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Julio 30, 2005
Telesur in Bolivia (Not Yet)
With the launch of television channel TeleSur, funded primarily by Venezuela, the reaction to it has been mixed. David wrote an excellent recap at Global Voices Online on how others around Latin America have been responding to this new media source.
As my small contribution to that entry stated, the local cable company we have used in Cochabamba had no immediate knowledge of TeleSur, when I sent them an email inquiring whether it would be added to the roster of channels.
If TeleSur does become an option for Bolivian television viewers, who will get to see it? According to the Instituto Nacional de Estadística in Bolivia, approximately 54% of Bolivian households own a television. That number is not too shabby considering the high levels of poverty in that country. There are a respectable number of local channels the one can receive using the old bunny ears.
However, TeleSur, if and when it becomes available in Bolivia, will most likely be an exclusive to the cable companies. Data from the PNUD found that only 6% households had television cable connections. Likely that number is higher due to the frequency of clandestine hookups. In addition, the cost per month for cable varies between $18-25 per month, which an exorbitant amount for many Bolivians. Due to this high cost, most that currently enjoy television cable are working, middle and upper classes in the urban centers.
So is this the audience that TeleSur is targeting? I wonder if TeleSur reports glowingly on Evo Morales, will it be those who have cable connections who would nod their heads in agreement?
Posted by eduardo at 12:57 PM | Comments (2)
Julio 26, 2005
Los Tiempos Politics Forum
Forums are mostly free-for-alls where anyone with a keyboard can chime in, attempt to be serious and thoughtful or troll the hell out of it. Los Tiempos, the Cochabamba newspaper, has lauched an online forum for political discussion, specifically about the December elections. So far, the online conversation has been rather civil, but it's just a matter of time until it gets out of control. I give it 8 days.
Take a look at this thread: Evo Morales es nuestra unica esperanza (Evo Morales is our only hope)
It starts off well, with a couple of Evo-apologists, a couple of users with insults and some very good thoughtful criticisms of Mr. Morales. However, come page three, it starts to unravel.
Posted by eduardo at 10:12 PM | Comments (1)
Look East
Everyone knows how important the Santa Cruz vote will be in the December elections. After all, it is the fastest growing region in Bolivia and its economic importance cannot be disputed. In years’ past, the Occident has consistently voted for the traditional political parties, although that may change with the current high disapproval ratings for the old parties.
It is expected that all of the major candidates will clamor for a Cruceño Vice President. Even Evo Morales (MAS) wants to appeal to the Santa Cruz, where his party made a respectable showing in last year’s Municipal elections. The Frente Amplio candidate Rene Joaquino has already extended an invitation to Mariano Aguilera, a Cruceño sugar industrialist, who said he will consider the invitation. Samuel Doria Medina (UN) has called a press conference in Santa Cruz on Friday for an expected VP announcement. It was also speculated that Tuto Quiroga (AXXI) is making overtures to the former Santa Cruz mayor, Roberto Fernandez (brother of silly Johnny Fernandez (UCS)).
However, Santa Cruz may not limit itself to being represented by just a VP candidate. It is expected that Hormando Vaca Diez will be the candidate of MIR, after being so close to succeeding Carlos Mesa last month. The MNR candidate was thought to be the Cruceño Juan Carlos Duran, who recently said he would not be the candidate because of “gonismo”. The Civic Committee and business groups of that city have yet to announce what, how or who they will support or present for the December elections.
Posted by eduardo at 10:04 PM | Comments (3)
Julio 25, 2005
Forgive Me, Father
From La Razon:
Posted by eduardo at 11:02 PM | Comments (0)
Julio 24, 2005
Samuel Doria Medina Interview - La Razon
La Razon has begun a series of interviews with the candidates that have officially announced his participation in the December 4 elections. 
Today's feature is on businessman and former MIR cabinet member Samuel Doria Medina. Currently he is leader of the Unidad Nacional (UN) party that is trying desperately to shake the perception that he and Tuto Quiroga are one in the same.
The cement magnate and owner of the Burger King restaurants in Bolivia calls his proposals for the "popular center," which he explains in food terms. His plans are "llajwa" (the national hot sauce) and not "ketchup". (It's interesting to note that in the Burger King restaurants, llajwa is available upon request.)
Doria Medina also addresses the fact that many have labeled him as "uncharismatic", a charge that he readily admits. He doesn't want to be the politician who greets hundreds of people each day, as he would rather be the one that solves problems, creates jobs and finishes successful projects.
His two main rivals also were mentioned by Doria Medina. At one time, he said he had more in common with Evo Morales, than with Tuto Quiroga. He explains that in December 2004, Evo had opted for the democratic route as he was unofficially part of Carlos Mesa's government. However, when he decided to blockade in 2005 and move away from democratic means, that is when any similarities ended.
The criticism towards Quiroga is based largely on Quiroga's being out of touch with Bolivian reality. Doria Medina says that Quiroga has been absent from the country ever since his term ended in 2002. He noted that it doesn't seem that Quiroga thinks that a change is needed.
Finally, in attempting to shake the "neoliberal" label, he says that it is true that much of his proposals are economic nature because that is at the root of Bolivia's problems. But, he wants to work with the informal sector and the small businesses to be at the basis of this economic revival.
Yet, he prides himself on being a candidate that can work with any of the regions in Bolivia. As a businessman, he has had many dealings with Santa Cruz and much of his advisor team comes from that Department. But his business also has taken him to the Occident and other parts of the country. His ease in working with all parts of the country is something that his two main competitors would find difficulty, with Evo in Santa Cruz, as well as Tuto in El Alto
Posted by eduardo at 11:15 AM | Comments (2)
Election Buzzword #1 - Gonismo
“Gonismo” – It’s hard to put your finger on what it actually means, but you better believe that many of the candidates, especially Mr. Evo Morales will be using the term liberally over the next four months.
Fair or not, former and exiled President, Gonzalo “Goni” Sanchez de Lozada is synonymous with the current crisis that Bolivia finds itself. Whether for the capitalization of several key industries or the yet-to-be investigated events in October 2003 where too many Bolivians were killed, Goni is public enemy number one to blame for Bolivia’s ills.
No one wants to be associated with him, even though almost every current politician has some links, i.e. Samuel Doria Medina (ex-MIR), whose party has been allied with both of Goni’s presidencies. Even some in his own party, MNR, want to distance themselves from their current/former party leader (depends on who you ask). If MNR wants to save some face in the December elections, it must show that it is Goni-free.
However, Evo will try his hardest to link the other candidates as collaborators of the former President, by perhaps suggesting that anyone who has ever worked with Goni, been in the same room as Goni, or even shaken hands with Goni, as guilty of having the mark of “Gonismo”.
Posted by eduardo at 12:30 AM | Comments (1)
Julio 20, 2005
Immigrants Arrested in Bolivia, A Look Back
This recent article published in Erbol News, "La fiscalía cruceña detiene a 27 bengalíes" immediately reminded me of a similiar story nearly two years ago.
Via, the defunct Southern Exposure (scroll down to December 4-5) to a similar incident where it was feared that similar arrestees were attempting to hijack a plane on route to Buenos Aires. After the individuals were released without any hard proof of this supposed plot, I had not really thought of that incident until today.
All the information available so far seems to come from this release of ABI (the Bolivian government's press agency). It indicates that 16 Muslim people from Bangladesh -that's not the same country as Pakistan, Crónica!- have been arrested following a tip by French authorities that they could be implicated in a (presumptive) plan to hijack a plane in the La Paz-Santa Cruz-Buenos Aires route and direct it against US targets (most likely, I presume, in Buenos Aires). You can read about these reports in Reuters Alertnet (other articles, like Wired's, are just rehashings of Reuter's somewhat skeptical notice of the ABI press release).
This is from the entry from Southern Exposure, but too bad none of the online media links are still active. No links to terrorism, rather human trafficking seem to be the issue at hand here.
Posted by eduardo at 09:06 PM | Comments (1)
Julio 19, 2005
Cochabamba Poll
Now it's Cochabamba's turn to weigh in on its choice for President with its own poll. The Universidad Mayor de San Simon (UMSS) and its Political Science Department polled approximately 1,100 from the Cochabamba Department. Included in this poll, were individuals from the 14 municipalities that make up el Cercado, as well as the other 6 rural provinces including the MAS-supporting Chapare.
The results may indicate a bit of a surprise because many of the other polls only included responses from the urban centers, which includes many who despise Evo's radical measures that he supports. This poll included rural respondents and the rise in both Quiroga's and Evo's support eclipses other polls where each only reached 16-17%.
Tuto Quiroga (AXXI) - 29%
Evo (MAS) - 28%
Doria Medina (UN) - 11%
This just shows that this election will be fought along so many different divisions: indigenous vs. mestizo/white; occident vs. orient; and now urban vs. rural.
Posted by eduardo at 09:43 AM | Comments (1)
Julio 17, 2005
Evo's Chances
Boz draws attention to the recent Council on Hemispheric Affair's Article titled: A Coca Grower to Lead Bolivia? The analyst argues that Bolivia is on the verge of electing Evo Morales, partly out of his Anti-American views. Q: But, what happens when that candidate is anti-Bolivian as well? A: High disapproval ratings. What else do you call views that jeopardize the incomes and livelihoods of thousands of working poor through the support of blockades and other anti-democratic measures, such as coercion and threats?
I certainly am not against what Morales hopes to reverse: economic and political exclusion, institutional racism and an economic model that has not delivered what had been promised (also the fault of a flawed system that encourages corruption). However, instead of building upon the historic finish in the 2002 election and Congressional victories, he has taken several steps back and alienated such a huge part of the country. His means do not justify his hoped net result, where other means were available to him.
In spite of the high disapproval rates, Morales doesn’t have zero chance of being President as Jim thinks in his entry in Blog from Bolivia:
I think that Evo has about as much chance of becoming President of Bolivia after next December’s elections as I have of being Bush’s pick for the US Supreme Court
His chances of becoming President are not entirely up to him. Likely he will not poll in the top spot and with the emergence of Samuel Doria Medina and the Mayors’ candidate (which we’ll get to later), where he could find himself in third place. But crazier things have happened, as there has been some rumblings of an alliance between the Mayors and Evo, but with the announcement of Rene Joaquino as the candidate for this “Frente Amplio”, Evo will not be their candidate for the elections, as previously thought, and will need their support should they finish behind MAS.
It is highly unlikely that there will be an alliance between all of the actors on the extreme left including Abel Mamani, Oscar Olivera, Jaime Solares and Felipe Quispe. Such a grouping could tally around 30% for Evo/MAS, but due to the distrust among these groups, each are likely to field their own candidate, which would further disperse the vote from the far-left.
Posted by eduardo at 03:08 PM | Comments (2)
Julio 16, 2005
More Bolivian Movies
The movie "Di Buen Dia A Papa" opened in Cochabamba. Almada attended the premier complete with small symphony near the escalators.
Yet another Bolivian movie is set for release soon. "American Visa," based on the book by the same name by Juan de Recacochea is a story of a Bolivian professor who seeks a visa to enter the United States. Directed by Juan Carlos Valdivia, who currently lives in Mexico, received help from the actress Kate Del Castillo, who is better known for her roles in telenovelas.
Addition: A commenter in the first Bolivian Movies entry called this movie to my attention: The Devil's Miner, which is a documentary about life in the mines for a young boy in Potosi.
Posted by eduardo at 09:02 PM | Comments (1)
Exchange Rate
Today's Los Tiempos reported that the Boliviano-Dollar exchange rate actually dropped for the first time in ages. It seemed that the exchange rate continued to rise on a fairly consistent basis. I remember when it was 5.35 Bs = 1 USD back in the late 1990s. It dropped one point to 8.09 Bs. = 1 USD.
This also signals that the exchange rate that is determined by the Banco Central is currently competitive that also favors Bolivian exports and national production that must compete with imports.
For the first time since 1985, the banks have been selling more dollars, then they have been buying, which signals more confidence in Bolivian currency, right?
Posted by eduardo at 02:51 PM | Comments (1)
Julio 14, 2005
Another Poll
A poll conducted by the Universidad Franz Tamayo found that Samuel Doria Medina (UN) was the favored choice among the respondants in La Paz and El Alto.
Samuel Doria Medina - 15.2%
Evo Morales - 14.8%
Carlos Mesa - 14.1%
Jorge Quiroga - 13.8%
The main question is why do pollsters continue to include ex-President and ineligible candidate Carlos Mesa in these surveys? It doesn't appear that Congress is willing to change the Constitution to allow him to run. An even better question would be: for which candidate would those Mesa supporters give their vote to? The 14% would be valuable to any of the other three candidates.
Posted by eduardo at 06:04 PM | Comments (4)
Lynchings
MABB writes a bit about the recent surge in cases of lynchings AKA communal justice.
Aparently, in Cochabamba alone, there have been seven murders by communal justice in the last seven months. In the last six months, police has attended 21 cases of lynchings (a.k.a. communal justice).
It definitely is not a recent phenomenon and not only seen in rural settings. There have even been some cases of attempted burnings of suspected thieves in La Cancha, the huge open-air market in Cochabamba.
Much of this stems from the lack of security, as crime continues to rise as economic opportunities remain scarce. A large part of it is the lack of trustworthy police in rural Bolivia, as MABB points out, but a lot of it is the zero trust in the justice system. There is a solid perception that the justice system is inefficient and most criminals never see the back of a cell.
The most unfortunate part of this type of justice is that it is fueled by rumor and hasty decisions. Often some people are attacked, when one person accuses them of being a criminals. Mistaken identity often lands some unfortunate soul in the midst of a mob that is intent to show no mercy.
Clearly the solution is to strengthen the justice system and a more trustworthy law enforcement, which is not an easy task.
Posted by eduardo at 05:54 PM | Comments (0)
Julio 12, 2005
The Bolivian Vote Abroad
Evo wants Bolivians abroad to receive their right to vote in the upcoming December 4 elections. After all, when I was in Bolivia in November 2000 I submitted an absentee ballot as a U.S. citizen. Why couldn’t Bolivians living in Europe, the U.S. and in neighboring countries be allowed to decide the fate of their homeland? For one thing, these important elections are right around the corner and another thing is that most embassies and consulates are not equipped to handle such a huge responsibility due to manpower and lack of funds.
But why is Evo so interested in seeing the estimated 1 million-plus Bolivians living outside the country be able to vote? Surely he believes that many of those voters would be MAS sympathizers. Perhaps he thinks that the reason that so many saw the need to flee their native lands was caused by the dearth of opportunities caused by a failed neoliberal economic model.
Evo’s party is not called Movement Towards Neoliberalism, because every other word out his mouth is neoliberal-this and neoliberal-that.
Yet, it’s amazing to see how many Bolivians immigrants in the U.S. have thrived in this capitalistic society. It doesn’t matter if one’s surname is Mamani or Choque, here in the U.S. no one seems to care what you are, as long as you work hard and do a good job. (God, I sound like a conservative). Unfortunately in Bolivia, sometimes one's last name is already an obstacle needed to overcome. Yeah, I know it’s not so simple, but just observe Bolivian immigrants when they return to Bolivia. They have even less tolerance for blockades and marches, because those obstacles simply are not here. Imagine Columbia Pike in Arlington blockaded, so that businesses are closed. So many immigrants have achieved their American dream with hard work, being able to return to Bolivia with capital to live how they want. One might say that they want a Bolivia free-of blockades and marches, which Evo believes in 100%
So what’s the deal with Evo and his insistence on this external vote proposal? Ever since the Argentine crisis of 2001, Bolivians who had once lived in that country had been returning. However, there still is an estimated 1 million ex-pats living there. They are much more organized and politically active in that country. I recall seeing posters in Buenos Aires announcing immigrant marches demanding better working conditions. Sometime last year, an Argentine journalist made some disparaging comments about Bolivians. Soon after, there were dozens of Bolivians protesting outside the radio station. You would never see that in Virginia, where many are perceived to be politically apathetic because so many are busy with work or those long commutes.
But apparently, Evo has some serious business dealings in Argentine, which means some pretty hefty organizational structures there. Boli-Nica wrote about Evo’s fruit wholesale business thrusting money into his party, which may or may not be true because some of that information came from a rumor from the partisan Petroleum World website. Nevertheless, there must be something serious going on if Evo is 100% confident that he would benefit greatly from opening up the voting to all Bolviians no matter where they are. Or maybe Evo is so nervous about his prospects and his high disapproval rating, that he needs any support that he can get.
Posted by eduardo at 09:53 PM | Comments (1)
Julio 11, 2005
Early Competitors
Nothing is finalized, but it looks like there are three defined candidates for the December elections. This La-Razon graphic shows Evo (MAS), Tuto Quiroga (ADN?) and Samuel Doria Medina (UN) as the early competitors, with candidates for the other parties and citizen groups TBD.
Posted by eduardo at 07:54 AM | Comments (1)
Julio 07, 2005
A Senseless Death
A few weeks ago, my cousins talked me into seeing the new Batman movie, and I reluctantly agreed. One cousin was Bolivian-American, born and raised in Alexandria, VA. The other, recently arrived from Bolivia a year and a half ago and found employment at my cousin’s place of business.
It was a Friday night and parking spaces were at a premium. After nearly 10 minutes of circling the lot, we spotted a space opening up. Finally! All of a sudden, a high school-aged kid sprang out of nowhere and claimed the spot as his own, as some sort of explorer. He was holding it for the car he was riding in. Just by standing in the spot, he seemed to think he automatically qualified as the spot’s rightful owner. After all, what were we going to do, run him over? Another of his companions joined him in this claim.
My recent immigrant cousin, who was driving at the time, attempted to engage the two homeboys in some rationalization to no avail. Then, he started to get angry, yelling at the two. I said, “Let’s go, it’s not worth the trouble.” The driver was puzzled by our apathy. We explained that a parking space was hardly worth the trouble of the unknown. Arguing could lead to some sort of fight, where nowadays one doesn’t know to what lengths the other will go to (i.e. weapons) to win that round.
At the end of the day, it seemed to boil down to cultural differences. Standing up for your “honor”, fueled by machismo is almost expected in Bolivian society. He had not made the connection that, while it does exist in the States, maybe not all people buy into that code here. We never did end up seeing the movie, as I had lost any entertaining mood that I may have had. It wasn’t so much from the ridiculousness of the parking issue, but more from the argument that followed amongst cousins and his disbelief that we were unwilling to stand up to those dudes.
Last night, I made a connection to why any of that attitude is just not worth it. I was informed that one of my friends was murdered in Cochabamba. Even though it happened three months ago, as everyone assumed that other had told me, the fresh news still struck home for me. I have a feeling that he chose not to walk away in a similar predicament and chose to follow it through to the ultimate consequences.
Details are still sketchy because none of our other friends were still present at that party. Undoubtedly, alcohol was a strong factor in his death, but also was this machismo that pushes people to do stupid things. Apparently he became tangled in an argument with another partygoer that chose to continue into the street. As my friend was leaving the party, the other was unbeknownst to him, waiting with his friends. This group jumped my friend, stabbed and beat him to death.
One can only piece together hypothetical situations, but probably it started as a simple misunderstanding or something minor that snowballed out of control. As a result, a good friend won’t be in Bolivia the next time I visit.
Things seem to be much more gloomy back in Bolivia following news like this. Three years ago, another friend of mine was assaulted. Working an overnight security guard hoping to earn some extra money, he was on his way home in the early morning hours when some thugs stole his bike, pushing him, he hit his head on the concrete leaving him in a coma. Thankfully, he recovered, but as crime has increased especially in the outlying areas of the city, things aren’t the same.
It used to be that Cochabamba was an incredibly safe place. I remember walking blocks and blocks home at night at 3 or 4 in the morning, never feeling at all threatened. Even though most of this route was through the middle of the city, I probably wouldn’t take those chances again. Now it seems that nothing is worth staying out late for, where the unexpected can happen. You could always find something open at 5 in the morning, whether it is trancapechos on the bridge to Quillacollo or my favorite tacos at las Islas. But, I guess as one gets older, one realizes that it’s always better to be safe than sorry.
Posted by eduardo at 09:44 PM | Comments (4)
Julio 06, 2005
Bolivian Movies
Bolivia is not known for its cinematic accomplishments. Every year, 2-3 new movies are released to a limited audience and to not much fanfare. Even a strong dose of nationalism cannot drum up business for these films. It seems that there is often more buzz over these “foreign” films around the world than there are in Bolivia itself.
Both Almada and Alexey discuss some new films being released, including one that focuses on a family from Vallegrande where Che Guevara was executed.
Finding Bolivian movies in Bolivia is quite a feat, as most teenagers and most adults, for that matter, go wild for the big-budget Hollywood flicks. My cousins and I went to Cine Norte in Cochabamba to see the low-budget Carnaval flick “Esito Será”. My younger cousin ran into some of his old high school classmates. When they asked him what film, he was seeing it was almost if he was embarrassed to say that he was seeing the film that I dragged him to, while his friends were ready for some shoot-em-up action sci-fi film.
Finding Bolivian films on the bootlegged market is also difficult. Burned DVDs go for about two dollars, but most likely there is not much of a market for Bolivian films. You always see the Spiderman/Batman/Godzilla movies selling like hotcakes, and most likely the bootleggers don't see much of a market for a perceived "inferior" local movie.
One of the most respected director is Jorge Sanjines who helped created the film group Ukamau. Some say that he tightly guards when and where his films are shown. Part of that stems from fear of bootlegging, which not only takes some of his royalties, but reduces the overall quality once a movie is repeatedly copied.
I was curious to see one of his films, “La Nacíon Clandestina” at a youth group meeting which regularly shows videos. Somehow the group had gotten a copy of the movie recorded from German television. Normally the movie's dialogue is Aymara, with Spanish subtitles. However, since the recording’s source came from German television, the subtitles were also in that language. Consequently I could not follow much of the story plot. The next day, I had to ask my Anthropology professor what the movie was about.
Anyway, somehow representatives of Sanjines got word that his movie was being shown unauthorized at a small gathering. Almost immediately they received a “cease and desist” fax. Normally a discussion would follow the movies shown, but since most in attendance did not speak Aymara nor German, a lot of the discussion focused on copyright laws and whether Sanjines should like that people want to see his work or whether he has a right to control that.
For a good resource page of Bolivian movies, directors and festivals, visit this website: From Bolivia.
Posted by eduardo at 09:43 PM | Comments (6)
Julio 05, 2005
Bolivia General Elections December 4
Congress finally reached an agreement so that general elections will take place the first Sunday in December and the Autonomy Referendum and election of constituents in July 2006. The Prefect election has also been moved to December.
Many lawmakers were hesitant to give up their posts, but it looks like we will have a new Congress as well. Some wonder whether the threats of some members of the social movements played a part in all this. A leader of the COR from El Alto threatened to take Congressmen from their homes for "chicotazos" (whippings) if they did not resign.
The testy session of Congress that lasted way into the wee early hours of the morning, included some threats of violence. MAS senator Filemon Escobar threatened Congress' president Hormando Vaca Diez, "I want to be in prison for 30 years for the murder of Hormando Vaca Diez and I am going to do it right now." Exactly what we need now is more silly talk like this.
The Congressmen and women who resigned know that they need to appear as if they are doing this for the best of the country if they want any chance of being reelected. This election will be huge. Evo Morales now receives the chance to put his money where his mouth is. If he is as beloved as he says he is and is the "#1 political force" in the country, then he has nothing to worry about except for winning the election, right?
Posted by eduardo at 11:23 AM | Comments (2)
Cerro Tunari
My friends at Colonia Ecologica just finished their climb up Cerro Tunari with the kids from the organization.
We both agreed that it was the hardest thing we have ever done in our lives – though perhaps we are just soft gringos as Kiko has done it about 20 times, and many of the children at Colonia have made it to the top several times!
The climb also helped create some awareness of the work that the organization does with kids.
Here are a couple of pictures of Cerro Tunari (the large peak that overlooks Cochabamba on the Northwestern part of the city).
Posted by eduardo at 12:39 AM | Comments (0)
Julio 01, 2005
No Surprises
Via MABB, the latest poll shows city folks' choices for President, if elections were to be held today (which they're not, but we'll get to that later). No one should be surprised that Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga leads, albeit by 1% over the richest man in Bolivia, Samuel Doria Medina.
However, the biggest surprise is that the pollsters asked if ex-President Carlos Mesa was allowed to participate, how many would vote for him. His returns were at 25%, considerably lower than this favorable ratings of the mid 40s, when he left office, but still shows that many think that he will return to the race someday.
Back to when new elections will take place, Evo has asked current President Eduardo Rodriguez to stick around until 2007 and preside over the Constituent Assembly, and partly to delay elections which Evo is sure not to win. He thinks that the Bolivian people need time to forget about Evo's inconsistent positions on things and how he was involved in the toppling of yet another President. I guess he thinks that if the Bolivian people can forget about Hugo Banzer's past deeds and vote for him, then surely they can forget about his years of blockades and outlandish statements.
However, Rodriguez said that no way he would stick around and that he wants elections to come sooner rather than later.
Posted by eduardo at 10:42 AM | Comments (1)
Los Kjarkas Cover Band
I always thought that if I were in a band, I would try my hand at covering some traditional Bolivian songs. Instead of zampoñas or quenas, I would use electric guitars and keyboards.
The group "Los Kjarkas" is by far the most recognizable and famous of the pseudo-folkloric groups in Bolivia. Embarking on worldwide tours, (they are playing in Virginia in mid-July) this group is synonymous with Bolivian music. It just makes sense that someone would try to cover some of their songs, which often themselves are interpretations of traditional folk songs.
A new CD of not-so-famous Bolivian bands covering songs by Los Kjarkas is being released across the country. Twenty bands select a specific tune covering it in their own distinct style. Whether it will be any good or not will remain to be seen, as there are some pretty awful amateur bands on there, such as the Collective Soul cover band that I saw in Cochabamba one night.
Posted by eduardo at 10:00 AM | Comments (0)