Jacaranda Trees

About a month and a half ago, the streets and parks suddenly turned into a sea of purple. The Jacaranda tree was in bloom. I've never seen such an intense colour of flower on trees of this size, apart from cherry blossoms, but these flowers last for ages. Such a beautiful symbol of Spring.

Cortes de Luz

November in BA was really hot, apparently the hottest on record. Got to love those sensationalist weather reports.
The heat meant that all of BA's air con units were switched on, and the surges in electricity usage were too much for the suppliers, leading to power cuts all over the city. It seemed particularly bad in Belgrano, with 4 blackouts in 2 days. I spoke my local Kiosco man and he told me the cuts happen every summer, but seem to begin earlier each year.
Whenever anything disagreable takes place in the city (or elsewhere in Argentina) it's time for the 'Cacerolazos' (literally 'stew pot'). Out come people into the streets or onto their balconies, cooking pots in one hand, wooden spoon in the other, and everyone bangs away for as long as they can. A lot of Argentinians are frustrated and tired of the political situation and this is one way people can come together to vent their anger in public. We got involved along with everyone else on our block, it was actually quite cathartic! Though obviously did nothing to speed up the return of our electricity. I've bought some candles as no doubt there'll be more of the same as temperatures increase throughout the summer.

Kylie

Disco and Jumbo introduce more gluten free products

Hooray! Disco and Jumbo are looking to keep their celiac customers happy by expanding their range of sin TACC (gluten free) products and giving a snail away with every shop.

Good news, but now I would love to see Hausbrot expanding their range to include gluten free products. It's torturous to have to pass their delicious looking seedy loaves on the way in and out of Jumbo. So much of the gluten free goods on offer are highly processed crap, there is definitely a need for more natural freshly made offerings, like that you can find at Celigourmet.

Creamfields

You could definitely feel the buena onda at Creamfields BA. People were relaxed, having fun, properly raving. It felt very similar to the very first ever Creamfields festival, which took place in Liverpool in 1999. Nearly everyone wore their sunglasses throughout the night thus avoiding signs of 'clubbers eye' ie when you like a mangled wreck after consuming too many narcotics. In England no one cares about looking wasted, which is why people in clubs take on the appearance of the living dead after 4am.

On the Corner, the Buenos Aires blog which snaps eye-catching portenos, produced a Creamfields special and photographed the shiny happy people. It was great to see people feeling free to express themselves through interesting outfits. I love these three girls above, they look oh so pretty and sweet.

Music wise, Simian Mobile Disco were thumping, they looked like evil geniuses on stage, meddling with a massive 80's Moog and making all kinds of crazy noises. Derrick May played in his usual rhythmic Detroit style, though maybe too quick for the Argentinian crowds. He is consistently great as you might expect from one the forerunners of techno music.

Gorillaz on the other hand were laughable, a dude onstage waving his towel around and jumping up and down and a woman MC'ing badly over Daft Punk's 'Around the World'. I can't believe they were paid to perform, what a load of rubbish.

The more progressive trance / house style DJ's, Erik Morrillo and David Guetta attracted massive crowds. Their music is Latino friendly, more so than the unrelentless, ear bleeding types of techno favoured by Scousers which doesn't give you a pause to breathe let alone pose in your sunglasses.

Pecha Kucha

This is a great evening of talks from creatives and artists, held at the Konex centre every couple of months.

Pecha Kucha night originates from Japan, with the idea of getting a group of creatives together to talk through 20 images with 20 seconds allowed for each.
The evening provides a brilliant forum for creatives to talk about their work to a wider audience and is a great showcase for creative work in Argentina.

The speakers are always very well known Argentinian figures. At the past couple I've been to, I've seen the wonderfully eccentric visual artist Marta Minujin and Pablo Del Campo, one of the top advertising creatives in the world.

Obviously it's a bit difficult to follow the discussion of abstract ideas if, like me, your Spanish is pretty terrible. But nevertheless, it's a great introduction into the cultural world of BsAs and Argentina.

Pecha Kucha
Every 2 months at Centro Cultural Konex

Techno

I love electronic music, probably due to growing up with Cream and Bugged Out on my doorstep in Liverpool in the 90's.

So Mr Chilean now Berliner Ricardo Villalobos is playing on Friday at Crobar. Can he rock it with that minimal sound? That is what I want to find out*. And next week, BA hosts Liverpool's famous festival export, Creamfields. Carl Craig, Booka Shade, yeay. David Guetta er I won't be seeing him.

Many music producers, like Ricardo, have gravitated towards Berlin in recent years, it's become the epicentre of minimal electronicness. Argentina is still home to some talented guys though; Simbad was born in France and now lives in Córdoba. He dj's all over Argentina and hosts a regular night at Bahrein. His podcast for Residential Advisor showcases his minimal but groove led style. Jonas Kopp is another influential talent who has received international acclaim. According to his MySpace page, he is playing here in BA on 7th of November at Shamrock and 21st November somewhere in Palermo.

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Post edit - * Yes Ricardo did rock Crobar, he played very upbeat, fun techno, much more of a party sound than his stripped down uber minimal types of sets that I've heard him play in London. Crobar was rammed, despite entradas priced at AR $100!

Links

Surface Bookings represents some of the major Argentine techno dj's and producers

Creamfields BA
8th November
Autodromo de Buenos Aires
$130 DESDE EL JUEVES 18
Confirmed Line Up
UNKLE Live, Erick Morillo, Gorillaz Soundsystem (DVJ Set), David Guetta, Hernan Cattaneo, Steve Lawler, Simian Mobile Disco (Live), Booka Shade (Live), Cassius, Roger Sanchez, 808 State (live), Carl Craig, Derrick May, Deadmau5, New Young Pony Club (Dj Set), Satoshi Tomiie, Bajofondo, M.A.N.D.Y., Modeselektor, Crystal Castles (Live), Boys Noize, Apparat, Radio Slave, Martin Buttrich, Gui Boratto, Marc Marzenit, Dj T, Angel Molina, Martin Garcia, entre otros artistas internacionales y nacionales.

Gluten free goodness

Being intolerant of gluten is a real pain in the arse, especially in a city offering tasty looking empanadas and tortas on every corner.

This is why I was so happy to discover an entirely gluten-free Panaderia yesterday, called Celigourmet. I believe this is the only one of its kind in Buenos Aires. Gluten intolerance is not widely recognised in Argentina, at least in terms of products available in the shops. This seems strange as there are at least 400,000 recognised celiacs in Argentina. There is an organisation called Ley Celíaca (Celiac Law) which campaigns for more recognition of celiac disease, the website is here http://www.ley-celiaca.com.ar

Celigourmet was set up by Mónica Benain after she and other members of her family were diagnosed as celiacs.

The store stocks a range of foods including all those treaty foods you normally have to miss out on; pizzas and empanadas to tortas and churros. The majority are baked on the premise. I bought some little rolls topped with herby roasted onion and a pizza. The rolls are great, it's so good to taste proper chewy bread.

You can also go to herboristerias to find gluten free flours and pastas, although the choice is very limited eg a lot of gluten free pasta is made from white rice flour which can be bland and claggy.

It's so good to think that celiacs can go to Celigourmet and pick up a loaf of bread or empanadas just like a normal porteño can do.It would be great if they could now introduce some wholegrain products too.

Celigourmet
Charcas 4787
Lunes a Viernes de 10 a 20hs
Sabados de 9.30 a 14hs
www.celigourmet.com.ar
celigourmet@hotmail.com

Other resources
Celiacos Argentinos - lists all gluten free Panaderias in Argentina

http://www.celiacosargentinos.com.ar

List of gluten free friendly restaurants in Buenos Aires
http://www.glutenfreeguidebook.com/2008/04/14/reader-report-buenos-aires/

Avenida Sante Fe

Palermo Viejo

Traffic light entertainment

Plaza de Mayo

Plaza Holanda

Filetado

Dusk falls, beautiful light

View from balcony