Marcelo Ballvé

About Marcelo Ballvé

Marcelo Ballvé was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1975. He grew up in Atlanta, Mexico City, and Caracas. He worked as an AP correspondent in Brazil and the Caribbean. In 2004, he moved back to Buenos Aires. His website is Sancho’s Panza.

Features

Beyond Love: The Wisdom of Love in the Time of Cholera

By Marcelo Ballvé

Gabriel García Márquez knew that love, like cholera, strikes unexpectedly, renders the body powerless, and is blind to class or race. [4 April 2008]

Literature is Inside of Life Just Like a Tree is Inside of Life

By Marcelo Ballvé

Tao Lin has developed his own unmistakable and unique style by utilizing a contagiously honest way of writing. Marcelo Ballvé discusses Bed and Eeeee eee eeee with the author. [17 October 2007]

Columns

Learning from Latin America’s Media Pirates

By Marcelo Ballvé

Today’s illicit “DVD factory” in a corner of Paraguay might tomorrow become a node in a democratic, grassroots distribution network for Latin American media. [3 December 2007]

(more South Meridian)

Living on the Margins

By Marcelo Ballvé

The protagonists of tomorrow are people who are off-line, somehow off the grid, unsophisticated or simply unimpressed by the general spectacle of information-overload and conspicuous consumption. [5 November 2007]

(more South Meridian)

On Being Savage

By Marcelo Ballvé

In today's world, in which most native people live not in forests or on islands but in cities, savagery has become a state of mind more than anything else. Perhaps a little 'savagery' would be good for modern civilization. [28 September 2007]

(more South Meridian)

Playing from the Hip

By Marcelo Ballvé

Jorge Ben always sounds like he's playing from the hip, not from the head, not really from the heart either. [27 August 2007]

(more South Meridian)

Delfin Quishpe: Ecuador’s Unlikely YouTube Celebrity

By Marcelo Ballvé

Other than cute animal photos and pornography, the content that enjoys the most popularity on the Internet often has a link to real-world events of generalized significance – like Quishpe's 9/11 video. [3 August 2007]

(more South Meridian)

Blood Art from Africa?

By Marcelo Ballvé

Everywhere one looks these days, the supposedly "forgotten" continent is under the glare of spotlights. But there is a thin line between patronage and plunder. [5 July 2007]

(more South Meridian)

Tom Zé: Brazilian Music Machine

By Marcelo Ballvé

Tom Zé, the tough sertanejo, should not be crossed. Eventually he will have his way. [30 May 2007]

(more South Meridian)

The Resilient Works of Roberto Bolaño: Raccoon-Resistant, Water Resistant, Immortal

By Marcelo Ballvé

Roberto Bolaño's Los Detectives Salvajes, like so many good works, traverses time, language, cultures, and survives a bit battered, but little worse for the wear. [3 May 2007]

(more South Meridian)

On Revolutions, Civil War and Dictators: The Work of Ryszard Kapuscinski

By Marcelo Ballvé

Kapuscinski, a master of subjective journalism, once referred to news agency reporters as “terrible victims of information”. [6 April 2007]

(more South Meridian)

Brazilian Choro Music: The Oldest Jazz

By Marcelo Ballvé

Before jazz, before samba and bossa nova, before even Stravinsky had been born, musicians in 19th century Rio were testing their virtuosity playing choro tunes. [1 March 2007]

(more South Meridian)

Tropicália: Brazil’s Musical Revolution Turns 40

By Marcelo Ballvé

Tropicália would combine the cosmopolitan sensibilities and lyrical precision of rock with the entire geological depth of Brazil's considerable musical tradition. [2 February 2007]

(more South Meridian)

Reviews

Various Artists: Liberacion: Songs of the Cuban Underground [DVD]

By Marcelo Ballvé

This compilation may be one of the purest embodiments of the reggaeton spirit that is widely available. [11 April 2007]