Boom! - boom boom boom boom boom...CAH ticuh tiCAH ticuh tiCAH

Nicaragua: I have found soccer balls to be a cheap and effective way to meet people in foreign lands.My name is Louis Frank and I was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts. My father and I disagree often about various key elements to life, but one of those is style of music. He mocks me, saying that I like music that is “raw.” I do not understand what there is to mock about that, because it is true. I like music that expresses raw emotion, and often multiple emotions. If the musicians can’t play jazz scales like computers, I don’t mind.

I found Brazilian music to be raw in the best sense. While most American music fills me with love, heartbreak, anger, and sexuality, the music introduced in my Brazilian Music & Globalization class made me nostalgic for a country I had never been to before. Brazilian music has nothing to do with my major – metropolitan studies – but at this point it has a lot to do with my life. The music is technically quite impressive and most importantly it is quite different from the American music I can listen to on the radio. The culture of Brazil is almost totally foreign to me, and I know that. It taunts me. I believe that this land south of the border is filled with music, food, and feelings that will bring me back to an innocent self.

I should rephrase that last sentence. I have traveled both in and out of America before, and when I do I learn new things about myself. Colorado taught me that the Earth is truly more powerful than man. Poland taught me that my family history is not just a part of history books. Mexico taught me that communication among lovers is key…Actually, I’ve learned that in New York as well…Actually I probably haven’t learned that fully yet. In any case, when I first heard the drums of the Brazilian group Timbalada, I heard a raw rhythm that I already have.

That sounds corny and it is and that is why I am going to Brazil. Ideally I would like to go and spend some time in Recife, the Afro-Brazilian city in the northeast of the country. My plan thus far was to go and work on an organic farm that will sponsor my room and board, so as to live there cheaply. That is my plan.