After a few welcoming words, the lights dimmed, and the audience started applauding. The first murguista came out onto the stage. Washington had never seen anything like it, and his first reaction was to laugh. The guy’s face was white as a mime, with bright-green eyeshadow, glitter, dark lipstick shaped in a mocking smile. It wasn’t scary or ridiculous, it was just… right. It matched the tone. It matched the costumes, also bright and disproportionately big. He sung a high note, which seemed surreal coming from such a creature, and it was suddenly followed by a chorus of the other murguistas. Despite the variations in make-up and colors, you could see there was a theme. After his initial shock, he let himself follow the rhythm, the movement, and the mesmerizing harmony of their raspy, unpolished voices. The audience exploded in shouting and applause. After a few minutes, they regrouped, and expectation was in the air. Washington didn’t know what had hit him – it called to mind an open-air cinema, about which he had only heard, but more amateur and improvised. It was far from perfection, yet in that setting it seemed just perfect. At times, their scripts would overlap; they would laugh at their own jokes, or miss a cue, but in that imperfect scenario, it fit like a glove.
The next part was a bit boring for Washington, as they talked about politicians and things he had only heard by name; so he focused more on the expressions and reaction of the audience. It was pure joy. They laughed, they shouted in agreement and booed in disagreement, based on the character doing the talking; but nobody took it seriously, it was all part of the show, a permission to voice and release their everyday struggles.
The last part of their show was much more solemn. It started with a small child asking their mother, “What is a murga?” Much like he had asked Chola before. After experiencing it on his own, even briefly, he understood the first paragraph and the sentiment in Chola’s explanation. “Murga is the fraternal magnet that attracts and hypnotizes,” the song continued, “Murga is the eternal smile on the lips of Pierrot… [He would later learn that Pierrot is a comical character in Italian and French comedy.] …Quixotic buffoonery, warmly applauded; it is the smile of a child responding to a song.”
The first murga group was succeeded by a few more. For a while, Washington helped Chola sell some more pastries, while looking, and already, judging the groups. Their make-up, their voices, their presence. As the night progressed, the moon came out, and slowly the older people started walking back home. After running out of hot dogs and beverages, others were counting their earnings and picking up their stuff.
The neighborhood had recovered something that Washington imagined it must have had a long time ago, but had never seen. He realized that day that he didn’t need money, a suit or an expensive car like the ones that would sometimes park on the streets of Barrio Sur. He didn’t need any of that to feel satisfied (although he still didn’t know that word). His enjoyment would be in making people laugh, in making fun of them but with them, and in seeing Chola and all the people who had, one way or another, looked after him, smiling and dignified.
That night, something changed in Washington. It gave him a sense of purpose, a dream that was attainable. He didn’t know how to sing, act, sew or do make-up. But he could learn. He knew, however, that he had something more valuable. He had the capacity to look misery in the face, and take her out to dance; to transform his own misfortunes into opportunities to make people laugh and feel. And what, above of all else, is murga, if not that?
Come next February, he knew he would be back on that stage. But this time, he would be on the other side, looking the audience in the face.
And he is.
(…the end…)
Transadaptation Volume 7 – Via Ellipsis – Continuation of Uncertainty, Instability and Extremes Transadapted
January: An Unexpected Trip Down Memory Lane – Sarah-Leah Pimentel (South Africa)
February: Blow-up – Veronika Groke (Austria)
March: Futuros Murguistas – Alejandra Baccino Uberti (Uruguay)
April: The Nomenclature Man – Paulius Limantas (Lithuania)
May: Amanecerá y veremos – Adriana Uribe (Columbia)
June: Finding Light in Yerevan – Armine Asryan (Armenia)
July: The Last Judgement – Nadia Silva Castro (Brazil)
August: Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad Worm? – Narantsogt (Natso) Baatarkhuu (Mongolia)
September: Second Steps – Jonay Quintero Hernandez (Spain)
October: New Normality – Svetlana Molchanova (Russia)
November: Pandemic Love – Li Xiakun (China)
December: Beyond Comprehension – Rahaf Konbaz (Syria)
Background – Context
Transadaptation Volume 6: Meaning? – Uncertainty, Instability and Extremes Transadapted, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2025)
Transadaptation Volume 5: Of Flowing Vicissitudes – Life Transadapted, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2024)
Transadaptation Volume 4: Material Dissent – Adulthood Transadapted, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2023)
Transadaptation Volume 3: Evanescent – Young Adulthood Transadapted, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2022)
Transadaptation Volume 2: Conceived – Childhood Transadapted, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2021)
Transadaptation Volume 1: In the Middle – Prelude to a Contemporary Transadaptation, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2020)
Peripatetic Alterity: A Philosophical Treatise on the Spectrum of Being – Romantics and Pragmatists by Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2019)
La Syncrétion of Polarization and Extremes Transposée, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2019)
The Codex of Uncertainty Transposed, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2018)
L’anthologie of Global Instability Transpuesta, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2017)
From Wahnsinnig to the Loony Bin: German and Russian Stories Transposed to Modern-day America, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2013)
Emblems and stories on the international community
Perception by country – Transposing emblems, articles, short stories and reports from around the world
Credits
Top left to top right: 1. Montevideo, Uruguay – Street art – Nikolai Kolosov (Unsplash); 2. Montevideo, Uruguay – Ramirez Beach – DFLC Multimedia Designer (Shutterstock); 3. Montevideo, Uruguay – The street view – Nikolai Kolosov (Unsplash)
Middle left to middle right: 1. Montevideo, Uruguay – Housing – Nikolai Kolosov (Unsplash); 2. Montevideo, Uruguay – La Josefina – Nikolai Kolosov (Unsplash); 3. Montevideo, Uruguay – Apartment buildings in Barrio Sur – DFLC Multimedia Designer (Shutterstock)
Bottom left to bottom right: 1. Montevideo, Uruguay – Barrio Sur – DFLC – Multimedia Designer (Shutterstock); 2. Montevideo, Uruguay – Lunch – DFLC Multimedia Designer (Shutterstock); 3. Montevideo, Uruguay – Streetscape – Nikolai Kolosov (Unsplash)