But We Stayed for the Mariachi

Lonely Planet failed to mention that "Oasis" is a five-star restaurant with western prices. A deep gong rings at one's arrival & a smiling, mini gamelan plays. Our party's unsuspecting men in sandals & jeans. They hand yellow corsages to the women & serve a palate-cleansing raspberry sorbet after lobster bisque appetizers. It's one of the only places one can order Rijsttafel--a sort of Dutch-colonial feast fusing Javanese ritual banquetry with a massive smorgasbord sensibility.
We abstained.

Yes, it was good. I only mention this at all because last night at "Oasis" I think I may have heard the world's most virtuosic MARIACHI band. A north Sumatran trio. They sang in 5 languages. The north Sumatran folk-singing style is this powerful, full-throated, troubadour / balladic voice that surely requires a third or fourth lung & puts Placido's deepest, longest, loudest notes to shame. EL, another ethno-musicologist Fulbrighter at our table, called out requests--"Sing-Sing!" (a Sumatran song) and "Anything Batak [a north Sumatran ethnicity]"--which made us very popular.