Artist highlight: Tania Brun, alias Babayaga

Today I came across a blog post about an artist I have been trying to learn more about about since I first saw her work in Peru. Artist Tania Brun of Arequipa, uses the pseudonym Babayaga, a witch from Russian folklore with a wooden leg who eats children. Her artwork, which I saw printed in intricate detail on t-shirts in Lima caught my eye.

Featured in the Buenos Aires, Argentina-based zine Money In My Pocket, Babayaga describes her work (translated here):

     The influences for my drawings are the Mexican engravers, especially José Guadalupe Posada, the Mexican tradition of Day of the Dead, Catholic art of the era of the Viceroyalty, but also the cultural manifestations of people here in the mountains of Peru, like the way they decorate their combi-vans and moto-taxis and also the concert posters of different cumbia groups that can be seen pasted around the city.
     In 2004 I left the faculty of art because it was not for me and I kept drawing on my own, then in 2007 after a trip to Mexico, where I found it incredible the familiar and daily ways they deal with death there, I started this series of illustrations with the theme of death.
     The technique I use is ink on paper; I began to use these materials because I could then use the images for screen printing on t-shirts and that I think is a good way to make my work available to those who like it and I can share with them.

I love that she prints her designs on t-shirts. Seeing the shirts in Lima, a clothing manufacturing center of South America, her designs distinguish themselves from the other million designs flooding the streets. In Lima one can buy a Peru-manufactured Armani Exchange shirt for $5 before it is exported, and on the street it seems like everyone and their grandma (literally) is wearing a brand-name shirt that would cost $40 or more in another country. But when I realized that those Armani shirts were really just shirts (and their designs rarely consist of much more than the letter 'A' or 'X'), I gained a new appreciation for shirts with a great design, story, and artwork, like those of Babayaga.

View more of Babayaga's designs on Flickr here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/xbabayagax/

In search of Babayaga

Right now I am in Arequipa and I am continuing a search for the person behind some really cool shirt designs with the label 'Babayaga - Arequipa'. All of my search tactics have failed. The website listed on the label, http://no.jodas.pe/, is a joke, I assume, as it doesn't exist and translates to something to something like http://areyouf.ingkidding.com/.

I've tried Google, but only find info about the witch-like character from Slavic folklore who eats children. I tried searching for people mentioning Babayaga on Twitter; no luck. My best bets in finding Babayaga are through the 2 stores where I found his her shirts in Lima, Pulga (Miraflores), and Neomutatis (Barranco). Until I hear back from them, I'll continue wandering around Arequipa with my eyes peeled for Babayaga designs and asking people if they know anything about him her, "Do you know anything about this guy girl from Arequipa who makes really cool black and white t-shirt designs with day-of-the-dead-like images? I think he's she's in a band, too." Yeah, that's about all I've got to go on.

UPDATE! 7/25/2010:  Eureka!  Tania Brun, alias Babayaga talks about some of her work in a post here:  http://bit.ly/9tX8J5.  And she's on Flickr! http://www.flickr.com/photos/xbabayagax/.  She informs me that http://no.jodas.pe/ is no joke, it's just a website that hasn't been developed yet.

Los Saicos - 1964-1966 Peru

A friend turned me onto Los Saicos playing just this one song, Demolición.

Later, I went out and found their album, which has been remastered in 2006 by Repsychled Records.  Some great, raw sounds.  Next up, I´m off to try to find the 2009 documentary about the band, Saicomania.  Hector Chavez, producer of the documentary, tells me I can find it in Quilca (Lima).

Finding new music, without a computer

There are some things Google is not (yet) very good at finding. For example, Google is still not very experienced at finding good music for me.

To find new music, I like simply talking to people and asking them if they would recommend something for me. While travelling in Peru and Ecuador, there is a mónton of music that is completely new to me. Here are some of the recommendations I´ve received from a Peruvian, a group of Argentinians, and two new Chilean friends:

From my hand-written, scanned notes above, here are some of the artists that have been highly recommended to me:

• Eva Ayllon
• Lucha Reyes (video)
• Charly Garcia
• Andrés Calamaro
• Los Cafres
• Fito Paez
• Los Pericos
• La Renga
• Gondwana
• Chancho en Piedra

With the endless sources of music that exist, here is why this method of just asking people works well (it sounds obvious, no?). Asking someone provides two mostly qualitative filters that other computer-based recommendation engines (last.fm, Pandora) can´t yet provide.

1. I ask for recommendations from people who I think will have either similar musical tastes... or from people who might have some insider music knowledge. Last.fm does show people other users with similar musical interests, but what I like about just asking people is that there is an element of randomness thrown in and I might find something completely new.  Also, I can get a sense of how excited someone is about a certain artist. I don´t know of any current efforts by Google, last.fm, or Pandora, to use ´´excitedness´´ or other emotions to refine their recommendations.

2. The more someone knows me, the more likely he or she will be to know what kind of music I will like. Even asking strangers for recommendations, with just a short conversation they can quickly widdle down a long list to something that´s customized for me.

(3.) There is also an ´´anti-filter´´ effect associated with asking for recommendations. People can recommend music that might not be readily available for streaming or downloading on the internet. In Peru, I have received plenty of recommendations of artists that I can not readily find (for streaming) online.


p.s. I also love using hypem.com with its social-filtering abilities to find new music.

Please leave a comment with your own recommendations because I know my lists are incomplete!

Buying a Surfboard in Lima, Peru

UPDATE (11/29/2010): After I broke my first board, I had a new board made by a friend of a friend, Daniel Martinez.  He made me an awesome custom board (6'2") and I would highly recommend him to anyone else who wants a new board.  His shop is located in the south side of Lima in/near Barranco.  Here is a video of him making some boards.  The easiest way to contact him is probably through Facebook.

***

During my first two weeks in Lima I tried to ask as many people as I could about where I could get a decent surfboard.

Before I left, I searched on Craigslist - Lima, but found nothing surf-related.  I got the impression that Craigslist is not so popular here.  Later, I posted a 'wanted' listing for a surf board on Craigslist and about a week later, I got a response from Sebastian at nextsurftrip.com.  He had a board, but it wasn´t the size I was looking for.  He recommended I try a Derrem board, (derrem.com), made in Lima.

Piero, from my hostel in Barranco (Hostel Kaminu), who was generous to lend me his board while I searched for my own, recommended I try going to either the Wayo Whilar board shop nearby in Barranco (wayowhilar.com.pe), or to the Klimax surf shop in Miraflores (klimaxsurf.com).  Both shops sell new and used boards for very reasonable prices compared to U.S. prices.

Meanwhile, I came across vendotablasperu.com.  This is the craigslist of Lima surfboards.  The site is clunky but the content is great.  Here I found my surfboard, a 6-year old, plenty-used, 6`5`` board shaped by Peruvian Martín Jerí, for $100.  I was pretty happy about it.

Some locals tell me that my find was 'mas o menos', in terms of a deal.  I have some things to learn.  For example, today when one visitor left the hostel where I am staying in Punta Hermosa, he left his board behind with the hostel owner in exchange for a $30 discount on his hostel bill, rather than paying $150 or so to bring his board back with him on the plane.

I don't know of any websites or boardshops where you can get a deal like that, but if you hang around surfers getting ready to fly, you're sure to get a true bargain board.

If you can recommend other ways to buy a surfboard in Peru, please leave a comment below.

3 fruits

If you happen to be near a store that might have any of these three fruits, I highly recommend you try them some time.

1. Maracuyá (aka passion fruit)
My favorite is simply as fresh juice, or as a maracuyá sour.


2. Lúcuma
I´ve had this one a couple of times, once in a blended drink, and once as a yogurt flavor.  In the blended drink, it tasted like white cake batter mix.  The second time I had it, as yogurt, I got sick shortly afterwards but I think the two things were unrelated.

3. Miracle Fruit
This one I´ve never tried but I want to... it makes the most sour fruits taste intensely sweet.  Eat a lemon after eating miracle fruit and it will taste sweet.  I don´t think I´d be able to try this one if it wasn´t for the wonders of the internet.  Via enjoymiraclefruit.com one can get 10 ´Miracle Fruities´ chews for $14.95

Getting a yellow fever vaccination in Lima, Peru

´´Anything free is worth saving up for,´´ says Grandpa Sodey in the Wisconsin/Michigan cult-classic film Escanaba in Da Moonlight.  I thought that this was true, but I will now settle for ´´Anything cheap is worth saving up for.´´

After talking to many people and visiting several places around the city, the place I recommend going to obtain a yellow fever vaccination in Lima is the Hospital del Niño at 28 de Julio and Brazil in the Breña section of Lima.  There, you can get the yellow fever vaccination for 65 nuevo soles, or $22.50 USD.  Unless you want it for free...




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To get a free vaccination for travel within the country of Peru, one can go to the Hospital Santa Rosa to obtain the shot and a certificate for domestic travel on Fridays between 8am and 11am.  However, when I went, the vaccine was no longer available so I would have to try again in a week to get the free shot.  I went to the Hospital del Niño, instead.

Also, anyone with plans to travel to in high-risk areas outside of Peru would still need to exchange their domestic-travel certificate from the free clinic for an international one at a place like the Centro de Salud San Isidro.  The certificate costs 30 nuevo soles or about $12 USD.

In the United States, you can expect to pay about $225 to get a yellow fever vaccination if you are paying out of pocket.  At Physicians Plus Travel Clinic in Madison, WI, most visits include a $54 counseling fee, a $146 fee for the vaccination itself, and $24 for a nurse to administer the shot, totalling $224.

In his talk, Money Saving Advice From a Cheapskate, Ryan Wanger says, ¨Being a cheapskate is all about time and money.  People who have a lot of money, they don´t want to invest the time.  Then there´s the reverse; people who are cheapskates, their motto is ´my time is basically worthless.´¨

$24 for a shot in Lima was small beans compared to getting the shot for $225 back home, but this time, the free shot wasn´t worth saving up for.

By the way, I´m posting this less than twelve hours after getting my shot, and I am still alive, so hopefully I can still say ´It was worth it´ 48 hours from now.