Beautiful Chaos

So I have been on blog hiatus because I was writing about this past weekend before, and I accidentally deleted everything!!  I was quite upset and I never re wrote it.  Anyway, here it goes again...

(Two Saturdays ago) I was really in the mood to go out, but the only problem was I had no plans.  Around 8pm, my Egyptian friend called me and asked me if I wanted to go to this Turkish jazz concert with her.  Of course!  I had been wanting to go to the Madrid Jazz Festival forever.  My friend happens to work for Casa Arabé, so she had free tickets to the show! I met her at the theater at 845pm, and I must say I felt a bit under-dressed, because the concert hall was quite fancy.  This type of jazz was indescribable.  I was like Bollywood meets jazz, and then runs into neo-soul. Very cool, different.  The group took the stage and included a bass and keyboard player, and a singer strumming this strange mini guitar-like instrument.  There were also 3 dancers who would randomly skirt the stage, dancing a "semi-belly dance," while skirting the stage.  The lead singer was dressed in a typical Turkish garb, which consisted of a quirky tall hat, huge pants, and bright colors.  We sat and listened to the rhythmic tunes of the rare jazz music for a couple of hours.  At the end of the show, the strange guy with the hat ran into the audience, jumped on top of a chair and played his weird guitar instrument until the whole crowd was on their feet. 

After the concert, I really wanted to go to this flamenco bar that I thought was free.  Flamenco in Madrid is hard to find and expensive usually.  I walked in and asked them if we could sit at the bar for the show.  We were tricked!  We soon discovered that it was in fact 30 euros for the show and you had to eat as dinner as well!  Needless to say we left the bar. My friend had another bar in mind nearby.  It was a Syrian hookah bar/lounge with food as well.  I devoured a delicious "kebab!"  We sat at the bar for a couple of hours, and then another friend text me and told me they were at a bar nearby, Sol y Sombra.  We walked over to the discoteca, where we found a long line, and I was sure we would have to pay at the door.  Just to be sure, I walked up to the door and asked the doorman how much it was.  He told me it was 30 euros, and then smirked at the other security guy.  I told him they were crazy, and asked him to stop joking and tell me how much it really was to get in.  They asked my friend and I if we were from Dominican Republic, and they were sure that we were.  When we told them where we were both from, Chicago and Egypt, they thought we were lying.  We joked around with them for a bit, and then they asked to see our ids.  They were shocked that we were actually telling the truth!  They told us we had to teach them English, and they let us in for free!  Love connections.  The place was nice, but we did not stay that long because it was very hot inside and we could barely move!

After spending the whole day in my pajamas on Sunday, my roommate invited me to this Brazilian festival/parade in the streets at 6.  I quickly got ready and when with her to Lavapies.  The festival was to honor a Afro-Brazilian slave and revolutionary, who was killed fighting for black rights.  Very hippie-like ceremony, with tamborines and drums, and dancers.  We paraded through the streets for about 2 hours in celebration mode, then we made our way to the usual Brazilian bar, Maloke.  There we were treated to live Brazilian music and singing, and of course I had the typical Brazilian drink, Caipirinha (sp).

Beautiful Chaos filled weekend!