Electronica Company

The other night, some of James' friends from his Spanish class invited us to go to a show at a cultural center called Konex. We thought we should give it a try. At the very least we could check out the venue for future shows.

It's a great space. There is a huge outside area with a modern-looking gift store, cheerfully painted port-o-lets, and swings hanging from a large metal staircase in the middle of the yard. The only downside was the open air bar on the side of the yard. It looks like a cool space, but you have to wait in line to order and pay for drinks from a single cashier. She then gives you a ticket, and you give your ticket to one of the bartenders. This isn't that big of a deal, but it's a strange system when bartenders are standing idle waiting for tickets. Its the same system here for ice cream shops, but it's the reverse protocol in bakeries.

Anyway, the tickets were a reasonable 20 pesos, not bad for a couple of hours of entertainment. The crowd consisted of about half locals and half foreigners. Once inside the concert space (a warehouse), we were urged by James' friends to move toward the stage. I didn't want to push people out of the way, because some appeared to be familiar with the performer's work. I hung back a little and took in the scene. A man was on stage in an orange jumpsuit, wearing a hard hat with a light attached to it. He was surrounded by sound equipment, microphones, and a keyboard. A large screen was behind him flashing pictures. The music was described as electronica, but I'm not familiar with the genre, and I don't know if that is an accurate description. A beat played and he basically added to the song with a variety of noises. He had some little drums he would beat on, sometimes he just made noises into the mic, other times he used a megaphone for his vocals. A palm frond was on his side and this was sometimes given a good shake. My personal favorite was the sliding whistle.

I wasn't sure what to do with myself as we watched the show. The options were: (1) stand still, but cock my head to the side and have an "I'm intently listening" look on my face; (2) bop around a little when I could find a beat to follow; or my personal favorite, (3) the arms raised above the head, hippie free-flow dance. I opted to alternate between options 1 and 2.

I know I'm making fun a little bit but, it was a fun experience and I liked a few of the songs. The venue was my favorite part and hopefully I'll get to see some other shows there soon.

This is the link to the cultural center if anyone wants to check it out:

http://www.ciudadculturalkonex.org/