Ladies and Gentlemen, my life is now complete. I can die a happy woman. :) As of now, I am on a first name basis with one of the most famous drummers in Argentine jazz who has played international festivals that I could name til I'm blue in the face. And a famous Argentine poet's taken an interest in me and wants to have coffee next week. So, yes, Argentina is going pretty well for me! How did all happen?
Well my friend Natalie and I saw a flier on the stop for one of the colectivos on her street. "Nestor Astarita and Friends" and it said he was playing the 5, the 18, and the 25 of December at the Museum right down the street from Natalie's house! So I said of course we'll go see him the 18th! Now I had no idea what kind of concert this was going to be, if tickets were going to be sold out, or what. So Natalie and I went a half hour early, and sure enough, Nestor was out in the front setting up his CDs for sale. I didn't recognize him at first. But when I did I said, "Wait, are you Nestor Astarita?" Dumb introduction, I know. But what can I say? The guy's a genious I was star struck.
He said, "Yeah." I said, "Wow. It's a real pleasure, sir. I've heard excellent things about you." He said "Where are you from?" (everyone asks me that because of my accent), and I said, "My friend and I are from the United States. I'm a drummer so I thought we'd come and hear you play." He said, "You play jazz?" and I said, "for 13 years." He said, "Well then of course you''ll play tonight."
So I played two songs with Hector Vaso, the bassist who played for a time with Georgian Jazz and has a voice almost exactly like Louis Armstrong, and Ricardo Pelican who founded Swing 39 and is a genious guitar player, and two other guitarists who were not named anywhere in the program (welcome to Argentina, hahaha) and I fascinated the audience. Girl drummers are enough of a rarity in the US, I can't imagine Argentine's have ever heard one. And you know what Vaso told me? He said I have excellent tempo and he felt very comfortable with my time!! So yeah, I was on cloud 9 for the night. And of course, I was invited back next Friday.
And behind me sat the very interesting character that is Mario Trejo. I believe he's 83 now. In is early 80s, at the very least. He was fascinated with two things; that I played the drums so well, and that I was Colombian. He's a poet, and he composed the words to some of the songs that Astarita played with this group of tangueros (Tango musicians) that were like from 19-22 years old. When I was leaving, he asked me "You live around here?" And I said, "Yeah". His daughter took down my contact information. He said, "We'll have coffee this week. I'd be very interested to hear about your stay in this great country."
So that's that. I'm slowly taking this country by storm. Hope you like the picture!
Well my friend Natalie and I saw a flier on the stop for one of the colectivos on her street. "Nestor Astarita and Friends" and it said he was playing the 5, the 18, and the 25 of December at the Museum right down the street from Natalie's house! So I said of course we'll go see him the 18th! Now I had no idea what kind of concert this was going to be, if tickets were going to be sold out, or what. So Natalie and I went a half hour early, and sure enough, Nestor was out in the front setting up his CDs for sale. I didn't recognize him at first. But when I did I said, "Wait, are you Nestor Astarita?" Dumb introduction, I know. But what can I say? The guy's a genious I was star struck.
He said, "Yeah." I said, "Wow. It's a real pleasure, sir. I've heard excellent things about you." He said "Where are you from?" (everyone asks me that because of my accent), and I said, "My friend and I are from the United States. I'm a drummer so I thought we'd come and hear you play." He said, "You play jazz?" and I said, "for 13 years." He said, "Well then of course you''ll play tonight."
So I played two songs with Hector Vaso, the bassist who played for a time with Georgian Jazz and has a voice almost exactly like Louis Armstrong, and Ricardo Pelican who founded Swing 39 and is a genious guitar player, and two other guitarists who were not named anywhere in the program (welcome to Argentina, hahaha) and I fascinated the audience. Girl drummers are enough of a rarity in the US, I can't imagine Argentine's have ever heard one. And you know what Vaso told me? He said I have excellent tempo and he felt very comfortable with my time!! So yeah, I was on cloud 9 for the night. And of course, I was invited back next Friday.
And behind me sat the very interesting character that is Mario Trejo. I believe he's 83 now. In is early 80s, at the very least. He was fascinated with two things; that I played the drums so well, and that I was Colombian. He's a poet, and he composed the words to some of the songs that Astarita played with this group of tangueros (Tango musicians) that were like from 19-22 years old. When I was leaving, he asked me "You live around here?" And I said, "Yeah". His daughter took down my contact information. He said, "We'll have coffee this week. I'd be very interested to hear about your stay in this great country."
So that's that. I'm slowly taking this country by storm. Hope you like the picture!
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