…otherwise known as desert island disks!

I’ve been home sick since Tuesday.  We went to the grocery store in the afternoon, and when we left I was fine.  Half way through I was sick.  It came over me so fast, I couldn’t believe it.  Most of the time since I’ve been “couch sick” which is a few bits better than “sick in bed” in my view.  I think I am pretty close to well although I still feel a bit feverish at times.

Today I felt well enough to cruise a few of my favorite blogs and The Mexile had a wonderful post on Desert Island Disks.  I’ll let you read it for yourself but it inspired me to think about my favorite desert island music.  These are in no order, I love them all as some of them have already been my top music for many (many, many) years.

Salli Terri & Laurindo Almeida – Bachianas Brasileiras No 5 by Heitor Villa-Lobos  This one is so beautiful it can bring me to tears.  My mother gave me this album when I was 14 I think – I played it over and over and bought the CD when records were obsolete.  You’ll understand once you hear it.

Tracy Nelson & Mother Earth – Down So Low – There’s another link to my mother here… she took me to the Fillmore West probably in 1968 0r 69 twice to see Tracy Nelson.  Once she opened for BB King and I think they had top billing the other time.  My mother’s favorite song of hers was “I Did My Part” but mine always was “Down So Low.” I have every album of hers and in my opinion this is the best recording even though it is very old.

Van Morrison – Queen of the Slipstream – I could have picked a lot of different Van Morrison songs, I just don’t get tired of him.  This is wonderful.

John Martyn – Cocaine – One of the first thing Paul and I noticed when we started dating is that we both had extensive John Martyn collections.  I love this rendition of the song Cocaine, but I could have easily shared Bless the Weather or May You Never.  I have listened to these songs thousands of times and just don’t tire of them.

Kiri te Kanawa – O mio babbino caro from the opera Gianni Schicchi by Puccini – I remember being introduced to her by a co-worker (hi Cara!) a long time ago.  We went together to hear her sing at the Seattle Opera and I’m not ashamed to say I was moved to tears.  Absolutely beautiful.

Nina Simone – Wild is the Wind – Nina was a master of expression.  This song absolutely kills me.

Rodrigo y Gabriella – Stairway to Heaven – I know I have written about this duo before, I love everything they do.

Bebo & Cigala - Lagrimas Negras – I love these two, already have played this music to death and am not tired of it one bit.

Ragani – Ganapati – I couldn’t find a video of this anywhere.  It’s a kirtan – or a call and response chant from India.  I can listen to this over and over… The song is progressive, the speed builds and builds and then returns to slow again.  It’s 12 minutes of inspiration.  This is a must have on a desert island, I don’t know how I missed it when I originally posted this! I removed the music file since it ate up so much bandwidth, you can Google it and buy from iTunes or Amazon I’m sure.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my favorite music, it has been fun gathering the perfect recordings of each one. What are your desert island disks? Maybe leave a comment and let me know!

Sinaloa Symphony - La Camerata Gordon Campbell, Director

Mazatlán feels like a small town most of the time to me as I bump into friends here and there as I go about my errands.  But it’s a big city, too, with big city cultural events that truly give us world class performances throughout the year.

This winter we are fortunate to have several performances by the Sinaloa Symphony Orchestra:

Jan. 15 — All W.A. Mozart: La Funta Jardinera Overture, Divertimento in D major, Adagio and Fugue in C minor, Symphony no. 29 in A major  You can watch a recording of the performance here.

Jan. 22 — All J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concertos nos. 3 in G major, No. 6 in B-flat major and No. 4 in G major.  You can watch a recording of the performance here.

Jan. 29 — Special Beethoven/Brahms concert played by a trio made up of Gordon Campbell on French horn, Roman Revueltas (soloist of the National Symphony Orchestra) on violin and Joel Juan Qui, brilliant Culiacan-born pianist, at the limited-capacity Haas Mansion, corner of Heriberto Frias and Mariano Escobedo.

Feb. 5 — Vivaldi’s Four Seasons: Spring in E minor, Summer in G minor, Autumn in F major and Winter in F minor (Nathaniel Basa, violin soloist) plus a fitting series closer: F.J. Haydn’s “Farewell Symphony” no. 45 in F sharp minor

We missed the first performance on January 15 but friends raved about how good it was.  We did get tickets to yesterday’s performance and to February 5 as well. The January 29 performance at the historic, restored Haas Mansion has sold out and a second performance has been added to satisfy demand.

Below is an audio clip from the performance yesterday.  Flautists Antonio Duatovka and Nicole Granrth with Nathaniel Basa on Violin

(clip removed 2-20-2012)

Another audio clip from the performance yesterday.  Soloists are  Jason Sah and Larissa Brown on violas.

(clip removed 2-20-2012)

Today we are off to an art opening of works by Sharon Fannin’s talented students at the art museum.  Tuesday is a playreading performance – Seven Stories by Morris Panych put on by Mazatlán Film & Theater (sorry, it is sold out.) There’s a fundraiser for the Mazatlán English Library this weekend with a talk by Deb Rodriguez, the author of Kabul Beauty School and the recently released A Cup of Friendship. Deb lives in Mazatlán and owns the popular Tippy Toes salon.

There are always lots of cultural events going on in town. Before you know it it will be time for the First Friday Art Walk again and then close on its heels, Carnaval.  I saw them installing the electrical boxes on the malecon this morning.  That always means Carnaval is getting close.

Here’s another picture from yesterday.  See you!

Sinaloa Symphony - La Camerata Gordon Campbell, Director

If you’d like to keep up to date on Mazatlán cultural events, here is Mazatlán Cultura’s Facebook page.  They update it all the time.

Click this image to see a panorama of the market.

I know I mentioned before that we have a weekly organic market here in town.  Every Saturday until the end of May in the Plazuela Zaragoza from 8 am until noon you will find at the latest count about a dozen vendors selling their most excellent organic and homemade items.  You can read the M! Magazine article about the market or if you’re on Facebook, like their Facebook page.

This week I came home with such great stuff!  Organic almond butter, shredded coconut, radishes, dried tomatoes, and Paul bought an organic chicken.

From memory, here is some of what you’ll find at the market.  There are new vendors every week, too.

Organic eggs, chicken, goat cheese, dried mangoes, dried tomatoes, every kind of vegetable, vegetable plants, worm castings, dried coconut, baked goods, coffee, almond & peanut butter, granola, vegie burgers, soap, and vegetable seeds.  The following photos tell the story!

Hope to see you there next time!