From Bogota to Cali to Guapi
21 March, 2011Lulacruza and Vincent Moon continue their journey across Colombia…
19th March
A full week with Vincent in Bogotá: synchronizing ideas, sharing thoughts, and watching films together.
On Sunday, we hiked up the Cerro Juaica, close to Tabio. It is one of the sacred sites around Bogota, where they say, lives the mother/spirit of the wind. As we climbed up the mountain, the air became cleaner, the light brighter, the birds sang more intensely…. We went there to do a Pagamento, an offering to the spirit of the wind, asking for permission to the mother of melodies and instruments, as it is traditionally done by indigenous people from different precolumbian cultures. We were asking for her protection, and a series of strange events took place at the top of the mountain, which forced us to come back down in a hurry. It suddenly became very clear, that the trip would be filled with the unexpected!
Next day we met up with Andres Velasquez, our sound engineer to do our final tech check.
On Tuesday, we drove out of the city to Cajica, to Andrea Echeverry’s house, to film with Aterciopelados. Our first real day of filming was filled with a few magical moments, some technical bumps and lots of music.
Tomorrow we leave for Cali on our way to Guapi. More news from there.
20th March
14 hours on a bus from Bogotá to Cali,
then a small plane from Cali to Guapi.
For this first leg of the trip we are traveling with Urian Sarmiento, an amazing percussionist and gaita player.
Guapi is on the Guapi River, 2 kilometers inland from the Pacific Ocean. The Guapi river is very special: in the morning the current flows down into the sea but as tides rise, the river’s current changes direction, and starts flowing upward. These days though, with the weather being so crazy, there’s a drought in the area, and the river’s water level is pretty low.
We feel a song about to be born, one that talks about the river.
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