SOUNDTRACK: RANA SANTACRUZ–Tiny Desk Concert #88 (November 2, 2010).
This is a fascinating Tiny Desk that was posted exactly five years ago as a way to celebrate the Day of the Dead. Rana Santacruz plays ranchero music. I did not know what to expect from ranchero music but to me there is a very bluegrass feel. There is a banjo and a fiddle! And then there’s trumpet and Santacruz’ accordion playing and Spanish lyrics.
The first song “Tacho El Gacho” begins with horns and has a kind of mariachi feel (Santacruz is dressed like a mariachi), but the song soon switches to that bluegrass feel and is very fun.
He introduces the next song by saying “The next song is called ‘Death.'” And they play a ten second piece. They laugh and joke that the real next song is “Dejala Entrar” about a sailor who leaves with death willingly because of his happy life. The chorus: “open the door let her in, death herself is here to pick me up.” This one is like a sea shanty.
The third song is “El Funeral De Tacho” which has more trumpet and feels more mariachi in the opening.
He jokes about all their death songs but says that their songs that deal with death are happy ones. And indeed, “El Ranchero Punk” feels like a real hootenanny. The bass player even plays drums on the bass.
I enjoyed this set a lot, and even not really knowing what he was singing about, I totally got into the songs.
[READ: July 7, 2015] Laika
If you know who Laika is, you know that this is not going to be a happy story. If you don’t know who Laika is, shame on you. Laika was the first living creature shot into orbit. She did not survive but she has become legend.
Abdzis has done a ton of research into Laika and the communist/American space race of the 1950s and 60s. And he has created a wonderfully researched and nicely detailed account of the life of Laika and the people who handled her (and the women who loved her).
The story opens on a man walking through the snow. He has just been released from the gulag and is walking to the nearest town (in freezing weather). It is Sergei Pavlovich, the future creator of Sputnik (he was falsely accused of treason). And as the first chapter ends we see his success–Sputnik was the first satellite launched into orbit. And we see that Nikita Khrushchev wants another satellite in one month. (more…)
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