MUSIC WARS

This weekend the property owner from whom I rent a small office decided to dispatch some workers to do some repair work. One of the old tenants had moved out of his set of offices to either retire from the practice of law or move to another location. I would guess the latter, as I never heard of a lawyer retiring unless completely disabled--usually by death.

Therefore, there were two sorts of work being done: 1.) renovation of a suite and 2.) hanging new doors to each office on the floor. The workers were all Latinos and numbered between two and six, depending on day and hour.

As I needed to be at my office to do some projects, I spent a good part of Saturday and Sunday at my office. I don't like to work on Sunday, but on occasion there are strong pressures to do so.

What is usual at construction/renovation sites occurred: hammering, sawing, and the like. These tend to be intermittent and I accept them with as good cheer as possible.

The workers were, at their greatest number, five men and one woman. Somehow, they were able to create the illusion of a whole union. I've seen this done in movies, especially war movies. For example, a few men try to create the illusion of being a whole army. Being noisy is a key element in this ruse. However, in this instance, the workers were naturally loud and expressing themselves according to their custom. This wasn't limited to "shouting at one another," which may be a Latino "macho" thing. They had thoughtfully brought their boombox.

Soon, Latin music, including singing, rose to compete with the exuberant shouting. Latin men seem to like to drop their voices into a growling, raspy initiation of some observation or other. Again, possibly a macho thing, or conceivably and expression of solidarity with some beast or other. All these elements blended together to make a merry worksite, according to some points of view.

Call me a "blue meanie" if you like, but I'm not a big fan of Mexican-style music. I applaud some Latin singers for having good voices and being able to sing a melodic line. I am one of the few living Anglos who still appreciates melody. Still, enough is enough!

In my office is a rather good musical device. I play a CD with happy results. I have the power to "uplift" its volume at my ease with my "remote." I have a couple of effective speakers. The decision was made by me to play some of my own music--music which I often find soothing and helpful to continue working, when energy levels begin to flag.

Selecting my favorite "Die grosse Jodellieder" CD, basically a hitparade of Swiss yodelling. putting side 2 in my player first, selecting level 34, I remote-commanded the instrument to begin. It did.

There was a sudden hiatus in the hallway. What is this crazy American up to?

My yodelling hitparade ruled the floor. I felt a deep satisfaction.

There is much to say in praise of Swiss yodelling. The sounds can be down-right heavenly. I would not be surprised, when my time comes to enter the "Pearly Gates," if angels on adjacent clouds weren't singing Jodellieder. Therefore, not only did I project a massive wave of pleasant mountain "airs," sharing with all this mighty sound, but completely routed the offending noise.

However, I must say that the Latino workers were a game lot. They put up a very good noise- fight before being forced to retreat to the backroom, where their whimpering boombox was sobbing hysterically. For some other musics the Swiss Jodellieder seems unfair competition. How can we war against singing angels? they wonder.

Indeed!