Final Day in Timor-Leste
Hello loyal blog readers, Eric here. Our final day in Timor-Leste was one of the highlights of the tour so far. We started the day with a visit to “Arte Moris”, a free art school and commune in the middle of Dili. The story of this place forming after 25 years of Indonesian occupation is fascinating and inspiring- check out what these guys are up to at http://www.artemoris.org
We arrived at the grounds and were very warmly greeted by the whole crew. After getting our sounds right through the PA system, we decided to ditch the microphones and jump down to play some tunes acoustic, up close and personal. After kicking into the first song one thing became very clear watching their reactions- these guys could GROOOOOOVE. The overall energy of Timorese seems to be very raw, loose, and rhythmic, so after we finished our little set we were ready to hear some traditional Timor songs and JAM. To make the vibes even sweeter, about 15 itty bitty kids from the International School came to get down to the music just before the jam started. I’ll let the video speak for itself.
We were given a great tour of the whole Arte Moris before we left, including amazing galleries and exhibitions, living quarters, and library/ media room, an office, music and jam spaces, and living quarters. By far one of the coolest places I’ve been in the world so far.
We finished off our Timor-Leste run with an evening performance at the Sunset Fair, a wonderful weekly happening here in Dili complete with hand-crafted goods vendors and an assortment of delicious food, including Kangaroo (we sadly didn’t get to try it). We ended our set in the appropriate Earth String Band style- joined by five guys from Arte Moris playing a couple of their traditional songs and one of ours. The crowd went nuts. We all retired back to the beach after the show and continued to play music all night, I’m gonna miss the guys! Timor-Leste, beautiful people and a beautiful landscape, truly a hidden gem of country. Now off to South Korea!
From Concert at Ambassador Fergin’s Residence:
Posted on October 1, 2011, in Eric, Timor-Leste. Bookmark the permalink. 3 Comments.
The Earth Stringband 
This might be my favorite blog post so far… the amazing jam energy, watching the fingers fly (holy monkey) during that concert, all the crazy art… sounds like SUCH an amazing time. Thank you guys for sharing it with all of us out here. 😀 Safe travels!
As promised, I have posted a heap of pictures of your Sunset Fair gig on the blog at http://dilisunsetfairassociation.blogspot.com/2011/10/blog-post.html and the whole photo album on Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sunset-FairFeira-Lokraik/127511660675225 Feel free to download them and use them – no copyright issues. Also feel free to post some of yours, if you like. A huge thank you to the band, the U.S. Embassy in Dili and everyone else who helped to make your visit to Dili happen. It was a fantastic night, we loved your music and we hope that some of the young Timorese will feel creatively inspired by your sound, too. Thanks also to Arte Moris. Aren’t they great! All the best, Ann (Consultant to Directorate of Tourism, Sunset Fair)
Hi guys, here are some links to video from the sunset fair concert with Osme, Otopsy, Etson, Ade, Beny and Vicente.
Lizzie