Music as Social and Political Instrument of Change in Latin America

Philosophers and critics ease up long argued over which way the truism should read does contrivance imitate life, or does life imitate art? Historically, artists of every medium have contributed to the brotherly dialogue via there works, whether finished hieroglyphics depicting a successful journey to the underworld, a holy lament for the dead, or shock artist Robert Mapplethorpes sexually and religiously arguable exhibits. Music transcends most art forms as a tool for junction because it inherently invites participation, even more so than dance or sign of the zodiac in the realm of the performing arts, which demand more individual preparation. Songs and chants fag end be gene pass judgmentd anywhere, and often hearken back to indigenous folk medicine that taps into a communal experience, frankincense strengthening the find of interconnectedness.In Latin American, two similar genres of music developed out of the cultural music of the region in response to contemporary soc io- semipolitical issues that personally stirred in Chile and Cuba. In Chile, Nueva Cancin ( youthful Song) emerged in the mid-1960s, just as Nueva Trova was taking root in Cuba. In set down of the spic-and-span Song impulsions intimate relationships in the revolutions that rocked Latin America during the late 60s to mid 70s, one is urged to conclude that Eric Selbins statement regarding revolutions being made not arriving more accurately reflects the inherent ideological influence in socio-political upheaval. As Nancy Morris exhibits a member of the musical theater heading saying, Canto Nuevo is not just a post-1973 way of singing. In what is said and how its said poetically and musically, Canto Nuevo is a process (qtd. in Morris 118). some(prenominal) musical movements stemmed from artistic reactions to the living and running(a) conditions in Chile and Cuba respectively, and both embraced handed-down folk musics conventions as a program to express politicized lyrics. Ne w Song began as a fusion of traditional musical forms with socially relevant lyrics. Although each country has developed variations of New Song that reflect local social and political conditions and musical styles, New Song as a whole can be characterized as music intended to support and promote social change (Morris 117). In Chile, songwriter, activist, educator, poet and martyr Victor Para wrote songs that for many defined the atmosphere of the movement and the hope of the community.His song, Plegaria a un Labrador, which uses Biblical language to convey a kernel of hope and change, was chosen as the best song of the Primer feast de la Nueva Cancin Chilena in 1969 (Morris 120). Jaras music (and the music of the replete(p) movement) was like a responding chorus to the political requests of Salvador Allende, the Unidad Popular (Popular adept) coalition candidate. In Plegaria a un Labrador, Jara wrote the following lyricslevntate y mrate las manos,para crecer estrchalas a tu herm ano. Juntos iremos unidos en la sangre. Hoy es el tiempo que puede ser maana rise up and look upon your hands, so as to make clasp your brothers in your own. We shall advance together fall in in our blood. Today is the time/when we can shape tomorrow.These lyrics suggest a call to arms and a charge to unify (i.e., Unidad Popular) so that the many can affect positive change for the good of the citizenry. hitherto there is still a sense of hope in the song, that the working class have the capacity to stand together and advance, not plainly battle meaninglessly against oppression. Jara went on to openly support Allende, including performing free concerts. tho three years after Allende was elected, the US-supported military staged a coup detat on folk 11, 1973. Allende most likely committed suicide. The music of the Nueva Cancin was severely affect by this media censorship after the coup.It was banned from the airwaves, removed from record stores, confiscated, and burned musician s were exiled, imprisoned, and, in the well-known case of Victor Jara, killed (Morris 123). On September 12, 1973, Jara and thousands of other Allende supporters were taken to the Chile Stadium, where Jara was tortured and murdered. The new government essay to silence the Nueva Cancin by forcing the musicians to hide, but the music was not the lieu of the musicians as Jara so eloquently wrote, the music was for the working people of Chile, and thus is was not to be completely suppressed.In Cuba, the revolution began with in 1953 with the guerilla attack on the Moncada Barracks and culminated in the overthrow of Fulgencio Batistas government on January 1, 1959 by a group, which included Fidel Castro, Raul Castro, and Ernesto Che Guevara. After he assumed power, Castro fatigued the early part of the 1960s eliminating all Batista loyalists, including the mass execution of 70 Batista regime soldiers. One crucial element of support for Castros social change, even in the wake of such brutality, was the proliferation of songs that supported the revolution and its innovative intentions.Artists such as Silvio Rodrguez and Pablo Milans were responsible for the Nueva Trova in the late 60s, and their efforts were say to re-imagining the traditional music for the new culture under Castros political umbrella. To this end, the government sponsored and supported those artists of the movement, because they were, in turn, supporting the progressive movements of the new party. Both Rodrguez and Milans wrote songs for Che Guevara, for example. By negotiating their way through Cuban cultural politics, Rodriguezs multiplication defined their politics in the process, proving Cuban culture to be divers(a) and inspiring,challenging propaganda clichs by creating the distinctive self- critical songs of the Cuban revolution, (Fairly 15).In both countries, the music makers were part of the recipe for social and political change. Their lyrics gave preliterate people a way to expre ss their frustrations and concerns, and the musicians of the Nueva Cancin worked with and against the political forces of their day. As Fairly writesIn a country not blessed with newspapers, the delivery of songs matter songs like the iconic Ojala, a song about unacceptable desire and dreams that seems to capture all lifes uncertainties in one, became the soundtrack of everyday life crossways the Spanish-speaking world. Although he was no apologist for the revolution, Rodriguezs popularity at home became so great that people joked that he had gone from being banned to obligatory. (15)This sense of obligation is part of the way in which many people have a hand in creating and growing massive socio-political movements.Works CitedJan Fairley. engage & Music Jazz, World, Folk etc An accidental hero For Latin Americans, Silvio Rodriguez is the equivalent of the Beatles and Dylan turn over into one. Ahead of a rare UK visit, Jan Fairley met the Cuban singer. The Guardian Sept. 2006 1 5. National Newspapers, London, UK. ProQuest. 6 Feb. 2007 http//www.proquest.com/Morris, Nancy. Canto Porque es Necesario Cantar The New Song Movement in Chile, 1973-1983. Latin American Research Review 21.2 (1986) 117-136.