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 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!
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