Long entry to make up for my absence for so long :)

Finally, the vacations are here. I have already sunk to the routine of staying up late with a book and getting up just in time for... a late lunch. Usually with the family, although today Mikko and I had spaghetti at the university's cafeteria downtown. What always amazes me about these places is the way the food is served. I have never anywhere else seen the sauce served BEFORE the rice/noodles. What happens is, they serve you the sauce (minced meat, today) peppered with parmesan cheese, and then you're supposed to help yourself to the spaghetti. Talk about aesthetically pleasing food! And then you're supposed to try to mix the stuff up, which is difficult to manage because the plates are so small. Ah, the good old university lunches. At least the bread and herbal spread is delicious, and actually we were so hungry after our session at the stadium's open-air swimming pool we would have eaten anything.
While we were swimming with Anna and Mikko in the morning (a shock for me, getting up at 8.30 to make their schedule) we saw a whole filming crew: cameras, lights, etc, and a set-up scene with people sitting around tables. We wondered what they were filming, but not for long - Anna just told me on the phone she actually saw my head bobbing in the water on tv this afternoon on a teenagers' talk show.
The days have been spent at the computer, listening to Puccini and reading good books. The haunting memoir "Reading Lolita in Tehran" encouraged me to read some classics so I knew what was going on in the book, so I read Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" and James' "Daisy Miller". Harper Lee's classic "To Kill a Mockingbird" has been keeping me awake as well.
As for Puccini, gone are the days when Madama Butterfly's tragedy rose above all other operas - instead, my interest has now shifted towards La Bohème and re-exploring its hidden and not-so-hidden treasures. It is, of course, regarded by many as his absolute masterpiece. I suppose it depends. As far as the story is concerned, La Bohème is surely Puccini's most crowd-pleasing opera. And it's hard to beat Mimí's and Rodolfo's heart-breaking love story in terms of tragedy, scope and sheer accessibility (after all, it's a story about love between poor people - not exactly a very original subject but something which always gets those noses blowing) Of course Turandot usually leaves the audience speechless because of the sheer spectacle which it is (Dragons! The Ice princess!! Imperial China!! the Wizards!! oh, and there we are.... that aria they always play on the radio!!!) and Tosca is famous for its heart-chilling suspense (and you can have the cake during the intermission!) but there's something about La Bohème and the way Puccini conveys the drama through his fabulous music which keeps the crowds coming back (La Bohème is, in fact, the most performed opera in the world - source: "The Top 10 of everything 2003)).
But while the melodies are some of the best Puccini ever composed (think about the love duet or Musetta's waltz), for me, Butterfly's tragedy will always be more shocking. And what makes it all the more shocking is the way the composer uses the music to create a sometimes deeply disturbing psychological drama. As far as staging is concerned, Butterfly must be the easiest opera because all of it happens at Butterfly's house, which is the place where she gets married, experiences love for the first time and, which, eventually, becomes her prison as she naïvely expects the rat Pinkerton to come back from the seas. Puccini had never visited Japan and neither had most of his listeners, of course, but it is amazing how he could convey a place and time so strongly only with notes. Sure, he made some slips (Suzuki's melody when she says her prayers is actually an ancient Japanese song about cucumbers and eggplants (Source: Michelle Girardi's The international art of Puccini)) but there is a theme or motif for everything, the most haunting one being the death-theme which, obviously, is the last one to make its appearance. Some people think of music in colours, some associate it with places, but when I compare Bohème to Butterfly I always imagine La Bohème as being round and Madama Butterfly as being square. While the first opera's music is easier to understand and perhaps even more appealing, Butterfly seems somehow sharper and more "barren" in a way, because it represents exactly what it is: a story which makes the audience uneasy from the very first, revealing the tragedy behind it gradually. Even the dreamlike music at Butterfly's first entrance or at the moments where she dreams of her husband's return seems to be floating in the air without any real basis to it and suddenly vanishes into thin air, like an illusion. Mimi's death comes as a true shock, but when Cio-Cio San kills herself, the audience seems to have known it all the time - the very day of the marriage and the music itself have been leading to it (and that's not because everyone has read the synopsis).
......
In other developments:
The CM Swing concert in cafe Engel 2.6. was a success. Thanks again for family and friends for support and being there! See you 18.8 at Art Goes Kapakka.
In just over two weeks, I am leaving for Damascus.
What else?
Martin posted really nice pictures of his guitar on his blog the other day - I wish I knew how to post pictures as well. I have become determined to keep the harp in tune. This means DAILY tuning (actually the minimum it requires). The highest f-string couldn't stand the thought and decided to snap itself. I thought it would be interesting to keep it and ask some friends what they thought it was. Dea just saw the piece of gut string one inserts into the knot to make sure the string doesn't pull too tightly on itself and guessed it was, perhaps, one of my teeth. Way to go, Dea!
I seem to be suffering from some strange allergy. The very back of my tongue is sore and my throat feels dry all the time. A friend has been suffering from the same, so maybe it's something in the air.
We've got performances with CMS both days of the weekend, and on Sunday I'm going to Linnanmäki with Martin, his brother and sister, Dea, Sanna and Pauli. Let's hope the weather is as warm as it has been these days.
Good night!