discuss:

nuevacoronica:

Violeta Parra was a Chilean singer and songwriter who was part of the nueva canción [new song] movement of Latin America, which produced folk-inspired and socially committed music which often blended autochthonous musical traditions with Spanish ones. Nueva canción artists collected songs in indigenous languages such as Aymara and Quechua and used indigenous instruments. 

Parra worked directly with both male and female cantores [rural musicians] to compose, perform, and “[piece] together forgotten parts of songs”. Just as Guaman Poma was a thread between the Inka and the European, Violeta Parra was both the “bridge between the rural and the urban” and between Chile and the international stage, which was exposed to her and nueva canción upon her exile from Chile after the US-backed coup of September 11, 1973. 

The creators of nueva canción decided at a Cuban Encuentro (meeting) that “song should play an important role in the liberation struggles against North American imperialism and against colonialism”. Consequently, it strived to differentiate itself from what its artists saw as commercialized, “tourist” folk and, in accordance with the diversity of cultural traditions across the Andes as described in the Nueva Corónica, was a movement “remarkable for its heterogeneity rather than homogeneity as regards both music and its use”. The unique power of nueva canción, which spanned multiple decades, national borders, and political movements,  lay in its ability to express the multiplicity inherent in Latin American indigenous traditions. 

All quotes in this post are sourced to La Nueva Canción Latinoamericana by Jan Fairley, from the Bulletin of Latin American Research (full citation).

# violeta parra guaman poma arauco tiene una pena nueva cancion writing back

Reblogged 1 month ago from nuevacoronica 8 notes

Today on the bus from Manhattan-Cambridge;

gliding through the South Bronx

I see “I AM TROY DAVIS” in big, hot letters

stretching across an entire red-brick apartment complex,

like a prayer or a piece of mourning or an indictment

(probably all three)

—

And I think about how I’m not Troy Davis, 

how I’m not Trayvon Martin,

and I am not Shaima Alawadi. 

For I’m told my skin is innocent and pure,

that my eyes are righteous in their blueness,

even when they behold the red blood of a child, 

a brother, a mother

—

I think that’s part of the point of the big, hot letters

stretching across an entire red-brick apartment complex.

# writing it out

Posted 2 months ago 2 notes

“Silencing”

The experience of being hit on is almost never simple. Sometimes - not always - I truly want to be friendly with the person who’s coming on to me. And this complicates it, because I’m then obliged to do this ridiculous little social dance. Feel uncomfortable but don’t show it. Smile and laugh, because you like this person, but not too much, or they’ll think it’s okay to continue saying weird, creepy things. Shy away from their overbearing compliments, but be careful about your “tone”, because maybe they’ll think you’re being coy and flirty by doing so. 

This is a form of silencing. Often, telling a man you’re uncomfortable or that you’re not OK with that kind of unsolicited attention risks your relationship with them. They might get offended, or assume you don’t want to be friends with them at all. Most likely they’ll brush you off and tell you it’s not a big deal - they’re just trying to be friendly, of course - which is the worst of all. 

There’s another layer of silencing that comes along with this experience. Your male friends often have absolutely no clue about your conflicted and uncomfortable experiences with this person, because they could never, ever imagine what it’s like to be in that position. And every time one of those friends praises this person, talks about how unfailingly “friendly” they are, what a good guy he is….you feel less emboldened to speak up. Because why would you want to attack him like that? Why would you overlook all these other important great things about him to get mad about that? Why are you mad about him being nice and complimenting you anyway?

Thinking about this makes me wonder whether I have silenced others, in similar ways, in the past, simply by being white and middle class and completely ignorant about the experiences of others. How possibly my presence has discouraged people from voicing their thoughts. Whether friends have shied away from telling me what’s really going on in their lives because it’s assumed I wouldn’t understand. Whether I’ve been blind to the true nature of certain people because I naturally wouldn’t bear the brunt of their racism or classism. 

This reminds me of something my friend Eddie posted on his blog. It’s about asking the following questions before deciding to voice your opinion: “Does this need to be said? Does this need to be said by me? Does this need to be said by me now?” - or W.A.I.T or “Why Am I Talking?”. Sometimes shutting the fuck up, and being conscious of why you’re doing so, is the best way to contribute to a conversation or to allow your relationship with a person to be strong and honest and trusting. 

# silencing W.A.I.T. sexism racism conversations

Posted 2 months ago 3 notes

Beautiful face
That like a daisy opens its petals to the sun
So do you
Open your face to me as I turn the page.

Enchanting smile
Any man would be under your spell,
Oh, beauty of a magazine.

How many poems have been written to you?
How many Dantes have written to you, Beatrice?
To your obsessive illusion
To you manufacture fantasy.

But today I won’t make one more Cliché
And write this poem to you.
No, no more clichés.

This poem is dedicated to those women
Whose beauty is in their charm,
In their intelligence,
In their character,
Not on their fabricated looks.

This poem is to you women,
That like a Shahrazade wake up
Everyday with a new story to tell,
A story that sings for change
That hopes for battles:
Battles for the love of the united flesh
Battles for passions aroused by a new day
Battle for the neglected rights
Or just battles to survive one more night.

Yes, to you women in a world of pain
To you, bright star in this ever-spending universe
To you, fighter of a thousand-and-one fights
To you, friend of my heart.

From now on, my head won’t look down to a magazine
Rather, it will contemplate the night
And its bright stars,
And so, no more clichés.

— No More Clichés, Octavio Paz (via lotus-eyes)

# poetry octavio paz defining the woman

Reblogged 3 months ago from lotus-eyes 12 notes

Amy Rebecca Klein: Lana Del Rey: The Irony Lady →

amyrebeccaklein:

So it’s kind of weird that people are now quoting me about hating Lana Del Rey. I don’t actually hate her, although I know a lot of people who do. Actually, I can count the number of people I hate on one hand—and none of them are pop stars.

The piece that I wrote about Lana Del Rey many months…

Amazing read, so on-point. From the very start I saw her music as an ironic mirror of our definitions of femininity, and loved it for that. That feeling she describes, of creating a persona through what others want (“I’m in his favorite sundress / watching me get undressed / take my body downtown”) is a very particular sensation that, I think, most women experience at some point but find difficult to express. I think whoever is so enraged at Lana del Rey needs to realize how much her persona was created by our own cultural ideas about women. 

# Lana del Rey women gender music

Reblogged 4 months ago from amyrebeccaklein 396 notes
Haiti, As Seen By Haitians “When you see what Haitians think is beautiful to photograph, important, profound, you learn more about them than anything an outsider can show you. And they do it better because it is so intimate”. In stark and refreshing contrast to the disaster/poverty-porn attitude of this article. “Haiti: Miserable, but it photographs well”??? Gimme a break.  

Haiti, As Seen By Haitians

“When you see what Haitians think is beautiful to photograph, important, profound, you learn more about them than anything an outsider can show you. And they do it better because it is so intimate”.

In stark and refreshing contrast to the disaster/poverty-porn attitude of this article. “Haiti: Miserable, but it photographs well”??? Gimme a break.  

# Haiti photography art projects

Posted 4 months ago 1 note
thinkmexican: 11 Year-Old Carries On Family’s Aztec Dance Tradition San Francisco Mission District resident Connie Xochiquetzalli “Xochi” Peña has been an Aztec dancer all her life. As a 2 year-old, she danced an entire parade route. Now 11, Xochi sometimes steps in for her mother and teaches dance class at the Mission Cultural Center. She comes from a long line of Aztec dancers. Her great-grandfather on her mother’s side was also a dancer in her family’s native Toluca, Estado de Mexico. Xochi has big plans for herself, ones that include practicing either law or medicine. If dancing parade routes as a toddler and teaching classes while still in the sixth grade is any indication, we’re sure she can do anything she sets her mind to. via SF Gate Photo: Rod Yip/The Chronicle

thinkmexican:

11 Year-Old Carries On Family’s Aztec Dance Tradition

San Francisco Mission District resident Connie Xochiquetzalli “Xochi” Peña has been an Aztec dancer all her life.

As a 2 year-old, she danced an entire parade route. Now 11, Xochi sometimes steps in for her mother and teaches dance class at the Mission Cultural Center.

She comes from a long line of Aztec dancers. Her great-grandfather on her mother’s side was also a dancer in her family’s native Toluca, Estado de Mexico.

Xochi has big plans for herself, ones that include practicing either law or medicine. If dancing parade routes as a toddler and teaching classes while still in the sixth grade is any indication, we’re sure she can do anything she sets her mind to.

via SF Gate

Photo: Rod Yip/The Chronicle

Reblogged 4 months ago from blarghblat (Originally from thinkmexican) 1,484 notes

On the discourse of dehumanization

“That black slaves could create and continually re-create songs marked by the poetic beauty, the emotional intensity, the rich imagery which characterized the spirituals-songs which even one of the most devout proponents of the white man’s origins school admits are ‘the most impressive religious songs in our language’-should be enough to make us seriously question those theories which conceive of slavery as a closed system which destroyed the vitality of the slaves and left them dependent children. For all of its horrors, slavery was never so complete a system of psychic assault that it prevented the slaves from carving out independent cultural forms. It never pervaded all of the interstices of their minds and their culture, and in those gaps they were able to create an independent art form and a distinctive voice”. Lawrence Levine, Black Culture and Black Consciousness

I think Levine touches on an important point here. When we discuss people who have been targets of dehumanizing policies or behavior, we often act as if they themselves are inherently dehumanized. Forever. But the human spirit is stronger than that, and it’s more damaging than helpful to treat people only in relation to what’s been “done” to them, rather than as whole, independent persons with the capacity to shape their own lives. 

# laurence levine black culture and black consciousness dehumanization slavery

Posted 4 months ago 13 notes
Artist books on war and the soldier- Part 2 Combat Paper “The Combat Paper Project utilizes art making workshops to assist veterans in reconciling and sharing their personal experiences as well as broadening the traditional narrative surrounding service and the military culture.  Through papermaking workshops veterans use their uniforms worn in combat to create cathartic works of art. The uniforms are cut up, beaten into a pulp and formed into sheets of paper”. Vet Drew Cameron on the project: “The story of the fiber, the blood, sweat and tears, the  months of hardship and brutal violence are held within those old uniforms. The uniforms often become inhabitants of closets or boxes in the attic. Reshaping that association of subordination, of warfare and service, into something collective and beautiful is our inspiration”.  And so the process of creating a finished artistic project becomes an act of deconstruction, catharsis, and transformation… And the images dialogue with the viewer about the idea of the soldier vs the person who lies beneath the uniform….and perhaps, in a parallel fashion, the projection of a militaristic national identity vs a more honest look at ourselves.  More about the Combat Paper Project More artist’s books from the Boston Athenaeum’s collectionArtist books on war and the soldier- Part 2 Combat Paper “The Combat Paper Project utilizes art making workshops to assist veterans in reconciling and sharing their personal experiences as well as broadening the traditional narrative surrounding service and the military culture.  Through papermaking workshops veterans use their uniforms worn in combat to create cathartic works of art. The uniforms are cut up, beaten into a pulp and formed into sheets of paper”. Vet Drew Cameron on the project: “The story of the fiber, the blood, sweat and tears, the  months of hardship and brutal violence are held within those old uniforms. The uniforms often become inhabitants of closets or boxes in the attic. Reshaping that association of subordination, of warfare and service, into something collective and beautiful is our inspiration”.  And so the process of creating a finished artistic project becomes an act of deconstruction, catharsis, and transformation… And the images dialogue with the viewer about the idea of the soldier vs the person who lies beneath the uniform….and perhaps, in a parallel fashion, the projection of a militaristic national identity vs a more honest look at ourselves.  More about the Combat Paper Project More artist’s books from the Boston Athenaeum’s collectionArtist books on war and the soldier- Part 2 Combat Paper “The Combat Paper Project utilizes art making workshops to assist veterans in reconciling and sharing their personal experiences as well as broadening the traditional narrative surrounding service and the military culture.  Through papermaking workshops veterans use their uniforms worn in combat to create cathartic works of art. The uniforms are cut up, beaten into a pulp and formed into sheets of paper”. Vet Drew Cameron on the project: “The story of the fiber, the blood, sweat and tears, the  months of hardship and brutal violence are held within those old uniforms. The uniforms often become inhabitants of closets or boxes in the attic. Reshaping that association of subordination, of warfare and service, into something collective and beautiful is our inspiration”.  And so the process of creating a finished artistic project becomes an act of deconstruction, catharsis, and transformation… And the images dialogue with the viewer about the idea of the soldier vs the person who lies beneath the uniform….and perhaps, in a parallel fashion, the projection of a militaristic national identity vs a more honest look at ourselves.  More about the Combat Paper Project More artist’s books from the Boston Athenaeum’s collectionArtist books on war and the soldier- Part 2 Combat Paper “The Combat Paper Project utilizes art making workshops to assist veterans in reconciling and sharing their personal experiences as well as broadening the traditional narrative surrounding service and the military culture.  Through papermaking workshops veterans use their uniforms worn in combat to create cathartic works of art. The uniforms are cut up, beaten into a pulp and formed into sheets of paper”. Vet Drew Cameron on the project: “The story of the fiber, the blood, sweat and tears, the  months of hardship and brutal violence are held within those old uniforms. The uniforms often become inhabitants of closets or boxes in the attic. Reshaping that association of subordination, of warfare and service, into something collective and beautiful is our inspiration”.  And so the process of creating a finished artistic project becomes an act of deconstruction, catharsis, and transformation… And the images dialogue with the viewer about the idea of the soldier vs the person who lies beneath the uniform….and perhaps, in a parallel fashion, the projection of a militaristic national identity vs a more honest look at ourselves.  More about the Combat Paper Project More artist’s books from the Boston Athenaeum’s collectionArtist books on war and the soldier- Part 2 Combat Paper “The Combat Paper Project utilizes art making workshops to assist veterans in reconciling and sharing their personal experiences as well as broadening the traditional narrative surrounding service and the military culture.  Through papermaking workshops veterans use their uniforms worn in combat to create cathartic works of art. The uniforms are cut up, beaten into a pulp and formed into sheets of paper”. Vet Drew Cameron on the project: “The story of the fiber, the blood, sweat and tears, the  months of hardship and brutal violence are held within those old uniforms. The uniforms often become inhabitants of closets or boxes in the attic. Reshaping that association of subordination, of warfare and service, into something collective and beautiful is our inspiration”.  And so the process of creating a finished artistic project becomes an act of deconstruction, catharsis, and transformation… And the images dialogue with the viewer about the idea of the soldier vs the person who lies beneath the uniform….and perhaps, in a parallel fashion, the projection of a militaristic national identity vs a more honest look at ourselves.  More about the Combat Paper Project More artist’s books from the Boston Athenaeum’s collectionArtist books on war and the soldier- Part 2 Combat Paper “The Combat Paper Project utilizes art making workshops to assist veterans in reconciling and sharing their personal experiences as well as broadening the traditional narrative surrounding service and the military culture.  Through papermaking workshops veterans use their uniforms worn in combat to create cathartic works of art. The uniforms are cut up, beaten into a pulp and formed into sheets of paper”. Vet Drew Cameron on the project: “The story of the fiber, the blood, sweat and tears, the  months of hardship and brutal violence are held within those old uniforms. The uniforms often become inhabitants of closets or boxes in the attic. Reshaping that association of subordination, of warfare and service, into something collective and beautiful is our inspiration”.  And so the process of creating a finished artistic project becomes an act of deconstruction, catharsis, and transformation… And the images dialogue with the viewer about the idea of the soldier vs the person who lies beneath the uniform….and perhaps, in a parallel fashion, the projection of a militaristic national identity vs a more honest look at ourselves.  More about the Combat Paper Project More artist’s books from the Boston Athenaeum’s collection

Artist books on war and the soldier- Part 2

Combat Paper

“The Combat Paper Project utilizes art making workshops to assist veterans in reconciling and sharing their personal experiences as well as broadening the traditional narrative surrounding service and the military culture. 

Through papermaking workshops veterans use their uniforms worn in combat to create cathartic works of art. The uniforms are cut up, beaten into a pulp and formed into sheets of paper”.

Vet Drew Cameron on the project: “The story of the fiber, the blood, sweat and tears, the  months of hardship and brutal violence are held within those old uniforms. The uniforms often become inhabitants of closets or boxes in the attic. Reshaping that association of subordination, of warfare and service, into something collective and beautiful is our inspiration”. 

And so the process of creating a finished artistic project becomes an act of deconstruction, catharsis, and transformation…

And the images dialogue with the viewer about the idea of the soldier vs the person who lies beneath the uniform….and perhaps, in a parallel fashion, the projection of a militaristic national identity vs a more honest look at ourselves. 

More about the Combat Paper Project

More artist’s books from the Boston Athenaeum’s collection

# art artist books war national identity

Posted 4 months ago 16 notes