Episode Three—"Should We Remember?" Music, Dictatorships, and Dissent in Latin America

This episode is hosted by Dr. Citlali Sosa-Riddell (Cal State University, San Marcos) and looks at music as a form of dissent in Latin America.Music in the form of nueva canción, canto nuevo and rock and roll became a creative space for dissent with young people frustrated with the anti-democratic societies they lived in and challenging it through their participation in musical culture.Así que this episode examines Argentina, Mexico, and Chile from the 1960s to the 1980s to find out exactly why rock music became a space of creativity against the dictatorships.Song Listing:In this episode we listened to Enanitos Verdes “El Extraño de Pelo Largo,” which is a cover originally from La Joven Guardia, "Avándaro" by Tinta Blanca and "Lamento del indio" by Inti Illimani. These songs is not available on any streaming services. And we also heard Sol y Lluvia with "Organizando."We also heard a a version of "Eres para mi" originally from Julieta Venegas. This episode's version is episode was performed by the students of Miramonte Music Program, based in the MiraMonte school in South Los Angeles.Original songs played in our episodes are included in our Podcast Playlist. Make sure to check it out as new songs are included weekly during the summer 23.Episode Three Bibliography. Books and Articles for further reading and research:—Abello Onofre, Carolina. "Scratching the Stones of Rock and Roll: Love Lyrics in the Times of the Argentinian Dictatorship." Rock Music Studies 5, no. 1 (2018): 76-93.—Carreño, Rubí. Av. Independencia: Literatura, música e ideas de Chile disidente. Cuarto propio, 2013.—Espinosa, Christian Spencer. "Hacia un nuevo cancionero popular: música, creación y política en la revuelta social chilena (2019-2020)." Boletín Música 54 (2020): 29.—Favoretto, Mara, and Timothy Wilson. "El Gran Hermano burlado: la neolengua oficial y la neolengua contracultural durante la Dictadura Militar (1976–1983) en Argentina." Contexto-Revista do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras da UFES 31 (2017).—Favoretto, Mara. "The Falklands/Malvinas War (1982) in Argentine Rock Songs." Lied und populäre Kultur/Song and Popular Culture 63 (2018): 53-66.—Manzano, Valeria. "“Rock Nacional” and Revolutionary Politics: The Making of a Youth Culture of Contestation in Argentina, 1966-1976." The Americas 70, no. 3 (2014): 393-427.—McSherry, J. Patrice. "La dictadura y la música popular en Chile: Los primeros años de plomo." Resonancias vol. 23, n° 45, julio-noviembre 2019, pp. 147-169.—Neustadt, Robert. "Music as memory and torture: sounds of repression and protest in Chile and Argentina." Chasqui 33, no. 1 (2004): 128-137.—Pensado, Jaime M. "“To Assault with the Truth”: The Revitalization of Conservative Militancy in Mexico During the Global Sixties." The Americas 70, no. 3 (2014): 489-521.—Prado, Ignacio M. Sánchez. "The Idea of Democratic Transition." Modern Mexican Culture:Critical Foundations (2017): 166.

Om Podcasten

This podcast examines the perennial quest of Latin Americans and Latinx peoples to create more just and equitable societies. The series focuses on the political project of Latin American rock en español, a musical genre that challenged the hegemony of English rock and began in the 1970s.During the 1970s, a number of Latin American countries were faced with dictatorships and military coups that led to the “dirty wars” in which citizens were traumatized, tortured, and murdered. This project will be examining the lyrics for main themes of social justice that circulated during the dirty wars of Mexico, Chile, and Argentina in particular.We will also feature intergenerational conversations to examine the legacies of this music in our present moment and how Rock en Español was employed by LA Latinas and Latinos to fight against anti-immigrant rhetoric and politics in 1990s California.This project is supported in part by the University of California Office of the President MRPI funding M21PR3286.