On Labor Day, the legendary Hieroglyphics crew put on their 3rd annual Hiero Day festival. Twas a day of hip-hop, food, beer, Hiero and Oakland. The Hieroglyphics closing performance featured all the hits (like “You Never Knew” and “Oakland Blackouts”), Deltron 3030 played a surprise 30 minute set before it and Adrian Younge, fresh off producing Souls of Mischief’s There Is Only Now, low-key almost stole the show with a dazzling DJ set, dropping so many classic funk/soul breaks that it brought the real hip-hoppers to their knees. But enough details, cause the story of Hiero Day 2014 is best told through the T-Shirts of the festival-goers:
Hiero IS the truth. Straight up, this day was a celebration of hip-hop.Oh the weed was burning strong all day! You could even buy some ganja treats from The Green Team if you flashed your medicinal card.Every member of Souls of Mischief was there representin’ Hieroglyphics Crew. The Festival ended with them playing the CLASSIC “93 ’til Infinity.”The Warriors fans were in full force, after all, it’s Oakland. As a Raiders fan, i fucking LOVE this shirt. The Raider nation was def representin’!And waddaya know? So were Niner fans! I like that…this fest was all-encompassing and everyone was welcome. No matter what their affiliation, cultural background, etc… It was a peaceful affair through and through.Linden Street Brewery manned the beer area in front of their brewery which was incorporated into the festival. They were pouring the new Hiero Glo beer. It was a thick and cloudy pilsner. Loads of flavor. It was sweltering hot all day and i loved it.Like any good music festival, there were bros in basketball jerseys. This Rodman one took the cake.Hey…you can be an old school hip-hopper, an underground cat, or even the Trap heads. Hiero Day was for everyone.And if you needed any more evidence that this was a festival about different people coming together, here it is.And you just felt like you were in Oakland. It was dope.Me too dogg. And Hiero Day reminded me so much about how some of it is still alive.
This is everything that i want in music. As if this album wasn’t already hyped enough. FlyLo premiered the track on Power 106’s LA Leakers show. There’s a version on the internet circulating with a bunch of radio ads, but this one is sharp, clean, ethereal, stunning and just perfect. Listen:
Grimes dropped the video for “Go” today, presumably the first single off her upcoming album. It’s unsurprisingly artistic, opens with a reading of a passage from Dante’s Inferno and enters into a futuristic modern dance interpretation of the classic work featuring producer Blood Diamonds and Grimes in a remote desert.
The extravagant production is something that the Canadian Claire Boucher (Grimes) has come to be known for, this much was expected, but the evolution of the sound sees an experimental electronica heavyweight assuming her place on the throne of a new style of R&B….One that’s becoming increasingly prevalent with artists like FKA Twigs and Banks. Enter Grimes, going one rung higher on the ladder. Let’s face it, she belongs here…She signed with Jay-Z’s RocNation management late last year to assume this pole position. It’s just taking her polished product a little longer to materialize.
Mark it down, what we’re witnessing here is “The Next Big Thing.” And I’m not talking about the artist, but rather the entire musical movement into this incarnation of Neo-R&B. Call it whatever you’d like. Some have dubbed the sound ‘PBR&B,’ as a nod to it being more hipster friendly (seriously). It’s a direct descendent of what i’ve dubbed ‘electro-soul,’ but it’s the fully realized fusion of electronica into R&B. Hence ‘Electro R&B’ is about as close as we’re going to get and the movement is just gaining steam.
With FKA Twigs’ stunning release in the foreground and Banks’ LP, Goddess, supposedly set to drop in September, Grimes has just stirred the pot, served it to the masses and done them all a favor. Take note, the revolution is here.
A few weeks ago, I was on a wedding dance floor and the DJ played a 2013 medley of “Worst Behavior,” “UOENO,” “Bugatti,” and “Shabba.” There was nearly a riot: bridesmaids, groomsmen, aunties, and uncles couldn’t turn down. When the DJ got around to playing Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy”—our song of the summer—I asked myself, why was I still on the floor? On the flip side of Iggy Azalea, Ariana Grande and (who knew?) Beckie G’s chart domination are some ugly, popular songs about women who depend on men, songs likes “Loyal,” “Cut Her Off,” and “Main Chick.” This summer, listening to the radio meant hearing successful women occupying rap alongside the men who hate them. It hasn’t been fun (although the “Loyal” choreography is pretty fresh.)
This is why I wanted to talk about some music I liked this summer, music made by women and look at what they said about success, objectification, and money. The records are La Roux’s Trouble in Paradise and Sylvan Esso, the self-titled debut from the North Carolina based synthpop duo. Sylvan Essomakesmusic that’s almost too ethereal to be considered social justice. Some of their songs are about street harassment, masculinity in the 21st century and smartphones. Other songs are too lyrical to pin down. “Play It Right,” one of the singles, balances the modern and metaphor. Right before the chorus kicks in for the last time, vocalist Amelia Meath sings, “And we are like the people we came from/ We are dancing and advancing.” That’s a pretty good description of what Sylvan Esso is aiming for: dancing and advancing.
“Wolf,” the best Sylvan Esso deep cut, is about a young man inheriting womanizing from his dad. He isn’t a Wolf of Wall Street himself (“Don’t wear no suits/ we’re talking t-shirts”), but he’s still his father’s son (“Been bending notes/ just like his father”). “Wolf” is one of two songs on the LP that peer into the male psyche—i’ll delve into the other one later.
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La Roux’s Trouble in Paradise is a new wave that sounds like it could’ve been released anytime in the last thirty years. It doesn’t belong to a particular decade but it sounds familiar, like a random access memory. All ten songs are about love and/or relationships. The album’s operating word is “trouble.” The relationships singer Elly Jackson describe are troubled by money, among many other things.
On “Tropical Chancer” money is both the jumpstart and the death knell of a relationship. We’re tipped off from the track title, which is a reference to Henry Miller’s autobiographical novel, Tropic of Cancer. At age 42, Tropic of Cancer was Miller’s first published book. Over the course of those 42 years, a combination of two wives and one lover, financially supported Miller. “Tropical Chancer” is about a woman who gets involved with a guy who sounds a lot like Miller. I ain’t saying he’s a gold digger, but the first verse starts, “He’ll take the money and the food that’s in your hand/ But you have to understand that he’s a dreamer.” The second verse drives the point home:
He’ll trade your loving for the things he’s never seen
The places he has never been
Oh but remember he is just a good pretender
And he doesn’t give his love away for free
“Sexotheque” finds another a couple at odds, but not over money—“He’s got the money, but no it’s not enough”—this time its about infidelity. Still, it’s the money that makes “Sexotheque” the most festival-ready chorus on the album; Jackson launches into it : “She wants to know why he’s not home/ I’ll bet money, money, money I bet/ He’s at the Sexotheque.”
Jackson told The Guardian that “Cruel Sexuality” is about “10 different subjects linked together.” Some of those subjects, I’d guess, are “abusive relationships,” “sexual orientation,” “unrequited love,” “casual sex,” and “dishonesty.” It’s not about wealth or status, but it is about propriety in relationships: “It’s a dangerous scene/ When passion turns to greed.”
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“Hey Mami,” Sylvan Esso’s opening track, is a song about catcalling. The song’s narrative is told from a few perspectives, but we never spend time with the woman who’s being harassed, as far we know she’s unaware of the situation, “she don’t know the gravity she owns.” Like she did on “Wolf,” Meath sings from the perspective of a guy. Unlike “Wolf,” “Hey Mami” is incredibly sexy. “Hey Mami” is kind of like “Sexotheque” in that they’re both smart songs that let you revel in indiscretions. It’s fun to say “money, money, money I bet” even though its about man cheating on his wife; it’s compelling to listen to Meath as she coos her way through “She walking so fast, she walking so fast, she walk like a babe, hey/ Look at that ass.”
Last year, I went to a panel organized by Columbia University Society of Hip Hop (CUSH). Though the panel was about business, the question and answer section invariably turned to the eternal question: Is hip-hop doomed? After the panel, I approached a woman who asked about the future of commercial rap that was, for a lack of a better word, conscious. I asked if she’d heard of Kendrick Lamar. She had.
“What does his song say? Drink?”
“Yeah, but it’s about alcoholism,” I replied
“How does it go?”
“Sit down, drink.”
“Right.”
The “Swimming Pools Effect” is present throughout Sylvan Esso’s self-titled debut. These songs have points to make about objectification and they have a way of making the object appealing. “Dress” has a pulsing synth and lyrics that will make you feel some type of way: “You look good in the south, see how you use your mouth/You look good in the east, on elbows and knees/…You look good in the west, you look good in a dress.”
“H.S.K.T.” is about media addiction and there’s a chirpy repetition that makes you want to nod your head or maybe check your phone. “Coffee,” their most popular song, isn’t as explicit with its meaning. It’s probably about the way that we go from lover to lover like cups of coffee. It’s where producer Nick Sanborn gets busy—the weaker songs on the record suffer; feel under-produced. “Uncatena” is rudderless and “Come Down” has just a feint hum that sounds like feedback. The explicit lyrics might be the whole point: they make you think twice about why you enjoy them. When the perspective shifts on “Hey Mami,” we hear a third person perspective—maybe from Sylvan Esso themselves—tell us “Sooner or later the dudes at bodegas will hold their lips and own their shit.” “Sooner or later” makes for a good rhyme but, I don’t know, does it inspire confidence?
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My friend Adrian Spinelli—the everything person here at Everything Ecstatic—recommended the Sylvan Esso record to me and I told him about Trouble in Paradise. Since then, I’ve been pushing Trouble on friends and I’ve felt some resistance from fans of La Roux’s first album. There isn’t a “Bulletproof” and there are fewer bleep bloops. La Roux is an albums artist now and I welcome it. Her name might appear in a smaller font size on festival posters, but she’s got a long future ahead of her. And, as Rihanna put it, she’s still got her money.
That was it. Did you remember it? Outside Lands Festival came and went with a bang. San Francisco’s signature festival was nothing short of incredible….again. Shouts to OSL for giving us another weekend filled with music, food, friends, dancing, bad decisions, lots of beer and simply feeling like you were in San Francisco for every second of it. There were highlights galore and below, you’ll see my take on the Best Moments. Hope you had as much fun as i did!
Best 80’s Movie Character Appearance – Chunk from The Goonies at The Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips had it all….Mushrooms, rainbows, butterflies, someone in a sun suit, Wayne Coyne’s signature trek into the crowd in a plastic bubble, a cover of The Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” lights on lights on lights on lights and someone in the crowd holding up a picture of Chunk from The Goonies.
There he is on the bottom left, in all his glory!
Best Closing Song of a Set – Haim “Let Me Go”
Talk about a polished band…The Haim sisters were super tight on every track, hyped the crowd while showing their own individual personalities (they even dropped some “F Bombs”…Gasp! Ok….it was mostly Este) but nothing hit home quite like their closing performance of “Let Me Go.” Easily the most intricate track on the record, even the unique echoey re-verb was coming through. Spot on girls!
Best Sing-A-Long Moment – Death Cab For Cutie “I Will Follow You Into The Dark”
Latch on to whoever is next to you, sway and sing-a-long to Ben Gibbard’s beautiful poetry. Dude is one of the best rock stars in the game. Toggling from keyboards to guitars and from power vocals to soft lullabies like this one.
Gibbard strums and sings as the Oakland A’s faithful flag breezes in the crowd.
Best Dance Moves – Killer Mike (Run The Jewels)
“I wake up every morning laughing about this shit!” — El-P
Let’s be honest…Youd wanna cut a rug if DJ Q-Bert showed up to scratch some records during your set too.
Best Surprise – Atmosphere performs “God’s Bathroom Floor”
Wow…just wow…i rolled up into the biggest crowd i’d seen at the Sutro stage since 2012 when The Alabama Shakes played to Slug belting the chorus of “Scapegoat” from 1997’s seminal Overcast!. I ran into my college roommate and we listened to “God Loves Ugly”, moseyed further back with some other friends when to my absolutely pleasant surprise, Slug proclaims “We’re gonna play a cut from way back in 1995..called ‘God’s. Bathroom. Floor!'” I almost lost my shit, but instead raced my way towards the front, singing along with Slug. As i got closer to the stage, i made eye contact with another festival buddy from earlier that weekend and we were both belting the chorus “touched…hazy…god…change….rush…floor…life…veins!” The song ended, we laughed, hugged and just kinda processed that moment…We had the same connection with Slug, who if you were in tune to underground hip-hop in the late 90’s was “that other white rapper” (besides Eminem.) He represented a fork in the road for hip-hop heads…the one’s who went with Eminem, seemingly began to gravitate towards what was soon becoming the mainstream sound. The one’s who went with Atmosphere went underground, DEEP underground, to revere a tiny label out of Minnesota called Rhymesayers Entertainment. The rest is hip-hop history.
My buddy Christian made a mash-up video of this track with clips from Trainspotting. If you’re a fan of either/both Atmosphere and Trainspotting, it’s a must watch. See it here.
Best “If You Didn’t Know Me Before, You Certainly Do Now!” Band – Lucius
Everything Ecstatic touted Lucius as one of “The 6 Under The Radar Acts you Must See at OSL” and after they belted a sublime version of “Go Home,” the crowd was in awe. Such vocal symbiosis is a rare breed and the Brooklyn-based band led by the gorgeous Holly Laessig and Jess Wolfe wowed everyone with their hour long early afternoon set on Sunday.
Best Shirt – The Wire Bro
You know those listical shirts…where it’s just 4 or 5 names one after the other? (Is there a name for these btw??) This dude was sporting one with the name of every drug kingpin from the greatest TV drama of all-time, The Wire. He won.
“You’re the first guy to say something to me today!” He told me…So sad. How quickly the youth forget.
Best Daft Punk Appearance – Pulp Fiction Mash-up on this dude’s shirt
Daft Punk and Pulp Fiction. Together at last (with a burrito to boot!)
Best Dressed – Tie-Dye Morph Suit Couple
Super cool kids that were close to us for the Flaming Lips. They even offered me 2 hits of acid, but at 6pm on Sunday, i was past the point of no return for that kind of a trip. Props on those morph suits. They aint cheap either!
Best Indicator of Where Your Friends Are in the Crowd – Pink Hobo Satchel
Ryan Chisolm, American hero. “I’mma hold this thing up all day!” and we always found him. Props.
Best Headliner – Kanye West
Not sure how to sum up this amazingness in one short blurb (hence i’m writing a piece for GrungeCake.com on it later this week), but dammit did this dude kill it! Positioning ourselves early to get to watch Kanye in the flesh instead of on jumbo screens was a great call (and it sounded better too). He played every hit (including “Blood On The Leaves” three times!) and simply commanded the crowd like no other. “All of The Lights” was the clear winner, perfectly punctuated at every turn. No matter the demographic of the festival-goer, they were hanging on his every word, bouncing to every beat and rappin’ along to every chorus. He sprinkled in a few of his signature rants and was his usual genuine self…That’s right, Kanye believes everything he says. He aims not just to entertain, but also to inspire and build self-confidence. “If you’re a fan of me, you’re really just a fan of yourself!” You can’t bullshit that kind of statement. [puts diamond in the sky]
“Yeezy season approachin’!”
Best Nirvana Impression (aka “The No Fucks Given Award”) – Courtney Barnett (video)
There was noone i was more excited and intrigued to see this weekend than Barnett and i left with such a better understanding of her as an artist. There was really no better comparison than Nirvana. She sang, headbanged, absolutely shredded on the guitar and frequently staggered across the stage while playing a frenzy of nasty guitar riffs. She was such a grungy punk up there and it was refreshing. The set itself was mad under-attended, but it’s gems like these that make the Panhandle stage such a wonderful place to discover new music and get super close to the artist.
Best Festival Version of a Song – Disclosure’s “What’s In Your Head”
I remember the first time i heard this track in 2012 and was like “Who the fuck are these guys?” It was the track that indicated how much they understood the direction of electronic music and they’ve come a loooong way in 2 years. They drew “What’s In Your Head” out to an extended version and it was the marquee moment for a set that sadly, didn’t feature any of the singers from their album Settle.
Best Performance By A Sound-Booth – Holy Ghost!
I have a saying when the sound of a set is this good and that’s “the soundguy pitched a no-hitter.” Every note was on point, you could really feel that the sound the band was trying to push out there was coming across as they intended. A great hype up set for Friday too, where the Lands End stage was the place to be all day long.
My affinity for the Ghostly International Label is well-documented and Gold Panda is a perfect example of why i love just about everything that the avant-garde electronica & art label puts out. This was an electronica set with nods to the roots of the genre. The beats were intelligent and it made me wanna dance like i was in the drum and bass tent of a 2001 rave. Despite admitting that part of his set-up (“40%”) went kaput just before the show, Gold Panda managed to churn out a spectacular Sunday set on the Panhandle stage with what seemed to be as many tracks from 2010’s Lucky Shiner as there were from 2013’s Half of Where You Live. “Vanilla Minus”and “Snow & Taxis” were old school classics and he ended his set with “You” (the beat of which was later made famous by Charli XCX). In my ideal world, this is where i saw electronica evolving, not to where that other asshole who played the Twin Peaks Stage right after this took it. The set was beautiful in every sense of the word.
Best Small Stage to Big Stage Development – Local Natives
For the sheer fact that i remember seeing them play at tiny little Bottom of the Hill here in SF a few years ago and now here they were playing the main stage at Outside Lands. All who were there can agree that “Sun Hands” was the standout track of the set.
Best Food – The Little Chihuahua’s Carne Asada Fajita Burrito
Because it tasted just like it would have if i ordered it at one of their locations. My biggest issue with the food options at the Festival was that they were serving marginalized versions of their menus for the festival. Now, i can understand paring it down a bit, but Glaze served teriyaki bowls without veggies, explaining that “we normally do, but not this weekend” and the ramen burger from Nombe was nothing like the ramen burger i’d seen before, with a plump ramen bun. This burger had a thin ramen disc as a bun and just didn’t hit home. Fact is, as a restaurant, you come to the festival so people can experience your food and want to visit your establishment following the weekend and that seemed lost at some of the locations i hit up. The Little Chihuahua on the other hand, gets it. Shouts.
Pretty sad looking “ramen burger,” right? Tasted good, but not what i was expecting.
Best Faux Pas – Dude With A Brand New Backpack at Run The Jewels
You’d get laughed out of an El-P show (by El-P) 10 years ago for wearing a new back pack. I giggled.
Best Hay Ride – Boys Noize
Sitting on the hay bleachers at the Panhandle stage is a comfortable way to relax after a long day on your feet. And then you jolt your nerves with powerful electro vibes from the German DJ/Producer Boys Noize (He’s REALLY German.)
Best Set to Only Hear One Song Of – Cut Copy
Cut Copy is a great band and highly responsible for furthering the electro-pop movement (ahem…and LCD Soundsystem…ahem…and Hot Chip), but their new record Free Your Mind is pitiful. While the luster of the first three records is gone on their most recent effort, approaching the edges of the Twin Peaks stage to hear them close out their set with the classic “Out There On The Ice” was everything that made that band significant.
Lyft’s were surprisingly easy to catch at around 1pm on all three days and the drivers were in good spirits. My Saturday driver, Willie was playing Miles Davis in the car and waxing philosophical on the way to the festival about one of the most classic yet progressive musicians of all time was so fitting. It took away all the stress of getting to where you’re going in the city. Shouts to the pink mustache!
Best Celebrity Tweet From The Festival – Patrick Stewart
My Albums of the Year Project has been happening for 8 years now. Last year, i did the list on Genius.com, where i was running the rock & roll operation. This post is merely a database of the list on Everything Ecstatic for historical purposes. Essentially, i want the list to live on this blog as new lists come out at the end of every year. Each write-up is hyperlinked on the titles, so click on any of the titles to be taken to the individual posts. One love.
Outside Lands has quickly become Northern California’s largest music fest and the glorious weekend is upon us. Peeps are chattering about heavyweights like Kanye West, Arctic Monkeys, Death Cab for Cutie, Tom Petty, etc, etc, etc… But there’s a slew of artists on the flyer in a smaller font size that are worth an hour of your weekend. Check it:
6. Lucius – Sunday, Sutro Stage, 2:30 – 3:20
The Brooklyn band is led by Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig, who despite looking calculatedly stylish and similar when performing, are not sisters. Their 2013 Wildewoman (One of my favorite albums of last year) is packed with a unique energy that comes alive on stage. Blast “Nothing Ordinary” and i dare you not to feel the uncontrollable urge to jump up from your seat and dance when the chorus drops. They’ll likely be starting off my lazy Sunday. Get there!
Fun Fact: Holly and Jess provided the vocals on the album recording of San Fermin’s brilliant single, “Sonsick.”
5. Deer Tick – Saturday, Sutro Stage 4:00-5:00
The sound of Americana comes from Providence, Rhode Island…Well, at least as far as Deer Tick is concerned. These bluesy rockers were all over the soundtrack for Hall Pass, written by fellow sons of Providence, the Farrelly Brothers (not their best movie bee tee dubs). But there is indeed something so American about their sound…Be it their epic record Born on Flag Day or singer John Macauley’s labeling the band as “drunk buffoons” when they’re on stage. Go to hear “Easy” and stay to hear jams off of 2013’s Negativity and maybe you can tell me why i think they might be the embodiment of the fictional band Stillwater from Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous.
4. Gardens & Villa – Sunday, Panhandle Stage, 5:55-635
The Santa Barbara based band just put out the follow-up to a masterful 2011 self-titled debut that stood out with beautifully written and arranged tracks like “Black Hills” & “Star Fire Power.” On Dunes, they continue to explore the use of the flute and electronic waves like on “Bullet Train” and no track is as sublime as the synthy and bouncy “Colony Glen.”
Fun Fact: You can buy your very own Gardens & Villa flute here!
3. Gold Panda – Sunday, Panhandle Stage 7:40-8:25
Do you not give a shit about Tiesto? Think the Killers are just overhyped arena-rock? Cool..me too. We can all end our festival weekend together on Sunday night with what promises to be a spacey, yet lively closing set on the panhandle stage from Ghostly International’s Gold Panda. Avant-garde electronica fans might already be familiar with the London producer’s music, but you might know him best from the beat he produced for Charli XCX’s “You (Ha Ha Ha)”. Look to hear tracks from his 2013 release Half of Where You Live like “Junk City II” and my personal favorite “Brazil.” Gold Panda’s sounds are intelligent, interesting and memorable. The Panhandle stage is a treat of a venue for this set and best part is, when it’s over, you can make a smooth exit through Hellman Hollow to beat the crowds. You might even be able to get a cab or Lyft home that early!
2. El-P and Killer Mike (Run The Jewels) – Friday, Lands Ends Stage 215-305
Straight up, hip-hop like this doesn’t come around too much anymore. Last year’s show at the Independent was such a throwback to the heyday of hip hop: An El-P set, followed by a Killer Mike set and then a Run The Jewels set. The crowd fed off how much fun they were having on stage, everyone was bouncing, hands in the air and it felt for a moment that we were transported to the early 00’s. They’ve been taking the Run The Jewels on tour non-stop ever since, including playing Lollapalooza this past weekend where Rolling Stone attested to the “made for each other” vibe by dubbing them “The Best Hip-Hop Buddy Movie in the Making.” The project sees two of the fiercest rappers comin’ correct on the mic with the same flawless production that put El-P on the map in 2000.
Fun Fact: Run The Jewels 2 is nearly done and a teaser track titled “Blockbuster Night Part 1” was just released. Hear it here.
1. Courtney Barnett – Sunday, Panhandle Stage 4:20-5:00
Ok, full disclosure: The purpose of this post was just a ploy to get you to see Courtney Barnett. Here lies THE hidden gem of the festival. The Aussie singer-songwriter has been hitting the global festival circuit hard and she impresses with tongue-in-cheek jams like “Avant Gardener,” where she sings about the perils of leaving the house, egad! She’s clever as can be and plays guitar like a madwoman. She’s in the same breath as a contemporary like Sharon Van Etten, but sounds more like Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval. Her 2013 release, The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas is a can’t miss record and her set will surely be packed with just about every track off of it. Another fine act for the Panhandle stage, Barnett’s irresistibly cute and clever will be just what your mid-afternoon craves.
Fun Fact: Barnett covered the entire Kick album by fellow Aussie rockers INXS at Pure Pop Records’ “Summer of Classic Albums” show. She nailed it.
Here’s a handy dandy spotify playlist of tracks (only instrumentals for Run The Jewels) mentioned in this post and other by these artists to gear up for the Festival!
Cusco is an interesting city….It’s population has nearly doubled over the last decade (think about that mind boggling stat for a second) and boasts a beautiful historic city center, emanating from the Plaza de Armas, where many prominent Incas were executed by the Conquistadores in the 1500’s. But it’s the the commerce-driven outskirts that truly represent the sprawl of Cusco. When i say “commerce-driven”, what i really mean, is that people are selling EVERYTHING, often times aggressively and there is no better example of this commercial cesspool than the Baratio market on Saturday mornings.
Call it dumb luck, but the day after i arrived in the small Peruvian village of Ollantaytambo for two and a half weeks, the most important annual festival in the town’s history kicked off for the next 4 days. I was in Ollanta (for short) to spend time with some some old friends who were living there as they neared the opening of their new craft brewery (Sacred Valley Brewing Company). Ollanta is a village of 2000 people, that you can’t get to Machu Picchu without passing through. But despite the heavy influx of tourists it sees as a result, the festival de Choquekillka is a prime example of how local tradition triumphs above all else and how when given the opportunity, the locals will out-party the visitors while dancing into the wee hours of the morning.
The festival celebrates the legend of when the christ of Choquekillka cross miraculously appeared at the head of the Incan road, ending days of spiritual strife. The spirituality of the event permeates the celebration throughout. 17 dance groups, ornately dressed with everything from bead art capes and handmade knit masks to whips and even dead baby llamas, pay homage to the local deity with parades, dances and a non-stop celebration. The whole town comes out every day to witness the festivities and leaders of the dance groups set up private parties (cargos) throughout the town as well. I had the pleasure of attending a few of these cargos and ate until i couldnt anymore, had a beer in front of me immediately after i finished the previous one, drank an intoxicating corn brew called chicha, ate guinea pig for the first time and danced with reckless abandon.
One of the dance groups parading through the plaza.
On one of the days i attended a picturesque bullfight, on another the evening ended with a dangerously intimate fireworks display, on another we walked down to the pampa to celebrate the afternoon away and every day ended in Ollanta’s central plaza, where my friends at Sacred Valley Brew Co were pouring beers amidst the crates and crates of the local Cusqueña lager that were littered throughout the entire town. The dance groups would march into the plaza and entertain the crowd while paying tribute to the Señor. The parties were fantastic, but it wasn’t until i started gaining a better understanding of what the traditions and the dances meant that i truly began to appreciate Choquekillka as a timeless local tradition and a unique display of faith and solidarity…
A waterfall of fireworks exploded over our heads.
I met one of the dancers, William, from the group Qapaq Qolla, who closes out the celebration each year and he began to describe the details of his outfit and of the festivals traditions to us. He talked about how speaking Quechua (the ancient Andean language) and understanding the history of Choquekillka are major prerequisites for being in a dance. I was amazed at how much William revered the Q’achampa dance group, who are considered to be the most sacred and traditional of all of the groups. During their performance he pulled me aside and gave me the type of play-by-play of their performance that i would give to someone who didn’t understand a baseball game. When members of the Q’achampa square off in the middle of the dance circle and exchange whips to each other’s legs, it’s a male proving ground that serves as a model of piety to the Señor and is just flat out entertaining:
Q’achampa ran in a “whipping circle.” Their stoic ability to keep moving despite such abuse gives rise to their nickname of “Pie de Christo” or “Foot of Christ.”
The whole time, William was so enthused…and i likened his giddiness of the dance to the way i feel about my “religions”: baseball and music…the two things that make me fly up out of my seat and vibe out on the regular and it started putting the festival, the town, the celebration and their faith into perspective. How a small town like this who doesn’t live at the pulse of amenities like baseball stadiums, concert halls, gastro pubs and gasp…supermarkets, finds a purpose to their simple, yet sustainable lives in the spiritual traditions in which their livelihood’s were founded. It was incredible. Watching the closing ceremonies on day 4 and seeing William and Qapaq Qolla so reverently chant and move with deliberate grace as the cross of Choquekillka bowed to every corner of the crowd of thousands, i was silent…as was everyone else. We were mesmerized by the ceremony and i was overcome with the memory of the last 4 days. Thinking about all of the people i met and of the exposure to a remote culture that i could’ve never imagined i’d have when i arrived in the town.
Me, Louisa and William.
Overview of the plaza during a daytime parade.Q’achampa standing proudly.Kapakuya flanking the Christ de Choquekillka as he bows to the masses before re-entering the chapel in the plaza where he resides, thus ending the festival.The moon rising above the celebration on the pampa.SVBC provided fine libations throughout the festival They even prepped a ginger ale (pictured w/ Louisa and Juan)!
Until next time….i’l be prepping for my trek into Machu Picchu and bumping the new First Aid Kit album on repeat!
You MUST press play on the new Damon Albarn album before going any further:
Ok…so I’ve tried my damndest to give every post a “hook” so far, but this time, i just gotta wax….I gotta wax on how anxious i’m feeling right now on the evening before heading to Peru. It’s been a lovely last 4 days in San Francisco, but there’s been a certain emptiness to it all…Like a big fucking purgatory. You see, it’s an interesting life i’m leading right now. Cause while i love traveling and being on the move more than just about anything,..I’ve had my share of moments where i wonder what the next long term step will be and it’s hard to detach from that.
I found myself talking to a couple at a bar this weekend about living in the moment. How it’s a truly beautiful thing, but it’s challenging at the same time. Especially for someone like me who has so many ties to so many people and cares deeply about them all. And yeah, traveling cross country and then to Hawaii and then to South America for months requires a certain ability to detach from that next step to be able to live in the moment. I just chuckled thinking about how “first world problem” that might sound, but it’s a real emotion..and i’m bracing myself for it. I’m ready to arrive at this village in the mountains of Peru and just breathe and NOT think about the next step for a while….In fact, it IS the next step as far as i’m concerned and the “boundless belief in the future” that John Wooden spoke about is the confidence that lets you enjoy it all.
So here’s to the next month and a half+ of living in a village in Peru and then going to Brazil for the World Cup. Here’s to my lofty goal of starting the “I Believe That We Will Win!” chant in a bar in Peru during Team USA’s opening game against Ghana and then doing it all over again from the stands of the stadium in Manaus against Portugal. Here’s to a wedding for someone i have yet to meet the day after i arrive in Peru where according to my friend “they’ve ordered 40 pigs slaughtered” for the occasion. Here’s to seeing Machu Picchu just before i leave Peru to head home to Brazil. And finally, here’s to all the time in between where i have no fucking clue what i’m gonna do and who i’m gonna meet, but that’s the part i’m most excited about. Cause that’s the essence of this madness. That’s the heart of this trip…the great unknown and living in the moment.
Everything Ecstatic 
