La Poesia

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A great night of music and company!

What a lovely night we had on Friday! Venetia had tickets for yet another wonderful free concert at the Kirchner Centre. A friend of hers is visiting from England, so he came along and I also invited Cecilia.

The concert featured the Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional de Argentina, and for the second half there was also a huge, amazing choir. You can just barely see them on the level above the stage in this photo.

Like most people who see a performance here for the first time, Ian was blown away with the place, the concert — and the fact that it’s free!

I just pinched this photo from Venetia’s Facebook page!

The concert finished just before 10 pm, but this is Buenos Aires so the night was still young and we weren’t finished yet. Cecilia lives quite far away, so she left, but Venetia, Ian and I went on to one of our all-time favourite places (which I’ve written about here before), La Poesia. It’s one of the old Bares Notables, and has the most wonderful ambiance as well as food and — if you’re lucky — entertainment. Tonight we were lucky.

As we were finishing our dinner, a woman came in the front door and I asked Venetia if it was the woman who sings. She doesn’t look anything like an entertainer, so I wasn’t sure, but Venetia said she thought it was. Sure enough, a few moments later the woman took up her place in front of the door and began to sing. No accompaniment, no stage, and plenty of ambient noise, but her beautiful voice rose above it all. My late husband would have said she had a “whisky voice”, which is just what you need to sing tango. I asked her to sing Cancion de Buenos Aires, one of my favourite tango songs, but I didn’t like to video it as she was standing right in front of me. Maybe next time I’ll ask her if I can. In the meantime, I hope this video will give you a taste for her singing as well as the lovely old place itself.

If you ever come to visit me in Buenos Aires, La Poesia will definitely be one of the places I take you to!

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Catching Up on a Rainy Day

We’ve had thunderstorms all night, with very heavy rain, and so far it looks as if it’s on for the day. I had plans to go to an afternoon milonga, but if this keeps up I’ll be staying home.

In the meantime, it’s a good day to catch up with my blog. Not in any particular order, here’s some of what’s been happening for me in beautiful Buenos Aires over the past week or so.

Bares Notables Research

La Poesia is one of my favourites of these lovely old bars, and in fact it might top my list. That’s because it has an old, traditional Buenos Aires kind of feel to it, and the food is excellent. You can also often be unexpectedly entertained, sometimes by wandering professionals, sometimes — like this time — by enthusiastic amateurs. The pianist came up to our table and asked if we would like to sing and he would accompany us. We assured him he didn’t want to hear any of us sing, but we would happily listen. This lady took up the challenge and we thought she did well.

La Biela

Last Sunday was one of those glorious spring days that felt like summer. I met up with a bunch of friends on the patio of La Biela, a favourite summer spot for almost everyone. After quaffing some wine and chatting, Venetia, Sasha and I went up to wander around the artesan market, where we all managed to get some money spent.

On the way back, we passed La Biela again and came upon this man singing opera. We listened to him for quite a while, although I just videoed his last song. These ladies at the table beside him were clearly Italian (many Porteños are of Italian heritage) and joined in heartily especially in the Neapolitan love songs.

Free Concert at the CCK

Last night Venetia and I went to a beautiful concert at the Central Cultural Kirchner, known as the CCK. I didn’t take any photos, but simply sat back and drank in the wonderful music. It was the Buenos Aires Philharmonic Orchestra, who are always a pleasure. They had a guest clarinetist, who raised the roof with the last piece, a blend of classical music and jazz. Even the other musicians were mesmerized with his amazing clarinet solos.

And as always, I’m amazed that we can enjoy this calibre of concert absolutely free!

Well I see it is kind of drying up just a bit outside, so I must take advantage of this lull to go out and buy some groceries. The milonga is still in doubt, but I do have to eat!

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Exciting Publishing News!

I’m so excited about this news I have to tell you! Yesterday I had a meeting with Argentinidades, an Argentine book publishing company. I first met them in April 2018 at the huge Buenos Aires Book Fair, where I gave them a copy of Rare Steak, Red Wine, Hot Tango. They showed a lot of interest, but nothing happened after the fair.

But a few weeks ago I had an email from them, asking to meet with me to talk about the book. I have to say the meeting was hilarious, because Juan’s English was barely as good as my Spanish, which is pretty good for everyday life, but challenging for a business meeting. He kept hitting his forehead and exclaiming, “Ay, my English!”, while I did the same while muttering, “Ay, mi español!” Funny.

But the outcome is that they are going to translate the book, publish and distribute it in Spanish throughout South America! Not only that, but when I told them about the new book I’m writing about the Bares Notables, he jumped on that too.

I am adding two new chapters to the first book, as I want to make it a second edition. I need to have that finished and the manuscript of the second one finished by February, so that they can do the translation and get the books ready to promote at the 2020 Book Fair. How exciting is that?!

But there’s more! (I sound like one of those late night knife commercials!) They are kicking around a new book project about Buenos Aires, and they have invited me to be one of the authors on the team! That one hasn’t been finalized yet, so it’s fingers, toes and eyes crossed. It won’t make me rich, but it will help build my reputation as someone who writes about Argentina with love in her heart, which is what I want.

Couldn’t wait to tell you. Tonight we are doing another Bares Notables research dinner, so we will be hoisting a glass of champagne to celebrate!

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Two Dinners

This week I went out to dinner a couple of times.

After my tango lesson every week, I go to a little local place called El Sanjuanino, because I can’t be bothered cooking when I get home. This week, Cecilia’s sister Adriana was visiting and she wanted to see me. So we killed two birds with one stone, and here we are eating some of the best empanadas in Buenos Aires. They also serve the house wine in what they call a pinguino, which you can see on the table. You can’t see it very well here, but it’s a big wine jug shaped like a penguin.

Yesterday there was supposed to be a street fair featuring all the provinces of Argentina. It was a lovely sunny day, and I planned to meet some friends and go. Lina arrived on the scene first and WhatsApp’d to say there was no sign of a fair. Apparently it was cancelled, no idea why — oh well, it’s Buenos Aires!

But it was so nice I wanted to go out anyway, so I met up with Lina in San Telmo and we had a late lunch in La Poesia. This is one of my favourites of the Bares Notables, about which I am once again writing a book. The official “research” starts next week, but I’ll take any opportunity to go to La Poesia.

Lina is a steak girl — the rarer the better. I think this one walked into the restaurant and jumped on her plate. I went with lighter fare, as I prefer my steak at dinnertime. These cold plates, with cheese and olives and cold meats etc. are called picadas, and I could practically live on them.

This wall is typical of the kind of things you find in these old bars. I’ll be writing more about La Poesia when we come here for the research night. (I’ll be glad when Venetia gets back and we get some decent photographs — not my forte!)

 

 

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Bar Notable “La Poesia”

More research last night for the new book! Silvia, Venetia, Viviana and Joanna joined me at La Poesia, a lovely old bar in San Telmo that was created long ago as a kind of hangout for writers and poets and other literary folks.

I was sitting near the side door, and suddenly a woman walked in and started singing! She was good — no microphone, no accompanists, just a good set of pipes. She was good.

Then soon after she left, a man pulled a chair over from a table, sat down and started playing bandoneon, that soulful instrument that gives tango music is distinctive sound. He was good too!

Nobody pays these people. They just go around the various bars and cafes, do their thing and rely on tips — kind of modern day troubadors! Anyway, here are the two videos Venetia shot (thanks Venetia!)  of the performances and a bit of the surroundings to give you a feel for La Poesia.