3x mojado

a few days ago i made a post about a recent film sin nombre. like the famous corrido by los tigres del norte (tres veces mojado / three times a wetback), it tells the story of immigrant workers coming to the u.s. from central america. before they make it to the 3-tiered fence, armed border guards, dogs, barbed wire, and scorching & freezing desert temperatures that welcome them on the u.s. side, central americans have to get through central america and into mexico first. with few other options, most people do this by riding on top of freight trains... more checkpoints, more armed border guards, more detentions, pouring rain...



¡abajo las fronteras! ¡¡que viva la dignidad rebelde!!

Tu Turno…Your Turn

¡Hola Compas! Ahora queremos oír de ustedes, las personas que leen y visitan nuestro blog. Mi pregunta para ustedes es: ¿Cuál fue su concierto favorito y porque?

Mi concierto favorito debe ser Watcha Tour 1999 en San Jose, Califaztlan. Mi hermana y nuestras amigas me recogieron del aeropuerto después de haber estado en Colorado por tres meses. Nos fuimos directo al Santa Clara Fairgrounds con mis maletas en el carro. El concierto era afuera en un área abierta sin zacate ni cemento, solo tierra morena y caliente. Me acuerdo del polvazón que se levanto en el mosh pit durante el set de Cafe Tacvba. No se podía ver nada, solo polvo y las sombras de la gente bailando. ¡Salimos de ese show súper cansadas, empapadas de sudor y tierra, pero muy feliz!

Y ustedes, haber ¿qué dicen? Escriban acerca de su concierto favorito en el área para comentarios.

**********************************************

Hello Comrades! Well, now we want to hear from you, the people who read and view our blog. My question for you is: What was your favorite concert and why?

My favorite concert has to be the Watcha Tour 1999 in San Jose, Califaztlan. My sister and our friends picked me up from the airport after having been in Colorado for three months. We went straight to the Santa Clara Fairgrounds with my luggage in the trunk. The concert was outside in an open field without grass or cement, just brown and hot earth. I remember the dust storm that occurred in the mosh pit during Café Tacvba's set. You could not see anything, just dust and the outline of people dancing. We came out of that show super tired, drenched in sweat and dirt, but very happy!

And you, what do you say? Write your favorite concert experience in the comments area.

¡Video: Ramón Ayala en Vivo!

Finalmente encontré el video que tome durante el show de Ramón Ayala y los Bravos del Norte que se llevo a cabo en Septiembre 2008. Si, entiendo que estamos a Mayo 2009 pero, pues…. ¡Ramón Ayala es intemporal!

Aquí está el post original del concierto como referencia y para si quieren saber porque me gusta tanto Ramón Ayala.

La Canción en el Video es "Te Vas Ángel Mío"

 

Aquí está la letra a "Te Vas Ángel Mio":

Te vas ángel mío,
ya vas a partir,
dejando mi alma herida
y un corazón a sufrir.

Te vas y me dejas,
un inmenso dolor,
recuerdo inolvidable,
me a queda doler tu amor.

Pero ay cuando vuelvas,
no me hallaras aquí,
iras a mi tumba y allí rezaras por mí.

Veras unas letras escritas allí,
con el nombre y la fecha,
y el día que en fallecí

Finalmente, los dejo con algunas canciones de Ramón Ayala y su bello acordeón. Que las disfruten como generaciones anteriores y como generaciones que están por venir.

***************************************************

Finally I found the video that I took during the Ramon Ayala y los Bravos Del Norte show that took place in September 2008. Yes, I know that it is May 2009 but, well….Ramon Ayala is timeless!

Here is the original post of the concert as reference and if you want to know why I like Ramon Ayala so much.

The song in the video is "Te Vas Angel Mio"

Here are the translated lyrics of "Te Vas Angel Mio"

My angel you are leaving,
you are about to depart,
leaving me with a wounded soul
and a heart left to suffer.

You are leaving and are leaving me,
An intense pain,
with an unforgettable memories,
that are left to mourn your love.

but when you return,
you will not find me here,
you will go to my grave, and there you will pray for me

you will see some letter written there,
With my name, the date, and the day I died.

Finally, I leave you all with a few songs of Ramon Ayala and his beautiful accordion. Hope you enjoy then as much as previous generations and hopefully the generations to come.

Mi Golondrina (My Dove)

Tristes Recuerdos (Sad Memories)

Tragos Amargos a Licor (Bitter Drinks of Liquor)

Seis Pies Abajo (Six Feet Under)

Un Rinconcito en el Cielo (A Little Corner in Heaven)    

 

¡¡Puras Covers!! Only Covers!!

Algo que siempre me ha gustado es la habilidad de un artista de tomar una canción de otra artista y cantarla en su estilo único. No estoy hablando de esos artistas que solo toman partes de otras canciones sin dar creadito al artista original. Estoy hablando acerca de bandas que solo por el puro amor a la música "cover" canciones que nos transportan a otro tiempo o a otro tipo de música.

Me gustaría compartir con ustedes algunas de mis "covers" favoritas y otras que he encontrado recientemente y me han encantado. ¡Déjenme saber que les parece!

Something I have always liked is a band’s ability to take another artist’s song and sing it in their own unique style. I am not talking about those bands that sample parts of other songs without even giving credit to the original artist. I am talking about bands that out of their pure love of music cover songs that can transport us to another time or to another genre of music.

I would like to share with you all some of my favorite covers and others that I have found recently and I loved. Let me know what you think!


Jaula de Oro: Julieta Venegas (Original: Los Tigres del Norte)


La Negra Tomasa: Caifanes (Original: Compay Segundo)


Dancing Days: Stone Temple Pilots (Original:Led Zeppelin)


Hotel California: Panteon Rococo (Original: The Eagles)


La Bamba: Ska-P (Original: Cancion Tradicional de Veracruz)


Girls Just Wanna Have Fun: Ska-P (Original: Cindy Lauper)


Ring of Fire: Social Distortion (Original: Johnny Cash)


Hurt: Johnny Cash (Original: Nine Inch Nails)


Rock el Casbah: Rachid Taha (Original: The Clash)

¡justicia para victor jara!

from today's guardian:

It was the atrocity which symbolised Chile's descent into dictatorship: soldiers used rifle butts to smash the hands of Victor Jara, a political activist and folk singer, so he could not play guitar. Then they shot him 44 times.

Yesterday, almost 36 years later, justice caught up with one of killers. José Adolfo Paredes Márquez, a former conscript in Augusto Pinochet's army, was charged with murder.

The burly 54-year-old was tracked down in San Sebastian, a spa town outside the capital Santiago, where he was working as a waiter and gardener.

Activists who have campaigned for the case to be reopened welcomed the announcement but urged authorities to focus on arresting commanding officers. "There are other people responsible – those who ordered the torture and the execution," said Joan Turner Jara, the singer's English-born widow.


¡¡no a la complicidad!! ¡¡¡justicia para el pueblo chileno!!!

¡¡¡que viva victor jara!!!

**

ni chicha ni limoná : victor jara

sin nombre

i saw this excellent film that's playing now in a limited release, sin nombre, directed by cary fukunaga (executive producers gael garcia bernal & diego luna). it's so beautiful. and devastating.



(posting here the spanish-language trailer because the english-subtitled one is edited in a way that's misrepresentative i think. but you can see it at focus features if you'd like.) i won't say too much about this film here, mostly because the words are escaping me. yes, it's like that. go and see it.

but a quick note on the music... the soundtrack is perfect! it pulls together the old school (canción mixteca, tres veces mojado) & the new (amandititita, cartel de santa), skillfully crossing landscapes of neo-liberalism & civil wars, and constantly echoing the rhythms most beloved in centroamérica. in general, haunting & lovely, very much like the film itself...

el barrio ya no hay gente (there's no people in this neighborhood anymore) : vakero



flaca de las coloradas : dick el demasiado y sus exagerados

dialectic

hey! my camarada ying-sun is in this band dialectic, which has just released their latest, laugh like a bandit/love like a thief. they will perform at the hotel utah on tuesday for their record release. felicitaciones to ying-sun, mario, & ian on the new record!! see you tuesday nite at the hotel utah :)

here is a taste...

homecoming : dialectic



sweet!

dialectic record release party
9pm : tuesday, may 26th
at the hotel utah : 500 4th street @ bryant, sf
w/ misisipi rider & dj willie maze
$7 at the door
ages 21+


speaking of dialectics... i want an umbrella like this one:



foto: communist party of india (marxist) party supporters hold party umbrellas with the sickle and hammer during an election rally in agartala on april 21, 2009 (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

no se olviden de mi bolígrafono

mario benedetti
14 septiembre 1920 - 17 mayo 2009

above foto:
benedetti at la universidad nacional autónoma de méxico
mexico city, 1988. (archivo la jornada)


cuando me entierren
por favor no se olviden
de mi bolígrafo

**

when you bury me
please don't forget
my ballpoint pen

: mario benedetti


oh, we lost a great poet! mario benedetti, militant & writer, co-founder of the political wing of the tupamaros in uruguay was mourned yesterday in a funeral procession that drew thousands of people in montevideo. benedetti was exiled from uruguay and then argentina, away from his compañera and family, starting in 1973 and lasting for 12 years. he sent poems from his exile as weapons, to be used in the fights against the oligarchies and the dictatorships; daniel viglietti and joan manuel serrat set them to music and countless others applied them to memory. his poems chronicle working class life, celebrate love & resistance...


from te quiero :

...

tus ojos son mi conjuro
contra la mala jornada
te quiero por tu mirada
que mira y siembra futuro

tu boca que es tuya y mía
tu boca no se equivoca
te quiero porque tu boca
sabe gritar rebeldía

...

te quiero en mi paraíso
es decir que en mi país
la gente vive feliz
aunque no tenga permiso

si te quiero es porque sos
mi amor mi cómplice y todo
y en la calle codo a codo
somos mucho mas que dos

**

your eyes are my lucky charm
against daily misfortune
i adore you for your gaze
that looks to and sows the future

your mouth that is yours and mine
that does not equivocate
i adore you because your mouth
knows how to shout rebellion

...

i adore you in my paradise
which is to say in my country
where people live happily
even though they don’t have permission

if i adore you it is because you are
my love my accomplice and everything
and in the street, arm in arm
we are so much more than two


and here is mario benedetti reading his poem, desaparecidos (the disappeared):



¡¡¡que viva mario benedetti!!!

feliz cumpleaños, malcolm x

You haven't got a revolution that doesn't involve bloodshed. And you're afraid to bleed. I said, you're afraid to bleed. As long as the white man sent you to Korea, you bled. He sent you to Germany, you bled. He sent you to the South Pacific to fight the Japanese, you bled. You bleed for white people. But when it comes time to seeing your own churches being bombed and little black girls be murdered, you haven't got no blood. You bleed when the white man says bleed; you bite when the white man says bite; and you bark when the white man says bark. I hate to say this about us, but it's true. How are you going to be nonviolent in Mississippi, as violent as you were in Korea? How can you justify being nonviolent in Mississippi and Alabama, when your churches are being bombed, and your little girls are being murdered, and at the same time you're going to get violent with Hitler, and Tojo, and somebody else that you don't even know? If violence is wrong in America, violence is wrong abroad. If it's wrong to be violent defending black women and black children and black babies and black men, then it's wrong for America to draft us and make us violent abroad in defense of her. And if it is right for America to draft us, and teach us how to be violent in defense of her, then it is right for you and me to do whatever is necessary to defend our own people right here in this country.

: malcolm x (message to the grassroots, 1963)

**

on revolutionary nationalism:



on the price of freedom:

Video: Panteon Rococo en Sunnyvale Primero de Mayo!

Como dicen, mejor tarde que nunca, no?

Finalmente, aqui esta un poco de video que tome durante el show de Panteon Rococo en Sunnyvale el 1ero de Mayo. Espero que les guste!

chican@s ♥ palestina

intifada like my mother
intifada like my brother
blue stars come crashing down
refugees martyr bound
zionist marauders move in for the slaughter
savage holocaust of a starving shanti-gaza
voices from below billow
through clouds and desert echoes

: intifada (by quetzal)

**

:) oh, quetzal does east l.a. proud!! they refused to play at yesterday's fiesta shalom (ew! zionist! and tacky!) in boyle heights.

the little band from east l.a. honored our proud chican@ legacy of solidarity with the palestinian struggle for self-determination, and while they were at it called out the vendido city councilmen who endorsed the event as the barrio pimps that they are.

here is their statement:

To Whom It May Concern:

Quetzal will not be performing at the Fiesta Shalom on May 17th. When first presented with this performance, it was presented as “an opportunity to improve Jewish and Chicano relations”, which we are certainly in accordance with. When we received the contract, we noticed it was sponsored by the Israeli Consulate. For Quetzal to perform for the Israeli Consulate would mean that we ignore the following:

• Decades of zionist occupation of Palestinian lands and the historically ironic holocaustic genocide of the Palestinian people

• The Israeli/US relationship that has permitted the creation of “permanent” war against people throughout the world.

• Decades of Chican@ solidarity with the Palestinian people and their struggle for Self-determination.

• Decades of solidarity with the non-zionist, non-imperialist peace-loving Jewish community.

• Over 500 years of genocide, enslavement, and abandonment of all people of color as well as poor whites including all the victims of the Jewish holocaust.

Quetzal is but a small part of a massive community of artists that is committed to using art as a tool to redefine and reconstruct our neighborhoods. We hope that elected officials (barrio pimps) such as Jose Huizar begin to see the light of accountability.

éso! ándale, quetzal! arriba palestina!!

thank you, gg.

checkpoint rock

hey, speaking of the basques, here is a trailer for a new film by roquero fermin muguruza, checkpoint rock : canciones desde palestina (songs from palestine) ...

rock en euskera

para ti, pati :)
abrazos,

-diabólika


¡despierta!
¡dispara!
un gringo,
en tu casa.*

: nicaragua sandinista

* wake up! / fire (a shot)! / a gringo / in your house.


it's true. there's also a lot of excellent (and left!) music that's come out of the basque country...

nicaragua sandinista : kortatu



inkomunikazioa : fermin muguruza



todos los hintxas : skalariak



euskadi antifaxista : betagarri

panteón es la dosis perfecta

hmmm...so que pasó con el video de pachuquita? well, in the meantime...

la carencia : panteón rococo



la dosis perfecta : panteón rococo





cover, 2005 compilation which includes la carencia



you know, there are some moments where you think, this just would not happen in english. songs are often like that i guess, but i always think that when i see la carencia & la dosis perfecta performed live. at shows those are the 2 most beloved pantéon rococo songs, and everyone shouts the lyrics very fast very loud when they are played. and in english it just would not work. though fairly translate-able, i cannot imagine la carencia, a song about accumulation by dispossession, being quite so melodic & catchy and getting that same amount of love in english. "... y en el mundo globalizadooo, la gente pobre no tienen lugaaaar... y la carencia ¡arriba! y los salarios ¡abajo!" (and in the globalized world, poor people are left without a place ... the deprivation goes up! and the wages go down!). jeje, divertidiiisima! the song, not the accumulation by dispossession.

and then la dosis perfecta, oh man. there are i think two types of songs that panteón does best: songs about working class resistance & songs about tormented love. la carencia is the first and la dosis perfecta the second.

cuando veíamos estrellas y tu eras una de ellas
de esas que abrazan la tierra con su luz
y hoy me llamas y me dices
que empacas tu presencia
que has hecho las maletas
que hoy dices adios

despues de romper el cielo juntos,
esa forma tan tuya de hacer el amor y estallar al llegar
no, no puedo aceptar que hoy te vayas
y me dejes un cuarto de mil batallas
cobrarte yo no quiero, no quiero cobrarme
sólo quiero que tú te quedes aquí, yeh yeh yeh

hoy mi cuerpo necesita de ti saber
que la dosis perfecta esta en tus caderas
en tus besos, tu sonrisa, tu cabello y ese cuerpo que me erizaaaaa
hoy mi alma sabe que estás bien
pero tú dime, tú dime quien
estará para aliviar mi dolor
si ya no estas tú.

this song i will not attempt to translate because 1. it wouldn't be adequate; english is too un-accommodating and 2. even just reading over the words that i copied & pasted there makes me blush. but same as la carencia, i love seeing hundreds (a thousand?) of people shouting these lyrics so urgently at the tops of their lungs. it amuses me because the words are after all a very lovely and poetic contemplation of the intricacies of desire & absence. they go nicely with the shouting though. hurray for el rock en español!

for the friday night may first show, panteón waited until the encore to play both la carencia and la dosis perfecta one after the other. by the time they finally came up all hell broke loose on the dancefloor. well there was this split second of calm, which was almost graceful, and then you blinked and then everything went flying everywhere (cerveza in my hair again)... kind of like between the gang fight scene in west side story and a riot. well worth the price of admission ;)

¡Correle Vaquita Molly!

¡Correle Vaquita Molly!

Who are some of the greatest freedom fighters of our time? Che Chevarra, Emma Tenayuca, Comandante Ramona, Malcolm X, and now ….Molly the Cow.
This awesome cow escaped a slaughter house in New York, jumped a fence, escaped from the police, ran through the streets to be free from becoming just a piece of meat. Molly was determined to be free, and not a fence or cops were going to keep her from a nice green meadow and a salt lick. Even though she was recaptured, she was able to get her freedom and will be able to live out the rest of her days on a ranch.



You can read about how Molly escaped and ultimately has won her freedom here and here.

¿Quiénes son algunos de los luchadores más grandes de nuestro tiempo? Che Guevarra, Emma Tenayuca, Comandante Ramona, Malcolm X, y ahora…..La Vaca Molly.
Esta vaca chida se escapo de un matadero en Nueva York, brinco una cerca, se escapo de la policía, y corrió por las calles para liberarse y no convertirse en solo un pedazo de carne. Molly estaba determinada a liberarse, y ni un cerco ni la pinche policía la iba a detener de un pasto verde y una piedra de sal. Aunque la recapturaron, ella consiguió su libertad y va a poder vivir el resto de su vida en paz en un rancho.

Pueden leer acerca de cómo Molly se escapo y finalmente consiguió su libertad aquí y aquí (disculpen, pero solo está disponible en Ingles).

¡Que Viva la Vaca Molly!

Panteon Rococo 1ero de Mayo en Sunnyvale!

Este 1ero de Mayo celebramos el Dia Internacional de la/el Trabajador/a con una marcha donde cienes de personas participaron, gritando "Las calles son del pueblo, el pueblo donde esta, es pueblo esta en la calle exigiendo libertad!". Aunque la lluvia disminuyo nuestros numeros, tambien ayudo a aumentar la energia del grupo y el compromiso a marchas toda la ruta.



Despues de la marcha, celebramos con ir a ver a Panteon Rococo en Sunnyvale. Esta banda siempre pone un show con mucha energia. La mosh pit estaba loca y fue lindo ver tantas rockeras y rockeros divirtiendose y celebrado el 1ero de Mayo.




Tome video chido del show, pero pinche YouTube no me deja ponerlo! Por ahora, solo podemos compartir algunas fotos del show. En cuanto puedamos, agregaremos un poco de video para todos.

Esperamos que todos se la pasaron bien este 1ero de Mayo!

bds paris

:) i love these. this one used pink floyd for the soundtrack (i prefer the ramones), but still a very good advertisement for boycott divestment sanctions against israel. bravo, franceses! viva viva palestina!

¡Feliz Día Internacional del Trabajador!

Striking garment workers block traffic in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2006 to demand better working conditions, which they won after 13 hours in the middle of a busy street.

International Worker’s Day 2009 – Las RSF will be celebrating by taking to streets to demand justice from San Francisco to Palestine, legalization and worker’s protections for immigrants, and an economic bail-out for the working classes from this crisis created by los meros adinerados. On this, the 119th anniversary of International Worker’s Day, let us not forget that the day was originally observed to honor a labor strike that took place in this country, one of the few countries that refuses to officially recognize this day.

In solidarity with the workers of the world, we offer you these songs.

La Pachuquita


The Magnificent Seven - The Clash

la diabólica

¡la tierra es para quien la trabaja! the land belongs to those who work it!!


A Desalambrar - Daniel Viglietti

La Cumbiambera

This song, by Guatemalteco Ricardo Arjona, flooded the radio stations right around the time of the mass Immigrant Rights marches of spring 2006. Listen up, políticos, as photographer and essayist David Bacon points out, “The wealth created by undocumented workers is never called illegal.”



“Si la visa universal se extiende el día en que nacemos
y caduca en la muerte, por qué te persiguen mojado
si el cónsul de los cielos ya te dio permiso.”

“If the universal visa is extended to us on the day we are born
and expires when we die, why do they persecute you, mojado
if the consul of the heavens has already given you permission”