-- Addic7ed.com --
- [white noise] - [children's voices] Ta-dum!
[children laughing]
[school band music plays]
[music crescendos]
Hello.
Welcome to City of…
[tuba blows]
Ghosts.
What would you do if your very, very best friend was missing?
[synth music plays]
[Peter] Tuba!
[Zelda] Hello!
Anybody in there?
Hey, Jordan.
Zoom the camera in, so then it looks like we're going down the tuba. Okay?
[musical scale plays]
[Zelda] Okay, now, zoom out.
[Peter] This is a map of my neighborhood.
It's called Koreatown,
but actually, a lot of other people live here too.
At my music school, a lot of my friends are from Mexico.
- Hey, Peter. - Oh, hey.
I get to learn other kinds of music I never even heard before.
[Peter] This is my teacher, Ms. Yulissa.
At our school, we focus on Oaxacan music.
- [band plays] - [Zelda] What's "Wah-ha-ko"?
Oaxaca?
Oaxaca's a region in Mexico where my family and I are from.
[Zelda] Oaxaca. That's cool.
We've recently also opened our rep into classical, jazz, and Latin music.
Uh, my dad opened a music school,
and I think that was one of his many goals,
coming here as an immigrant.
And I didn't like it for a few years,
until I was about 12, maybe.
So he would have to drag me to rehearsals all the time.
I finally gave into it.
And I think what I saw in it was a new world,
when it came to music.
[Yulissa] As a woman in Oaxaca,
it's not very common to be doing what I'm doing here.
[school band plays]
Even here, being a female band director is hard.
They don't take you seriously.
But my dad always encouraged me to teach.
- He always pushed me to lead. - [music crescendos]
It's hard. I'm not gonna lie. It's kind of hard.
Sometimes I feel like
I have to put a mask on when I'm in charge.
[Thomas] Whoa! Who ate all the eggs?
When I'm with my friends, it's nice to be able to be myself.
I miss my best friend, Chepe.
We usually hang out every day, but I haven't seen him in at least a week.
Have you tried calling him?
No. He doesn't have a phone.
- [Eva] Oh. His parents won't let him? - Actually, my friend Chepe is a ghost.
Ohh!
[Peter] When did you first notice he was gone?
I was looking for him to share some good news.
- What good news? - I got my acceptance letter to college.
[Peter] Oh, wow! Congrats.
[laughing] Oh! Thanks.
Yeah, I was really excited, but then my friend Chepe disappeared.
I just hope he's okay. I miss him.
[Zelda] We're going to Peter's favorite comic book place today
instead of the library.
[Eva] Can you tell us more about Chepe?
He's a musician from Oaxaca, like me.
- Oaxaca. That's a region in Mexico. - [synth music plays]
Right. He usually speaks to me in Zapoteco.
What's "Zapoteco"?
My first language was Zapoteco.
That's the first thing we learn in Oaxaca, the languageand music.
Chepe sometimes whistles too.
It's like another language, I guess you could sing.
I've heard it being used in other pueblos.
So not just with our village, but in other villages as well.
Even if they're from different villages, they'll know how to communicate
with these whistles.
- [whistling] - A lot of people don't know
how to interpret those whistles,
so they're like, "People are just whistling," you know?
But if you pay close attention and actually know what they're saying,
it's kinda funny 'cause sometimes they have conversations.
And you… In a way, you feel at home. It's something you can relate to.
And I notice that there's so many people around
that looklike me or that sound like me everywhere.
Hey, how does this look?
[Thomas] That's not how your mouth looks when you whistle.
[sounds of drawing]
[Yulissa] Huh.
Well, he looks more like this.
Whoa!
Hey, let's make some flyers.
[rock music plays]
[mysterious music plays]
[sniffing]
[barking]
Hey. Sorry. My dog messed up your sign.
You put them at exactly the right height for him to eat them.
Oh, man.
Also, I might know something about your ghost.
What?
I'm Lina. I live here in Koreatown.
How long have you lived here? For centuries?
We came here for my mom's job five years ago.
And you've seen the ghost we're looking for?
Maybe. The drawing on your poster stood out to me.
- [Lina] The ghost speaks in whistles? Huh. - [synth music plays]
[Lina] Speaks in whistles and Zapotec?
You guys speak Zapotec?
- No. Do you? - Well, not yet, but I'm taking a class.
I think my professor might be able to help.
[melodic synth music plays]
Doesn't this poster kinda look like something you showed us in class?
Oh, yeah. That looks like an alebrije.
- [echoing tones] - Why do you have that?
They come from Oaxaca. This one is supposed to resemble a jaguar.
But they come in many forms and are usually colorful like this.
I like this one because it reminds me of myself.
[flute and string music plays]
This says Chepe whistles too?
That's so Oaxacan.
What do you mean?
When we're kids,
- what we do is we'll take the sheep… - [flute and string music plays]
…Or goats to the field,
and when we see each other from far away,
we would communicate by whistling.
So, it's something that you just do.
So, a very, very young age, we began to practice it
and then understand, like, the different whistling,
the communication, and stuff like that, so…
Can you whistle, "Zelda rules"?
[whistling]
Oh. So, like this?
[muffled humming]
[laughing] Almost.
Do you believe in ghosts?
I believe that when we die, we go to a place called "Lyobaa,"
as we call it in Zapotec.
[festive music plays]
[Felipe] Every year on Día de los Muertos…
[bell rings]
…We open all the windows and doors.
Then we wait for the ghosts to come
and share our food and other things with them.
We believe they come in the form of a butterfly.
[festive music crescendos]
[sounds of traffic]
[offbeat electronic music plays]
[chips crunching]
How long should we wait?
I wanted to show you guys.
I heard this weird whistling at our favorite Korean barbecue place.
Also, I noticed something coming out of that vent over there last night.
Hi.
[speaking Korean]
Could we sit back there?
[speaking Korean]
Uh…
- Are you sure? - Yeah.
[mysterious music plays]
This is where you heard it?
Yes.
Tuba!
He's definitely up there.
Zoom into the vent, Jordan.
[Jordan] No, not again.
It's not the same thing. I really do see him.
- [Jordan] Okay. - [Zelda] And it looks really cool.
[Jordan] Zelda!
[Lina] Watch this.
[flipping a switch]
Whenever someone turns on the vent, he'll start whistling.
[whistling]
- It's working. - It's working.
He said…
[speaking in Zapotec]
Which means, um…
"Very, very yummy beef. Come on, let's eat."
He is really excited about barbecue.
He just wants barbecue.
Let's give him a barbecue.
- Yummy! - BBQ!
- [Felipe laughs]
[air rushing]
- [gasps] - [echoing tone]
[chewing and whistling]
Coo-coo coo-coo!
[male voice speaking in Zapotec]
Are you Chepe?
[whistling]
[male voice speaking in Zapotec]
He wants to know, how do I know his name?
[speaking in Zapotec]
I told him, "We are Yulissa's friends."
[Chepe speaking in Zapotec]
Oh. He asked me if I'm from the valley.
He can probably tell from my accent.
[speaking in Zapotec]
[Chepe speaks in Zapotec]
- [clanking] - [melodic music plays]
You have such a majestic tail.
- [speaking in Zapotec] - [background music plays]
He says, "Thank you for the beef."
Why are you so far away from home, Chepe?
Chepe…
[speaking in Zapotec]
"It's cozy in there."
"And when I whistle, it sounds really good."
[Zelda] Don't you get lonely up there?
[Peter] Don't you want to talk to Yulissa?
[speaking in Zapotec]
He says he didn't mean to stay here.
[speaking in Zapotec]
Even though he's from Oaxaca, home is wherever family and friends are.
[speaking in Zapotec]
He loves playing music with Yulissa.
[speaking in Zapotec]
They relate to each other. They are from the same place.
[speaking in Zapotec]
They speak the same language.
[speaking in Zapotec]
He feels at home around Yulissa.
But he doesn't know what he's going to do now that she's leaving for college.
[Peter] What? Yulissa's leaving?
[speaking in Zapotec]
- [Felipe] He says he should talk to her. - [Chepe speaking Zapotec]
- [Felipe] He says he misses her. - [Eva] You should talk to her.
[Ghost Club] Yeah, talk to her! Talk to her! Yeah, yeah! Talk to her!
[speaking in Zapotec]
[speaking in Korean]
[Jordan] Oh. I'm not Korean.
[laughing] Oh, sorry.
[speaking in Korean]
Did you guys find what you were looking for?
[Eva] Yeah, there was a ghost in the vent.
[gasping]
[speaking in Korean]
[Peter] He ran away from his friend because he thought she was moving.
[Peter] And he likes your barbecue.
Yeah, my mom makes the best Korean barbecue.
[speaking in Korean]
He should talk to his friend.
- [instruments playing] - [students chattering]
[phone vibrates]
Hey. What's up, Peter?
Barbecue?
Um…
No. No, I'm okay, it's, um… I'm a little too sad to eat right now.
It's about Chepe?
Don't move. I'll be right there.
[melodic music plays]
Chepe told us you've never tried the Korean barbecue before.
I hope you like it.
[Chepe whistling]
[customers murmur]
Wow!
This is amazing.
[speaking in Zapotec]
I'm not sure about that one.
[speaking in Zapotec]
He said there's a Korean drumming group practically next door to us.
I didn't know this.
[speaking in Zapotec]
What are you talking about? I'm not going anywhere.
A lot of people have asked me if I would move.
I wouldn't.
I would make the drive.
I would take the bus,
- but I am not leaving Koreatown. - [festive music plays]
[Yulissa] This is where we're from. This is where we're staying.
We're not gonna move. We don't wanna move.
I can't leave something that saw me grow up.
I think... I don't think I would ever leave Koreatown either.
[Yulissa] One of my biggest dreams is being able to bring this school
and have this school at another level.
A completely different level, and having it exposed to everyone.
Being able to continue the traditions that we have.
Where Chepe and I used to hang out, we made it into his place,
- so he can whistle all he wants. - [whistling]
Try whistling in here.
[whistling]
[Yulissa] He even has his own class here now.
It's really helped him open up
and feel less lonely, especially when I'm at school.
[festive music plays]
[Jordan] Zelda! No string!
[Zelda] Ghost Club was invited to Yulissa's graduation party.
[Jordan] Everyone in the community showed up too,
including the local Korean drumming group.
Are you from the Sierra too?
Yeah, I'm from San Andrés Solaga. It's in the Sierra Norte too.
[speaking in Korean]
It's so good, Mom.
Hmm. Let me try it.
- [festive music crescendos] - [dog barks]
[lively band music playing]
Wow, you really like those.
-- Addic7ed.com --