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You are here: Home / Archives for music

Photo: Drums

September 8, 2011 By Jillian

Drums have great cultural heritage in Africa. Made from a wood frame and covered in animal skin, the different styles of drums have their own timber and sound. The most prized drums are made from goat skin, a covering that is durable and produces a deeper sound than cow hide.

Drums often accompany traditional dances in Africa. South Africa’s most famous indigenous tribe are the Zulu’s who still stand at a position of political and cultural strength. While traveling through Kwazulu-Natal, the traditional lands of the Zulu, we stopped at a cultural village for a performing arts show and a peak at Zulu customs and traditions. Of course the costumes were for show, but it was clear from the performance that the teenagers who ran the cultural village put their heart and soul into each dance and every beat of the drum.

I love this picture because the shape of the drums, and their etched designs remind me of a high school band from the U.S.- the two main South African tribes are inscribed on the drum face, while the stretched skin covering reminds me of Africa. I love the way the image so easily intertwines memories in my brain.

To see more of our favorite photos from around the world check out our travel photo page. Let us know your favorites and we’ll include them in our photo of the day series.

South African Drums


IF YOU GO:
We stopped at this cultural village after a visit to Huilhuilwe National Park.

Filed Under: photos Tagged With: africa, indigenous cultures, music

Photo Tuesday: Prague’s Pirates

December 7, 2010 By Jillian

Prague is certainly a magical city but I never expected to hear sea shanty’s in its streets.  Sometimes you wander upon the most unexpected things on your journey.  We wandered upon a sea shanty concert in downtown prague.  Complete with eye patches and bandanas, the groups looked the part and sounded great.  I wish we had video taped the concert so you could hear sea shanty’s in Czech and English.

Filed Under: photos Tagged With: czech republic, music, photos, pirates, prague

Vienna: Care to waltz?

July 5, 2010 By Jillian

Vienna is probably best known for its high culture: theater, opera, classical music, dance and museums. The center of the Austro-Hungarian empire for hundreds of years, we weren’t actually interested in seeing the cultural side of Vienna. Perhaps we’ve been in the “bush” too long, but I couldn’t really picture going to the opera in my chaco’s and convertible safari pants. Maybe that’s just me.Lucky for us there is a lot more to Vienna than it’s high culture.

Vienna is called a “green” city, and when you look at the map it’s not hard to figure out why. Our first day in Vienna we took a hiking trail, accessible by public transportation, which wound through mountains and into vineyards. Seriously. No more than an hour after leaving the city we were in the middle of the woods atop a mountain overlooking Vienna. Climbing Kahlenberg-Leopoldsburg wasn’t a technical hike, the steep trail was paved most of the way, but the views were spectacular and we had to remind ourselves we were in one the largest cities in Europe. We picnicked in a vineyard and watched deer steal a few grapes for themselves.

Not satisfied with a hike through the vineyards, we convinced our couchsurfing host to come to hike in the “viennese alps” with us. Hiking through alpine meadows up Schneeberg (snowmountain) was the highlight of our trip to Vienna. Especially when we saw the snow at the top. Let’s just say our African wardrobe was rather inadequate. Fortunately the alps are dotted with rest huts, which serve beer, schnapps, and even food.

We did get in a little musical culture while in Vienna. The Danube Island Festival, a huge annual 3 day concert with over 2000 artists, the Viennese really know how to throw a festival. It’s the largest outdoor festival in Europe. Crowds of people, from teenage punks to toddlers and grandparents roamed the island moving from stage to stage listening, dancing and rocking-out to the music. On one of the stages, we caught a German 1950’s rock and roll cover band, complete with hair gel and combs. Like Elvis the front guy doo-wopped across the stage, while his bassist and guitarist performed acrobatics with their instruments. It was like back to the future when Marty rocks the under the sea dance. Not exactly Mozart.

Filed Under: Austria, Europe, Headline, Hike Tagged With: cities, festival, hiking, music

A Breakdown in Diplomacy

July 27, 2009 By Jillian

Standing in line for Ecuadorian immigration I read the latest poll in the local Colombian paper- Do you think FARC financed the election of Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa? An overwhelming majority of respondents felt that it had.

Relations have been steadily deteriorating between Colombia and Ecuador due in part to Colombia’s anti-drug campaigns which have included bombing FARC bases in Ecuador in March 2008 and the impression, at least in Colombia that Ecuador is not doing enough to stop drug trafficking or confront FARC. In fact, as a result of the bombings in March 2008, Ecuador cut diplomatic ties to Colombia. Add to that the video which surfaced July 17th in which FARC leaders acknowledged donating funds to the President Correa’s 2006 election campaign and well lest just say diplomatically things have gotten heated.

Arriving at the border we expected that bureaucratic formalities would be longer and perhaps there would be an strong military presence. Standing in line for our salida from Colombia, we were processed in less than five minutes, not a single military or police official in sight. Crossing the bridge to Ecuador we were greeted by a huge billboard notifying everyone of the governments commitment to fight drug trafficking and a small band of military police who acted more like construction workers on break standing around joking with each other.

Despite the break down of diplomatic ties, the border was going strong- a heavy stream of traffic flowed in both directions seemingly without end. We waited an hour to get to immigration, and less 10 minutes later we were sitting in a collectivo on our way to catch a bus to Quito. Just goes to prove, governments might be feuding but business is business and life must go on.

We made it to Quito that night, after an additional five hours on the bus. Ecuador is more like Guatemala, whenever anyone flags down the bus, its stops. Needless to say this is quite often. Fortunately the scenery through the mountains was spectacular and we were happy to watch our water bottle compress and decompress as we changed altitude.

I feel like a broken record saying this, but Quito was an assault to our senses. We stayed in the La Mariscal neighborhood, the main tourist neighborhood, full of hotels, bars and restaurants. Unbeknown to us we had placed ourselves directly in the center of Quito’s going out neighborhood. While great for the variety of restaurants, we fell asleep to the sounds of pop music coming through our hostel loud and clear.

Filed Under: Ecuador, South America Tagged With: border crossing, diplomacy, mountains, music, quito

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