Zarate Pt. I

MC and accordion player...and fellow teachers.

Remember talent shows?  It was kind of like that.

A few weeks ago, I watched in awe as my still uniformed students sang, drummed, clapped and screamed (more on that in a second) their way through what is basically a folkloric talent show.  They were competing in the school's Zarate (zah-rah-teh) for spots to represent Colegio Rafael A. Moreno (hereafter referred to as CRAM) in the regional Zarate coming up at the beginning of August.  The event is a big deal: even teachers came in dressed in traditional hand made dresses, shirts, and sporting their sombreros pintados.  Students had been practicing for weeks.  The school sold snacks (of course, there was rice) and there were special invited judges.

Of all the performances, I'm most proud that I caught the following one on video.  It's what they call a grito (scream, literally translated), and the tradition goes deep among people from the countryside. I don't really know how to describe it, but essentially it's a competition of voice, the screams produced from way, way deep in the throat and coming out sounding like a bark from a strange animal.  Two guys try to out-scream each other while also mimicking each other.  Think dueling banjos.  What's crazy is the sound projects.  I've heard it a lot around here (again, reminder that the azuero is all about tradition), and still have yet to figure out exactly where that sound comes from or why they do it.  But it's impressive, and always charges the atmosphere with a certain sort of festive energy.

The grito permeates all kinds of speech here.  People communicate with it, have their own sort of grito, recognize that of others.  Even the Spanish accent has a little touch of grito--often adding so much up and down intonation that it sounds like the person is still going through that awkward voice change.  In casual settings (read: home, school, the street, with friends, pretty much anywhere that's not the presidential palace), it's common for people to respond to their name being called with a little "ah-ooh?" which I am happy to say I've adopted.

Anyway, enough about screaming.  Enjoy the video!