Saturday, March 29, 2008
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| The Dogs of War |
| Written by john mooney |
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| A few weeks ago on CNN, I was watching George Bush honor a former ambulance driver who was the last living American Veteran of World War I. It gave me that "time waits for nobody" jolt because I remember as a kid our backyard barbeques being heavily peppered with 60 and 70-somethings who unprophetically called their War, "The War to end all Wars". And now, four wars and 90 years later, only 107 year old Frank Buckles is left to personally recollect an era gone by. Back in the day my Grandfather was one such member of that lost generation found at our backyard barbeques. So was his buddy, Burt Cohen, who was close enough to our family that we called him 'Uncle Burt'. They were both US war veterans serving in the Army Engineer Corps building hospitals in France. But not all on that early 20th century European battlefield had experiences as benign as construction. My Grandmother lived in Paris and recalled a city whose many inhabitants for the first time ever, saw manmade aircraft in the sky.
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Category: John Mooney |
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Monday, March 24, 2008
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| Coincidentally linked |
| Written by osvaldo dos reis |
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The month of March has not been very pleasant for Cape Verde, as two of its musical legends have been hospitalized due to health problems. First, singer Cesaria Evora put a temporary halt to her tour in Australia due to what is being called a "mild stroke." Shortly after, singer Andriano Gonçalves, a.k.a. Bana, spent several days in the hospital battling diabetes and other health issues.
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Category: Osvaldo Dos Reis |
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Thursday, March 20, 2008
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| Snapshots |
| Written by john mooney |
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I learned a long time ago that when not carrying a camera, bring pen and pad; or at least a scrap of paper to capture a fleeting scene that if not recorded will get lost with the millions of other bits of irretrievable information cluttering my mind.
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Category: John Mooney |
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Thursday, March 13, 2008
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| Sal: Morabeza lost and found |
| Written by john mooney |
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| A few weeks back, I finally had an opportunity to travel to São Nicolau; the last of our unvisited islands (save for Santa Luzia). Since there are no direct flights from Praia, we flew through Sal and decided to layover one night on our way and for 8 hours on our return. It has been 15 years since I spent any significant amount of time on Sal and being aware of the amount of development taking place, I was interested as to how it all impacted the vibe of the island. One of the first things I noticed, or heard actually, was that Italian unofficially replaced Portuguese as the language of business. It was spoken everywhere by tourist and local alike. Said the Santa Maria fisherman to the lady wanting to buy only half of his days catch "Dovete comprare tutti!" (You have to buy everything!).
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Category: John Mooney |
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Thursday, March 06, 2008
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| One More Blues |
| Written by john mooney |
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| Back in Tarrafal's (São Nicolau) Residencial Natur, my wife and child were asleep and I was still savoring our recently consumed dinner of fresh grilled tuna, home grown squash and carrots. I was also considering a return trip to the Restaurant Golfinho because of a black and white mimeographed paper on the restaurant wall: "Esta noite musico ao vivo". Save for the Hiaces and Aluguer pick ups, it was hard to hear music in São Nicolau. Karl Marx once wrote that "Religion is the opiate of the people" and while that may apply to some, music is my personal drug of choice so I grabbed my sandals and tip toed out the door like some sneaky husband in a television situation comedy. As I was lightly closing the door behind me, my wife called out from the dark "Just don?t be too late". She knows me well.
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Category: John Mooney |
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Thursday, February 28, 2008
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| Praia Baixo Rocha |
| Written by john mooney |
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After scouting the southern coast of São Nicolau, it looked like swimming was going to be out of the question. Praias Frances, Barril and Grande had that sole searing black sand, innumerable invisible rocks beyond the surf and an undertow that could suck a Volkswagen out to sea.
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Category: John Mooney |
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Monday, February 25, 2008
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| Lover’s Lounge |
| Written by lucy coutinho |
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I am compelled to share the feeling I came away with on Saturday, February 16th at the Lover's Lounge show in New Jersey. Though I was so overcome by emotions, I felt just as empowered. Love is a sentiment that is too often underappreciated. The movement had a message to relay to all and remind us how important it is to have love for self and others, culture and music.
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Category: Lucy Coutinho |
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| Music Follows Me |
| Written by nuria chantre |
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| My last Sunday in Cabo Verde looks and feels like a Picture-Perfect Day! Here I am surrounded by coconut trees, lounging in my bikini by the pool, with the sun beaming on my face (and on my bum), my favorite fashion magazines (Vogue, Glamour, Elle) laid out before me just the way I love, and there is music playing. Talk about a big time bonus. I've been following music like crazy and today it has followed me. It's an incredible selection of songs by Maria de Barros, Mayra, Lura, Tiolino, Mariana Ramos, Ildo Lobo, Ze Rui, Tito Paris, and I think I may have heard Danae (though I may have day-dreamed this last one since I have been searching for her album like a madwoman)!
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Category: Nuria Chantre |
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| Fashion First |
| Written by nuria chantre |
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New Fashion Project takes off in Cape Verde.
Models sashayed on the island of Sal (Cape Verde's largest tourist destination) during what could be recalled as one of the archipelago´s most ambitious and well-organized fashion shows of recent years.
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Category: Nuria Chantre |
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| Cinza or The Adventures of Curious John |
| Written by john mooney |
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| Carnival. Mardi Gras. Fat Tuesday. Most everybody knows about that obese feast the day before Lent but how many about "Cinza"? A day of food and relaxing (and repentance?) from the festivities of that previous day, I am told Cinza is a uniquely Santiago thing (all you other islanders feel free to correct me if you take issue). Since the Carnival parades do not officially begin until mid-afternoon, the morning is spent collecting food for the next day's feast because on Ash Wednesday in Praia, an open business is harder to find that a taxi with a full tank of gas. The action is at the open air Mercado on the Plateau where only the basics for the Cinza Feast is for sale and all the ingredients can be found in copious amounts. There are mountains of kale on the sidewalks, buckets of dried, salted fish, burlap bags of milled corn swarmed lovingly by honey bees, mandjacu (yucca) and sugar cane stacked like cord wood and piles of carrots and sweet potatoes on vendors tables. And the traffic is terrific until noon time when the action dies down and vendors and customers alike are back at their homes. It is the calm before the bacchanalic storm.
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Wednesday, February 20, 2008
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| Clip Joint |
| Written by john mooney |
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| George Bush's money is paving Praia and has given the capital the feel of a modern city. It's called 'progress' and I suppose if it gives her citizens an opportunity to have a better life, good. The selfish part of me wishes things here would not change so quickly...that's half the reason I dig this place. But there are places where the 'old Praia' can be found and still savored; like a half drunk bottle of vintage wine. That sprawling village of corrugated tin roofed stalls with cardboard partitions in the outdoor market known to one and all as 'Sucupira' still has women carrying goods on their heads...from buckets of fish to blue tanks of gas to crates of chickens with the knowledge in their beady eyes that "Nothing good will come from this trip" to what have you...and a cacophony of voices bartering, greeting and arguing competing with boom boxed music and taxi 'beep-beeps' and red and white Toyota vans called 'Hiaces' packed to the gills with passengers flying by with windows open and zoukish 'chickchick-chick, chickchick-chick chickchick-chick' rhythms escaping and then wrapping around the vehicle like a sonic cocoon.
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Category: John Mooney |
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Thursday, February 14, 2008
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| On Blogging Well |
| Written by john mooney |
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| Just think, in prehistoric times some guy named Og was in cave drawing on a wall the goings on in his everyday life. You know, hunting mastodons, running away from saber toothed tigers, recording the mankind's first 'hot foot' practical joke and such. 'Og's blog' we could call it and ever since, humans have always had this penchant for interpreting life as he (or she) sees it. Whether beating on drums, sending smoke signals, carrier pigeons, printing presses, telegraph wires or radios we always felt the need to get the word out.
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Category: John Mooney |
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Monday, February 04, 2008
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| APAP and GlobalFest: My trip to the Big Apple |
| Written by osvaldo dos reis |
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| On Sunday January 13th, 2008, I hopped on a plane (from Boston) to New York to attend the Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP) Conference and the GlobalFest. The APAP is known around the world for its more than 1, 2000 performance showcases while the GlobalFest has become the U.S.'s leading showcasing event for artists performing a huge range of styles from around the world. After I checked in the Hilton hotel (Sixth Avenue and 53rd street), I acquired a Press Kit and a media pass, which allowed me to roam free. I spent most of the day shaking hands, visiting different presenter's booths, attending performances, and exchanging business cards and phone numbers.
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Category: Osvaldo Dos Reis |
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| Hall of Fame - 2 Singers Get Recognized |
| Written by nuria chantre |
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| Two significant events also took place recently in Praia. Singers Celina Pereira and Maria de Barros were both inducted into the equivalent of the Hall of Fame of Capeverdean Music.
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| Amazing Performers |
| Written by nuria chantre |
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| The stunning Mariana Ramos made the trip from France and performed at the Auditório located inside Praia´s national library. Although two of her musicians were unable to make the flight from home (France) to the show, Mariana and the band put on a great spectacle. She teased her audience with some of her older hits from her two previous albums and new ones off the much buzzed about Mornador, which was named this week one of the top albums of the moment in Paris by the Web site www.Anous.fr.
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Category: Nuria Chantre |
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| Start Struck at Home |
| Written by nuria chantre |
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| Cape Verde is hot. Even though in the last few days of December and the first couple weeks of January the wind picked up a bit, it was still a balmy 70 degrees in the capital city of Praia. A nice change from those exaggerated snow storms, wind chills, and, I have practically forgotten what it feels like to be trapped in by the snow of the Northern parts of the U.S.
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