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Monday Musica : Maga Bo – Quilombo do Futuro

7:58 am By Maegan La Mala · Brazil|Music · No Comments

7 May 2012

For me, nothing welcomes the warming East Coast weather like some great music to move your body. Via Post World Industries comes the latest album from Maga Bo, Quilombo do Futuro.

The music first caught my ears last week on Remezcla (who really is on the cutting edge of releasing relatively unknown but amazing artists).

A quilombo was an autonomous, fugitive settlement founded by ex-slaves and others in colonial Brazil. This album sonically manifests that history by mixing Afro-Brazilian rhythms and traditions like capoeira mixed with electronic elements and hip hop beats.

The album drops May 22nd.

Worldwide Debut of Ana Tijoux’s Video Sacar la Voz

9:50 am By Maegan La Mala · Chile|Music|Videos · No Comments

26 Apr 2012

VivirLatino is proud to be participating in the debut of Ana Tijoux’s new video featuring Academy Award winner Jorge Drexler of Motorcycle Diaries fame. Sacar la Voz is of of her La Bala album, the follow up to her 2010 GRAMMY nominated breakthrough debut 1977.

The debut of the video comes at the same time of the announcement of Tijoux’s first U.S. tour. It also comes at a time when students in Chile are taking to the streets again to protest the educational policies of right wing President Sebastian Pinera.

I personally wanted to share the video as the mami to two ChileRicans. The cinematography reminded me of the Chile I fell in love with, a Chile whose students were taking over schools and streets before the U.S. decided to call such actions “occupations”. In many ways Chile helped me find my voice through my first tastes of tear gas and a history of resistance my daughters inherited a part of.

See below for dates for her upcoming US tour

VL at Tribeca Film Festival: The Last Ice Merchant

7:11 pm By BiancaLaureano · Arts|Culture|Ecuador|Latin America|Movies · No Comments

23 Apr 2012

“Because we are poor we live working until God will take us.”

-Baltazar Ushca Tenesaca

The Last Ice Merchant follows Baltazar Ushca Tenesaca, a 65 year old indigenous Ecuadorian man who goes to collect ice from the mountains of Chimborazo. A documentary lasting 15 minutes was directed by Sandy Patch. They synopsis of the film states:

For the last five decades, Baltazar Ushca has made a living harvesting glacial ice from the tallest mountain in Ecuador. His brothers, Gregorio and Juan, have long since retired from the mountain. This is a tale of cultural change in a small indigenous community and how three brothers have adapted to it.

Starting out as a family business where Baltazar, his two brothers, and father mined ice, today it is only Baltazar who is doing this work. The youngest brother, Juan, works in construction and Gregorio the middle brother works in a factory that produces ice and he had churns homemade ice cream. Most of Baltazar’s clients are also “mom and pop” shops in the nearby city that purchase his ice to make drinks and other desserts to sell to locals. We see how fascinated the more urban Ecuadorians and youth are in seeing ice wrapped in hay, something that is rare in the city.

Baltazar speaks about missing his community and fellowship that came with the work he was doing of collecting ice. He is the only one who does this work now of the original crews and does this work alone. He hopes his son or grandson will be interested in the work, as of now none are. They discuss this to be connected to the changing times. The youth perspectives are very much ones we hear today: why work so hard in such hard conditions, for such little pay? Is life easier now? Their children think so.

It is Juan who shares that “our culture and the work of our ancestors I don’t want to forget it, I don’t want to lose our culture” when he speaks of children picking up where they may leave off. Baltazar is clear when he dies, ice from Chimborazo will no longer be mined.

The film leaves us with important questions about how culture is connected to the land, modernization, and preservation. Baltazar speaks of how the ice is becoming more scarce and he must climb higher up the mountains to mine, which brings on it’s own forms of additional danger. A few areas in the film that were left unclear: what tribe are Baltazar and his family a part? In what ways can the education found in their community connect to preserving this cultural practice and these artifacts? How does class, indigenous identity, and discrimination result in who desires ice and in what form?

Below is the trailer

Miercoles Musica : Ana Tijoux Shock (on Reclamation)

7:20 am By Maegan La Mala · Activism|Chile|Justice|Music · Comments Off

21 Mar 2012

I haven’t posted anything since last week, since before Romney won the Puerto Rican primary, as if that means anything. I’m planning my next big show happening next week so y head is in that and not in political analysis. But I did want to share this video by French Chilena Ana Tijoux which seems especially fitting given the recent reboot Occupy Wall Street has gotten (with the same problems that originally kept me away), the push for the NY State DREAM Act, Undocumented Coming Out actions across the country, the killing of
Trayvon Martin and this statement from Decolonize Oakland.

As I prepare for my participation on the next stop of the make/shift recLAmation tour, I am reflecting on reclaiming, the words of the Communiqué from Decolonize Oakland are resonating with me. The “occupations” we are seeing are not like the tomas that have been happening in Chilean schools for decades. I think the part about people of color autonomy and self-determination is critical and we can’t have that in spaces where it’s ok for white mean to don Native headdress as ironic statements (as I saw recently at OWS).

The shock is not at the fact that people are stepping up and speaking out, the shock is that people are only now starting to notice the resistance that has been happening for over 500 years.

Special Thanks to Nacional Records

Notes From The Afro-Latin@s Now! Conference Plenary

5 Nov 2011

The Afro-Latin@s Now! Conference is taking place as I write. It began on Thursday at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture with the Plenary and continued through Friday with “traditional” presentations throughout the day and wraps up this Saturday with events targeting youth at El Museo del Barrio.

I was asked to participate in one of the sessions on sexuality but my workload didn’t allow me to attend any of the events except for the Plenary. I’ve included some notes I took on the plenary and some other reflections from other folks who did attend Friday.

The plenary had four extremely well-known people doing work within the Afr@Latin@ community in various capacities. The panelists included Educardo Bonilla-Silva, sociologist at Duke University and author of several texts on white supremacy, Maria Rosario Jackson a researcher and professor who works in urban planning and development and , Evelyne Laurent-Perrault a biologist and historian and founder of the annual Arturo Schomburg Symposium at Taller Puertorriqueno in Philidelphia, and Silvio Torres-Saillant a professor of English and founder of the Dominican Studies Institute at City College and the author of several texts about Dominican identity. The facilitator for the evening was James Counts Early the Director of the Cultural Heritage Policy Center at the Smithsonian instituion. You may read more about each panelist and a fuller bio at the Afro-Latin@ Now! Conference site.

The first question that was posed to the panelist were “why is there this interest in Black Latin@s at this time?” Responses included an increased interest in Blackness, the diaspora. Torres-Saillant shared that when he was growing up Blackness was something one had to apologize for in the Dominican Republic. Rosario Jackson shared that with the browning of the US being more local yet there is still a crisis which she believes may lead to more creative opportunity. Laurent-Perrault mentioned the term “coyuntura” and how there is an increase in energy within particular communities that is leading to this attention. Bonilla-Silva shared that we are living in a “new racial order” which is how the US is moving towards a more Latin Americanist perspective on race, which he believes is NOT a good thing. He states we, in the US, are living in a “multi-racial white supremacist regime” and that there is a three point racial consciousness for Black Latin@s which includes: being racially Black, being ethnically Latino and being US citizens as well.

The next question was about being proactive. Torres-Saillant began by indicating how mestizaje is connected to the “multi-racial white supremacist regime” where the US hides racism under mestizaje in the US in the same way that Latin American’s are currently finding themselves in crisis regarding their mestizaje. Rosario Jackson shared that we must begin to claim racially Black people as a strategy to be proactive. At this point the facilitator Early shared how many Black Latin@s Anglicized their names to pass just as Blacks in the US. He gave the example of actor and producer Terry Carter and several Black Latin@ baseball players who changed their names to simply be in the Negro Leagues and be Black only. Laurent-Perrault indicates this is why she loves history because it already gives us some of the answers we need. It’s at this time that the panelists indicate that Black US folks can learn from LatiNegr@s as we have 100 years longer of Blackness in our countries compared to the US (based on documentation of when the first African slaves were brought to the areas in the 1500s). Bonilla-Silva mentions the connections to the ideas of mixing among Black Latin@s in an effort to “better” (i.e. whiten) the family and community. He also mentions this being connected to a myth of nation building where we validate whiteness by using the same categories and structures that were created by whites to identify and label/mark Latin@s worldwide.

Monday Morning Musica : Calle 13 Latinoamérica

6:05 am By Maegan La Mala · Latin America|Music · Comments Off

3 Oct 2011

As some readers may know, I have a love/hate relationship with Calle 13. Sometimes they are so on point with their message and yes they always can get you to move your culo, but sometimes they border on gross objectification and misogyny.

Just in time for Hispanic/Latino Heritage Month, the Rican duo has released a new video for their single, Latinoamérica, off of their Entren Los Que Quieran album and as featured in their documentary Sin Mapa.

I found the editing beautiful and the video very moving as it shows both the diversity of Latin America but also some of the basic rituals and life milestones we all share.
I also appreciated the voices of of mujer legends of Latin American music, Susana Baca from Peru, Totó la Momposina from Colombia and Maria Rita from Brazil.

Enjoy.

Remembering and Not Forgetting

9:21 am By Maegan La Mala · Chile|history|New York City · Comments Off

11 Sep 2011

I have written about 9-11 for as long as this website has been in existence. I remember to write about it every year because my head and my heart do not forget. They are two separate things – remembering and not forgetting but they are the same in that they are both subjective, victims of our own age, our biases, our challenges.

I remember being stuck underground for hours in a subway car that filled with smoke and darkness, not knowing that the World Trade Center was collapsing above me and that my mother was running just ahead of it.

I remember walking the streets from downtown to Queens, half crying, half in a daze because an officer has told me at 14th Street that there was no more World Trade Center and I remember hearing that as there is no more mommy.

I remember my mother and I finally finding each other back home – she walked out of the World Trade Center and on that walk to Queens she thought I too was dead.

I remember kissing my then 4 year old daughter and trying to call Chile to let her father know we were ok but I will not forget that I was also checking to see if he was ok because his September 11th had happened already. He knew already of searching for bodies with pictures in the hands of mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, and children. He knew of checking and rechecking lists of names.

On 9-11-96 I will not forget that I first tasted and absorbed tear gas by the Universidad de Chile, surrounded by students whose families had their own planes, their own dead and disappeared. I will not forget that they eyed me with suspicion – gringa – Norte Americana – representative of the sponsor of their 9-11.

I will not forget how I have a whole generation of students who have grown up in the last 10 years being told to fear terrorism and that they, as Muslims, as brown are the terrorists.

I remember all the dead – the men and women I used to call almost on a daily basis from work who would answer from their top floor office in the WTC. The lists stacked floor to ceiling in the Vicaría de la Solidaridad de Chile of names, some shared by my Chile-Rican daughters.

They do not remember. One was a pre-schooler. The other wasn’t even a thought But they cannot forget that histories like memories are subjective and layer upon one another to form identity and policy and the space between truth and lie. I will not let them forget.

Chilean Police Kill Student Protester – Pattern & Practice Leftover from Pinochet Days?

10:07 am By Maegan La Mala · Argentina|Chile|Latin America|Police Violence · Comments Off

30 Aug 2011

Last Thursday, people gathered in the streets of Jaime Eyzaguirre Macul in Chile, participating in a two-day national strike. Among those was 16 year old Manuel Gutierrez. While police violence against protesters, especially students, is not uncommon in Chile, Manual probably expected to return home after the protests. Instead, he was mortally wounded due to shots fired by the police.

Originally the police denied responsibility, a position they have since retracted. Officer Miguel Millacura, who said he was responding to shots fired by protesters by shooting his Uzi 9 millimeter in the air, was asked to resign. An investigation continues.

Someone in Chile sent me the following video, demonstrating how common unprovoked violence is from the Carabineros de Chile. I urge you not just to watch the disturbing images but to also listen to how some the audio references Pinochet, so many years after the dictatorship.

Chile Debe Ser Distinto 25/8/2011 from ALAA ALSADI on Vimeo.

While a recent article in The Guardian, looks at police brutality specifically in Argentina and its role as part of the legacy left by right-wing dictatorships there, I think the following quote is applicable to the Southern Cone as a whole:

A recent study at Tennessee’s Vanderbilt University identified Argentina as having one of the worst records of police violence in Latin America, with 8.7% of the population subjected to some form of violence and abuse by the Argentinian police forces in 2009… 28 years after the end of the military-led dictatorship, still hangs over Argentina’s human rights and security practices. Nationally, “there is almost one case of police violence every day”, says Gerardo Netche, Argentinian lawyer and researcher for the anti-police corruption organisation Correpi. Most cases are “easy trigger” murders (so named by a 1980 judge who thought it was more sensitive to victims’ families than “trigger happy”) or torture. “These days,” says Netche, “generally all prisoners get beaten up, with more or less force depending on their case. Sadly it is very rare that any of these cases reach any kind of conviction.”

Martes Musica : Francisca Valenzuela Releases U.S. Album

11:52 am By Maegan La Mala · Chile|Music · Comments Off

16 Aug 2011

Blame my time in Chile and my ChileRican hijas and because my head needs a break from S-Comm posts.

24 year old Chilena, Francisca Valenzuela has just released he album, “Buen Soldado” in the U.S. via iTunes.
I think I have been listening to Francisca for about a year now and really like some of her work and her voice. I often think that Chilean rock/pop music is overlooked. It’s also interesting hearing/reading some the critique of Valenzuela and music in Chile in general for representing only a certain sector of Chilean society.

Here is the video for the 2nd song off the album, Qué sería.

Que creen.

VL At The Cine: Summer Indie Latino Films To Check Out

26 Jul 2011

This summer it’s all about saving money and supporting important films for our comunidad! I write this knowing that sometimes to support important films we may spend a little extra at film festivals, and if you live in an area where film festivals are coming (or have been) it’s def worth the energy to check out what they have to offer.

Mala and I will try to bring you some highlights of the film festivals we are going to this summer and year. In the meantime, here are a few films that have caught my attention and that I’d love to see (note that I’ve only seen some of these films and you can too, so they are not reviews), pero if any VL readers have seen any of these films I haven’t, please tell us your thoughts!

The first set of films is offered to view for free by the organization FUTURESTATES which are:

short narrative films created by established filmmakers and emerging talents transforming today’s complex social issues into visions about what life in America will be like in decades to come.

FUTURESTATES has also created a web resource for educators to use the films with grades 9-12 (but let’s be honest these are useful for any age!). The curriculums focus specifically on film and media.

The first film is one that was shared with me while I was away at a wedding. It is created, written, and directed by NYU alumna A. Sayeeda Clarke. Her film WHITE is in one word: phenomenal! It’s a short about 15 minutes long, and you may watch it online for free here. Clarke’s film takes place in the near future in NYC where the currency is skin color/melanin. She questions our ideas of identity, skin color, importance, class, natural resources, community, race, ethnicity, health, parenting, work, capitalism, global warming, and survival. The lead character is Bato, a Black Puerto Rican (yes, he’s written as that and indicates his identity in the film as such!), an activist in his community and expectant father. When the midwife working with his partner shares that she will have to give birth in a hospital setting, the couple must now find the money to pay the entrance fee to have a safe birthing outcome for their child. Bato must now find the money to do so.

The fact that there is a LatiNegro at the center of this story warms my heart. That we remain a part of the FUTURE is important for us to see and recognize. It also shares an important narrative of how white supremacy will/may continue in the future, but in new forms. This is one of those films where after seeing it I was so uncomfortable yet calm. I wanted more of the story and that alone is what makes this short film one of my favorites! Below is an interview with A. Sayeeda Clarke discussing her film:

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