Fieldnotes #2

I looked at a few videos from Personal Fest in Buenos Aires, wich took place last month, as well as some videos from last year’s Cosquin Folk festival, in the town of Cosquin.

When I looked at Personal Fest videos, I was struck by the production value of the concerts. The Depeche Mode videos featured a large LED screen with both prerecorded images, and simulcast video of the concert. The stage is set apart from the crowd with a security filled buffer. One video, clearly shot by a concert attendee, shows a sea of digital cameras in the front rows. The latter is quite common across most concerts I’ve been to in the US, and the former is pretty extravagant for shows here. (I include this only to admit my somewhat incorrect and perhaps unfair assumptions about economics and cost structure the Argentinean music industry and music economy.)

The “Cosquin 2009 Trailer”, a three minute video, includes scenes of past performances dating back to the first, scenery, artist and fan interviews. Their content stresses Cosquin’s unique features. In an interview with Julio Paz of the group Duo Coplanacu, shot in the midst of a bustling downtown, Paz says “there are northerners, southerners… here we find everyone, and we get along well.” Another performer says in an interview “there are some things that change, and some essential things, of the heart and the soul, that are common to everyone.” The artists, the producers, and the attendees have an almost spiritual connection to the festival.

Compare this to a series of Personal Fest TV spots:



They are clearly professionally produced. This video, and a number of others in the series, make little mention of the festival itself, except for the subtitles. While the videos imply that the festival is fun, hip, and youthful, comparisons to the (admittedly longer, and not cut for television) Cosquin trailer begs questions about the focus of the festival. Personal Fest, as seen in the commercials and on its website, is sponsored by Nokia. Cosquin, on the other hand is in its fiftieth year. It is sponsored by the municipality in which it is hosted, and includes a host of cultural, social, and musical activities in addition to the traditional concerts

Another video shows Leandro Romero performing for a crowd on the streets of Cosquin. The crowd varies in age and gender, and all express enthusiasm- cheers, clapping and dancing. The older members of the crowd appear to be the only ones singing along, though they do so quite loudly. It appears to be a sort of sing-along for those fans fortunate or dedicated enough to find Romero on the streets of Cosquin.

I have not had much luck finding a web presence for Romero, leading me to believe that this street performance is Romero’s only appearance at Cosquin. The organizers of the festival brought or allowed people to come in and perform their music, or as I believe in this case, popular folk songs (an assumption I made based on what I could understand of Romero’s website, and the age of those singing along to his music.) This demonstrates their appreciation of and dedication to the cultural role that the event plays in Argentina, and South America. It also makes for a much more complete experience for attendees- a full spectrum of acts, sub-genres, venues, activities, and attendees.