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My favorite things Chile
1. Fiction: I've already covered Roberto Bolaño plenty on MR; The Savage Detectives is his masterpiece but it's all worth reading. The massive 2666 is due out later this year. José Donoso's The Obscene Bird of Night, while hardly read in the U.S., seems to me one of the most gripping novels of the 20th century. If you read the Amazon reviews you'll that others who have read it agree. This is one of the least read first-rate novels I know. It's not easy going, however, and it's taking me a long time to read through a mish-mash of the English and Spanish-language texts. To top it all off, Isabel Allende has many fun books, most notably The House of the Spirits, which almost everyone will enjoy. Chile is much stronger in literature than most people think.
2. Popular music: Ricardo Villalobos is the lead figure of Chilean techno, which is now I hear quite a vibrant genre; Taka Taka is quite a good mix album. What else can you point me to?
3. Poetry: My favorite Neruda is Canto General, his retelling of Whitman's America but covering the entire hemisphere. A masterpiece. Estravagario is excellent and while I haven't read Residencia de la Tierra, it is considered another one of his classics. The love poems are very nice though perhaps not his best material. In any case he is one of the three or four best poets of the twentieth century. Gabriela Mistral is talented but I cannot say I love her work.
4. Playwright: Ariel Dorfman's Death and the Maiden is good.
5. Favorite small town: There are so many, but how about Villarica, Punta Arenas, or that small port place next to La Serena whose name I cannot remember? Chile is one of the world's best countries for lovely small towns.
6. Movie, set in or made in: Sorry folks, but I can't think of a single one. What am I missing?
7. Seafood dish: Curantos.
8. Pianist: It's hard not to pick Claudio Arrau, but, despite his musical intelligence, I don't actually enjoy most of his (to me) lugubrious recordings. I have heard he was much better live in concert.
9. Painter: Roberto Matta is the obvious choice.
The bottom line: Writing, writing, and more writing. More generally, Chile is one of the very nicest countries on Earth. The key is to get around to those small towns.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on August 13, 2008 at 05:48 AM in The Arts | Permalink
Comments
Not as good as Villalobos (his new single "Enfants" is so good) but still another very good Chilean techno
artist: Matias Aguayo! Check his album "Are You Really Lost".
Posted by: raver at Aug 13, 2008 6:01:02 AM
We had someone read Neruda's Your Laughter at our wedding this summer. Man, he's good.
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/your-laughter/
Posted by: Andrew Edwards at Aug 13, 2008 6:59:37 AM
The movie "Missing" was set in Chile during the Pinochet-era terror. It starred Jack Lemmon as a man in search of his son who had gone missing during the round-ups of left-wing activists.
Posted by: David Young at Aug 13, 2008 7:01:27 AM
They made a movie out of House of the Spirits.
Posted by: Andromeda at Aug 13, 2008 7:22:21 AM
Villalobos has a bunch of collabs he's done (Sense Club, Ric Y Martin, vs Jay Haze, Bajo Tierra) most of which are available through Perlon (http://www.discogs.com/label/Perlon).
As for other Chilean musicians I really like the Bucci brothers: Andres (who also goes by Jog and Chord and collaborates in the groups Detalles and Plan V) and Pier (who's in all sorts of groups).
You can't also forget Senor Coconut- Uwe Schmidt worked for a long time as Atom Heart but then tired of the scene. So he went to Santiago and became Senor Coconut. He does this Electro salsa which is very tongue-in-cheek. He has an album completely composed of salsa Kraftwerk covers and another where he covers MJ's "Beat It" and Sade. Good stuff.
Posted by: John F at Aug 13, 2008 8:16:29 AM
The Chilean / Argentinian film 'Fuga' (Fugue) is interesting and visually striking, if ultimately fairly unsatisfying.
Posted by: Jim at Aug 13, 2008 8:23:22 AM
The best about Chile is that age of consent for heterosexual relationships is 14, unless there is abuse of authority (teacher, stepfather).
Pinochet is hard to understand. He had to fight communists, which were planning a revolution. In order to stop them, Pinochet, like Fujimori, had to use means ouside the law. The law is usually unable to stop communist revolutionaries.
Posted by: Gannon at Aug 13, 2008 8:30:55 AM
I hear that Fiebre de Locos is a great movie but I've not been able to find it. Valparaiso Mi Amor is a more obvious pick.
Posted by: neil at Aug 13, 2008 8:51:51 AM
The Motorcycle Diaries was filmed in Chile - the Che Guevara
biopic starring Gabriel Garcia Bernal.
That's probably the most recent notable Chilean film outside of Chile.
Posted by: Brian at Aug 13, 2008 8:55:51 AM
The film "Death and the Maiden", about a woman who was tortured under the Pinochet regime who by chance meets again her torturer, is set in Chile. I thought it was quite good though I can see how it might make those who are fond of Pinochet and/or torture squirm a bit. (It should, of course!)
Posted by: matt at Aug 13, 2008 9:20:45 AM
Movie: "Sexo Con Amor" I'm not claiming that it's good, just that it's Chilean.
Posted by: Alex J. at Aug 13, 2008 9:24:03 AM
Small town near La Serena, do you mean along the coast like Coquimbo? Or going inland into the the valley, Valle Elqui, Pisco Elqui, Vicuña?
Posted by: keen at Aug 13, 2008 9:31:47 AM
Fiebre de Locos
Machuca
Taxi Para Tres
Posted by: Pablo at Aug 13, 2008 9:47:57 AM
Best place to stay - Los Penitentes on the way from Punta Arenas to Torres del Paine. I stayed there 10 years ago so don't know if it's still in operation or not. It's an 1800's era Scottish mansion in the middle of vast scrub land. The house is beautiful and comfortable, and the food is superb. There is a lot of typical Patagonian terrain and good birding to enjoy.
Posted by: Zoe at Aug 13, 2008 9:49:14 AM
I can't believe nobody has pointed out La Ley, possibly the most popular Chilean band of the last twenty years. Check out their MTV Unplugged album, one of the best of the series in my opinion...
Posted by: Mario at Aug 13, 2008 9:55:42 AM
Popular music: I always liked Los Tres.
Posted by: Mik at Aug 13, 2008 10:09:17 AM
I'm slightly saddened that 'coffee with legs' wasn't on your list.
Posted by: ben at Aug 13, 2008 10:12:02 AM
My favorite music I've heard out of Chile is Los Mono, sort of a collaboration of five other musicians with careers of their own, who were trying to make an album of children's music. Not technically techno, but electronic for sure.
Highly entertaining video here
I'm also a fan of C-Funk. Or is it Funky C? As the name might imply, he does funk. It's highly funky.
Posted by: Famous J at Aug 13, 2008 10:15:01 AM
check out the film "Machuca"
Posted by: ricardo at Aug 13, 2008 10:40:17 AM
Matt, sorry to pick nits, but IIRC the country in "Death and the Maiden" is never explicitly named. Hasn't almost every South American country had at least one dictatorship/junta/tyrannical presidente since 1950?
Posted by: Raymund at Aug 13, 2008 10:59:13 AM
"Sexo con Amor", as somebody already mentioned. Certainly very entertaining.
"black pimpernel" about the Swedish ambassador at the time for the military coup
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Pimpernel
Posted by: Johan von Boisman at Aug 13, 2008 11:11:38 AM
Raymund,
You're right (I think- I haven't seen it for several years) that the country in D&TM wasn't explicitly named, probably so it could stand for whatever right-wing dictatorship people wanted it to stand for in South America, but I thought that internal evidence about the people kidnapped, what happened to them, the events after the end of the dictatorship, etc. strongly implied that the model was Chile and Pinochet.
Posted by: matt at Aug 13, 2008 11:49:44 AM
Poetry: you are forgetting Nicanor Parra, one of the most outstanding Chilean poets. Quite distinct to Neruda, Parra is sharp, analytical, and funny. I recommend Hojas de Parra, though a good compilation may be a good point to start. Also worth checking is Enrique Lihn
Popular music: You should listen to the protest songs from the 60-70s. Violeta Parra (Nicanor's sister) and Jara are the most obvious picks. The last work by Vioeta titles Las Ultimas Composiciones is a must. Los Jaivas does a nice job mixing Andean music and rock. More recently, Los Bunckers does a British-like pop with folk roots (they are big fans of Violeta Parra).
Posted by: juan at Aug 13, 2008 12:32:35 PM
Try Lokas, a comedy about a homophobic man who returns to Chile with his son to find out his father (played by the fantastic Coco Legrand, a star on Chilean tv).
Posted by: Aaron at Aug 13, 2008 1:18:10 PM
... is gay.
Posted by: Aaron at Aug 13, 2008 1:19:04 PM
