Interview Excerpt

This is a part of an interview with Yoni Bard, a musician and friend who studied (not music) and worked in Argentina for 8 months. We spoke briefly, and I'm glad we kept it that way, because listening to the transcript makes me want to change a lot about my approach, and the questions I ask.

YB: I don’t know the name of the event… it was some national holiday in Buenos Aires, in Argentina.And they had an obelisk down town which is really big, and they sometimes have shows at. And they closed down this really busy street… it’s like the widest street in all of the Americas. There was a huge stage, and crazy lighting, and huge speakers. And they had rock bands and pop bands, and uh… there was a guy selling beers.
SH: How much w ere tickets?
YB: It was free, it was an open event.
SH: Do you know if it was put on by the city?
YB: Yeah it was thrown by I think it was thrown by the city of Buenos Aires
…
SH: Did any performance stick out to you, either in terms of, like, how the act was or how it was received?
YB: Yeah, this one group that played, they were playing really funky, I think it was rock, and they had a really nice guitar player.
SH: Cool, were they from Buenos Aires?
YB: Uh presumably, actually, on the record yes.
SH: Cool, and so was it something that appealed to you because you have a unique music preference?
YB: No, it was for lay consumption.
SH: And were people as into it as you were, as into it, more into it than you?
YB: I’d say more into it, but I was interested in other things… I was not as big of a fan of that latin op rock as all the other porteños around me.
SH: And were they all porteños?
YB: I didn’t do a survey, but I would have to say most of them yes, were porteños.
SH: And did you go with Americans?
YB: I went with kids from my study abroad program, we had a group of like 10 or 15 and we all went down as a group and partied with everyone else.
SH: Did you feel like you stuck out as an American?
YB: Um, yeah, yeah, definitely. We were speaking English to each other. When I broke off from the rest of the group I was less conspicuous.
SH: Were there any foreign groups that you knew of?
YB: No, they were all argentine.
SH: Do you think you could make any guesses about the socio-economic mix of the crowd?
YB: Uh, I’d say this was working class.
SH: Was it on a weekend?
YB: On the record? Yes.
SH: Was it a musical event first or a party first for the locals?
YB: Musical.
SH: Were they serving local cuisine and beverages?
YB: Yes, for sale.
SH: Was it particularly expensive?
YB: No it was your typical argentine price.
SH: Did any political figures, did the mayor come out or anything?
YB: Ohhh, I wasn’t there at the beginning, I don’t think, surprisingly enough it was one of the few argentine functions that I attended which were not political.
SH: Did any of the bands seem to have a political bent?
YB: No. It was just music, no politics.
SH: What were they like and how did the crowd react to them?
YB: They were very energetic, and they got the crowd clapping, and they were pumping the crowd up with some “jabber jabber”.
SH: Was it a DJ/MC act or was it a full band?
YB: Full band.
SH: So there were no DJ and MC or keyboard and MC bands?
YB: No it was all pop and rock stuff.
SH: There was no hip-hop then?
YB: No there was no hip-hop.
SH: How do you think hip hop would have fit in or been received?
YB: Probably not been received as well? I think the music of the lower middle class and working class people of Argentina is more is not maybe Reggaeton if you push it but mostly pop and rock

SH: Did the popular bands, were they particularly “Latin”?
YB: No it was just Latin pop, man, it was kind of the same shit… Um, yeah it was all 4/4 straight eight rock. There was almost no improvisation. Um. It was certainly guitar and drum heavy. And it was pop format of songs, chorus verse chorus verse that sort of thing?

SH: Was this a particularly big or small gig for these bands?
YB: Yeah. Probably big for everyone.
SH: Were the nationally touring?
YB: No Maybe a couple of them, but most of them probably not.
SH: How long did the event last?
YB: It was about it was like all evening, maybe six hour in total.