Aerosmith, guest of honour in Colombia.

During a meeting with children and youngster who were once in gangs and drug trouble, the American rock band Aerosmith received a plate that appoints them as Guest of Honour of Bogota, Colombia's capital city, from the mayor hours before a concert the band performed in this city. In exchange for the plate Aerosmith gave the mayor a baseball cap of the band which he put on inmediately.

Aerosmith arrived in Bogota two days before the concert to, according to its vocal leader Steven Tyler, get to know the city and its young people, so the band members could talk to them. Aditionally, Tyler said that they were pleased to be in Bogota and could not wait for the concert.

In the meeting one of the kids asked Steven Tyler if he was a professional musician, what he answered that one never ends learning that art because everybody can teach something new. The band members encouraged the children to explore the music's wolrd because "every one has his rythm".

I was invited to the meeting since I worked for the Press Office of the City Hall of Bogota. It was a wonderful experience to see and listen in person to those far-off musicians who I have been listening since I was a teenager. I remember I used to have the 'Big Ones' album and listen to it until I learned by heart all its songs. I still have it, it is a tape. Many of my school, neighborhood and college memories are tied to Aerosmith's songs, the same as many Colombian's are, since their music is one of the most accepted in this country, among the rock bands, althoug rock is not very popular down here.

I am writing this a couple hours before the concert, let's see how it will take place.

Comments

The John F. Kennedy's district in Bogota, Colombia.

Bogota, Colombia's capital city, is divided by 20 districts (Localidades, in Sapnish). One of them was named Kennedy, after the former president of the United States who founded the district himself. This district is the most populated, 1,5 million inhabitants, and one of the largest in Bogota. John F. Kennedy and his wife Jackie visted Bogota in Dicember 1961 within the framework of the Alliance for Progress, in which Kennedy founded the neighborhood for the poorest people in the city. The neighborhood was named then Ciudad Techo (Techo City) and 12.000 houses began to be build. In 1964 after Kennedy's assessination the residents of the neighborhood changed its name to Ciudad Kennedy (Kennedy City) and the Council of Bogota approved the name change in 1966. President Kennedy inaugurates the housing project Ciudad Techo (John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum) Last November 22nd, 50th anniversary Kennedy's assassination, the residents of the d...

Colombia, the only risk is wanting to stay!

'Colombia, the only risk is wanting to stay' is tha name of a campain designed to promote this country as a tourist destination for the rest of the world. It metions 'risk' refering to the security matter, that is one of the first that come up when Colombia is the topic. The question is: could a country be safe when it is known as one of the most violent in the world, faces one of the longer armed conflict in the western hemisphere and whose crime and kidnapping rates increase and the higest rate of death is killing? Beleive it or not, the answer is yes. And I tell you why: Although the left-winged Revolucionary Armed Forces of Colombia FARC has been fighting governments for more than four dacades, its atacking power lowered in the last eight years thanks to the former president Alvaro Uribe's Democatic Security policy. The new government, whose president is Juan Manuel Santos, in two months in the power has hit FARC hardly. Even though FARC is still alive, it is re...

Who was 'Mono Jojoy'?

Mono jojoy, aka Jorge Briceño, whose real name was Victor Julio Suarez, the FARC's military chief pulled down by the Colombia Armed Forces, was the second top leader of the left-winged guerrilla but the one who led its military operations. He was nicknamed Mono Jojoy after a species of worm from the Amazon, called mojojoy, which is very skilled at scaping. In Spanish mono means 'monkey', in Spain 'pretty' and in Colombia 'blond'. Mono Jojoy joined FARC in 1975 and soon he beceme a cuadrilla (a sort of brigade) leader because of his ideals, radical stances and methods which got him several arrest warrants for rebellion, kidnapping, narcotraffick, extortion, terrorism and murder among others. He was implicated in the bombing of Club El Nogal in Bogota in 2003 that killed 36 people and injures more than 100, he was accused for participating in the kidnapping of Ingrid Betancour and the assessination of the journalist Diana Turbay, he was charged for recruting c...

From Colombia

Search This Blog