Moving on....

I made it through the convention... It was a 4 hour drive up from Buenos Aires to Rosario where it was held. The stage was an outside memorial for the soldiers lost in past wars. The convention was an amazing experience. Unfortunately things didn’t fall into place as hoped by the organizers and some people didn’t show up. I filmed what I could and got some great musical recordings and pictures. Fortunately I was able to make lots of contacts from the South of Argentina on up to Peru. In fact I might cut Argentina short and head up to the mountains in Bolivia in mid Jan to record three different communities in the mountains about a days drive from La Paz. Right now the concern is electricity as there is none, and I need to test to see if my rig will run all off a running car battery.. If not I’ll have to down size and continue with out my full rig..
Health is good, spirits are up and I’m ready to get out of the city… Next stop is down south to the bottom of the world and then work my way up to Bolivia….

Some tech problems….
Floating grounds are unpredictable, sometimes I get a buzz and sometimes I don’t. Also if you plug in one way, you can get shocked through your equipment..(not fun) happens to me a lot… Ha ha.. But there is no polarity symbol, or a sign, or one side of the plug bigger than the other. You just have to plug it in and hope for the best. If you get shock, then you flip the plug over and all is good.

La Convencion 

I´m Here!!!

I´m here!!! I landed in Buenos Aires after an amazingly smooth flight. I then headed up to Rosario, a beautiful city about 4 hours north of the capital with my friends Fernanda Gonzalez, Walter Saleme and my dad Larry Burich. Here we are meeting with the organizers of the convention "America Se Identifica" to discuss the audio and video recordings of the event. It starts tonight at 8:30pm and ends Sunday at 11pm. The stage is a beautiful monument overlooking el Rio de Plata.
There will be Music, Dance, Theatre and Literature readings. I´ll try to post as many pics as possible.

Complications have been minimal, so far. The every body has been really kind. It is raining however and the convention is outside. He he.. We´ll see how that goes..

Equipment list for those gear heads out there.

Cameras: 3ccd Panasonic, and a Sony TRV series
Audio:
13 microphones: Rode NT5, NT2, Sure Beta 57, 57s, Beta 98, AKG drum mic kit including a D112, ++++
Laptop is a Sony Vaio K37, After a 2 month battle with Alienware, I had to run to Frys and buy the best I could find as I was leaving in 3 days.. Don´t Buy Alienware!!!
Interface: Presonus Firepod, Monster 2500 power conditioner, and a Behringer 8 channel headphone amplifier.
Monitors: KRK rocket 5 series
Misc: 5 pairs of headphones, a ton of cable, two boom mic stands, a 300watt power transformer , a gang of adaptors,

1 WeeK to Go....

Well it's exactly a week before I leave. I'm starting to get really excited. A year of planning and it seems like I just started getting ready last week.This whole idea started out from lots of rejection when I went to Argentina last year to visit a friend with a laptop and a microphone. I sought out the Indigenous offering to record their music in hopes to produce a CD for some people. I thought how cool would it be to give the gift of recording. I have been in love and involved with the Americas Indigenous music for the last 5 years. I'm also very sensitive to the past and present social situation of the Indigenous of the Americas as well as the rest of the world, but aggressive political activism is not my strong point. So, I want to support the music I love and do my part to amplify the voices and struggle of its creator. But I was met with skepticism and doubt, and with good reason. As many foreigners throughout the years have come and stolen music or one way or another profited by and exploited the many resources the indigenous cultures contain not to mention the atrocities that started in the 1400's and continue on today. So there I was with a big smile on my face saying I wanted to record you with no real reason or goal. I couldn't tell them why because I hadn't really thought it out yet, it was just a feeling. So I left practically empty handed but with a challenge. It was obvious to me that leaving with nothing wasn't really nothing, it caused me to start to put my emotions to words and plan a way to make it a reality, in fact I knew that this project would become a major part of my life. In other words, I found my calling…So, here I go on my second attempt, this time with a real plan, a team behind me, and planned recording sessions. Also, instead of one mic and a laptop, I'm bringing 11 mics, one super laptop, studio monitors, the works. I'm not messing around!!! Also, before this whole experience I would have gagged listening to myself say this, but I feel an amazing spiritual presence around my quest. It's telling me that I'm moving in the right direction as well as preparing me for a lot of personal change on this trip... So stay tuned....

Maya Productions, Music Across Boarders

Maya Productions, Music Across Boarders
It’s Nov 2 and besides voting all I can think about is this up coming adventure. Maya productions is starting to take flight and everything is happening so fast and so slow at the same time. Thanks to Kim Spurgat and Helle Linburg this project is getting off to a great start and with persistence and some luck it will see it’s full potential. Well I just wanted to crack the ice with this blogging thing, more updates to come as the leave date gets closer. More soon...