In this podcast series we will discuss a bit, no ok a lot of the history of Latin America and Los Angeles and how rock en español plays a big part in this history.At times the lyrics are the recording of this history and other times, the lyrics and the bands become part of some of the big social movements in places like Chile, Argentina, Mexico and by the 1990s Los Angeles too.In exploring these historical moments, crises, and upheavals as well as the struggles of the youth of Latin America and the U.S. we can see what freedom, democracy, and human rights mean to people how they are represented in songs and at the concert stages.You will hear from professors who have studied this music and fans who first heard this music in the 1990s. But as you can imagine we are a bit, well older. So, we will also hear from young people who will examine the legacies of this music in our present moment.So, join on our podcast on The power of Rock en Español and the Desire for Democracy. Episode available on Wednesday June 21, 2023 in all available podcasting platforms.

Episode One Sypnosis:

As a music genre, Latin American rock and roll had long been associated as part of the so-called counterculture and oppositional politics in different Latin American countries.So, let’s start at the beginning…well there are many beginnings. Así que, in this first episode we go over some key info on the history of Latin America in the 1980s, particularly, Argentina, Chile, and México and its interserctions with el rock.

Song Listing:

In this episode we hear a version of Soda Stereo's Música Ligera performed by the students of Mira Monte Music Program, based in the MiraMonte school in South Los Angeles.

We also heard We are South American Rockers by Los Prisioneros, Maldita Vecindad with Apañon and Mojado.

Original songs played our episodes are included the Podcast Playlist. Make sure to check it out as new songs are included weekly during the summer 23.

Episode One Bibliography. Books and Articles for further reading and research:

—Judith Adler Hellman. Mexico in Crisis. (New York: Holmes & Meier. 1999).

Emiliano Aguayo. Las voces de los' 80: conversaciones con los protagonistas del fenómeno POP-Rock. RIL editores, 2012.

—Hector Calderon. "The Mexico City—Los Angeles Cultural Mosh Pits: Maldita Vecindad, a Chilanga-Chicana Rock Banda de Pueblo." Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies 31, no. 1 (2006): 95-137.

—Guillermo Cuccioletta, and Martín Cuccioletta. Soda Stereo, 1982-1997: La Historia. (Buenos Aires: Galerna, 1997).

—Mara Favoretto. "The Falklands/Malvinas War (1982) in Argentine Rock Songs." Lied und populäre Kultur/Song and Popular Culture 63 (2018): 53-66.

—Federico Finchelstein. The ideological origins of the dirty war: Fascism, populism, and dictatorship in twentieth century Argentina. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017).

—John Fiske. “The cultural economy of fandom.” In Lisa A. Lewis (Ed.), The adoring audience: Fan culture and popular media. (London: Routledge. 1992). 30-49.

—Joseph, Gilbert M., Anne Rubenstein, and Eric Zolov, eds. Fragments of a golden age: The politics of culture in Mexico since 1940. Duke University Press, 2001.

—David Harvey. A brief history of neoliberalism. Oxford University Press, USA, 2007.

—Matthew B. Karush. Musicians in transit: Argentina and the globalization of popular music. Duke University Press, 2016.

—Rubén Martínez. "Corazón del Rocanrol." Border/Lines 27 (1993).

—Marcos Novaro and Vicente Palermo. La dictadura militar, 1976-1983: del golpe de estado a la restauración democrática. (Buenos Aires: Paidós, 2003).

—Ignacio M. Sánchez Prado. "The Idea of Democratic Transition." Modern Mexican Culture: Critical Foundations (2017): 166.

—Pablo Vila, , ed. Music and youth culture in Latin America: identity construction processes from New York to Buenos Aires. Oxford University Press, 2014.

Patricia Vilches. "De Violeta Parra a Víctor Jara y Los Prisioneros: Recuperación de la memoria colectiva e identidad cultural a través de la música comprometida." Latin American Music Review (2004): 195-215.

—Diana Taylor. Disappearing acts: spectacles of gender and nationalism in Argentina's “Dirty War.” (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1997).

—Paula Thorrington Cronovich. "Out of the Blackout and into the Light: How the Arts Survived Pinochet's Dictatorship." Iberoamericana, XIII, (2013): 119-137.

—Louise Walker. Waking from the Dream: Mexico's Middle Classes After 1968. (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2013).

In this episode, we will discuss the arrival of Rock en Español to Los Ángeles. How the genre encouraged Latin American immigrants and U.S. Latinas/os to hang out with each other and create a vibrant Rock Angelino scene to claim themselves as part of Southern California at an tense moment of demographic change, economic restructuring, racial tensions and anti-immigrant politics...which was the 1990s, but as you might realize, it can also have parallels to the present.

Song Listing:

In this episode we heard a cover of “Fronteras,” a song originally by Gaby Moreno. The episode version was performed by the students of Mira Monte Music Program, based in the MiraMonte school in South Los Angeles.

We also listened to Rock Angelino trailblazer, Eclipse with “Que triste vive mi gente en Estados Unidos.” Los Olvidados with "Silvestre" and "Viernes." Las 15 Letras' “Aunque no quieras” and "Bi" by Pastilla.

Make sure to check our the Podcast Playlist as new songs are included weekly during the summer 23.

Episode Two Bibliography. Books and Articles for further reading and research:

—Avant-Mier, Roberto. Rock the Nation: Latin/o Identities and the Latin Rock Diaspora. Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2010.

—Harvey, David. A Brief History of Neoliberalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.

—HoSang, Daniel Martinez. Racial propositions: Ballot initiatives and the making of postwar California. Vol. 30. Univ of California Press, 2010.

—Jiménez, Tomás Roberto. Replenished ethnicity: Mexican Americans, immigration, and identity. Univ of California Press, 2010.

—Leal, Jorge N. "Mapping ephemeral music forums in Latina/o Los Angeles." California History 97, no. 2 (2020): 124-127.

—Leal, Jorge N. "Mapping the city from below: Approaches in charting out Latinx historical and quotidian presence in metropolitan Los Angeles: 1990–2020." European Journal of American Culture 40, no. 1 (2021): 5-26.

—Leal, Jorge Nicolas. "Seremos capaces de pensar por nuestra cuenta (We’re capable of thinking on our own): 1990s Immigrant Los Angeles and Latin American Intellectual and Publishing Traditions.." Printing History. Combined Issue, 2022. New Series Number 31-32, Fall 2022. 70-89.

—Lechner, Ernesto. Rock en Español: the Latin alternative rock explosion. Chicago Review Press, 2006.

—Verbuč, David. DIY House Shows and Music Venues in the US: Ethnographic Explorations of Place and Community. Routledge, 2021.