Julieta Venegas - Unplugged & Uncompromised

OK, we all know that Julieta used to be a rockera and then she went pop. That being established, there are still many reasons to love her, perhaps even more, as now she has been able to pursue her own musical trajectory, part of which I was privileged to share in last Sunday at a free concert in Central Park, NYC. (Incidentally, there should be more free music in the world, more access to art, more public & private monies to pay the artists so the public’s access isn’t so restricted.) As you may know, Julieta recently recorded an MTV Unplugged album, and though I have not yet watched the YouTube videos, I got a taste of her latest project at her concert, as she is now touring the unplugged versions of her songs. Let me start by saying that Julieta had 14, yes, 14, musicians on stage with her playing everything from orchestral strings to brass to keyboard to congas. The bass player was even doubling as a tambourine player (the tambourine was played with his foot while he plunked away on an upright bass). What an orchestration! Clearly Julieta’s compositional skills are not lacking. Neither is her musicianship. During the concert Julieta sang, and played guitar, and played piano, and of course, played her sparkly red and black accordion (red and black...how cool is that). Then there were her shoes, low silver pumps that were decorated with little purple lighting bolts to match her purple dress. Needless to say, I was in love.

But no concert is complete without it's público, and no city is complete without its Mexicans, which, in New York, are hard to locate if you don’t know where to look. Of course, it wasn’t just the paisas that came out.
I happened to be standing next to a group of rasta-colombianos and some Peruvians. I was also standing next to a Mexican woman and her daughter. The little girl looked about nine years old. She stood there, gripping the front security fence for three hours while we waited for the line-up to start, for the first two acts to do their thing (DJ Bitman & Pastillina Mosh), for the set change to be completed, and then for Julieta to finally come on stage. When Julieta emerged, the little girl was soooo excited. She was singing along with the songs, and whenever Julieta walked towards our side of the stage, the little girl reached her arm out, as true fans do, trying to get as close to her beloved idol as possible. It reminded me of the Selena craze, and I thought, isn’t it awesome that this little girl has female star to look up to—an artist who does not allow herself to be sexualized in the gross ways that other female artists often are, a singer/songwriter/musician who came of age in the Tijuana rock scene and who gives her fans a wealth of true talent to admire.

“Ojalá todos los americanos fueran libres…” – Enrique Bunbury calls out capitalism

I just bought the Héroes del Silencio Tour 2007 DVD & CD set and just watched the “behind the scenes” documentary that comes on disc 2. The documentary, which follows the band throughout their 10-stop tour, is not narrated but instead relies on conversations that were captured on tape to tell the story of the tour. There are only two points in the whole DVD where anyone directly speaks to the camera for more than a second. In one of these moments, lead singer Enrique Bunbury, while being driven through the streets of Los Angeles, turns to the camera and says—

“…eso que hablábamos de la libertad. Por ejemplo claro la libertad aquí en este país—este es el gran país de la libertad—es un país en que eres libre a hacer cosas si pagas. Quiere decir que eres libre si tienes dinero…Entonces, ¿hasta qué punto un político Americano puede decir que Estados Unidos es un país libre y Cuba no es un país libre? ¿Hasta qué punto Cuba es un país menos libre si en Cuba tienes unos derechos que aquí no tienes? Pero sin embargo esas libertades de las que tanto hacemos como publicidad ¿no? en los países del primer mundo están condicionadas por el dinero que tienes. En realidad no eres libre. Eres tan libre como lo sea tu cartera, lo grande que sea tu cartera. Ojalá todos los americanos fueran libres para tener una sanidad pública. Ojalá todos los americanos fueran libres para tener que comer, todos los días. Al final con lo que nos encontramos es que realmente ninguno de los sistemas opuestos, el estadounidense o el cubano es—podemos decir que es bueno por naturaleza. Ninguno es fantástico, pero en uno faltan las libertades individuales, pero en otro faltan las libertades colectivas básicas.”

I don't know whether I agree with Enrique's assessment of Cuba's "individual liberties," but his statement about the U.S. capitalist system rings true-- and this from an artist who is not known for making political statements. Neither in his songwriting with Héroes nor as a soloist does Bunbury attempt to raise political consciousness (although he does have a cover of “Hasta siempre, comandante"). So, this 1.5 minutes of footage makes me wonder who made the decision to include this piece. Was it the film editor's or Enrique's call? Whoever it was made the choice knowing that this DVD would sell thousands and thousands of copies all over Latin America, Europe, and yes, the United States. In other words, in a double DVD set full of rock star glamour and nostalgia, this moment stands out as an intentional message to the world.