Acclaimed film director Emir Kusturica visited Caracas to close out the week of celebrations for the city with a concert by his No Smoking Orchestra. After seven years from his last visit, Kusturica's fans (myself included) gathered for the free concert that took place at one of the biggest parks in Caracas. In the end, Kusturica's visit became a political visit, which was especially demonstrated, when he attended conference at the Center for Latin American Studies (CELARG in Spanish) and congratulated the rebel spirit of Venezuelans who struggle against the Empire. In addition, he spoke in favor of the president and criticized the manipulating media. He made it sound as he was someone who seemed to know the country very well… even though he only stayed for a couple of days. Photo by Luis Carlos Díaz and used under a Creative Commons license. All the activities that surrounded the Serbian artist's visit had a very kusturican atmosphere. After hours of waiting, disorganization, chaos and the belief from people that the political discourse had no place at the concert, the evening began controversy, ideaologies, political bands and a humiliated politician, but in the end, all the magic and music brought by the No Smoking Orchestra was what was important. Before and after the big event bloggers showed their views on the artists, who no doubt, left a mark on those who participated. In his blog Lejos del Mundo y de Los Hombres Vanos [es], Gustavo remembers part of the concert and about the crowd's reaction to the town's mayor: Luego (…) llegó el turno a El Pacto. (…) Esta gente, aunque suenan bien, bajaron un poco el ánimo del público. Sus letras anti imperialistas cargadas de política no calaron bien en la gente. Ojo, varios de los que estaban a mí alrededor se sabían las canciones, eso me dijo que esta gente tiene sus seguidores (…) Suenan bien y suenan duro. Particularmente no me gustó escuchar el discurso del presidente cantado en Rock. (…) Ya eran las doce de la noche (…) el Alcalde (…) se montó en la tarima (…) Apenas tomó el micrófono, comenzó el abucheo. No fueron todos los presentes, pero fueron suficientes para que se escuchara con claridad. Le gritaban a coro “fuera” “fuera” y le tiraban botellas de plástico (pocas pero lo hicieron) (…) el niño grande se molestó y dijo (no son sus palabras exactas): “la Alcaldía les trajo a Kusturica, ¿Quieren que me vaya? Porque si me voy, Kusturica no toca”. After (…) it was the turn of the band El Pacto to play. These people sound good. Nevertheless their lyrics are full of political ideas and anti-imperialism, which didn't really fit in the public's mood. But, hey… many people around me knew the songs, which tells me that the band has fans. They sound good and hard, but I didn't really liked the President's speech sung backed by rock music (…) It was already midnight (…) and the Mayor appeared on stage (…) As soon as he grabbed the mic, the public started to boo. Not everybody did it, but the booers were enough to make themselves heard. The shouted “get out!” and threw plastic bottles (not very many, but they did) (…) The big boy got mad and said (I don't remember his exact words) “The Mayor's office brought Kusturica, do you want me to leave? ‘Cause if I go, Kusturica won't play!” HAL 9000 of Reflexiones de Robot [es] provides more on the concert's incident and the double-edge sword of “free” culture: En realidad la comunicación del evento fue bastante desastrosa… Un grupo importante de gente creía que comenzaba a las 2, otros que a las 4 y otros que a las 5… En realidad lo importante es que a las 7 y media de la noche todavía no habían comenzado… Un par de ¿animadores? Se subieron a la tarima a explicar que todo se debía a “problemas técnicos (…) La masa respondió con pitas, pero los animadores, tratando de hablar con un lenguaje callejero que les salía tan natural como una novela de RCTV o una película de Carlos Azpúrua, esgrimieron un argumento que les pareció genial para justificar la falta de organización… “Recuerden que es gratis”. ¿Gratis significa chaborreo y desorganización? ¿Gratis significa que puedo pautar a la gente a una hora y después comenzar el espectáculo cuando a mí me dé la gana? Y peor aún, ¿gratis significa que te la tienes que calar y no puedes protestar?” To be honest, the logistics in the event was disastrous. Many people thought it started at 2 pm, others that it started at 4 pm and some others that it would be at 5 pm. What is important is that at half past 7 they had not yet started.