent in Ruby Valley Nevada
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sanfranrumba.jpg
San Francisco Rumba with good friends
yoga.jpg
Morning Yoga.. Beautiful isn't it..??
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Re:

Postby pavloconga » Sat Jul 19, 2008 9:02 am

Here's a few pics from a gig I did a few weeks ago with Caribbean vocalist Isabelle da Sylveira and a guest percussionist at one of the main venues here ("The Governor Hindmarsh")
She's one of the few singers I know (in Australia at least :) ) who can sing with just percussion accompaniment and still sound amazing:
cheers
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Arcata day1

Postby windhorse » Sat Jul 19, 2008 8:09 pm

Nice Pics Pav!! I especially like the close up of the hands!
I'm in Arcata now, and the camp starts this evening. I always keep a journal when I travel, so figured I'd post in the "diary".

Day 1
Last night we had a party to honor Marshall’s move from Colorado to LA. There were 12 of us there, so enough of a crowd to really get a good rumba going,, and it was good!! Steve, who informed us he is also moving to California, was leading most of the singing. Wow, what a great player that guy is! We’ll sure miss him from the local Rumba crowd. His uncle is some kind of famous percussionist in France “Jille” is his name. Also present was my teacher Dave, for just a short while, since he had a gig later that night. ET, who is a great Batalero, Rick, Dan, Hal, Scott, Marshall - of course, Denver Dave, Paco, and Henry who hosted the event in one of his abandoned warehouses. It was pretty nice since it had carpeted floors, but it was still loud in there since it was empty with low ceilings. We had boxes, a full compliment of Bata, and the Denver guy’s drums. Henry had some gourmet food and beers on ice. Marshall did an interesting thing in that he was the one leaving, but he gave everyone gifts. The method that he used was to write everyone’s names on pieces of paper, and then raffle off a bunch of items in a box that he had wrapped up and wouldn’t let anyone open. What was even better was that one of the items being auctioned was a video tape of Giovanni, and a book. These were then won by the person who gave them to Marshall! They came back to their original owner via raffle! Then, I won a metal bell, which when I looked close, had my mark that I always put on my equipment! It was mine! And I won it back! I had also brought a bomba, which was originally owned by Dan and Scott. It’s a long story, but they had passed the co-owned bomba back and forth for years, and had produced much bad blood between them. Then, at one point Scott sold his half of the drum to me, but I held on to it for over a year without Dan’s knowledge just to have a laugh at his expense. So, I chose last night to ceremoniously reveal his bomba, and gave it back to him. He was very chagrined by the whole thing, so it was worth it! The energy in the room was so high that we played each rhythm for about 30 minutes completely exhausting whoever was a little insecure with whatever part they ended up with. The first one I played on was a Columbia and I ruptured a blood vessel in my left ring finger. Rick recorded the session, and Henry got lots of pictures, but I don’t’ know if I’ll be able to get my hands on either. I couldn’t’ stay late since I was leaving early the next morning for Humboldt, so I expect they played until the early morning hours. I got back home by 11:00PM and still did a bit of last minute packing

Today I have just landed in Arcata airport. What a quaint little place! I love it!! It’s about 56 degrees F. and I just put on my sweatshirt. It’s the Middle of the summer and everyone’s roasting around the country, but here I have to wear a jacket! I sat across from Abby on the plane. She’s youngster who’s one of the workshop participants. We had an e-mail exchange two days ago because I had posted on the rider list that I could pick people up since I was renting a car for the week. But, after realizing the folly of spending all that money for the car to sit in the parking lot for the week, I cancelled the reservation. So, that meant that Abby would have to pick up the airport shuttle, which she did minutes ago. So, I’m sitting here and waiting on a flight to get here 30 minutes from now, and good ol’ James will come to pick up myself and two guys coming in on the next flight. They found me the same way Abby did; through the rides wanted section of the camp’s website.
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Re:

Postby pavloconga » Mon Jul 21, 2008 9:51 am

Hey windhorse,
the workshops over there sound great. I wish I was there... enjoy!
pavlo
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Re:

Postby windhorse » Tue Jul 22, 2008 12:39 am

thanks Pavlo! Had a great session today with Jesus Diaz and a great practice session afterwards!

Day 2
Mike and Mike both showed up at the airport, and I called James to come pick us up, but he went to a small airfield to the South of town instead of the Arcata/Eureka airport to the north of town, so we stood out there for quite a while. No big deal,, James eventually figured it out, and we got checked in. Then, we went and saw Howie’s film he always starts camp with. It’s very thorough historically and style-wise for the different types of music found in Cuba. Then, David Penalosa gave a lecture on Bata about where clave is found in Bata. Howie, Venessa, and another guy, I met for the first time, played the three Bata while David played clave. It was very revealing, and I felt like I “got it” this year! At least more so than the previous year. We had dinner and then went to song class where Lazaro Gallaraga taught us several rumba songs. We learned three different Yambu, two Guaguanco, and three or four Columbias. This was awesome! Lazaro is an amazing singer! Wow! And we were all inspired! Its sounded like a choir in that room! Then, we went to the gym and learned a Yambu, Guaguanco, and Columbia dance. Pretty packed for the first day of camp! But, it wasn’t over! Then, we went back to Mannie’s room and jammed on Jame’s nice vintage Valje drums. We officially weren’t supposed to play in the dorm rooms, but no other camps were in session, so we figured, “why not?” It was such a blast playing again with these familiar faces I only get to see once a year. James, Karl, and Mannie. I didn’t sleep well since I was so pumped up from an amazing first day,, but today I’m REALLY tired and taking the time to nap several times during the day. The first real drum class was at 2:00, and we learned two variations of Havana style Palo, and one from Matanzas. This was the level 4 Bantu with Jesus Diaz. James got us a practice room at 3:30 where we worked on the various parts, and finished off with a Guaguanco. At song class I was reminded of exactly who Lazaro Gallaraga is.. He’s the whole reason that I ever became interested in singing any Afro-Cuban repertoire! I never even made that connection until this second night of singing.. I swear that guy’s voice is like butter! It is just awesome! We had a great time singing in that class! Wonderful choir-like coro since so many in there knew his songs.. He hardly even had to teach us a thing! We just sang for an hour and half.. Then went to Rumba dance class. They did have a party that night, but I went to bed.. Too wiped out from the previous days.
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Day 3

Postby windhorse » Tue Jul 22, 2008 3:55 am

Day 3
Today, we started with 9:30 drum class with Francisco Aguebella. He showed us two different Arara rhythms. Then we played an Iyesa. So, I volunteered to be the bell player, and I must say, did a fine job for a while,, but then at one point got sucked into one of the sticking parts that’s quick and punchy and fell off.. Fransisco said, “I know what it is.. You were trying to fit to him.. Don’t try to fit to anybody, we’re all trying to fit to you!” So, everything was fine after that.. Later I got on the Tumba part to one of the rhythms and it was an upbeat that switches from a muffled tone with sticks, to tones. It’s 6/8 upbeats on the lowest drum.. OUCH! That’s a really tough one for me, so I fell off and basically had to give it up. Again,, OUCH.. No worries though, I redeemed my awkwardness with the Tumba part on Iyesa which I’ve played for years.. Dang,, tough class though.. The other level 5 students were definitely all great players! I was probably one of the lowest level players in the crowd.. After lunch, I went back to Jesus Diaz’s class on “Rumba” where the whole point to the class was that “there is no definite way to play Rumba.. As long it fits in clave, and you know where you are in relation to the other parts,, then ANYTHING goes.” So, to illustrate this point he shared what he does when he plays with Sandy Perez, or folks who he feels comfortable with. It’s a pattern based on Guarapachangueo, where the Segundo hits two tones into the four, and the Tumba has a two clave part where on one clave it rolls three bases into the three, and on the next one plays a muff, then tone into the three. It also has a really cool slap dialogue where the Segundo plays a slap right before the one, and Tumba slaps just after the one… The pattern is freaking awesome, so I made sure to get it written out.. I’m an old dog,, and with this new trick, it’ll take me a year to get it semi-playable.. So, don’t be haranguing me to demonstrate it yet! There were two younger guys that picked it right up, and were even making up variations and changes for it in the practice room afterwards. Again, James, our fearless leader got us a room! Go James! We had a bunch of the level 5s and fours in there for a nice practice/Jam session that definitely rocked! Everyone felt good, like they got to play off some steam and converse musically with new friends.. This year really feels like better practice sessions than in the past.. Maybe it’s that people keep coming back, and the music is sinking in for all of us!
After dinner we went to song class again with Lazaro Gallaraga!! He’s so great! What wonderful positive energy! The guy is just glowing when he leads the class.. I got his CD- Arara’, and actually going to put into my laptop after I post this..
We sang all kinds of Arara songs tonight that were just beautiful.. I’m still high from the vocals! Later we’re partying at a local brewery where they have a stage set up for all the maestros from our camp.. Should be pretty cool!
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Re:

Postby congamyk » Tue Jul 22, 2008 11:37 pm

wow what an experience!
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Re:

Postby windhorse » Wed Jul 23, 2008 4:18 pm

Day 4

That night we went to a Brew pub called the HumBrewery. There were some locals playing guitar and singing sort of like an open mic, then our folks got up there on the stage and rocked the house! Vanessa led a bunch of singing with the second tier players, and then Lazaro Gallaraga got up there to wow us all with is wonderful voice for the rest of the night! Johnny Santos, Chris Walker and a few others rounded out the rest. I drank three pints of beer that night, which is FAR too much for this light weight! So, I got pretty drunk. The next morning I had one of the worst hang-overs ever! I was sick, couldn’t hold down food, had my head over a toilet, and slept off most of the morning. I felt much better by lunch time and went to the afternoon session with Toto Berriel. It was a class on two forms of Bembe Matanzas style. I was especially into the Caja and the variations. Some of us stayed after the class and compared notes. I had messed up where the Kachimbo part fit on clave, which is no surprise, but at least we got it figured out. We then had another really fun and invigorating practice session.
Everyone took naps, and then it was the BEACH PARTY! Now, these beach parties are legendary! And true to form, it was everything I expected and more. I’d have to say the highlight of the night was standing behind Erick Barberia and watching that guy play tumba on Guanguanco! WOW! His muffled tones were so thick! And his patterns really killer! He played it almost like quinto,, and then would come back to the part so cleanly to display amazing virtuosity! He would turn and give me a sideways grin each time he did a new unique phrasing.. He could sense my amazement.. };-D
Other highlights, Mike Spiro on quinto – really something,, I swear he gets better every time I see him play.. Chris Walker’s Caja on Bembe, Jesus Diaz and Ray Gonzales on anything they touched.. Johnny Santos on Bembe lead Shekere, Collin Douglas – Mr. Machine. We had a crowd of 40-50 people and we ALL were singing from our souls! It was truly one of the most beautiful experiences I’ve ever witnessed.. Through this workshop I get to experience first hand some of musical joy that people in Cuba get to live within their culture. I feel so blessed to take part in this once again.
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Re: Humboldt workshops - Night 4

Postby taikonoatama » Thu Jul 24, 2008 10:47 am

Man, Dave, you missed out tonight. After that sweet Columbia we laid down in the dorms with Bobby and the boys, around 11 I think, we heard about a session going down in a teacher's room up the road, picked up some party supplies and headed over there. It was, if this is possible, nearly as heavy as the beach party. More cajon based - with cajon for the bombo/tumba, someone playing tumba cajon and tres gorpes, and quinto cajon. (Gearhead aside: All the cajon were Fat Congas and sounded awesome). All the heavies - minus Francisco - where there and it was incredible. Four great singers taking turns - Lazaro Gallaraga (Conjunto Folklorico Nacional de Cuba), Reynaldo Gonzalez (Afro-Cuba de Matanzas), Toto Berriel (Los Munequitos), and Erick Barberia (not as well-known, but my favorite of the rumba singers). Four generations there, and Havana and Matanzas, so it was really interesting to hear the different styles,. On quinto cajon, Jesus Diaz, Lazaro, Toto, and our own Bay Area guy, Chris Walker, took turns. Mike Spiro was there as well, playing mostly claves and tres gorpes. (He absolutely killed it on quinto the night before. Killed it. Incredible.) John Santos and Colin Douglas were there as well, layin it down. Scott Wardinsky was my favorite on bombo cajon on the night - loved his playing. There were like 15 of us singing coro as loud as we could. So sweet to be part of this.

There were some great dancers, in particular, Susana Arenas and Reynaldo Gonzalez. The party was just raging - the music went without a break until 2 am. Crazy. These Cubans can seriously party. Wow.

James
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Re:

Postby No.2-1820 » Thu Jul 24, 2008 4:47 pm

What a session !!! Nice one James, thanks for the report, keep 'em coming, we can live vicariously through you guys ! :)

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