Sunrise Parties by Sebastian Pais

Part two of a three part series. Read part one here.

Well, countless friends and stories were created during college of course. I was already a part of KUNM and the Raices Collective and was having a great time dj-ing Latin American music for the community. This was a dream come true since back in Argentina before moving I tried to study so I could work in radio. I also tried to have my own show on a neighborhood radio station but didn’t work out. So big thing for me. Friends, stories and a mic, perfect combination. (IMAGE)

I had the wonderful opportunity of bringing in friends that were involved in the community doing art and organizing people to improve the city and the world. I was also blessed with the presence of some crazy dudes that new a lot about music and since most Saturdays I was hung over, they would prepare the music for about half of the show.

In all honesty, it took me about 4 years to start liking Albuquerque specifically and New Mexico in general. You have to understand that I was coming from a city with 6 million people with another 6 coming in on weekdays to work. Full of noise and very few stars in the night time. To the west, I had the pampas, thousand of kilometers of pasture and forests. To the east, the widest river in the world. And suddenly I find myself in a desert with a big wall with the color of a sandia behind me and in front sand with more sand after that. Scary picture for this city boy.

Despite the terrifying picture at first, I had a little help from my new friends. I met Diego and Laura, crazy passionate about camping. They took me all around NM and where I saw the forest, the arroyos and rivers, the water-falls and the dunes. New Mexico was full of secrets, it was truly enchanting. You know, when you find yourself staring at a point and realize that you don’t know how long you were doing that? I guess, I didn’t like that place because I wanted to be in my hometown but at one point I realized that my brain was quiet and mesmerized who knows for who long and click, “this place is pretty nice”.

And that is how my eyes started to see that the city has art everywhere and with certain frequency you find festivals of all kinds that have nothing to envy those of bigger cities. Local artists are amazing. There is a reason that many jazz musicians lived a big part of their lives there and big rock stars must stop in this sort of natural mecca for those with sensible ears and eyes.

I had many great times and many things were done in Albuquerque. I opposed the war in Iraq with a bunch of people, young and old, foreign and native. Also, inspired in a theater group from my hood in Buenos Aires, I created with the help of great friends, La Cucaracha Stew Co. La Cucaracha Stew Co., is a street theater crew composed by us, amateur, ready to build things and put make up on people with almost zero knowledge about acting. That was a lot of fun. Hell yeah.

NEXT: Salsa, Samba and Soccer

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Sebastian Pais was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is a professional translator, musician, radio personality and actor. In April, 2014 he was named Director for Latin American & Bilingual Initiatives at Community Publishing. 

Community Publishing brings local artists of all mediums together in creative collaborations for distribution as Multimedia Books while promoting literacy in our communities.