La Bomba del Tiempo

Last night I listened to a conversation without words; a conversation between two drums; a conversation I could feel more than hear.

The conversation started out with more or less 15 drummers; really 15 strangers who came together on a Monday night at 7 pm to play to a standing crowd of people who ranged from their proud moms taking pictures to stonners getting high behind the curtains.

One drummer took the conductor position and tried, sometimes successfully and sometimes not, to create a unified band. Often I could see the brilliant idea the conductor had and then I could see the brilliance fade because of a lack of effective communication. Sometimes he brought in a drummer too soon out of enthusiasm or forgot completely to include another drum.

How often do I feel like this conductor. How often do my castellano words fail to convey the idea in my head. How often do I say catedrales (cathedrals) when I mean to say cataracas (waterfalls).

But yet as long as I keep going like this conductor, as long as I keep the beat, the audience will dance. As long as a feel the beat more than hear it, I will dance my way through Argentina.

Side note: Anyone who is going to be in Argentina for the month of September needs to go to the Konex Center (Sarmiento 3131) on Monday nights at 7 pm to see “La Bomba del Tiempo.” It is well worth the 7 pesos and the smell of pot on your clothes at the end of the night.