Saturday roundup: news and Venezuelan Christmas music

I was somewhat too tired to post anything for the last two days, except for the Turkey Day best wishes. But news of course never rest. Fortunately in the blogosphere there are always people to pickup the slack.

Chavez in Russia, with Ukraine in my mind

Nothing really much to comment there. The same anti US speech, ant neo-liberalism, anti-whatever-as-long-as-it-makes–me-popular-while-I-keep-doing-exactly–the-contrary-at-home. In Russia this is nice as there are enough left over of the Ancien Regime to fill up auditoriums. Except that this time there is a twist.

South of the border Ukraine is a real mess as the opposition has refused to recognize the election results. Well, even the EU and the US refuse to recognize it. I have not bothered to check what was the position of the Carter Center. Some would like us to think that the Putin press conference with Chavez had for only objective a “you accepted his electoral fraud in August, so now you are going to accept my electoral fraud in Ukraine”. Other muse about what chronicle would have been written if Mendoza (and AD I must add since they sabotaged the whole thing) would have taken to the streets on August 16. And another wonder how the Venezuelan crisis would have occured had there been more Ukrainian immigration in Venezuela.

What is certain is that Putin has been doing pretty much what Chavez is doing in Venezuela (though more efficiently it seems) and that the world is not too upset about this. After all, when was real democracy ever present in Russia? Might as well keep going unless some nut head gets a finger on the missile launch button. What is amazing is that Chavez apparently has convinced folks that he is some liberator of an opprobrious regime whose main fault is having been democratic enough to let him reach power. We’ll see if anyone reaches power pacifically and democratically under Chavez…

The Danilo Anderson case

Things are so confusing, people shot at right and left, weird connection appearing, people found in garbage dumps all alive and tied up and what not. The more I look at this the more I think that the whole mess has nothing to do with terrorism but with an accounting episode between gangs. The only problem is that some of the gangs in this mafia-like bad movie have access to the fire power of the public administration and complacent prosecutors and judges. Miguel, fresh from his Thanksgiving vacation dares to have a look at the work of the Devil in the whole thing.


Christmas Music

And all of this is typed as I am listening to the most exquisite Venezuelan Christmas Music CD ever issued, in my very humble opinion. “El Cuarteto en Noche Buena” is an adaptation of traditional Venezuelan seasonal music (though it includes “What Child is this?”, now Humanity Patrimony I suppose).

El Cuarteto is a quartet for Bass, Flute, Guitar and Cuatro, instruments uniquely important in Venezuelan popular music (well, the Harp is missing but we cannot have it all, can we?). El Cuarteto has made a brilliant career in refreshing all the traditional Venezuelan Music, and when it hit the Christmas repertoire, well, it was jackpot. Whether you are Christian or Jew or Whatever including Agnostic like yours truly, if you have any link with Venezuela you will not be able to resist the charm of this CD. All the light of Christmas, and I mean it beyond the decorations lights as December and January have the most limpid and soft skies of the year, all the Venezuelan spirit of the season could not be better encapsulated. If your heart does not swell when you listen their rendition of Navidad Nuestra, or Simon Diaz singing El Niño del Avila, or the Niño Lindo version ending the CD, then there is something wrong with you.

El Cuarteto en Noche Buena
Manufactured by Corporación Optilaser.
FD2522001867
el_cuarteto@cantv.net
fax: +58 212762 12 69

Possible international merchants:
Flute World
Apio Music
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