Here's what I want to say about this:

I live near a flea market called Cowtown (Previous posts here, here and here) which also hosts from May-Sept the only regular rodeo in NJ, complete with PETA protesters, a Grand Parade, and 12-pack drinkin' divorcee' dads.

Anyway, Cowtown is a flea market on Tuesdays and Saturdays. On Saturdays, it's less of an antique/collectable venue and more of a crap/knockoff sale. There are a lot of Korean and Chinese vendors, but the most interesting are the Andean vendors. I say Andean because they can be from multiple locations in S.A., but they inevitably sell really rustic knitted gear, and handicrafts from that region (like pan pipes and bracelets that say stuff like "Quito"). On spring days Andean musicians will play, and the atmosphere becomes really prosaic, with catfish frying across from tacos mojados and boxes upon boxes of items that look like they came from a parallel universe.

Well, as it turns out, many of these vendors sell, by virtue of a common language to the Mexican members of the community, providing them with stuff they want, often emblazoned with the Virgin of Guadalupe - a potent symbol of Mexican faith & pride.

It was this juxtaposition of Andeans selling la Virgen on (sometimes really plush two-ply) blankets alongside their native designs that made me put this video together. Music is Yma Sumac's (herself a Peruvian) Voice of The Xtabay- a Yucatan legend. The stuff juxtaposes itself - no?

Enjoy.



UPDATE: English language bonus track below:
Kinda bogus, but go for it....

Labels: blanket, central america, color, espanol, flea market, glyphjockey, mexico, music, south america, spanish, statuette, virgin mary, xtabay, yma sumac