festival Archivi - Keep Calm and Drink Coffee

WOMAD

Jul 29, 2023 | WORLD, MUSIC

Womad stands for World of Music, Arts and Dance, an international music and arts foundation known primarily for its festivals, held annually in multiple locations around the world.

“You never know where interesting news may come from” is the concept I have learned throughout my years.

To confirm it I will tell you that the first time I found information about Womad I was reading with my son from his English school book.

We owe the idea of this music art and dance festival to Peter Gabriel.

In 1982 the author of the immortal 7/4 song with that harmonic theme that brought everyone’s thoughts on that perfect green to the sky, together with a group of people started the first festival right in Somerset, in Shepton Mallet.

Later the project evolved into a mission: to create opportunities for cultural exchange and learning to bring the arts of different cultures to the widest possible audience by developing arts education and creative learning projects.

After all, Peter Gabriel’s spirit of contamination appeared to us loud and clear in the blending of tribal percussion and electro-synth sounds in Shock the monkey.

The resounding aspect of the Womad festival that is being held these days is that Carmen Consoli announced her participation with this picture.

The Singeress.

I would say she is perfect to represent the strength of roots and the richness of collaborations.

Carmen is the first Italian artist to perform at the world music festival.

July 27 / 30 – Charlton Park are the coordinates of Womad 2023.

While waiting, we can watch highlights from last year’s edition: the 40th.

COACHELLA

Apr 29, 2023 | FASHION, MUSIC

Before I even understood what Coachella was I tried to figure out how to pronounce this curious name.

The correct diction comes from the Hispanic language because Coachella is the name of the valley where this music festival was first held: in Indio, California, at Empire Polo Events.

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival was born in 1999 on the occasion of the 30th “birthday” of the quintessential music festival.

No need to specify the name, right? Just the date is enough: 1969.

Actually, the Coachella festival is conceived precisely on the failure of Woodstock 1999, so catastrophic that it was called the day the 90s died …

Coachella was the need to restart from art.

And from this restart, the numbers year after year have multiplied, until it has become a musical and very fashionable event.

Coachella is music, but Coachella is also outfits: I collected some photos from the web.

What do you think?

Would you feel inspired by the music enough to indulge in your look?

Have you ever attended any kind of dress code or otherwise themed event?

Undisputed queen of the just concluded edition was Zendaya who also surprisingly sang. together with Labrinth All for us from Euphoria.

She is so universal and versatile that it becomes really hard to find suitable adjectives.

From the white camisole under dress for Coachella, to the maison blanche E-1027, built by Eileen Gray in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, as her own testimonial for Le Capucines.

Music always as an important thread.

I don’t know about you but when I listen to Urge Overkill Girl you’ll be a woman soon I can’t help but think of a totally iconic scene … in the radio frame shall we catch a quote from it? We will talk about it again 🙂

FILOSOFEGGIANDO IN ALLEGREZZA

Aug 19, 2022 | JOURNEY FROM MUG TO MUG

Filosofeggiando in allegrezza is the blog that gives us a new stage of the Journey from mug to mug, and now I have plenty of joyful serenity for these pictures too!

As you may have guessed, the photo below the title is from Spain: Galicia, and to be precise it is from the Vigo Book Festival.

As Feiras do Libro de Galicia take place every year in various towns and cities in Galicia, in the spring and summer months, with stalls run by booksellers, and an extensive program of parallel activities, such as readings, meetings with authors, exhibitions, book presentations, etc., that make these events a meeting of great cultural interest.

The writer who most universalized Vigo was Jules Verne, in a passage from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Have you read it?

I missed it until my son brought it home from the elementary school library, but there’s always time to recover, right?

In Verne’s novel, the Vigo estuary hides very rich treasures from the Battle of the Bay or Battle of Rande.

“So, Mr. Aronnax (…), we are in that same bay of Vigo. It is up to you to unravel its mysteries.”

The battle took place on October 23, 1702 between the Anglo-Dutch and Spanish-French coalitions during the War of the Spanish Succession. Spanish galleons arrived at the Vigo estuary laden with the greatest treasure that had ever crossed the Atlantic: gold and silver, jewels…

“The sand was littered with those treasures. Then, laden with that precious booty, those men would return to the Nautilus, deposit their burdens and resume that inexhaustible fishery for gold and silver.”

Since then hundreds of dives have been made in the waters of the Vigo Estuary in search of treasure. Without going any further, six battle-related wrecks were located and identified in 2011.

Thus, don’t you think that the quote chosen to introduce the Festival:

THE BEST STORIES BEGIN WITH GOOD COFFEE

is simply perfect?

If you want to discover further interesting anecdotes about Galicia, don’t miss the description of the trip here on Filosfeggiando in Allegrezza.

Speaking of precious things then, here are two coffees from Monforte de Lemos!

So after Verne we can also mention Miguel Cervantes’ El ingenioso caballero don Quijote de la Mancha, precisely with reference to the Count of Lemos.

But about Monforte de Lemos you can ind more details on Filosfeggiando in allegrezza in the second part of the report.

And what about you? Where have you had your coffee lately?

TRIESTE COFFEE ASSOCIATION

Jan 28, 2022 | ITALY

Trieste Coffee Association is one of the few associations still active and is third in Europe.

Staying on the trend of coffee in Trieste it was really very interesting to learn more about the supply chain.

For this I must say THANK YOU to Fabrizio Polojaz President of AssoCaffè Trieste for the availability and courtesy with which he illustrated every single aspect that connects Trieste to coffee in a total way.

COFFEE FOR TRIESTE IS HISTORY

Trieste has always been a harbor city, as we know it is not remembered as particularly influential: we rather know the magnificence and power of Venice. But between 1710 and 1720 Trieste found “a protector:” Vienna. The Austrian Empire has become a continental empire and decides to create its own merchant port in Trieste.

At the end of 1700, with the sunset of the Serenissima the second important step: the competition was interrupted.

Third crucial point: the construction of a “southern” railway (with respect to Austria), to allow goods unloaded from ships to leave by train to arrive in Vienna within a day.

The fourth important progress takes place with the construction of the Suez Canal: the entrance into the Mediterranean no longer requires the passage through the Pillars of Hercules, and, directly from the Aegean, the way to Trieste is short, as well as favorable.

Even today Trieste is the northernmost harbor in the Mediterranean.

Here you will find an original print from the Dino Cafagna collection illustrating Triste in 1719 before the free port.

COFFEE FOR TRIESTE IS A PRODUCTION CHAIN

As we all know, coffee is not grown in Europe, but grows in the tropical belt: equatorial Africa, Asia, India, Central America and South America.

I quote the words of the President Fabrizio Polojaz:

these goods create knowledge, knowledge creates profession and profession creates supply chain.

This chain begins with the financial part: that is, banking institutions for the purchase, and insurance companies with very specific policies.

Logistics plays an essential role starting with the forwarding agents because obviously we are talking about long-distance transport, but it also includes warehouses for conservation, processing for the improvement of the raw material, and phytosanitary management.

A first transformation is carried out by the roasting companies, which are about fifteen in Trieste.

There is also an industry for decaffeination (there are only nine in all of Europe).

And also chemical laboratories, tasting, experts, training schools and various equipment sector.

COFFEE FOR TRIESTE IS A MEETING POINT

Three European language families:

Latin
Slavs
Germans

three preparations:

for Italians moka and espresso
for Nordic filter coffees
for the Balkans, Turkish and Greek coffee

again, I quote the words of President Fabrizio Polojaz verbatim

People from Trieste are spoiled consumers, and lovers of good coffee.

And again, paraphrasing Nino Manfredi’s historic and unforgettable commercial

coffee is recharging, even spiritual and if the coffee is not good … what pleasure is it?

How can we disagree?

Among other things, it must be said that Trieste consumers are not only “spoiled:” compared to a national average per capita consumption of about 5 kilos per year, the Trieste average reaches almost 10!

Not bad really.

But what’s even more fantastic is theirs… how can we call it?

Nomenclature? I would say no: it’s not exactly technical terminology.

Code? Nor, code is too “mathematical.”

Peculiarities? But it sounds not very poetic to me.

In short, they have their special habit, of asking for a NERO when they want to order an espresso at the bar, just as Nick also told us in the comments about his professor.

When I asked the President Fabrizio Polojaz if there is a particular reason for “nero” he replied simply: to fondle.

However, it is not just a question of nero, apparently the bartenders in Trieste have something more to learn than the others: are you ready?

The typical cappuccino does not exist in Trieste.

For the milk and coffee drink we are used to thinking about, we order caffellatte.

CAPO, is also shortened in size: small cup or glass.

But if it were a glass, then it would be CAPO IN B, obviously, right!?

Don’t you immediately feel like trying, even considering what Luciana told us here?

Finding ourselves “at the cafe,” it is natural to ask for an opinion also regarding the increase in the price of coffee, so much criticized almost everywhere.

In this regard, the President of Assocaffè Trieste invites us to take a look behind the scenes.

The cup represents a series of very long steps: after cultivation, the coffee is stripped, processed, kept in silos, treated in parchment, bagged and shipped.

At its destination, further selections are made, it is roasted and blended, because the coffee is the result of the composition of different qualities, before reaching the barista who grinds and presses it.

All these are the items that make up the bill.

The last two years, so difficult for everyone and everything, have been problematic from the point of view of cultivation, which has suffered production drops caused by the difficulty of harvesting the coffee at the right time.

And there is not only a shortage of good quality products, there is also logistical difficulty, both in terms of traffic: after the long period of inactivity everyone wants to ship, and in terms of costs that have literally increased tenfold.

But the considerable decreases in consumption and, last but not least, the organizational and managerial burdens that the barista had to adopt to fulfill the requests of the various DPCMs were also affected.

So it is worth defending quality and work, do you agree?

COFFEE FOR TRIESTE IS ALSO TOURISM

In addition to the historical cafes already mentioned that offer a unique experience to visitors, Trieste is organizing a coffee festival: the Trieste Coffee Festival, in addition to the professional Triestespresso Expo exhibition, and in particular the Coffee Trieste Association is working with tour operators.

The goal is to ensure that the knowledge they have gained, so deeply rooted in the territory, and characterized in full, can also be enjoyed by tourists.

Among other things, it is already possible to organize visits to coffee roasters to discover this important stage in coffee processing, for example.

What do you say at this point?

They can truly say they are the capital of coffee.

Although, rightly, Minister Centinaio in response to the tweet wrote that the dossier presented to Unesco involves the symbolic cities of coffee in Italy, including Trieste.