Panamérika Celebrates 200 Shows on RBMA Radio
Panamérika celebrates its 200th radio show this week, and marks the finale of a series of five shows that focus on the recent wave of political awareness that has gripped the country in the lead up to the general elections in Mexico, as well as the groundbreaking student protest movement Yo Soy 132 that was launched a couple of months ago. This landmark show is also released as a compilation, and has been over four months in the making, with exclusive tracks and B-sides that encapsulate the Panamérika ethos. The show’s producer Uriel Waizel tells us about the show, highlighting its varied playlist which is fueled by the ‘Mexican Spring’, and the awakening of a new generation of young Mexicans. Listen to the 200th show or tune in every week at RBMA Radio.
Panamérika is produced on Ibero 90.9, a college radio station at the Universidad Iberoamericana at the Santa Fe financial district in Mexico City. It’s a wealthy neighbourhood, filled with 21st century architecture. The story of this 200th show really starts in May this year, when PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) candidate, Enrique Peña Nieto came to visit the university for a pre-election campaign talk. To his surprise, he was met by an angry student protest, and after enraging the crowd further with an arrogant defence of the right to use police force, Nieto first sought refuge in the toilet before fleeing the campus. Subsequent events led to the formation of Mexico’s student protest group Yo Soy 132, and since then, the atmosphere on the university campus has been full of revolutionary energy. Recorded just before the election last Sunday, Panamérika’s landmark show bristles with possibilities, the force for change and the excitement that the core values of society are up for grabs.
Panamérika isn’t so much about a specific geographical location, as it is about reflecting a certain Latin-ness that can be found throughout the world. If you could see the LP covers, or some of the costumes the artists wear, or understand the lyrics if you speak Spanish… sadly many things are lost in translation. I guess the artwork and posters by our resident artist Óscar Reyes represent all the things we play in the show, all these mixed philosophies and remixed identities. For this show, inspired by the prints and lithographs of artists of the Mexican Revolution of the 1910s, like José Guadalupe Posada, Leopoldo Méndez, and David Alfaro Siqueiros, Oscar takes the imagery of 70s slapstick anti-hero El Chapulín Colorado and the semi-dicatorial duopoly of Mexican TV to create a powerful, galvanising poster. The title of the show is one of El Chapulín’s tongue-in-cheek slogans when he catches the unwitting foes: “You did not count on my cleverness!”
Óscar Reyes' image for show 197 (see title image at the top of the page for show 200)
Here at Panamérika, we feel the urgency to be recognised. This show is a great example of the many sides and flavours to the Latin identity. With Panamérika, we like to keep our musical diet well balanced, by eating experimental fruits and veggies. Sometimes commercial radio makes our ears ready only for easily digested formulas that don’t have that many nutrients. By showing these peculiar tracks, we’re trying to portray a different kind of Hispanoamerica, with heterogenous ways of approaching music and art. And at the same time, challenge old stereotypes and ways of thinking. All the tracks are great: it’s like we invited our best friends to come to the 200th show, with music from Venezuela, Mexico, Chile, Brasil, and Colombia. But I’ll pick a few tracks to talk about in depth.
Ana Tijoux “Desclasificado”
If there’s one country to watch in Latin America it’d be Chile. It has quite cold weather, and a very German or Scandinavian personality. You can really make a comparison between Chile and Scandinavian pop, Chile crafts the best indie and pop in the whole of the Americas, they’re very well organised. Ana is a hip hopper, she lived in France for a while, she’s a single mum and she’s always fighting with the bare fist. She’s aggressive, very beautiful, she’s like an Erykah Badu or a Janelle Monae. This song talks about the pariahs of society, the ones on the bottom rung of the ladder. The chorus sings of “Pyramida pyramida pyramida…” meaning the ones who are left out of political plans, the ones at the bottom of the pyramid.
Instituto Mexicano del Sonido “Nitroglicerina”
Camilo Lara from Instituto Mexicano del Sonido is a record collector: imagine Cornelius, he’s like a psychologist, and he’s very humorous. His last record used a lot of kitsch, kling klang, naive sounds, but his fourth album is called Political, and after a year or so in the making, it was just released on the dawn on the Mexican Spring. He’s shifted from the kitsch samples and is now experimenting with rockabilly and rap, a humorous edge. One of the things that we Mexicans share is our sense of humour. It’s a very funky humour, very colourful. It’s sarcastic, but happy. It tells the truth in a funny way, and Instituto Mexicano del Sonido reflects that.
The article asked, “How come you live in a country that is at war with drug lords, that has 60,000 dead people as a result of that war, that has a dictatorship soon to be in power, that has a media conglomerate controlling the minds of the people, and you choose to write about galaxies and gods?”
Sr Amable “La Neta Del Planeta”
Sr Amable plays kind of shoegaze, which is having a resurgence in Mexico at the moment. Six months ago there was an article in the national press about the Zoe generation. Zoe is a Mexican band from the 90s, which was very popular, but whose lyrics are kind of empty… kind of like Coldplay or Muse. They sing about planets and gods, epic things like that. The article asked, “How come you live in a country that is at war with drug lords, that has 60,000 dead people as a result of that war, that has a dictatorship soon to be in power, that has a media conglomerate controlling the minds of the people, and you choose to write about galaxies and gods?” So, there’s a whole generation of bands that don’t want to write about society, they’d rather keep mute on the issues of the grown ups. All they can express is beautiful noise, and the title is a rhyme and means the truth of the planets.
Robota “Let’s Get Physical”
Robota is like Throbbing Gristle or Add N To X. He’s an analogue gear head, he loves krautrock, he loves Can, Neu, Silver Apples. Strangely, on this track he’s bittersweet, while the rest of the album is brutal. The lyrics for this song are borrowed from anarchist manuals like How To Build A Molotov Cocktail, or Steal This Book. You can’t really distinguish the lyrics, they’re through a robot filter, but they’re instructions for the modern day anarchist.
Carla Morrison “Apague Mi Mente”
Carla Morrison, we liken her to Adele, she’s full of romantic deceits. Her album is full of depression and cathartic lyrics about loneliness. Carla doesn’t follow Amy Winehouse’s style of modern swing, she’s more folky, more laid-back. But it’s also a really depressing song, it’s kind of the way society is feeling right now. Not just because of job opportunities or because of the state of the economy, it feels more like sadness at being deceived. This last Monday was the bluest Monday we’ve ever had. Really, the longest faces, on the point of tears. This song reflects that. The song title literally means ‘I Turned Off My Mind’.
Bocafloja “Medios Masivos”
Bocafloja is a rapper from Mexico City, now he lives in New York. He’s very aggressive, and in this song he’s very bold: he name checks every person who conspires with the dictatorship. Each person in the press, on the TV and news, in public opinion, that has distorted the truth and has lied to the people, and helped the dictatorship get back to power.
Caetano Veloso “Cambalache”
Finally this is an anthem throughout Latin America whenever you think about public protests, and has become a song about protest. We try to celebrate past icons, every show you will find a past jewel and a vintage song. We try to make links to present acts, and figure out how the DNA crosses over, and what styles are happening right now.