We All Break in Argentina
Just returned from a beautiful whirlwind of a trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina, with Ches Smith's We All Break. Man, I love playing with this band! And, we performed at an incredible venue, Centro Cultural Kirchner, one of the largest cultural centers in the world.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirchner_Cultural_Centre The 9 floor centre has a concert hall; 5 other auditoriums for theater and concerts; 18 halls for poetry readings, performance art, and other events; 40 rooms of art and history galleries totaling 15,000 square meters on 6 floors; 16 rehearsal rooms; and 2 rooftop terraces
The Sala Sinfonica is an incredible main concert hall at the facility, and is absolutely gorgeous, with excellent acoustics. The free concert we put on was very well-attended, and was filmed for broadcast on Argentina television as well. I hope to receive a link to the archived show once its available. The audience was extremely attentive and engaged, and many folks hung around afterwards to ask questions and meet the band.
The next day, we did a master class at another very interesting venue, El Centro Cultural de la Memoria Haroldo Conti, which was once an infamous military base and detention center, now transformed into a center for the arts. The participants asked some great questions, and we got a chance to share information and demonstrate traditional Haitian Vodou drumming, and Ches explained a bit about some of the principles at play in that music, which inform and inspire his original compositions for piano and percussion.
To my bandmates, Ches Smith, Matt Mitchell and Daniel Brevil, I eagerly await the next opportunity to make music, and share time with you guys.
Band photos courtesy of Vale Marchese