Atabales

Hola clase!

Hey guys! I just posted a new video for you to check out. I recorded this song and took the pictures you'll see a few days ago in my community, Pedro Sanchez. The Catholic church here celebrates and honors the Virgin Mary with 10 days of parades, carrying her portrait from house to house. The portrait is left in a different house every night and members of the church get together to sing songs, pray, dance and make lots of delicious food. It's chilly here at night, so yesterday they served a spicy hot ginger tea to everyone who came. It was out of this world!

I want you guys to pay attention to the sounds and music that you hear in the recording. You'll hear some special traditional instruments -- the guira, panderos and atabales-- all of which have their roots in Africa. Atabales are big drums, they look like bongos. The panderos is a kind of tambourine. And the guira makes a sound that sounds like maracas. There is a picture of a young boy playing the guira-- he's the one holding a can in one hand and a metal rod in the other. Typically the men play the drums and the women sing and clap. Anyone who wants to can dance. Sometimes they get so worked up that a single song can last for hours! You can just imagine how tired the dancers get after hours of dancing.

We walked from the edge of the town towards the center to the church. Lots of people joined in and pretty soon are little group looked a lot more like a parade! By the time we got to the steps of the church, there were hundreds of people crammed behind, waiting to go inside. It was a very beautiful ceremony with lots of music and smiling faces. I've included a couple pictures of kids your own age so you can see what they look like :)