CumbiaClash · music for fighters and lovers
Imagine driving down a dusty dirt track on the edge of the Amazon jungle, deep in the heartlands of Colombia’s guerrilla country. The landscape is rough and breathtaking. The driver of the yellow taxi cab, manifestly relieved finally to be at a safe distance from death squad check points, reaches out for the tuner button on his cheap FM radio. He synchronizes an ever-changing frequency, passed from mouth to mouth throughout the villages and towns of these proud and rebellious regions.
This is the magic moment, where you hear the sound of untamed freedom for the first time. “Voz de la Resistencia” – the Voice of Resistance – is no ordinary chain of music radio stations. It’s run by the most powerful guerrilla organisation Latin America has ever seen: the FARC. The guerrillas also happen to be among Colombia’s most important promoters of traditional and alternative music.
In recent years, FARC’s record label has released 23 albums, a fascinating tour de force of latin and afro-caribbean styles like cumbia, gagá, champeta and salsa combined with hiphop, bossa nova and rock´n roll. FARC musicians include some of Colombia’s most celebrated artist such as Julián Conrado and Christián Pérez. They live to play. They also risk their lives for their libertarian lyrics, in a country where the government is bent on wiping out the democratic opposition with merciless terror. That’s why they are not just singers, but also fighters.
The struggle to reach beyond new horizons of freedom, solidarity and social justice is not just a Latin American thing. Let’s take a look at Europe, 2007. Copenhagen was definitely the place to be. Unforgettable moments of love and rage unfurled as the city’s youth stood up against police brutality and a rightist establishment trying to “normalize” alternative cultures deeply rooted in collective ideals and anti-capitalism. Out of the clashes has grown a new powerful progressive movement with a musical muscle ready to kick ass!
FARC musicians clandestinely sent a selection of tracks to some of Copenhagen’s most daring dj’s, who remixed and mashed-up, adding that intense sound of metropolitan rebellion. In the process of bringing the beats of freedom from the jungle to the streets, Copenhagen and Colombia has joined hands in ways no-one ever dreamed or heard of.
The truly amazing result can be downloaded for free
Enjoy CumbiaClash. And keep it jungle!
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