Concert at the Farm

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This summer my friend asked me if I wanted to come to a music festival with her. I immediately agreed, not really knowing what she meant by a festival but expecting something akin to a concert. The morning of the festival was cold and rainy, a typical summer day in Sweden. My friend’s dad picked me up and we drove for over an hour until we reached a town consisting of nothing more than a bar and a gas station. “We’re almost there,” my friend told me and I wondered where this “town” could possibly be hiding a concert hall. We turned onto a thin dirt road and continued for about fifteen minutes, going deeper and deeper into the forest. When my friend’s dad stopped the car, I stepped out to the sight of more trees and a few other cars parked along the path. We walked up the road for several minutes and by the time we finally reached a tiny ticket booth I was shivering and damp. I was given a hot pink band to put around my arm and directed even further up the road. We finally came to a clearing with a little farmhouse and three big red barns. I heard faint music playing from one of the barns and peeked through the door to see people spread out on the dirt floor listening to a tiny woman with thick blonde dreadlocks wailing into a microphone. I shot a look at my friend but she was busy talking to a group of women that looked exactly like the one up on stage, all wearing similar flowing tunics and chunky beaded bracelets. I felt like I was at a festival straight out of the movie “Taking Woodstock.” My friend soon returned to my side and ushered me into one of the barns to hear a band called New Tango Orquesta. As the musicians stepped out on stage carrying classical instruments I had to suppress a groan. According to the schedule this performance was going to last over two hours and I did not have the patience to listen to boring music for that long. However I slumped down next to my friend without complaint, making sure to be seated by the wall so I could lean against it if I felt myself growing sleepy.

The next two hours flew by like they were fifteen minutes. From the moment the band started playing, the music captivated me. I downloaded several of their songs once I got home and I still play them often. This was the first time I had ever really listened to classical music and it has led me to a whole new world of musical possibilities. My friend and I have already vowed to return to this festival next summer and I hope I will be pleasantly surprised once again.