Day 2

La Nueva Canción came as a response to the social mobilization that encapsulated Chilean society. This mobilization called for the nationalization of Chile's natural resources, university reform, respect and equality for women, and erasure of the social divisions that left most Chileans without sewage services, drinkable water, and electricity. This new song sounds very similar to the Bob Dylan folk that emerged during the 1960s in the United States. The lyrics were poetic, painful,  haunting and hungry for change. However, this type of music is very specific to Chile with its use of indigenous instruments coupled with the addition of modern sounds. Its inspiration from older Chilean and Latin American musical and poetic frameworks reminded me some of the poetry that came out of the Chicana movement at around the same time. Both discuss current issues while using inspiration from their singular history. The culmination of inspiration from older artistic forms and instruments created Andean music which created a space for identity and rediscovery of the significance of LA and its pop culture. The musicians themselves became political as well as cultural actors due to their creation of collective experiences (groups of people listening to music together which, in turn, creates collective memory) and political unity through their music. By combining social justice with sounds of one's ancestors, La Nueva Canción became the perfect form of communication necessary to defy the existing structures of power by creating a louder voice for those who were voiceless.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUAfWKLX438

While I read these two pieces, I listened to a compilation of songs from this movement. Above is one of my favorites. It's very simple: just Parra's voice and a guitar. However, the tempo is fast like she is trying to get out her words before someone comes to kill her too. The lyrics are also haunting with the vivid images it portrays of some of the atrocities that occurred in Chile. The line  los hambrientos piden pan / plomo les da la milicia, si" is especially poinient because it shows how little these people are asking and the violence they are given in return. By ending each line with "sí", it implies that the listener may wonder if that really happened to which she says "yes".

Gramsci believes that elections are not the best vehicle for "waging a war of position" due to elections being a reflection of the non-working class. Music is the better medium to cultivate counter-hegemonic thought because it is ably to engage in emotions and rally an audience of all backgrounds into a collective.  This makes Rebel Diaz's view of of the 2016 election all the more interesting. RodStarz said that he plans to "side with the people" because the U.S. has a two-party dictatorship  that is run by money rather than the people. This makes sense due to the large sums of PAC and Super PAC funds used in almost all campaigns as well as the various roadblocks that make it difficult for low income people to vote. The use of the electoral college and gerrymandered electoral lines also make elections not exactly "by the people." I also found it interesting when RodStarz talked about growing up with parents who were political prisoners in Chile and how that Hip Hop echoed the struggle his parents were fighting for. This communicative memory influenced Rebel Diaz in their discussions of immigration issues with their audience as well as who they did or didn't support in the past three elections.