Street Performers

Organ grinder at Manuel Tolsa Square. Mexico City Historic Center.

Singer in Central Park, NYC
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El Caballito

The equestrian statue of Charles IV (also known as El Caballito) is a bronze sculpture cast by Manuel Tolsá in August 4, 1802 in Mexico City, Mexico in honour of Charles IV. This statue has been displayed in different points of the city and is considered one of the finest achievements of Mr. Tolsá. It now resides in Plaza Manuel Tolsá.
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Organ Grinder

Organilllero playing old and nostalgic tunes at Historic Center.
The organ grinder was a musical novelty street performer of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century, and refers to the operator of a street organ.
Period literature often represents the grinder as a gentleman of ill repute or as an unfortunate representative of the lower classes. Newspaper reporters would sometimes describe them cynically or jocularly as minor extortionists who were paid to keep silent, given the repetitious nature of the music. Later depictions would stress the romantic or picturesque aspects of the activity. Whereas some organ grinders were itinerants or vagabonds, many were recent immigrants who chose to be street performers in order to support their families. Those who actually owned their barrel organs were more likely to take care of them and pursue the "profession" more seriously. A few organ grinders still remain, perhaps most famously Joe Bush in the United States.music+image
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The Balcony Worker

We sat around on a hotel balcony with a bottle of wine and tried to figure out how you would go about blowing up a planet. That's the kind of conversations science fiction writers have when they get together. We don't talk about football or anything like that.
Kevin J. Anderson
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Gracias por su visita. / Thanks for visiting, please be sure that I read each and every one of your kind comments and I appreciate them all. Stay tune.

East / West

Juarez Ave in downtown at Historic Center. Latin American Tower in the background of the top shot.
Have a great weekend!
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Palacio de Bellas Artes / Palace of Fine Arts

Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts) is the premier opera house of Mexico City. The building well known for both its extravagant Beaux Arts exterior in imported Italian Carrara white marble and its murals by Diego Rivera, Rufino Tamayo, David Alfaro Siqueiros and José Clemente Orozco.

The Palacio has two museums: the Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes and the Museo de la Arquitectura. Metro Bellas Artes is located alongside.

The theatre is used for classical music, opera and dance, notably the "Baile Folklórico". A distinctive feature of the theatre is its stained glass Tifany's curtain depicting a volcano and the valley of Mexico. It is the home of Mexico's National Symphony Orchestra, the Bellas Artes Orchestra, the Bellas Artes Chamber Orchestra, the National Dance Company, and the Bellas Artes Opera.

Maria Callas sang in several productions at the Palacio early in her career, and recordings exist of several of her performances here. Other opera greats who have performed and/or sang there include Plácido Domingo, Pavarotti, Kathleen Battle, Kiri Te Kanawa, and Jessye Norman. Most of the world's great orchestras and dance companies have also performed there, including the New York, Vienna, Israel, Moscow, London and Royal Philharmonics; The National Arts Centre Orchestra (Canada); the Philadelphia, Paris, Dresden Staatskapelle, and the French, Spanish and Chinese National Orchestras; the Montreal and Dallas Symphonies; the American Ballet Theatre, the English National Ballet, the Australian National Ballet, the Bolshoi and Kirov Ballets; among others. [Wiki]
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Apologies for not being very responsive lately due my work load. Please be sure that I read each and every one of your kind comments and I appreciate them all. Stay tune.

Callejon de San Juan de Dios

San Juan de Dios Alley in the oldest part of the city.
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Betsabee Romero. A vuelta de rueda III

Carrito de Cuerda / Clockwork Little Car

Ponchada por el paisaje / Puncture by The Landscape

Hombre y Flores / Man and flowers
Instalacion de Betsabee Romero / Installation by Betsabee Romero
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Betsabee Romero. A vuelta de rueda II

Carrito de Cuerda. Instalacion de Betsabee Romero. / Clockwork Little Car. Installation by Betsabee Romero.
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Betsabee Romero. A vuelta de rueda I

City Neighbors.




Driving Slowly by Betsabee Romero.

EXPOSICIÓN TEMPORAL
Betsabeé Romero. A vuelta de rueda
Atrio de Templo de San Francisco
Centro Histórico de la Ciudad de México
Del 15 de febrero al 26 de abril de 2009
A VUELTA DE RUEDA,
el Atrio de San Francisco, sitio evocador de épocas y personajes que han transitado reales y simbólicamente por el corazón de una Antigua Ciudad.
La Torre Latinoamericana, el Sanborns de los Azulejos, el Banco de México, Bellas Artes, la calle de Madero, historias largas, itinerarios ancestrales, aceras insuficientes para un paso continuo y multitudinario hacia el interior y el exterior del Centro Histórico.
A VUELTA DE RUEDA, frase coloquial llena de imágenes,
por un lado la velocidad, contra la que tengo muchas resistencias
y, por otro, descripción del ritmo cadencioso y lento con el que se tiene que transitar en esta zona, tan saturada de momentos y monumentos importantes de la historia de la ciudad y de la vida de las personas.
A VUELTA
Redunda en la posibilidad de dar un giro simbólico a la rueda,a la circularidad de los significados, al eterno retorno de las reflexiones, a la movilidad y al ritmo.
DE RUEDA
Figura atávica, instrumento y forma mítica, ojiva arquitectónica, mirada de Tláloc.
Lugar de la memoria, rodillo, sello, rosetón, cúpula, gloria abierta, ventana hacia la memoria en movimiento.
El automóvil, en A VUELTA DE RUEDA será desde un principio: sedentario, continente de trayectos aprehendidos, pieza, complemento, parte de un todo, visto y vivido en sus contradicciones y sinsentidos.
Betsabée Romero.

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The Understanding

"Dedicated to V. in his birthday"
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Aztec Underworld

The Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral is the largest and oldest cathedral in the Americas, it is situated atop the former Aztec sacred precinct near the Templo Mayor on the northern side of the main square. Here, two views of people seeing the underworld (aztec ruins) in 3 times, Modern, Colonial and Pre-hispanic.

The Aztec Mythology and their Underworld, Mictlan.
In Aztec belief, the surface of the earth was a thin crust between the material (apparent) reality and the real world of spirit. Death was not taken at face value in Aztec religion, but was seen as the essence of life itself and the creation of a renewed beginning, a Beginning and an End at the same time - an unbroken cycle. According to the shaman, everything is part of the same life force. Birth was an emerging from this world of spirit and Death was a return back into it. In this unending cycle, the crops died and were reborn - that is, if the spirit world allowed it.
Mictlan is the lowest layer of the underworld, situated in the north. Every soul, except those of fallen warriors and women who died giving birth, have to descend to the underworld. Here, their souls will find eternal rest. However, they first have to make the dangerous journey to Mictlan. At the burial, the deceased are given magical powers and with the help of the god Xolotl, they are able to make this journey safely. The ruler of this underworld is Mictlantecuhtli.
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El Organillero / The Organ Grinder

The organ grinder was a musical novelty street performer of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century, and refers to the operator of a street organ. This is one of a few in Mexico City and in the country, almost extinct.
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Casa de los Azulejos / The House of Tile

OmniCiencia, mural by Jose Clemente Orozco. 1925.


Restaurant area.

La obra data del siglo XVII, aunque se sabe que debió reconstruirse casi en su totalidad en 1735, cuando se le dio su actual aspecto. En el interior, su magnífico patio fue convertido en conocido restaurante desde 1903. La escalera exhibe lambrines de azulejo en los que se observan los escudos nobiliarios del marquesado de Orizaba, a cuya familia perteneció el inmueble. En el cubo de la escalera no deje de admirar el espléndido mural de José Clemente Orozco que data de 1925 y que lleva el nombre de “Omnisciencia”.

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Damaged sculpture

Detail


Beautiful sculpture (author or name unknown) needs urgent restoration, located at Plaza Marroqui on Independence Street, behind the new Ministry of Foreign Affairs building. [ Escultura que requiere restauracion urgente, se localiza en la Plaza Marroqui, detras del nuevo edificio de la Sria. de Relaciones Exteriores ]

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Semana Santa / Holy Week

Holy Thursday in St. Francis Church at Historic Center of the city. The 3rd picture shows the neglected part of Mexican society: The Indigenous people.
Holy Week in Christianity is the last week before Easter. It includes the religious holidays of Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday (Holy Thursday) and Good Friday, and lasts from Palm Sunday until but not including Easter Sunday, as Easter Sunday is the first day of the new season of The Great Fifty Days. It commemorates the last week of the earthly life of Jesus Christ culminating in his crucifixion on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday. [Wiki]

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Lonely Street

Uruguay Street on downtown.

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Av. Juarez / Juarez Ave

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The Corner

At the old part of the city.

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Calle Uruguay

Ex St. Agustin Temple on Uruguay Street at Historic Center / Ex Templo de San Agustin y ex Biblioteca Nacional de Mexico en Calle de Uruguay en el Centro Historico.

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