i like having political discussions with amado, who is 4. sometimes they are tricky. we've talked about the police, for example, a zillion times. he knows they hurt & kill people. but he also really likes vehicles & uniforms & sirens, which complicates things. in general, though, he really impresses me with his political analysis. a few months ago i was talking to him on the phone, telling him about my day and that i had been at this mission anti-displacement coalition event. land use issues are pretty easy to talk about with kids. i told him, we want them to make this parking lot into housing for poor families and a community center. i asked him what he thought, and he said he thought it was a good idea.
then there was a pause in the conversation and then he added:
y tambien queremos que cierren todas las cárceles and also we want them to close all the jails ...
y tambien queremos que todos los policias se vayan muy muy lejos and also we want all the police to go far away ... y tambien queremos libertad and also we want freedom ...
verdad, nina? right, nina?
umm... sí! that about sums it up.
it's a delicate operation, raising leftist children. you want to encourage their critical thinking skills, and at the same time you want them to develop a deep sense of what we believe and why. but you can't tell them what to believe, unless you want to see them end up like one of those ex-red diaper babies who is now an adult reactionary or self-indulgent pain in the ass.
cultivating little roquer@s, and proper appreciation of good music in general, is kind of similar i think. just enough, not too much. they'll come along :) i remember when amado was a baby, we were in the car and fabulosos cadillacs revolution rock was playing. i turned around to say something to him and found him with his arms in the air dancing around in the back seat. no encouragement needed. eso!
foto: the other day amado came downstairs to ask for help with his hair, out of the blue, to make it "parado". oh man, i love this kind of tia responsibility!
ok, so here are a few songs for nayahuari, la baby cumbiambera, & mayari, amado's new little sister (born november 18th!), the two littlest roqueras (and future izquierdistas) de la familia rsf... to get them off to a good start!
amado likes these, as well as classical music (??!) and the star wars soundtrack.
que calor : pibes chorros
ooh child : nina simone (original the 5 stairsteps)
oh my god, how much do i love el son jarocho? sooooo much! me encaaaanta. (actually i think all las rsf do.) the traditional music of the beautiful state of veracruz (méxico), el son jarocho is derived from indigenous, african, and spanish rhythms. its call & response décimas and evocations of collective memory are perfect music for political protest. indeed there are countless songs in this style against the bosses and for the revolution. more about that soon...
for now, here is camilo nu & his jarana in essaouira, morocco:
i love that the little boy recognizes that the sound comes from mexico ;)
and estanzuela in veracruz, méxico:
ahh, el cascabel. so many interpretations of this song. always a favorite! yo tenia mi cascabel / con una cinta morada / con una cinta morada / yo tenia mi cascabel / y como era de oropel / y como era de oropel / se lo di a mi prenda amada / pa' que jugara con el / alla por la madrugada. and los cojolites also in veracruz:
important aviso: see los cojolites tonight at brava in sf, tomorrow at galería de la raza in sf, &/or next friday at la peña in berkeley. i've seen them a couple times and they give an excellent show! really, really very talented jóvenes.
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