Category: Celebrating Life
Yesterday’s group
Cheers from Catembe!
On the love for Driving
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.
Nah..
Uh-huh!
Núcleo de Arte
Then there was Sunday. And a friend played Vinyl records. And there was dancing, happy people and good vibes. And the best thing about the party in Núcleo is that it starts early and lets you dance enough before it’s time to go home. Still reasonably fresh, happy and ready for a Monday morning at your new job.
Thank you for all your messages, comments and emails. It feels so nice to know that you notice and that you are here with me when I’m a bit down and confused. You just simply won’t allow me to feel lonely, will you?! Damn, I have so much love for you, my friends. Anyway, I’m back on track now, and maybe, just maybe, everything will turn out to be perfectly great. :)
Here’s also a photo of my current me, just because you’ve been such darlings Time to change to my pyjamas and go to sleep now. Beijinhos.
Sweat, bellies and joy
Last evening, I found myself in the midst of a belly shaking, sweat dripping and energy sprawling cocktail of joy and traditional music from Beira, Mozambique. We danced, sang along and laughed as Djaaka gave us a great show at Teatro Avenida here in Maputo. The girls I went with are both originally from Beira, so I had some of the lyrics translated for me as they were mostly in Sena language. All in all, it was a great show.
Djaaka
Euphoria on Video
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!