Marcus Bale: Argentina, Alcohol, Buenos Aires, Culture, Folklore, Hanukah, Irish Literature, Jews, Passover, Dance, Drink Culture.

Marcus Bale

Title

Marcus Bale: Argentina, Alcohol, Buenos Aires, Culture, Folklore, Hanukah, Irish Literature, Jews, Passover, Dance, Drink Culture.

Subject

Life History: Cork

Description

Marcus describes his childhood in Belgrano, Buenos Aires, Argentina and his subsequent move to Ireland. Subjects covered include Marcus’s Jewish upbringing, how he came to live in Ireland, cultural differences between Argentina and Ireland, as well as to his involvement in acting.



Marcus grew up in Belgrano, Buenos Aires, a densely populated area of Argentina. He came from an upper middle class Jewish family and had three sisters. His two grandmothers came from Lebanon and Syria. He lived in an urban area and as a child was more interested in indoor activity such as reading and playing board games. Where he lived children tended not to play in the street due to the dangers of urban traffic, smoke, and noise pollution. Marcus discusses how his family were more ‘“conservative’” Jewish, which he characterises as falling between Liberal and Orthodox Judaism. They met at his grandfather’s house for Jewish New Year, Passover and Hanukah.

Marcus came to Ireland due to his interest in early Irish literature, Celtic stories, and Irish folklore. He met Dr Diarmuid ÓO Giolláin from the Department of Folklore and Ethnology, University College, Cork, in Argentina and came to study here on the encouragement from of lecturers of European medieval literature within the Classical Studies programme he attended in college. He highlights the difficulties of his first year in Ireland: the culture shock, the drinking culture, and not knowing anyone from his own country. He didn’t understand English as spoken by Irish people and he relates some humorous stories of misunderstandings.

According to Marcus, the weather was a big challenge. Marcus was used to temperatures of over 40 degrees and it took two years before he got used to the rain. He talks at length about the differences in diet and meal times between Ireland and Argentina which reflect the different climates. Marcus also discusses how Argentineans are more direct than the polite Irish. Irish people repeatedly say ‘sorry’ which is not common in his country.

Marcus talks about his involvement in Irish fringe theatre and being a member of the Snatch Comedy Group. He mentions how avant-garde Argentinean theatre styles are in comparison to the more traditional style in Ireland. He explains how the small South American community has grown: how they meet up regularly and about the growing popularity of South American dances such as tango and salsa.

Date

6 September 2004

Identifier

CFP_SR00334_bale_2004

Coverage

Cork; Ireland; Buenos Aires; Argentina; 2000s;

Source

Cork Folklore Project Audio Archive

Language

English

Type

Sound

Format

1 .wav File

Interviewee

Interviewer

Duration

33m 35s

Location

Meath St, Cork City, Cork Ireland.

Original Format

MiniDisc

Bit Rate/Frequency

16bit / 44.1kHz

Transcription

The following is a short extract from the interview transcript, copyright of the Cork Folklore Project. If you wish to access further archival material please contact CFP, folklorearchive@gmail.com

J.M: OK, so could you tell me Marcus in what ways do Argentinean people differ from Irish people?

M.B: OK Argentinean people are quite aggressive, em we say things when we, you know, that’s one big difference as well here when I came, everybody was polite, thank you was the word, and sorry it’s like, and you’d constantly hear people saying sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, apologising many, many, many, many times, and the same with thank you, and politeness in general; in Argentina, it’s not that we are not polite we are but, it’s not so kind of constant, you know if we don’t like something, we are going to say it really, really say it loud, and you’ve got to be prepared for it, I suppose we are very direct. Argentinean people have a reputation for being very arrogant, you know I suppose because Argentina as such is a country that from the whole lot of countries in Europe has the biggest influence of European culture in it, so they feel that they are a cousin of Europe which makes them at a higher level than the rest, or at least that’s a feeling in if you want to put it into words, I don’t know an idea of mine [I don’t think these people actually think this just like that] but I mean still the arrogance that is so characteristic is there. That’s something about Argentinean people, we are very open and extrovert I suppose

Collection

Citation

Cork Folklore Project, “Marcus Bale: Argentina, Alcohol, Buenos Aires, Culture, Folklore, Hanukah, Irish Literature, Jews, Passover, Dance, Drink Culture.,” accessed March 29, 2024, https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/document/22.