LA MUUUUUUUUUUUURGAAAAAAAAAA

"Volvio la murga, a seducirlos otra vez, sin que se dieran cuenta....."*

One of my top three favorite things about life in Cordoba (along with my great living situation and the previously mentioned veggie empanadas) is the murga. What is a murga you ask? Well, Wikipedia defines it as a group that makes music in the street for everybody, most often during the Carnaval season or other big party days. There's all sorts of styles, the two main ones here being: murga uruguaya, which is a choir that wears elaborate costumes and makeup and sings songs that almost always have both humor and social critique, and murga porteña, from Buenos Aires,which is much more about flashy dancing, loud drums and razzle-dazzle. (Think "You Got Served") Here in Cordoba there are TONS of murgas, most a combination of those two styles. It was my former guitar teacher who led me to my murga, Ni Lerda Ni Perezosa (Not Slow or Lazy). The name is, it must be admitted, ironic, because we have the reputation of being slow, lazy, and very, very flaky. Still, I love it. With the murga, I've had the chance to perform in the beautiful outdoors:In tons of plazas: at the opening of a public library, at protests dancing down the main avenue of Cordoba, at quinceneras and even at a wedding! (Here I am with Barby, another girl from the murga, and the bride and groom:) In some ways I'd say it's filled the hole left by the wonderful frisbee team at Vassar. Like the Boxing Nuns, we get in a circle and do a cheer before we go out, we wear matching-but-not-matching outfits, there's always the debate about whether the group wants to "get serious" or keep flying by the seat of our pants, and finally, it's made up of a pretty diverse collection of people (despite the reputation all murgueros have of being dirty hippies). In Ni Lerda, for example, we have med students, high schoolers and our resident poet, Felix, who is in his 60's and has quite the sense of humor (his nickname for me is "Sonrisa," or "Smile." This is much better than what he used to call me: "The Other German Girl." Blonde Barby had already taken the first spot).
Here are a few of the members strategizing before we hit the stage- guess which one's Felix:We even have a canine companero, Felix's loyal companion Eureka!
This past Sunday, we had our "corso," which means a free party for everyone in the plaza, ideally during the season of Carnaval. It was, of course, kinda badly organized, but really fun. We set up the stage (here is Vientito, the murga's resident clown, trying to mount a banner):painted our faces :
and settled in for what basically amounted to a neighborhood variety show! There were other murgas, like Patas Pa' Arriba (Feet in the Air):
a kids' murga (here's their percussion section):one adorable murguerito who insisted on being in the middle of the action:
a reggae band that played a little too long, jugglers and fire-breathers, a Nirvana-esque rock band, and, at the end, the ceremonial burning of the "Rey Momo"As it's been explained to me, Momo is like the Idiot King of the Carnaval, and when he goes up in flames, it's a symbol of a total destruction of hierarchies, equality and fiesta for everyone!
The only downside is when the wind picks up and blows flaming pieces of the Rey Momo onto the dancing public... I'm not sure what that's a symbol for.

*The murga returned, to seduce you again, without you realizing it...