Day of the Dead and Halloween reading and music recommendations, Digi Mart USA News (Mexico): This skeleton pairs its Pan de Muerto and pulque with some nutritious reading for the holidays. For a Day of the Dead diet, the anthology published in 2013 by Ediciones Almadía is recommended, the same publisher that released a controversial book recently written by AI and signed by a Peruvian author.
The anthology was compiled by two masters of the macabre in Mexican letters: Vicente Quirarte, who died on August 11 at age 72, and Bernardo Esquinca, a writer of short stories and novels in the weird genre. Both have distinguished literary careers and have promoted subgenres such as horror, detective fiction, science fiction and fantasy.
Their selection gathers narratives set in the capital of the country and published between the 19th and 21st centuries, by authors both past and present.
Mexican readers first encountered the work in two volumes exactly 13 years ago, and later editions combined them into a single volume. Together the two volumes run nearly 600 pages (276 in the first and 267 in the second).
The single-volume edition, however, includes 22 of the 30 stories from the earlier collection, leaving out several well-regarded pieces by established writers.
The anthology is described as a mix of traditional legends, classic tales and modern narratives set in the capital. Its pages feature La Llorona, apparitions in many forms, street children who are not what they seem, bloodsucking figures who rob banks, hungry pre-Hispanic deities, shifting labyrinthine realities, and mysteries in old mansions and modern apartments.
The reviewer notes that the anthology is uneven, but that each reader will have favorite stories.
Perhaps the most widely used music for this season is the score composed by filmmaker John Carpenter for the classic Halloween (1978). A year earlier, the Italian progressive rock band Goblin created the chilling music for Dario Argento’s original film.
A 2018 remake directed by Luca Guadagnino featured a soundtrack by Thom Yorke of Radiohead, which the reviewer describes as good but very different from the Goblin score.
The members of the band, Claudio Simonetti, Massimo Morante, Fabio Pignatelli and Agostino Marangolo, with additional support from Antonio Marangolo and Maurizio Guarini, created atmospheric tracks using the instruments available at the time, including Moog synthesizers, violins, electric and acoustic guitars, mellotron, drums, Logan and Elka organs, and oriental percussion. The original album, released by the European label Cinevox, runs 41 minutes and 23 seconds, and designer Enzo Parrino created its iconic cover.
Later editions have added other tracks or alternate versions.
The group exhibition Morir de a poco. Calaveras de Aguascalientes has been on view for several days at a small gallery inside the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Número 8 in Mexico City’s Centro district.
The participating artists are Anuar Atala, who also directs the venue; Jonathan Fuentes Elías, one of two winners of the Enrique Guzmán Drawing and Painting Biennial; Oliver Esquivel; Omar Padilla; and José Luis Ávila Mendoza. The techniques include sculpture and an intervention on a real skull.
The museum is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
daily except Mondays and Tuesdays. Admission is 20 Mexican pesos for the general public and half price for students, teachers and seniors with valid identification, and access is free on Sundays.
