Performing Memory in Latin America

"La Cerámica es probablemente el único arte humano que le da forma a los sueños que sueña la tierra." Ceramics is probably the only human art that gives form to the dreams of the earth. "Yo no he sabido nunca de su historia un día nací aquí sencillamente el viejo puerto vigiló mi infancia con rostro de fría indiferencia..." I have never known of their story one day I was simply born here the old port guarded my childhood with a face of cold indifference... "La vida es un sueño no te duermas" Life is a dream, don't sleep "Aunque nos miremos fijo Nuestros corazones ya se fueron a bailar." Even though we are stuck looking at ourselves Our hearts already left to go dance. "Hay que soñar en grande siempre" One must dream big always "La paz no se conquista se decide" Peace is not conquered, it is decided "Ser feliz es gratis" Being happy is free

The murals in the Borda hospital have evolved I think from an age-old phenomenon that people often forget about--something that is often debated even now, and that is the power of art. Not even just art though as in visual arts, but also with performing arts or the power of music like the piano of Martín Perino from the article that onlookers said "relaxes your body, brings you to another world, and makes you forget all your problems." Specifically the murals in El Borda stem from this movement called desmanicmialización, which "seeks to restore dignity and respect to the mentally ill and to de-medicalize and de-stigmatize treatment for them." The walls are there to be painted on for the people inside them to be able to express themselves and, while finding healing for themselves, to also be able to show the world that they are not just their diagnosis and that they are capable of creating beautiful or at the very least, thought-provoking work. I think the radio, La...

"Latinoamérica" is a song by Calle 13 that, like Bomfim says, is more or less an attempt on the part of Calle 13 to connect Puerto Ricans to the rest of Latin America. However, while I know that that is the meaning that is meant by the artist and the meaning that we draw from it because of the artists' origin and previous works and well-known sociopolitical views, I think that for me the song is, even much more than just for Puerto Rico, an anthem for all of Latin America to rally behind. It draws on details and memories of activities and traditions that are universally relatable for nearly all Latin Americans, and even also upon the New Song movement type of music that was common to much of Latin America--all to create a beautiful, powerful, unifying, empowering song para todos . Another reason I think that it is so firmly a group oriented song is because of the collaboration of all the different artists of different nationalities that are participating, whether it be by...

Rebel Diaz came last Friday and kind of blew away my expectations with their workshop. Well, I suppose I didn't really have expectations per se, but it's just that they were so engaging and articulate, passionate and informed, and at the same time, just very chill or easygoing, which I appreciated in a setting like that. It was a bit lecture-esque in format which surprised me, but I think that they do the best they can to make it as interactive as it can be, like with the displacement exercise that they did with us. As kind of a side note too, I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of talking that G1 got to do due to my previous sort of pondering about him and his voice since RodStarz often seemed to be the one articulating their motivations and beliefs in the interviews I found in my research about the group. I also was glad to hear about a bit about their music making process since that was another one of my inquiries, and I think that that answer also helped me to get a fe...

Firstly, I'm just gonna start by rattling off some facts that I learned about Rebel Diaz in my research. They are a hip hop, or self-proclaimed "rebel rap," duo made up of Rodrigo "RodStarz" Venegas and Gonzalo "G1" Venegas. Their parents are originally from Chile and were a part of the radical leftist group Movimiento Izquierda Revolucionario, which likely resulted in their exile from Chile when Pinochet and his soldiers came into power. Because of this, RodStarz was born in England while G1 was born in Chicago, where the two considered themselves to be originally from, though they also identify with the South Bronx area, where they "came up," though I couldn't actually find much detail about their childhood or family details. But, once they had become involved in the politically active musical world, in the Bronx is where they decided to turn an abandoned building into the Rebel Diaz Arts Collective, which operated from about 2008 to ab...

You know how every awesome movie has a really great, powerful, accompanying musical theme? Or how every truly annoyingly catchy ad campaign has a really recognizable jingle? That kind of seems like what the New Song music was for Latin America. It was a signature kind of music that was created for the general people by mixing different elements that all played into the common goal of uniting the people. The Chilean New Song movement was a revolutionary musical movement that highlighted the plights and desires of the people, especially the marginalized and the people that belonged to the left. It functioned as the bones, the theme music if you will, behind a unifying social movement and not just on the Chilean platform, but really it was a joint wave that spread throughout Latin America. The music itself has very folkloric vibes and undertones, even incorporating many indigenous instruments like the quena, sicus, bombo leguero, and charango, which in Chile contributed to the specifica...

Honestly, I’m still quite unsure about how I would define memory. I think it is certainly a part of one’s identity, but I’m not sure that it’s the only thing that makes us who we are. I believe this was highlighted for me when we were talking about the difference between memory and thought, especially with concern to Borges’ story about Funes. What I gathered from the text was that memory is more like the raw collection of data that humans store away. Memory is made up of all the details and is more of a matter of no frills recall of a moment, almost as if you were watching back a video tape. Obviously human memory cannot be as perfect as real life and hence distorts this definition of memory, but it is as close an approximation as we can get. If it were perfect however, that is when we are hedging into the realm of what has happened to Funes. The drawback to his case is that due to the overwhelming amount of detail and inability to forget any little bit, to zoom out and get the big ...