15 Sep 2008

I love the availablility of low-cost, or even free, cultural events in São Paulo.

So far Heitor and I´ve seen a group with the unimaginative name of The Traditional Jazz Band that played mostly New Orleans style jazz, which isn´t my favorite music, but they played well and obviously were having fun, as was the audience. It was a pleasant evening, and it was free.

We´ve also seen a performance by the Hadouk Trio of jazz on traditional African and Arabian instruments. I´d never heard of them before, but I loved their music. You can see several videos of them on You Tube if you care to see what I´m talking about. Opening for them was another unusual jazz trio called Boyen Z, some of whose music I liked, but who were clearly the opening act. This evening cost R$20.00, or about $15.00 US for two tickets in about the 10th row.

Last night we saw a performance in a New Music series that featured a solo piano performance by Caio Pagano of works by Schoenberg and Berg. It reminded me that I´ve probably never seen a live performance of Schoenberg´s music, and Berg´s either, for that matter. Pagano, it turns out, is someone who has had a distinguished career even if I hadn´t ever heard of him. Fancy that. The second half of the performance featured Pagano playing 5 short pieces by Pablo Chagas (who was present), but with the sound electronically enhanced. It was at times odd, engaging, irritating and rewarding. I think the two tickets cost R$10,00.

I love the fact that I can see performances like these, where I can be enthusiastic about some things and less so about others, but where I know I´ve received ``my money´s worth,´´ as we say. In the U.S., if I pay concert prices, I expect to like everything. I´m less likely to be in the mood to challange the boundaries of my appreciations. Generally, I would take the opionion that I don´t like electronic music and either ignore those concerts altogether or be pissed if I went to one inadventently. Here we can look in the paper, see something we know nothing about, and decide to check it out on a whim, because it is so inexpensive that it doesn´t matter much if we like it or not.

It occurred to me last night that the important technologies of our time are all, in some fashion, electronic. It only makes sense that musicians and composers are going to experiment with those technologies, and that I will like some of the results better than others. Big of me, don´t you think?

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And now for something entirely different. Wall Street may be in crisis, but the Dollar : Real exchange rate is back up over 1 : 1.8. Hope it holds.