El Gran Espectaculo Internacional De Musica!

Thursday night there was a concert for us international students. It was held in a big amphitheatre on campus. A huge group of international and local kids showed up to watch. I played five songs, three with Annichka from the Czech Republic and Matteo from Italy. And two with Sara from Italy. With the first group we played Evan’s song that I posted a couple months ago. We also played one of Matteo’s songs called “Friendship is a different thing,” and a Czech jazz classic that Annichka sang and who’s name I couldn’t begin to pronounce, much less spell. With Sara, I played a 90’s pop song in English that she liked called “The Sea” and then “O’sole mio,” as a waltz which was really Italian a fun, I added a little harmony at the end, “STAN FRONT A TE!”

The concert was really a blast. There were other guitarists and singers, some dances and a clown act. It was as eclectic as we were, coming from all over the world. At the end of the show we chose to cheese it up a bit with the whole group singing "We are the world" and "Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da."

It had been so long since I had preformed, and it made me really happy. It put me in such a good mood. Afterwards all the musicians and I went out for tapas until one in the morning. I met Karine from Montreal and worked on my French a bit too. Tomorrow she and I going hiking!

Here are some Pics. (Thanks Nic!)



Actually the title of this blog is a bit redundant; it’s a given that in it’s best form music is international.

On the way home from the tapas bar Sara and I were singing “O sole mio” with authentic drunken Italian accents. We passed the translations faculty building and ran into an old Congolese sage. We all held hands for a moment and sang together. He told us that because of globalization we’re all foreigners and so therefore there are no foreigners at all.

With globalization Music is becoming more pure. It is shedding its local color. It sheds language and genre. No one asks it to express anything but itself. By becoming less defined it becomes less limited. It’s really “a different thing.” As we too shed our national identities we gain a worldliness and universality. As was posted above the stage at the concert, we are “abriendo fronteras.” Opening borders. We’re changing, expanding, learning.