That was Saturday morning, right after leaving the Maputo Fortress:
People don’t stop dancing here even after the sun has come up, I haven’t even managed to be the last person on the dancefloor yet – it’s so great.
The song in the video from the car is Angel Eyes by Submotion Orchestra and this is my opportunity to officially thank Rui for having the best car music in Maputo and for introducing me to this band. Obrigada, mister!
“Michael Jackson made it no secret that he was inspired by Fred Astaire. As clearly seen in this short video, it wasn’t only his dancing that Jackson mirrored. Notice costume and lyrics.
The video contains clips of ‘The Band Wagon’… Fred Astaire’s 1953 Musical, and clips from Michael Jackson’s short films ‘Smooth Criminal’, ‘You Rock My World’, and live performances of ‘Smooth Criminal’ from the 1992 ‘Dangerous World Tour’, and 1995 ‘MTV Video Music Awards’ performance of ‘Dangerous’.”
Today’s big question is why I sent an email to myself at 1am last night, saying nothing but “close to you”.
Actually, it’s far less mysterious than one might think. We were dancing at Núcleo De Arte and the DJ was playing oldschool funk and New Jack Swing. The reference is to a song that I was very happy to hear and wanted to look up once I got home, the problem was I couldn’t remember the title, and that I wanted to dance rather than write. So I sticked with these three words that I can’t even google nor use to spark my memory. Instead, I’ll use the email and this blogpost to reminisce about yesterday’s adventures, it was like being sixteen all over again. The music, the athmosphere, the giggles!
And to ease your dissapointment for this not being a juicy novel about some mysterious person that I suddenly was being oh-so-close with, I give you three girls in LBD’s and an intensely bouncing Bobby instead.
Here’s a short video that I shot today while walking home from work. The weather was great and I was in the mood to babble but nobody would pick up their phones, so I spoke to myself instead, and to my phone. Or okay, I guess it was to you – so if you haven’t heard me speaking in Swedish yet, this is your big chance. 39 seconds of nonsense, and a hello from a stranger – go!
Major Lazer are soon dropping their new album, “Free the Universe” and they have named the first single from it “Get Free”. I just found the newly released video, and it’s sexy, sweaty, inappropriate, dreamy, and beautifully rub-a-dub eclectic – just the way we love our Major Lazer. I can’t wait to listen to the rest of the album, I expect it to be absolutely amazing. Marking November 6th in my calendar. There will definitely be dirty dancing and singing along to this one, I might even have to import my Tiger Lily to accompany me. Would you?
Major Lazer featuring Diplo and Amber from Dirty Projectors, the video was shot in Jamaica by SoMe and produced by Iconoclast.
You already know how much I love to drive. I’ve been nagging about about how my father used to race with cars and how I was taught how to drive long before getting my license. What I haven’t told you, however, is why I find it so great.
The freedom of being able to move quickly and independently from one place to another is, of course, the most basal benefit of having access to a car. The feeling of complete independence and freedom, and then, of course, there’s the music. In a car, the music embraces you in a way it can never really do in a room, the feeling of a vacuum, the sound bouncing off the walls in a very limited space that you become a part of. The sound bouncing off of you. You singing along. Sounding pretty bad but feeling pretty awesome. Happiness.
I recently shot some videos, one of them is from Maputo and the other one from when I was in Malmö, cruising with Angie Stone. I sometimes film random little bits and pieces of my daily life to try to capture some essential feelings and the surroundings I today take for granted but tomorrow might be wondering about. Here you have two of those – they are about the unconditional love I feel for driving. And about random music.
And to all my dear nerd followers, I know I haven’t been entertaining you for a while, but I can tell you that Avast recently updated their Android mobile security app to awesomeness beyond that of prey, check it out here.
I’m listening to the radio while driving around Malmö, catching up with what’s being played over here.
A song that apparently has been around for a while but that I completely had missed is Carly Rae Jepsen’s Call me Maybe, a horrible but extremely catchy song that I’ve heard a million times these few days. And just as I was about to get annoyed over how they won’t play anything else, I found out that the hilarious Youtube comedian Steve Kardynal has made a video for it.
Cheesy song, chat roulette, Youtube, and laughing people. I now imagine this video every time I hear the song, so it just makes me happy.
& here’s the original video for the song. It’s so bad. So, so bad!
Here are some videos I took with my little Canon IXUS at the Bushfire festival in Swaziland last weekend. The quality isn’t the best, but the happiness is as real as happiness gets.
One of the first concerts we saw was this Napalma concert in House on Fire, we had seen Napalma at Azgo the weekend before and were very happy to jump to their drums again.
The Jeremy Loops concert was one of the greatest events at the festival. The South African genius samples himself and different instruments into an overwhelming mix of sounds and happiness. Do notice the mix of people and ages – this is Bushfire!
The second greatest concert at Bushfire was the Ayo concert, this wonderful woman with her mesmerizing voice and humble smile exclaimed: “You’re too far away – I have to come closer!” – and hopped down into the audience, making us all sing along to Bob Marley.
Then the audience forced her back up on stage and made her sing their favourite song “Down on my knees” before she left. Wonderful, wonderful!
Between the concerts, the main stage had dj’s playing everything from old school R&B, South African house, Dancehall, reggaeton, Electro.. and songs you thought you had completely forgotten how to dance to. We danced, met fun people, and watched people of all ages showing off their advanced moves.
And at the last party in House on Fire, the dj’s mixed quite bad mainstream house with great South African beats and Angolan music. In the end, nobody actually cared, as all that was left in us was euphoria and dancing.
In House of Fire I found a tall Swazi guy that was as keen on dancing as I was – so we danced, danced and danced to the African beats until the place was almost empty and the music stopped. It was as pure as dancing gets – and we synced it perfectly. The best part of it? When the music stopped – we hugged, laughed, said thank you, and went separate ways. No “give me your number”, “hold my hand”, “let’s go somewhere” or other silly expectations that would have ruined it all. The dance had been fully appreciated and respected for what it was and I was the happiest kid on the planet because of that. I don’t even know this guys name, and I never will. For me he will always be that guy that danced really well, and kept a respectful distance. Such a perfect way to end the festival!
Here’s a four minute tour through the city I currently call home. It’s a small part of my daily walk home from work, but I can assure you that it all looks different every day. This is an attempt to show you what my Maputo looks like; the contrasts, the people, the noise in the midst of the tanquility – and if you’re patient enough you’ll see me at some point. And those amazing cashew nuts I’ve been talking about.
The beautiful building in the beginning is Villa Algarve that once was the headquarters and “torture chamber” of the Portuguese secret police. Today, it is abandoned, run down, and home to people who don’t have anywhere else to sleep.
Monotone played at the Azgo festival street party yesterday. So did Napalma. It was great. And as promised, we danced até amanhecer.
After an intense Friday at work, 1,5 hours of yoga and great amounts of dancing, singing and hopping around – my whole body is aching today in a way that I actually don’t mind at all. On the contrary, it reminds me of that beautiful euphoria that dancing gives me. It lasts for days and I can’t get enough.
