Angela's Andean Adventures.
Llapaku in Bath at the End of November 2002.
The past couple of weekends I have been meeting up with Ann on Saturdays,
a fellow Andean music fan, for a bit of shopping and then lunch at my
favourite restaurant, Las Iguanas, which serves excellent Latino food and
has nice music in the background.
The weekend just gone proved a much more exciting one than previously
envisaged. I had an optician’s appointment for an eye test at 9 in the
morning and as I was staying on for lunch with Ann as well, I decided to
leave my car at the Park and Ride and take a bus into town. This meant
leaving early as it is hard to judge how long it will take when using public
transport. I left home at five to eight and there was no traffic so I
reached the park and ride in no time where I managed to get on a bus just
leaving, and was in town at 8.15 with time to kill and no shops due to open
until 9 o-clock!
I decided first to visit the weekly farmers market in the old Green Park
station but that did not take long because I was amazed that the sellers
were only just setting up their wares so there was not yet much to see. Then
I remembered that Bath’s annual Christmas market had just started so decided
to investigate that one. I was even more amazed on arrival there to see that
the 80 or so stalls were all closed up and when I enquired of one early
trader it was to find that the market would not start until 10 o clock, by
order of the council. This is incredible when you compare it with Paris
where markets are lively and buzzing from very early in the morning.
I still had 15 minutes to wait until my appointment so looked in the shop
windows around the opticians - first falling in love with a beautiful coat
in Next shop window which I knew would look absolutely perfect on baby
Jasmine and I also fell in love with a lovely pink beaded scarf with
matching bag in Tie Rack which I hope to buy sometime between now and
Christmas for myself. The last few minutes I was looking in the optician’s
window at the glasses and saw a beautiful pair in a display case. I knew
they would be expensive but decided to ask the price whilst in there anyway.
They nearly had to scrape me off the carpet where I nearly keeled over with
shock when I learned they cost £600! I ended up choosing some frames at £100
which by the time the lenses are added totals over £200 which was plenty
expensive enough.
Ann arrived while I was still at the opticians and afterwards she told me
that when she arrived in Bath the previous afternoon she came across the
group Llapaku who said they would be playing in Bath both Saturday and
Sunday. I was so excited when she told me this so the first thing we did was
check out all the places where Andean groups normally choose to play but
there was no sign of them at any of them! So the next couple of hours were
spent shopping and it was almost noon by the time we decided to make our way
to Las Iguanas for lunch. And on the way BINGO! We came across one member of
Llapaku - Gustavo Cordereo - between two arches of the Abbey churchyard and
stopped to chat. This proved an excellent opportunity to practise my Spanish
as his English was limited, and I was delighted to learn he was Ruben’s
brother (Ruben lives in Bath and I know him well) and he and his fellow
Llapaku musician friend were staying with Ruben for the weekend. Even
without hearing them play I bought the two cds that they had for sale as
amazingly even with my collection of 1400+ cds I did not have either of the
two they were selling. We stayed chatting to him for 20 minutes and then
decided to go and have lunch and come back to listen to them afterwards. On
the way to Las Iguanas we saw the other guy - German Tintaya - who
recognised Ann from the day before - and we said we would be back in about
an hour to listen to them play.
At the restaurant every table was occupied but luckily the man who
greeted us on the door recognised me as being a regular visitor and said
that if we liked to pop downstairs for a drink at the bar, he would call us
as soon as a table was ready, which could be about 15 minutes. As it
happened we had just bought our drinks when he sent a waitress down to fetch
us and we were pleased to be allocated a table in the window which is always
my preference. Instead of the normal lunch menu there was a special
Christmas one on offer at twice the price but with a lot more choice so we
decided to go for that. We regretted it afterwards though because being so
busy everything took a long time and I was fretting, really fretting, to get
back and listen to that Bolivian band! In the end when our first course took
so long, I spoke to the guy who greeted us on the door and he promised to
speed our order through the kitchen and he kept his word, even going into
the kitchen and dishing up our desserts himself in order to save us time. I
was really impressed at his helpfulness because I think he is the Manager of
the restaurant. Before leaving we booked a table for noon next Saturday,
when hopefully we can enjoy our lunch there at more leisure!
We arrived back whilst the band were playing and there we were for the
duration of the afternoon until they packed up their instruments to go back
to Ruben’s. It was so fantastic and so unexpected to be listening to live
Bolivian music in Bath (the first time as far as I know) that I was
practically floating on air and really buzzing with the sheer joy of it.
Especially when I kept asking if they knew this song or that and they played
them for me! They did a brilliant rendition of Pobre Corazon which is one of
my favourites. In addition to the music they were so nice as well, really
friendly and chatting to us when they took breaks, and when they finally
packed up to leave, we asked what time they would play next day and they
said from about 10 am to noon as after that they had to get back to
Portsmouth for their ferry crossing back to Brittany in France, so we said
we would be back next day to listen to them as well. By this time we had
already exchanged email and website addresses and agreed to keep in touch
after their return to France.
I decided to pop in to Colin’s on the way home, as I wanted to send an
email to Joel in California to thank him for the CDs he had sent me which
arrived on Friday and ended up spending an hour on the internet, reading my
messages, writing to Joel and also sent a short note to German to establish
email contact even though I knew he probably would not see it until his
return home to France. By the time I left Colin’s house I had to dash home
and just about had enough time to get ready before he came over to collect
me at 8 pm for our evening out at the Turkish restaurant.
Next morning I was awake early and managed to park in the city centre -
which is most unusual - and with a 3 minute walk to the same spot as
yesterday I arrived bang on 10 am where Ann was already waiting. But no sign
of the band! I realised then that I should have asked if they meant English
time or South American time which is always notoriously much later! We were
happy enough waiting and I looked after her things while she did a quick
foray to make sure they hadn't set up at a different pitch and she came back
to say that Oswaldo was setting up to play at the bottom end of town and so
we would get some Andean music even if Llapaku did not materialise - which
was a distinct possibility because South Americans when they get together
stay up drinking half the night and the possibility that they could still be
sleeping was very real. I popped up to Next and bought the little coat for
Jasmine’s Christmas present and when I got back both Ann and I were
thoroughly dismayed to see the Salvation Army begin playing nearby and we
realised that if they appeared there was no way they could play there. We
both had our personal stereos with us so decided to listen to our own music
to drown out the sound and had to put it on full blast for it not to intrude
on our own music! Finally at 11.25 when we were just about to give up and go
down to listen to Oswaldo instead, they suddenly materialised. Whilst they
got their instruments ready (guitar, panpipes and bongo drum) I showed them
a few photos taken in La Paz last year and they were really interested
because they know the friends who looked after me over there - Adrian and
Jorge of Kallawaya and Rumillajta. German and his brother Nestor used to
play with Rumillajta as well but both now play with Llapaku. I think he said
they were 3 brothers in the group with two of them living in La Paz and
himself and 2 others living in France. He said the band could well all be
there in La Paz in February - that many Andean bands living in Europe would
be there in February visiting their families with live concerts everywhere,
which made me decide that my visit to La Paz must be in February too to take
advantage of this. He also said he is organising a 5-month tour of Llapaku
over the whole of France from May to September 2003, which includes concerts
in Paris, so hopefully I will be able to visit Leo and go to one of the
Paris concerts and see the whole band in concert. That would be really
fantastic because by this time I had listened to the two CDs I had bought on
Saturday at least a couple of times each and really loved their music -
beautiful Bolivian music at its very best using all my favourite
instruments. I made several requests of my favourite tunes on them that
morning and they played all of them for me with the exception of Aymarita
which they said need all five musicians to do it justice.
Ann and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to their music for about 40
minutes before I had to dash off to meet Colin for lunch. I had brought my
camera this time and took a few photos as well. Had it not been for the fact
that they would not be playing much beyond noon anyway I would have foregone
lunch with Colin and stayed - but their ferry from Portsmouth to St Malo was
leaving at 3.45 pm. I said my goodbyes at 12.15 and German promised he would
keep in touch by email. By the time I got to Colin’s and told him all about
it I was buzzing with delight at having met these new friends and heard
their beautiful music and felt as though I was walking on air the rest of
the day!
Whilst with them on Saturday an obviously South American gentleman had
greeted them and they exchanged hugs so they obviously knew each other and
amazingly I saw him again on Sunday afternoon. After lunch out with Colin
and his sister at our favourite pub in Chew Magna, I had to fetch my car
left on Colin’s drive and decided to visit Ceri to show her the coat I had
bought for Jasmine and I was just rounding the corner to her flat when this
gentleman was crossing the road and recognised me and stopped to speak. It
materialised that he was Bolivian and had lived in Bath since 1961 and he
knew Ruben as well. I asked him if he knew about the Spanish Circle meetings
in Bath and he didn't so I promised to get telephone numbers of the
organisers for him and let him know so that he could join. The Spanish
circle is crying out for new members and there are many South Americans in
the group, so it would be nice for him to meet fellow South Americans. He
said his opportunities for speaking in Spanish were pretty limited, which
gave me the idea of telling him about this group. He showed me his door and
I said I would pop some information through his letterbox sometime during
the coming week.
After visiting Ceri I decided to call at Colin’s again as I was eager to
look at Llapaku’s website and was delighted on looking to find that they
have 6 cds to their credit and I shall definitely be acquiring the other
four when I get back from Peru at the end of February. The site is really
interesting too and will involve several visits to see everything, so I
immediately put it into my list of email favourites to visit whenever I get
the chance.
It really was a great weekend, especially as meeting them and hearing
live Bolivian music was such an unexpected surprise. This is a band who
never normally play in the streets and are heavily involved in continual
concerts back in France. We really were very lucky indeed. The next
excitement to look forward to is Quimantu’s concert in London on 14th
December. One of Dante’s friends - Antonio - has agreed to accompany me to
that concert and escort me back to Paddington afterwards. The concert is on
the South Bank so I would have been a little nervous crossing the river on
my own at night and am therefore very glad to have someone to accompany me.
My friends Rosita and Carlos will also more than likely be there so it will
be all of us together at the concert. I have already booked and received my
train tickets. It will be a very long day as I am leaving Bath on the 7.53
train, arriving London at 9.20 and my first stop will be the market at
Portabello to see if any Andean bands are playing but even if not I always
enjoy a visit to that market. I will also visit Covent Garden, another
favourite place where I might hear an Andean band playing. I always stay on
and speak to Quimantu after their shows so with this in mind I have booked
my return ticket for the latest possible train back which leaves Paddington
at 23.35, but because of work going on on the line near Swindon, I have to
get off there and get a bus for the last part of the journey to Bath, where
I will arrive home at 2 in the morning - a very long day indeed. I’m really
looking forward to it though.
|
