This Is Not A Sombrero: An alien with a trombone and cello

Saturday, November 17, 2012

An alien with a trombone and cello

I was in Coyoacan during the Day of the Deads festivities (about which I'll talk about later), sitting on a bench resting my feet and talking with my old friend Marion who came to visit Mexico city for 10 days, when the young woman who was sitting next to me asked me something in Spanish.
I didn't get what she was asking so I told her that I was frances. When she hanged up her cell phone she started talking french to me ! She studied business and had spent one year in Nice, where she learned french. A few days later she sent me an SMS inviting me to a free outdoor concert at the Centro Nacional de las Artes which was very closed to where Marion was staying.
I though this place was small, hell no, it's very large ! We finally decided to follow some people walking up some laaaarge stairs surrounded by tall walls painted red, and walk in the direction of some lights. Lost we were after a few minutes, but we crossed some folks talking english, equipped like alpinists, which indicated us the good path (a corridor made of pillars on each side and illuminated by lights on the ground, very 2001 Space Odyssey style).

I was told only two things, 1- the artist's name was Dana Leong 2- it was a jazz concert.

I love jazz music, I listen to a lot of bebop, so I expected something like this. But no, it wasn't at all bebop, but some electro pop jazz music I've never heard before. On Dana Leong website you can read :

Composer, cellist and trombonist Dana Leong fuses jazz, classical and pop to create a signature boundless sound. Often referred to as a "hi-def Yo-Yo Ma," Dana’s pioneering collage of musical styles has garnered critical acclaim and wowed audiences around the world.

Maybe the Yo-Yo Ma reference is a little bit exaggerated but the music was great. Here is a picture and a few videos of the concert (found on youtube).