Japanese Anime Chilean Style

I went down to La Universidad Catolica the other day for the first time. It's a lovely grand old building, situated right in the heart of Santiago, and the most prestigious university in Chile. While I'm sure they would have highly appreciated the imparting of my pearls of wisdom, that wasn't why I was there. I actually went to watch Belleville Rendezvous at the Micro Cine (a great little cinema open to the general public where they have regular film seasons and admission for a luca) but I got the times wrong and ended up watching another animated film about Tutankhamen and the gods of ancient Egypt.

On the way out I noticed there was an exhibition of Chilean Manga: a concept that I had been unaware of until that moment. This was the winners of a nationwide competition held to unearth Chile's finest Manga artists. I knew Manga was popular from the various Japanese-anime shops scattered around the city and from last year when I tried to go to a Manga convention at Estación Mapocho and encountered the mother of all queues. But I'd assumed it was all imported artwork so it was interesting to see the work of national artists.

The drawings and paintings followed classic Manga themes and imagery. There were countryside samurai warriors with huge swords and that zig zag hair so beloved by the genre: kinky young woman in cyber-slut outfits: cuddly but somewhat eerie-looking inflated animal caricatures: innocent school kids walking through dark and menacing landscapes: and so on.

I found the exhibition very interesting and would like to check out more Chilean Manga. I haven't been able to find on the internet most of the images I saw but there are a couple and there are also some links to portals if you're keen.

http://www.banzaistudio.cl/

http://kortachurros-caf.blogspot.com/2008/10/existe-el-manga-chileno-carta-abierta.html

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Anidachi-adventures-Manga-Chileno/133823109999446?sk=wall

Teenage angst has paid off well

More or less the first gig I went to in Santiago (with the exception of this one manic cumbia party) was Miss Garrison in Cine Arte Alameda some time last year. It was a pretty raucous affair, great energy, decent tunes and a heady crowd lapping it up. Miss Garrison are an electro-punk three piece, with elements of hip hop and experimental sounds in their palette, who have so far released just one album but have a strong following. They are in the vain of bands like Cansai de Ser Sexy (CSS in the UK) and the Chilean band Pánico. They are also reminiscent of heroes-of-my-youth Senser, due to the intensity of their sound and the fusion of heavy guitars with sound effects and hip hop beats. They also sing in a mix of Spanish and English.

The combustible nature of their onstage performances is encapsulated in the frenetic presence of the female singer and drummer Francisca Straube, who seems to be a bit of a star on the alternative circuit. She's definitely got the punk spirit and brings a lot of charisma to the band. The other two male members, on riot guitar and effects-laden bass, bring their own styles to things and the result is a heavily energetic sonic boom of angst.

Miss Garrison opened for Crystal Castles in Chile and a quick check on Google shows me they recently embarked on their first European tour. So it looks like they could be on the up. If the band's popularity in Santiago is anything to go by, then it looks good. For not only is it a good band, it is also a cool band. And obviously that's very important in the music biz. Anyway, I've added a few youtube videos and the myspace if you're interested in checking them out some more.

http://www.myspace.com/grupomissgarrison

Industrial Waste

Here are some pretty natty photos of the Santiago urban jungle that, whilst conveying a strong sense of industrial decay, are rather striking and contain the essence of what I am trying to achieve with this blog: namely portray the city's dark heart and its leftfield cultural identity. This is the work of Chilean photographer Catalina de la Cruz. She says of her work:

'Moving the capacity to feel some kind of fantastic, vital and unnameable pleasure, this other urban landscape unfurls through subtle details, elements decontextualised from their function and reason: images that stay suspended in me like experiences inter-sensory. Urban landscape always ephemeral, always mutating, always being determined randomly, and the infinite relation of its brief parts and fragments, the emotions and senses that are granted to every spectator´.

So you can make of that what you will. Here are the photos.

Anarchist Poster

This poster in Barrio Yungay makes reference to the detonation of small homemade bombs in a number of locations in Santiago by anarchist groups opposed to the right-wing policies of the state. It reads:

SOLIDARITY WITH THOSE PERSECUTED BY THE POWERFUL

Since 2006 the anti-authoritarian offensive has included among its methods explosive devices against buildings and symbols of power. The state and press has baptised this the 'Bomb Affair'.

Having not found those responsible, the authorities have initiated a media and police campaign of persecution against comrades and spaces that publicly spread ideas of freedom. They wish to isolate and punish them in order to strike fear into the exploited, aspiring to wipe out any idea contrary to authority. The press has set a repressive stage and the new public prosecutor, Alejandro Peña, has invented the existence of an illicit organisation of bosses and soldiers, something which doesn't exist amongst those of us who abhor all forms of authority and hierarchy.

The authority that persecutes our comrades is the same that imposes miserable living conditions, that represses in Mapuche territory and all over the world, and that today wants to modify the anti-terrorism law created by Pinochet so that whatever form of social protest is brutally punished.

Their repressive acts don't surprise us but neither are we able to remain silent. Solidarity can manifest itself in many ways; criticising and disobeying all that comes from the authorities; reporting and agitating over the situation of the persecuted; but, above all, multiplying the expressions of conflict with the social order of the powerful and promoting by means of fact the ideas of freedom against all forms of authority.

Power has been, is and will be vulnerable. We affiliate solidarity and complicity as weapons against the repression of the powerful. Open your eyes and raise your voice! Tomorrow they could come for you.

A brief photo tour of the Barrio Yungay

Local grafitti

Mural in support of Mapuche political prisoners

Typical Yungay zone

Plaza Yungay Church

Santo Domingo with Maipu (look carefully and you can see the mountains in the distance (10 miles or so)

Phat truck

Wildlife of Chile # 2 - a series of stunning photos capturing the rich diversity of fauna in this unique and beautiful Andean land

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Clinical Finishing

Chilean satire comes in the form of The Clinic, a weekly newspaper that dissects and mocks celebrities and the political establishment and also features articles and interviews on all kinds of subjects. It takes its stance from the left and, as such, the President is an almost constant figure of ridicule. Yet its range of targets is broad, with the right-wing government of Piñera, the preceding government of the Concertación party, the Communist Party and the Catholic Church all regular recipients of scathing satirical wit. It is a very good read although much of it requires a good knowledge of Chilean society and, fundamentally, of Chilean slang. I have a good level of Spanish but parts of The Clinic are still incomprehensible. If you can get past that, you'll get a bloody good idea of what makes the country tick.

The paper was founded in 1998 and takes its name from The London Clinic, where Pinochet first stayed following his detention in London that year. Over the years, a huge array of notable Chilean writers and journalists have contributed to its pages, underlining the esteem in which the publication is held, despite its often garish style and puerile humour. Its regular columns include El Confesionario de Fray Yuyo (The Confessionary of Father Yuyo). where readers write in with details of their sins, and La Carne (The Meat), the weekly sexual exploits of a young woman of the upper classes.

However, it would be deeply unfair to imply that these are the main distinguishing features of The Clinic. In addition to the gags and lighthearted nature of various aspects, it also raises important issues and highlights social themes that are neglected by the mainstream centre-right press. With intelligent comment and analysis from its writers, The Clinic is far more than simply jokes for grown-ups.

The Clinic touches a chord with many Chilean as it focuses on the topics that affect the majority of the country: government inadequacy, unequal opportunities, the growing gap between have and have-not and so on. Whether raising these topics through a humourous or serious tone, the paper is an important counterweight against the main newspapers such as El Mercurio and La Tercera, both of which maintain conservative stances, a source of much piss-taking for The Clinic.

There is also a bar called The Clinic which is one of the coolest places in downtown Santiago and is packed out from Thursday to Sunday. It's a big old place just down from Belles Artes underground station, and spread ovr three floors. There's a lot of live music and the food is excellent. They are also generous with the measures of pisco or rum so a good thing in all. 

Here's the website:

http://www.theclinic.cl/

And here's a bunch of The Clinic videos on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=the+clinic+tv+chile&aq=f