Comments on: Don’t miss the Dia De Los Muertos festival in Fruitvale on Sunday

By: John Klein

John Klein — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:45:10 +0000

Yes, Dia de los Muertos in Fruitvale was a great success. It was really well laid out with multiple stages and street performance areas. There was a big area for kids, including pony rides.

I spent a lot of time at the stage that was backed-up to the BART station in the BART parking lot. There were several fantastic bands including Los Indomables de Huetamo, El Plebe, and La Incomparable Tierra del Sol – all were terrific.

On of the “acts’ that really affected me was the group of Nahua dancers and singers that was a presence throughout the entire event. I believe Dia de los Muertos is a Nahua observance that pre-dates European and Catholic occupation of the western hemisphere.

I’ve posted a YouTube video of one of their songs. I was taking photographs while they were performing but I just couldn’t get the pictures I wanted. Somehow the photographs just weren’t capturing what was happening onstage. I couldn’t figure it out. The group dances a lot in the streets, giving very long and elaborate dances with 30-40 dancers. Because of this, I was tuned into them as a dance performance group.

Then it struck me that they weren’t giving a visual performance. What they were doing was a song – a very unusual song. I pulled out my Flip camera and caught what I could of it. The clip is almost 10 minutes long so it takes some patience. But it is all live performance. The first few minutes are the most astonishing because it is a live performance, nothing is pre-recorded. It is in Nahuatl language.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLh4PMP_1_s

By: Daniel Schulman (das88)

Daniel Schulman (das88) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 01:19:49 +0000

@Patrick I also had a great time at the festival. Had a ice cream with pine nuts & cheese. Sometimes I consider moving to Fruitvale, and then I realize I would gain 30 pounds in the first year.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:39:53 +0000

OK, just got back. What a great festival! So, I think the Beso de Novia torta (I’m guessing 1500 calories, which came after several tacos, some chicharrones and a gob o’ delish sweet corn ice cream) put me over the edge. I LOVE Oakland, regardless of my occasional bouts of hysteria. I’m still not exactly thrilled with my ad valorem tax increase, however (my increase could have bought me 106 Beso de Novia tortas!)

As an aside to Navigator, should he be lurking: rather than focus on the SF media’s overt attempts to keep Oakland down, perhaps we should focus on why. Personally, I think it’s because the real deal is on this side of the Bay. SF has its bright spots, but those spots are an awful lot like Oakland. There’s so little left to gentrify over there (that’s worthwhile), so the interesting bits just keep getting smaller and smaller.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 02:31:56 +0000

Technically, motion pictures are 19th Century entertainment. As is horse racing, shopping, regattas, football, baseball, tennis, gambling, dining out, going to a bar and having sex.

Anyone who wouldn’t enjoy a day in the Fruitvale for Dia de los Muertos is deserving of suspicion.

By: gwen

gwen — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 02:29:24 +0000

and HEY. there are a bunch of other local Dia de los Muertos events listed on my site, http://ofrenda.org !

and HEY. call me when you’re out there, I’d love to hook up for a bit, it’s been too long.

and HEY. happy birthday!

By: Kevin Cook

Kevin Cook — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:47:55 +0000

You haven’t, but puppet shows fall into the same category of stuff that was entertaining before movies and now inexplicably still attracts some people.

By: V Smoothe

V Smoothe — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:59:21 +0000

When have I ever said anything about going to a puppet show?

By: Kevin Cook

Kevin Cook — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:56:54 +0000

You left out circuses, county fairs and puppet shows.