MÚSICA BRASILEIRA EM BUENOS AIRES (Por Hostel Buenos Aires)

Si você gosta da música brasileira e estiver visitando Buenos Aires, uma boa fonte de informação (além deste blog) é o site de MUBA, instituição que organiza um ciclo de música brasileira e argentina o ano inteiro. Desde 2008, quando começou esta iniciativa, MUBA tem apresentado destacadas figuras do Brasil mas principais salas argentinas.

Seu objetivo é promover a melhor música do Brasil nos países vizinhos de fala hispânica, junto ao público e os artistas locais. Tem passado grandes shows como aqueles que juntaram o Hermeto Pascoal com o Luis Salinas, ao Paulinho Moska com Pedro Aznar e ao Alejandro Lerner com Jorge Vercillo, entre outros. Concertos de Vanessa Da Mata, Daniela Mercury e Pedro Aznar, com convidados como Fito Páez, Bahiano, Marcela Morelo, Chico César, Leila Pinheiro, entre outros.

Para os próximos e últimos meses do ano, MUBA oferece a seguinte programação:

Chico César, Teatro ND Ateneo (Paraguay 918), 3 de outubro
Elza Soares (João de Aquiono no violão), Teatro ND Ateneo (Paraguay 918), 7 de outubro
Jorge Vercillo, Teatro ND Ateneo (Paraguay 918), 21 de outubro
Leila Pinheiro, Teatro ND Ateneo (Paraguay 918), 4 de novembro
Paulinho Moska, Teatro Gran Rex (Av. Corrientes 857), 9 de novembro
Mónica Salmaso + Liliana Herrero, Teatro ND Ateneo (Paraguay 918), 18 de novembro
João Bosco, Teatro ND Ateneo (Paraguay 918), 2 de dezembro

SOME TIPS FOR TAKING BUENOS AIRES TAXIS (By Hostel Buenos Aires)

If you are to visit Buenos Aires, you’ll probably need to take a taxi sometime. The service is good and there is no much risk involved, but is always useful to be alert and to take some precautions to avoid inconveniences. Hostel Colonial presents you some tips for you to be on time and travel around without setbacks.

Taxis in Buenos Aires City are black and yellow, in the Buenos Aires suburbs the colors may vary, but all of them are clearly identified. The work with the taximeter machine system, the starting fare is 4.60 Argentine pesos (1 American dollar and 20 cents) and it also charges you per 100 meters traveled or per minute passed 0.46 Argentine pesos (12 cents).

It’s important to remind the driver to turn on the taximeter machine as soon as you are inside the taxi (if not, they could try to charge you an approximate price that might not favor you). You should specially take this precaution on airports and bus stations (there’s always somebody trying to take advantage of the tourists). You can also check from time to time that the machine is functioning correctly and charging you the amounts we gave you. There are certain devices that accelerate the taximeter (though it’s hard to bump into one).

It helps if you know the exact place you’re heading to (perhaps even mark some potential routes in a map). Besides that, you might say (even if it isn’t necessarily true) that you have already been in the city or that you have a Porteño friend waiting for you in the final destination. This will discourage any rip-off. With these precautions, you can travel with no worries and enjoy the sympathy that characterizes Porteño taxi drivers. Have a nice trip!

THE OLD FLEA MARKET (By Hostel Buenos Aires)

Few places in Buenos Aires keep the charm of antiques as the Old Flea Market. Modern paradise for the vintage fashion, this place in Colegiales neighborhood (in its limit with Palermo Hollywood) is been refurbished and nowadays locates in a governmental property nearby which watches for the old stuffs. Hostel Colonial introduces you to this traditional place where you can find the best and most original objects.

On 1600 Dorrego Street (in the corner of Niceto Vega St.) used to work the Flea Market (popular name for this antiques market) since 1986 until 2005. An old warehouse that is now been refurbished and has temporarily moved to the block of the streets Dorrego, Conde General Martínez and Concepción Arenal. While the old building reforms, this new warehouse keeps offering the objects that everyone is looking for but can’t find so easily.



In this market coexist traditional furnishing antiques, works of art and objects belonging to every time and style you can imagine, in a fusion of bohemia and quality. Sympathetic and nostalgic salesmen mix with the women who read you palm and the curious visitors that wonder endlessly through the corridors. The six corridors are organized by the letters of the word “PULGAS” (fleas in Spanish). In there, you can find from an old pearl necklace that belong to some grandmother to a XX Century oak closet.

Along with the stores, restoring services are offered. But the people who visit it are looking for those special decorative objects you can find nowhere else: old advertisements from traditional or disappeared brands, old toys or funny objects from the 70’s, a world of souvenirs and memories in just one place. For those looking for that unique present and the others who love photogenic spaces, a place you must visit. Tuesdays to Sundays from 10AM to 7PM.

A GALERIA BOND STREET (Por Hostel Buenos Aires)

Na Avenida Santa Fe, número 1670, perdida entre uma infinidade de galerias que se sucedem nesse tramo comercial, se encontra a “Galeria Bond Street”. Este lugar é, há mais de 20 anos, o ponto de reunião da cultura alternativa em Buenos Aires. Milhares de jovens passeian pela galeria cada día procurando sua vestimenta, suas casas de desenho, sua música, sua leitura e as suas casas de tatuagem favoritas. Hostel Colonial te a apresenta.

É um passeio obrigatório para adolescentes e jovens portenhos que procuram se manter na moda, embora seja uma moda diferente. Nos 90 se começou escutar em Buenos Aires o termo “alternativo”, alí confluiam uma variada série de modas e estilos: desde o grunge, o punk, o heavy metal, o rock inclassificável, todo o que as tendências que marcavam a pauta não incluiam. Isso, o alternativo, encontrou seu lar na “Bond”, como é conhecida.

Desde então e até hoje, a galeria é o ponto de reunião de variadas e renovadas correntes jovens. Além das óbvias diferenças musicales, de vestimenta, de gostos, prima um espírito de convivência e tolerância. Uma noção de que todos têm algo em comum: as suas convicções. Junto com esto, a Bond Street é o lugar ideal para quens procurem algo diferente em Buenos Aires.

Casas de música especializadas com esses discos que não se conseguem nas grandes lojas, vestimenta de desenhadores jovens e originais, lojas de comic, de objetos: um verdadeiro mostruário dessa cultura marginal e alternativa que identifica muitos jovens portenhos, e do mundo todo. Se você está visitando a nossa cidade e quer conhecer um lugar diferente, a Bond Street é uma opção ideal.

BARISHNIKOV IN BUENOS AIRES (By Hostel Buenos Aires)

Next October 23 and 24, one of the most renowned artists in the history of dance, Mijail Barishnikov, returns to Buenos Aires City. In this occasion he’ll be partnered by another dance legend, Ana Laguna. A program you can’t miss, including the duet “Place” by Mats Ek, and the eclectic solo, “Solo for Two”, by the same choreographer which is masterly interpreted by the Russian talent.
The program completes with two solo pieces that Mijail Barishnikov itself chose: “Years Later”, by Benjamin Millepieds, a young and active French choreographer, and “Valse-Fantasie”, by the Ukrainian Alexei Ratmanski. Spanish Ana Laguna is 55 years old, Mijail Barishnikov, 62. Mixing talent and experience, they continue to spread their magic and to expand the boundaries of beauty on a stage.

The last visit of Barishnikov to Buenos Aires was in 1998, when he brought an outstanding program to the Colon Theater composed exclusively by solos. Six years before that, he had brought his own company, the White Oak Project, which definitely turned him to contemporary dance. He surprised back then the traditional audience which knew him by his skills and perfection in the interpretation of the classic repertoire.
The performances of “Tres solos y un duo” (Three solos and a duet) Hill be on October 23 and 24 in the Coliseo Theater (Para una versión en español, haga click aquí.1125 Marcelo T. de Alvear Street) in the City of Buenos Aires, less than 10 blocks away from our Hostel Colonial. For those who love dance and the other who want to enjoy one of the best dancers in history in our city, the tickets are already selling.

TANGO-JAZZ SUMMIT (By Hostel Buenos Aires)

The fifties were years of experimentation for jazz. Bop had passed, cool had had its spectacular introduction by Miles Davis and many American jazz musicians were willing to revitalize. These were the years of the trips of Stan Getz to Brazil, when he recorded his wonderful records with João Gilberto and boosted the fusion between jazz and bossanova. Another great trumpet player, Dizzy Gillespie, visited Buenos Aires in that time.

In the same route of musical fusion, Dizzy wanted to mix American jazz with Argentine tango. He landed in Buenos Aires in the winter of 1956. After a couple of shows with his band, one night he met a true tango star of that time, Osvaldo Fresedo, who leaded one of the most important tango orchestras. The owner of the place, Fresedo itself, invited him for a drink. Something was starting.



A day later, they would record “Rendez-vous Porteño” (Rendez-vous was the name of Fresedo’s bar) which would become the first tango-jazz recording. The eccentric Gillespie asked for a horse and ride from his hotel to the bar dressed as a gaucho (a traditional Argentine country inhabitant). They recorded four tangos that night: “Vida mía”, “Capricho de amor”, “Preludio número 3” and “Adiós muchachos”. Although the tango prevails, the indelible mark of Dizzy can be recognized.

In that exceptional meeting also took part two young talents as the American director and arranger Quincy Jones and the Argentine composer Lalo Schifrin. Though not so successful as the fusion between jazz and bossanova, the fusion of jazz and tango would return in the 70 and 80 with the genius of Astor Piazzolla. A history that continues to break boundaries, which started on that cold Buenos Aires night of 1956.

PINTORES DE LA BOCA (Por Hostel Buenos Aires)

La Boca foi o bairro periférico que albergou a boêmia emblemática dos anos 20, aquela dos artistas que amadureceram seu arte na beira do Riachuelo. Mais La Boca foi, sobre tudo, lugar de trabalhadores, onde as ideias socialístas e anarquistas trazidas pelos imigrantes e filhos de campesinos abriam se paso no crescente ambiente industrial de fábricas, curtiembres e fundições.

O porto e as casas humildes desenhabam um panorama cotidiano que seus artistas trabalharam com perseverança para retratar. Artistas que não eram alheios a essa realidade, que viviam submergidos nela, que a compartilhabam e a idealizabam. Sobre tudo, procurabam plasmar a realidade, a sua realiade, essa que trocou drásticamente em 1930, com a grande crise mundial que trouxe aparelhado o fechamento de fábricas e o empibrecimento da cidade.



Os pintores de La Boca são um grupo pequeno, de vizinhos artias que eram desprezados por seus pares da época pela sua raizame popular, “pintores de paredes” os chamabam. Falamos de gênios hoje reconhecidos como Benito Quinquela Martín (quem retratava o porto, seus barcos e cores) ou Fortunato Lacámera (quem retratava o bairro desde a humildade do seu quarto, afogado pelos cores das casa boquenses.

Emilio Pettoruti, ocasionalmente, Cúnsolo e outros muitos, estiveram perto ou simpatizaram com este movimento tão popular como seus protagonistas. Desprezados então e idolatrados hoje, quando podem ser desfrutados em diferentes museus da cidade como “representates do arte moderno e latino-americano”. Especialmente, no grande museu do bairro, A Fundação Proa (Avenida Pedro de Mendoza 1929), que captura a essência do nairro e a sua arte.

BUENOS AIRES CEMETERIES: CHACARITA (By Hostel Buenos Aires)

We already told you about the La Recoleta cemetery, now we Hill introduce you to the other famous Porteño cemetery: La Chacarita. Well known for hosting for many years the rests of former President Juan Domingo Perón, La Chacarita is the biggest cemetery of Argentina and South America. Opposite to La Recoleta, in its graves rest popular figures as tango singers and artist close to the popular feelings. It’s also the place many middle class Porteños choose.

That yellow fever epidemic that moved the high class Porteños to the north of the city when they took the La Recoleta cemetery, also forced the authorities to think of alternatives to bury the thousands of bodies it caused. Then, this place in Chacarita neighborhood was assigned to this matter. In the beginning –logically- it wasn’t much esteemed and people called it “the cemetery of the plague infected”.



Sanitary causes closed La Chacarita in 1875. In 1887, with the epidemic far behind, it was reopened. The conditions improved and its fame reverted. In the beginnings of the XX Century, the City Crematorium was established here (to incinerate every deceased the yellow fever caused). As time passed, the place became what it is today: a place with a special charm and a sculptural and architectonic richness.

Among its famous characters resting there are: the famous tango singer Carlos Gardel, accompanied by almost every famous tango artist as Osvaldo Pugliese, Anibal Troilo, Celedonio Flores, Julio and Francisco De Caro, the popular singers Miguel de Molina and Ernesto Montiel, the poet Alfonsina Storni, the actor Luis Sandrini, the painter Benito Quinquela Martín and sportsmen as the jockey Irineo Leguisamo, the car racer Oscar Alfredo Gálvez and the River Plate football/soccer player, Adolfo Pedernera, among others.

BUENOS AIRES CEMETERIES: RECOLETA (By Hostel Buenos Aires)

Buenos Aires has many cemeteries, although the most famous and tourist ones are those from La Recoleta and La Chacarita. Aristocratic, the first one and popular the other, are places of a unique beauty that house a large part of our urban history. Hostel Colonial introduces you to the two best known cemeteries of Buenos Aires. Today, we tell you about the more fashionable and famous one, La Recoleta, house of ex presidents and elite artists.

This cemetery locates right next to the Nuestra Señora del Pilar Church, which belonged to the Recoletos Order. When this order was dissolved in 1822, the garden of the convent was turned into the first public cemetery of our city. Its two first residents were working class people: a black boy named Juan Benito and the young María Dolores Maciel.


During the decade of 1870, as a consequence of the yellow fever epidemic that devastated the city, many high class Porteños left their traditional neighborhoods of San Telmo and Montserrat and moved to the north of the city, to Recoleta. As this neighborhood turned into a high class area, the cemetery became the last rest of the powerful and privileged families of Buenos Aires.

The place counts of lots of marble mausoleums, decorated with statues, in a wide variety of architectonic styles. It’s organized in blocks, with broad wooded avenues that end in lateral alleys when mausoleums and tombs align. Among the famous characters that rest here are: María de los Remedios de Escalada (1797-1823), wife of the libertador of South America General Don José de San Martín, Vicente López y Planes (1785-1856), author of our National Hymn, Dalmacio Vélez Sársfield (1800-1875), author of our Civil Code, Juan Manuel de Rosas (1793-1877), 30 years Governor of Buenos Aires, José Hernández (1834-1886), the most famous Argentine writer and the Presidents of Argentina Bartolomé Mitre (1821-1906), Nicolás Avellaneda (1837-1885), Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (1811-1888), Carlos Pellegrini (1846-1906), Manuel Quintana (1835–1906), Hipólito Yrigoyen (1852-1933) and Arturo Umberto Illia (1900-1983), along with an infinity of poets and artists and the mythical Eva Perón (Evita).

IGREJAS DA CIDADE (Por Hostel Buenos Aires)

A cidade de Buenos Aires tem milhares de igrejas de todos os cultos. Contudo, algumas destacam pela sua história, pela beleza arquitetônica ou por ser os templos mais representativos das religiões majoritárias. Hostel Colonial te apresenta quatro igrejas que estão entre as mais famosas da cidade e que você deveria visitar se estiver interessado em conhecer mais das religiões e a sua presença na nossa cidade.

Catedral Metropolitana: é o primeiro templo católico da Argentina, de construção neoclássica, se localiza na interseção da Rua San Martín e a Avenida Rivadavia, à frente da Plaza de Mayo. Construida em 1580, após da Segunda Fundação de Buenos Aires, tem se reconstruido 5 vezes até o majestoso edifício que pode ver hoje.

Sinagoga da Congregação Israelita: também chamada de Templo Libertad (pela sua localização na rua do mesmo nome, número 761), foi a primeira da sua classe na nossa cidade. Construida em 1897, reconstruida em 1932 e declarada Monumento Histórico Nacional no ano 2000, a sua arquitetura tem influências do românico e o bizantino.

Mesquita de Palermo: construida na década dos 90, esta majestosa mesquita é o maior templo da crença muçulmana na Argentina. Nos seus três hectares conta com colégios, salas de exposições e conferências e biblioteca. O clássico luxo árabe destaca por fora e por dentro desta construção na esquina das ruas Bullrich e Cerviño.

Igreja Ortodoxa Rusa: localizada no bairro de San Telmo (Rua Brasil 315), foi a primeira igreja deste culto em Sul-América. À fronte do Parque Lezama, destaca seu curioso estilo moscovita do século XVII e a beleza de cada uma das peças que a compõem, trazidas de San Petersburgo. Especialmente, os vitrales multicolor do interior e das janelas, as cinco cúpulas cor turquesa e o grande mural na fachada, realizado integramente em mosaico veneciano.

HOW DO YOU LIKE YOUR MEAT? (By Hostel Buenos Aires)

Argentine meat is among the most famous and mouthwatering meats in the world, there’s no doubt about it. But, its fare to discuss about the way each culture prepares it meat. There are those who prefer it not so cooked, others who want it well cooked, red in the center or completely brown. Hostel Colonial tells you how Argentines have their meat and offers you some tips not to be surprised.
Traditionally, the most common preparation for meat in our country is roasted. The Argentine barbecue is an institution, a ritual and an art that passes from generation to generation. The gauchos, emblems of the Argentine country people, were the ones that established the way of making the barbecue. As nomad, the meat they found everywhere was cow meat, which they carried with their horses to feed themselves for days. With no cooling systems existing on that time, the mat started to rot, so they had to roast it really well to avoid indigestion.

That’s the reason why Argentines prefer a well-cooked meat, no blood or red center are allowed. This is a heritage of taste that originated more than 200 years ago. Nevertheless, the progressive opening of our city to the world has broadened the possibilities. The concept of gourmet food has brought acceptance for a different treatment of cooking. The traditional European way which cooks the meat on the outside but keeping it raw or no so cooked in the center, used to shock Argentine people, but now that way of cooking is widely accepted.

Even though, if you are to order meat in a cheap or traditional place, you should clarify the way you want your meat, because in these grill houses -by default- is served extremely cooked. In fancy restaurants, the waiter will ask for the way you like your meat or offer it medium-cooked. No matter how you want it, the important thing is that you try the famous and exquisite Argentine meat.

THE STRANGEST MUSEUMS IN BUENOS AIRES. PART 2 (By Hostel Buenos Aires)

We told you before about some of the strangest museums in our city (See Part 1). In this second and last issue, Hostel Colonial introduces you to which are and where you can find some other strange museums of Buenos Aires.

National Museum of History of Clothing: on 832 Chile Street, Mondays to Fridays from 10AM to 7PM, you can visit this museum which exhibits civilian clothing, suits and accessories from the XIX and XX Centuries. The place also has one of the few specialized libraries on the subject, plus a photo and video library.

Oculorum Museum: on 7047 Rivadavia Avenue, 3rd floor, department E, there’s a museum completely dedicated to gather the elements related to ophthalmology, eyes, vision, glasses, books and ophthalmic electro medicine. You can find old glasses (nearly 400 pairs of all times), binoculars and spyglasses, among others.

Wax Historic Museum: in La Boca neighborhood, 1261 Del Valle Iberlucea Street locates the city wax museum. Its location is no casualty: inside, you can find a whole sculpture of the neighborhood itself, with its working class immigrant roots. There are statues of the Porteños in the beginnings of the XX Century. No famous people, just ordinary one.

Telecommunications Museum: on Costanera Sur, 851 De Los Inmigrantes Avenue, this museum holds many historic and didactic valuable objects related to the primitive communications, telegraphy, telephony, radio, TV and the Internet. Another historic and architectonic relevant attractive is its building, an unique construction in Buenos Aires.

STREET ART IN BUENOS - THE 2010 HUNTING - POST #2 (by Hostel Buenos Aires)

View more posts about Buenos Aires / Street Art / Graffiti & Stencil in the next days

POESIA GAUCHESCA: TRADIÇÃO ARGENTINA (Por Hostel Buenos Aires)

A chamada de poesia gauchesca foi uma das primeiras formas de literatura popular de Latinoamérica. Não era exatamente poesia de gaúchos, mais poesia “como os gaúchos”. O peculiar jeito de declamar junto com seus violões que tinham estes persoagens representativos do campo argentino (e uruguaio e do sul do Brasil) inspirou muitos escritores da época que viram nele a verdadeira poesia.

Escritores cultos falando como as classes populares, isso foi a primeira poesía gauchesca. Histórias do campo, de batalhas independentistas e de uma vida errante apenas acompanhada pelo cavalo. Histórias que estavam alí, em cualquer reunião de casa de campo onde os trabalhadores entonavam suas coplas junto ao fogão. Poesia que diferentes escritores levaram ao papel, copiando inclusive a fala imprecisa daqueles petas populares.

Como o canto de trovadores que alguma vez foi o Cantar de Mio Cid, livro fundamental da literatura hispânica, os escritores da época procuraram capturar esse legado oral das classes populares de fins do século XVIII. O primeiro registro regional é de um uruguaio, Bartolomé Hidalgo, com as suas Coplas e Diálogos Patrióticos. Mais, sem duvida, o livro mais representativo deste estilo é O Gaúcho Martín Fierro, de José Hernández, verdadeira joia da literatura argentina.

O sucesso do Martín Fierro, levou seu autor gerar uma igualmente bem sucedida segunda parte A Volta do Gaúcho Martín Fierro, e ambas conformaram um dos livros fundamentales da nossa literatura. Quem esteja interessado pelas letras, ou quem queira se levar um pedazinho da nossa cultura para conhecer ainda mais, deve conseguir esta joia (traduzida para mais de 40 idiomas) que descreve ao símbolo máximo da argentinidade: o gaúcho.

UPCOMING SHOWS: SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER (By Hostel Buenos Aires)

In the next months, some great shows will perform in Buenos Aires. If you like music and are looking for options, Hostel Colonial tells you about the best shows in our city in September and October.



Artist Date Place

McCoy Tyner (Jazz). September 2 in Gran Rex Theater (857 Corrientes Ave.).
The Sounds (Pop). September 2 in La Trastienda Club (460 Balcarce Street).
Alpha Blondy (Reggae). September 3 in Luna Park Stadium (420 Eduardo Madero Ave.).
Peter Frampton (Rock). September 6 in Gran Rex Theater (857 Corrientes Ave.).
Scorpions (Rock). September 13 in Luna Park Stadium (420 Eduardo Madero Ave.).
Maceo Parker (Funk-Soul). September 16 in Gran Rex Theater (857 Corrientes Ave.).
Don Omar (Reggaeton). September 18 in Luna Park Stadium (420 Eduardo Madero Ave.).
Aterciopelados (Rock Latino). September 22 and 23 in Niceto Club (5510 Niceto Vega Street).
Diana Krall (Jazz). September 23 in Gran Rex Theater (857 Corrientes Ave.).
Lacrimosa (Metal Gótico). September 25 in El Teatro de Flores (7806 Rivadavia Ave.).
The Toy Dolls (Punk). September 26 in El Teatro de Flores (7806 Rivadavia Ave.).
Lamb of God (Metal). September 28 in El Teatro de Flores (7806 Rivadavia Ave.).
Raúl Di Blasio (Guitarra). October 1 in Luna Park Stadium (420 Eduardo Madero Ave.).
Bon Jovi (Rock). October 3 in River Plate Stadium (Figueroa Alcorta Ave. and Udaondo).
Incubus (Rock). October 5 in Luna Park Stadium (420 Eduardo Madero Ave.).
Pixies (Rock). October 6 in Luna Park Stadium (420 Eduardo Madero Ave.).
Regina Spektor (Pop). October 7 in Gran Rex Theater (857 Corrientes Ave.).
Echo & The Bunnymen (Rock). October 13 in Groove (4389 Santa Fe Ave.).
Sonata Artica (Power Metal). October 28 in Groove (4389 Santa Fe Ave.).