"La Bamba Rebelde" by Las Cafeteras
"La Bamba" is a Mexican folk song originally from Veracruz. It gained international fame in 1958 in the movie adaptation starring Ritchie Valens. Las Cafeteras, a Chicano band from East LA, reinterpreted the son jarocho song as "La Bamba Rebelde" to challenge the nativist, anti-immigrant racism, reimagining post-nationalist Chicano/a and Mexicano/a communities especially those near the US-Mexican borderlands.
I used to love dancing around to "La Bamba" as a kid, so it's amazing to see it come to life through a tight-knit community. The joy that's expressed is as persuasive as suffering- it's truly powerful to perpetuate the spirit of an oppressed culture, especially those of the borderlands, to show their undying passion and willingness to keep fighting.
ReplyDeleteTouching on a song that has rich history immediately gives the song a lot of weight as a protest song. It reinforces to ignorant audiences that these people who want to make a life for themselves in a new country are not just the nameless, faceless "illegals" that conservatives are so quick to decry. It helps to show to anyone listening that they, along with everyone else in the world, have deep, rich histories and cultures. For as hard as conservative media tries to dehumanize people of the latinx community so they can intern them in cages, this track vibrantly and brilliantly forces them to see the humanity of those that they try to oppress.
ReplyDeleteThis is brilliant. Further to my comment about Nick M.'s post—how artists over the years have taken that piece and updated/adapted the lyrics to suit modern causes—here is an example of artists taking what on its surface is a non-political piece and imbuing it with an explicit activist position with new words (and images), as others have pointed out, by also capitalizing on the cultural status the song has gained over the years. But I gather from reading about this that this isn't actually anything new for this song, as a folk song, people have long adapted it to suit different occasions.
ReplyDeleteLas Cafeteras are a great example of younger Latinx artists maintaining their musical origins within a new country and therefore also a new context. La Bamba is easily one of the most "gentrified" (i can't find a better word) songs in Spanish, besides maybe Feliz Navidad or something. For them to reclaim it is incredibly powerful.
ReplyDeleteI can't understand the lyrics, but I can say that this piece evokes the idea of togetherness. That alone can be a powerful tool in uniting all peoples.
ReplyDeleteI love the way a familiar song can reinterpreted to better reflect a certain context. I wonder if it can be argued that every piece of music without a political stance in its framework can be reworked to be considered protest music by the people who perform it and the messages they hope to convey.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who is not a member of the community depicted in the video, I found the visual components to be very informative. I think this speaks to its effectiveness as a form of protest. While celebrating a reclamation of the song, it depicts a fun, loving, real community. I certainly would not have gotten that from listening only, but that does not diminish the value of the music. We might consider that different audiences are being targeted by the two forms of media.
ReplyDeletePresenting protest music from different states of emotional, to evoke different emotions, is an extremely powerful tool. By using a song familiar like to a US audience, as well a song that at the surface is, for lack of a better word, "happy" sounding, Las Cafeteras draws their audiences in order to capitalize on their position through an activist lens
ReplyDeleteI love Las Cafeteras. They came to Ann Arbor recently to perform and run workshops. I really enjoy how this band explicitly deals with issues through both their lyrics and community organization. This coupling is so potent in the way it deals with both the ideological and structural / communal solutions to real social issues.
ReplyDeleteMy Spanish is poor, so here's the best I can find for an English translation:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.musixmatch.com/lyrics/Las-Cafeteras/La-Bamba-Rebelde/translation/english