WorldBeat's Makeda Dread: Fasting for Peace

Makeda’s Message to the World and Her 13 Day Fast (Summer of 09)

Makeda “Dread” Cheatom, known as San Diego’s “most colorful flower child,” is an ambassador of art and activism. "She has worked tirelessly to promote peace, love, culture (and counterculture), art, music and humanity via the WorldBeat Cultural Center, Radio Fusion Reggae Makossa Show, Bob Marley Day, as well as her many other projects and causes. Since 1976, she has been on a mindful, multi-cultural mission to make the world a better place. From opening The Prophet, San Diego’s first non-smoking vegetarian restaurant (irking at least one visiting smoker in the process, ex-Beatle George Harrison), to befriending Bob Marley and Fidel Castro; from pioneering California’s longest running reggae radio show 91X, to spreading the WorldBeat word of positivity and unity, Ms. Dread has been an active altruist."

As an example of Ms. Dread’s dedication to mindfulness and the spreading of positive consciousness, she has begun a thirteen day fast, each day representing a different theme. Her life style and impacting statements parallel with WorldBeat Center's ideology of world unification. Makeda states that her fasts symbolize prayers in hopes to share her vision of world compassion and peace. The themes are all dedications to individuals, earth healing, and spiritual transitions.

Days five, nine, ten, and twelve of her fast goes out to people who have lost their homes, family members in the prison system complex, families struggling in the world, and to all the heroes and sheroes who did grand things on our planet earth. Makeda states, “We are all connected. Our community is hurting, it hurts us too.” She emphasizes that “At any rate, it hurts to be away from your family member...You have to realize this is all karmic and they have to go through experiences themselves.” Day eleven is dedicated to our non-profit, the WorldBeat Center and all members, as well as other grassroots organizations that thrive for social understanding, peace, and unification.

Days six and seven reach out to Mother Earth. Her fast is sent out in prayers to stop world wars and conflicts. She prophesizes, “War will never end until we look deep within. Peace will never come until we realize that we must rid ourselves of greed, hatred, jealousy, division, and selfishness.” – In dedication to our mother earth, the animals and plants. There are changes on Earth happening as we breathe. Our environment is weakening at an unbelievable rate, and many of our precious animals are becoming extinct. Day eight is livicated to Ras Jahluel and all Rastas who have made their transition to Zion. Day thirteen is for transformation and finding our way back home.

Each of Makeda’s fast goes out in hopes to reach out to humanity and for the sake of our planet earth. She lives by the motto “We are what we eat and we become what we eat.” As a raw foodist herself, she states that we must remain aware of what’s happening around us, as well as where our food is coming from, how it is made, and by whom; considering migrant farm workers, rising levels of hormone injected animals, and the conglomerate corporations profiting from it. Through email blasts and online blogs, Makeda’s message for her fast went out to thousands of individuals worldwide. Hundreds of individuals have responded in locations from Japan, Ghana, Brazil, Mexico, U.S. and other parts of the world showing her companionship and giving her thanks especially in difficult times all over the world. They are now jumping in the fasting bandwagon! Makeda Dread continues her mission of spreading love, positivity, health and the amalgamation and appreciation of all cultures.

NoisyPlanet's Chris Shaffer

Artist Review: Chris Shaffer

Having a background in the arts from his grandfather who played standup bass in the 40’s, attending school for the fine arts in oil painting and sculpting, and knowledgeable in a wide range of musical instruments, Christopher Shaffer has collectively gathered his artistic influences and abilities to create a fusion of genres. Noise for the absorption of a jazzy, electro trip hop, and drum-n-bass ear that breaks away from conventional musical trends is what audiences can enjoy. Most of his songs remain without lyrics offering pure moments from a melting pot of sounds.

As Christopher Shaffer refuses to sensationalize what is aired on the radio as favorably pleasing, he aims towards the highlighting of social and political injustices that convey today’s world. He believes that “art in a pristine form is a delicate thing that should be treated lightly.” He has not inquired to commercialize his music since he advocates that the music industry takes all the fun out of it, although if possible, he would love to make a living out of it, living for the art. To him, music is a form of self expression and social communication, as he recalls the art spur during the Age of Enlightenment’s ability to change the world.

Shaffer currently works for a visual communications agency, performs with a few friends once in a while, and spends most of his musical time in his studio playing and recording. He states that as more and more people listen and comment on his music, he has set a goal as to collect himself more together in song. He also strives to do music in a way that is accessible to listeners because sometimes it may be “a little too out there.” Shaffer is not currently performing live, but would like to. He poses to stay true to himself inviting audiences to make up their own interpretations of his music.

For original post see http://www.noisyplanet.net/artists/artist.aspx?artist=ChristopherShaffer

Come Together Right Now Over Me

"And our friends are all aboard, Many more of them live next door, And the band begins to play. We all live in yellow submarine, yellow submarine, yellow submarine. We all live in yellow submarine, yellow submarine, yellow submarine."
The Beatles, “Yellow Submarine” (1966)

During the ongoing student protests of the sixties, Berkeley had one of the most enduring ones with the Free Speech Movement. It was a pivotal moment for the civil liberty movements of the sixties. A particular day after six days of student demonstrations in 1966, students and other protesters broke into song with The Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine.” It shocked the press and others, especially that the demonstrators did not sing obvious protests songs like “We Shall Overcome.” Julie Stephen cites Todd Gitlin:

"At a mass meeting about a campus strike, someone started singing the old union standby, ‘Solidarity Forever’. Voices stumbled, few knew the words. Then someone started ‘Yellow Submarine,’ and the entire roomful rollicked into it…The Beatles’ song could be taken as the communion of hippies and activists, students and non-students, all who at long last felt they could express their beloved single-hearted community."

Though, Stephen argues that the choice of song was rather interesting. She could not make up whether it was a ‘naïve’ move or ‘lack of enthusiasm’ coming from the students and not choosing something politically more appropriate, however commercial. Of course, this result of choice of song would not have been possible without the works of mass media and its huge success: ‘Beatlemania.’ Besides Katz explanations of the “manifestations of sound recording’s influences” (7): the ‘Phonographic Effect,’ and the music industry’s role the media, (its mass commercialization, mass distribution of records, band merchandise for mass consumption, articles and publications on all major papers and magazines, and the song’s repetitive chorus), it is not too surprising that this song was sung, despite the political contexts. Above all, during the time of these songs, The Beatles, and other popular rock stars, inspired this counterculture of ‘peace and love.’ It was a technological determinism of music inspiring the hippie movement. It was a defining moment in history of coming together and bonding with a fellow person of similar tastes in music, and singing together.

In countless examples, media’s role and its pull and push notions of excessively mass distributing its music, and other content, through channels of distribution, people have come together to sing, dance, socialize, celebrate, etc., whether its in protests, festivities, cultural settings (e.g. weddings, Colombia’s picó ), rituals, concert halls, and more. The DJ culture also became a technological phenomenon, hunting for the vinyl, “digging in the crates,” (11) and performing in front of a live audience and making them dance. This not only brought other music lovers together to collect records and creatively syncopate them, but established an identity for this community. “Record collecting represents a relationship with music that helps us, in some part small or large, to articulate and, indeed, shape who we are” (Katz 11). Even in the recoding studio, musicians were able to interact with each other in different ways than just rehearsing alone. Because of such settings, musicians and other recording studio assistants were able to bond, or maybe even dispute, regardless of this they were led to collaborate socially.

Today, “the world’s largest music stores sell digital files” (Sterne 292), therefore the MP3 and the digitization of music is an important area when discussing technology and media’s role in constituting modalities of social bonding. Sterne states, “Sharing [music] online can lead to new, more humane modes of economic exchange and social collaboration” (316). Even though the MP3 phenomenon has brought up new issues like enforcements of copyrights laws because the music is not being paid for, it has reached vast audiences otherwise impossible without its digitization. Stern continues that “The MP3 was simply swept up in a technological revolution: Piracy made MP3 the breakthrough format on the internet,” (315) and “Piracy was also the central catalyst in the MP3’s rise to preeminence” (316). Because of the astonishment rates of new forms of music distribution, peer-to-peer file sharing for one, Sterne concludes that “Whatever the fate of the existing recording industries, we need not to worry about the future of music as a vital component of human cultures around the world” (321). Through media and technology, music brought us in unity, created social bonding, and social collaboration.

Money (That's What I Want): The Commodification of Music

"Music trapped in the commodity is no longer ritualistic. Its code and original usage have been destroyed; with money, another code emerges, a simulacrum of the first and a foundation for new powers."
Jacques Attali, Noise, 24.

As touched upon with the NCCh example, when the government owns commercial music, it standardizes it and ideologically influences the people to favor those in control. When music is turned into labor and aims for money, it no longer is created to celebrate life’s love and beauty. Attali declares, “Today, wherever there is music, there is money…Music, an immaterial pleasure turned commodity” (1). This also contributed to the definition of boundaries between the artists and the audience. Karl Marx, in “The Values of Commodities,” explains a characteristic of the commodity as “An object outside us, a thing that by its properties satisfies human wants of some sort or another” (51). Subsequently, Marx states, “The value of a commodity represents human labor in the abstract, the expenditure of human labor in general” (56). When music became something ‘outside us’ and started generating human want, musicians began to work creating music as a product to be sold. Musicians therefore labor to entertain the public. Sound Theorist, Jonathan Sterne, during an NYU presentation describes “music as a thing.” He explains that the “Relations that once existed between musicians and audiences are transformed into relations among cash and records” (2009: 296).

As the demand for music was calling, concert halls then emerged in the eighteenth century. Performers began working in concert venues and/or other performing sites playing for money, and concert promoters/owners sold tickets. Sinnreich explains, “Today, vast bulk of venues increased this by incorporating amplification and transmission technology—such as microphones, sound systems, video cameras, and screens—into the concert experience” (Ch. 2, pp. 28). Technology then became a major catalyst for changing the way we perceive sound. Before such ‘fetishism of commodities,’ Mark Katz in Capturing Sound analyses the first devices to record music, like the phonograph and its effects. Its initial intents were to “simulate a live performance, to approach reality as closely as possible” (26). Today, many musicians during their concerts must live up to their recordings.

Since the emergence of recording devices, record players, headphone sets and other technology, the way we listen to sounds, noise, and music changed and became commoditized. Sterne notes, “We are so deep into this system of objects and objectification that we have forgotten how to think about music as a vital force in life” (297). Consequently, Sterne explains, “The commodity form of music has undergone a massive transformation. Twenty to twenty-five years ago, it was dominated by recordings on physical media: compact discs, tapes, and LP records…Today, the world’s largest music store sells digital files” (292). The trajectory of portable music devices, software programs, file-sharing, and other advances in technology have not only changed the way we listen to music, but how we experience it. Sinnreich describes, “Recent advances in communication technology, such as the personal computer, internet connectivity, accessible media editing software (e.g., GarageBand), peer-to-peer file-sharing software, time-shifting devices (e.g., TiVo), portable media devices (e.g., iPods), portable communication devices, and writable high-capacity media (e.g., DVD-RWs), have enabled a paradigmatic shift in the way people and organizations communicate. Such advances were only possible with the digitization of music and the MP3” (Ch. 3, pp. 2). Because of such shifts within technology intertwined with music, he goes on to explain the emergence of the remix and configurability culture; only possible with digitization.

Even though today’s world largest retailers all sell digital files, something very interesting occurred in the music industry: vast numbers of audiences stopped paying for music. Sterne notes, “The MP3 is thus a case that breaks some of the conceptual machinery of both classical and Marxist explanations of capitalist markets. To use the language of the former, music has become de-monetized. To use the language of the latter, recorded music has lost its exchange value while retaining its use value” (316). Music, however, still functions as a commodity in the respect that it is still being used, possibly more now than ever before since it is more accessible and obtained immediately. However, the revenue has decreased tremendously. Because music had become a mega market, laws against piracy began to be enforced. It is because of piracy that the MP3 raised to high latitudes. “In MP3 form music behaves just like a commodity even though its buying and selling represents only a minority of the transactions in which it is involved” ( Sterne 319). Continuing, Stern states that “Digitization does not, however, automatically mean that recordings have been dematerialized” (299). Because of music’s tangibility, and its ‘thingness,’ Sterne points out that even though pirating increased with such music formats therefore unpaid for, music continued being a commodity because of the way it was being consumed. Importantly, “The MP3 story is thus an important turning point in the history of music as a thing. Although less tangible than recordings on LP or CD, MP3s continued to act like commodities even when they weren’t exchanged like them” (Sterne 320).

"Going Surfing for Christmas" ? : Noisy Planet Artist Review

Jingle bells, eggnog, snow, and Santa Clause. Is this what Christmas really is? Decorating your house with Christmas ornaments and colorful lights, rushing through malls to buy presents, singing Christmas carols, and of course, spending time with loved ones. Okay, but where does it state to follow this traditional and socially-expected event of Christmas? Sorry mom, not this time. First of all, I'm broke, and don't want to tackle through "hungry for discounts shoppers" during last minute shopping. I'd rather be doing something different, something out of the ordinary; maybe like biking around town, or watching surfers on Christmas day!
"I don't need Santa to take my worries away" sings Noisy Planet Artist, Todd Rosenberg, also known as Feelgood Todd, in the holiday song, "Going Surfing for Christmas." Santa is NOT going to tell me what to do this year! This acoustic, rag-time, and playful song encourages us to do what we enjoy, and does not lavish the stereotypical and romanticized Christmas idea of what many holiday songs suggests.

Lucky bunches, local Santa Barbara musicians (because they can go surfing during Christmas in sunny Santa Barbara), Todd Rosenberg, and from The Mad Caddies: Chuck Robertson, Eduardo Hernandez, Keith Douglas, and Sascha Lazor, Graham Palmer from Kinothek, and Ray Fortune from Wil Ridge, perform this song in hopes of getting it circulating through radio stations and reaching it to a Christmas classic. This is where Noisy Planet, Inc. comes in.

Importantly, the song comes at a good time when many of us folks are fed up with having a bunch of the superfluous excess of commercialization on street ads and television. Todd says "People are pretty much sick and tired of a bunch of BS on television...It's time to get real!" This vibrant and good-humored song definitely sets the platform for this. It suggests for the counter mainstream Christmas peeps, to have a real good time! For sure…

listen on http://noisyplanet.net/artists/artist.aspx?artist=FeelgoodTodd

Mexico’s 1968 Student Movement and The New Song

This is an expansion of a previous blog posted on October 2nd, 2008.

Similar to Chile’s protest musicians, Mexico’s nueva canción was a heroic act to change the homogeneity of the elite through songs. These musicians influenced many other people, and artists, to become politically active for generations to come. They took active roles in conscientisizing the public by singing about controversial ideas and statements and proclaiming revolution, exposing government corruption and its oppressive behavior. During the 1968 student movement, the new song was a catalyst for inspiring the masses to protest against the government’s lack of student attention due to the Olympics held that year. These protests caused national attention which led the government to commit one of the most scandalous acts.
October 2nd of 1968 has remained one of the first major atrocities of Mexican authorities. The student movements of the U.S. and Europe that same year had a profound impact in Mexico, where the memory of them would prove to be enduring. The emergence of Mexico’s student movement began in the summer of 1968. The student movement was inspired from six demands that formed the actual framework of the students’ official petition. They were: 1) freedom for political prisoners, 2) elimination of Article 145 of the Penal Code, 3) abolition of the tactical police corps (granaderos), 4) dismissal of the Mexico City chiefs of police, 5) indemnification for victims of repression, and 6) justice against those responsible for repression (Zolov: 1999; 121). The students wanted to exploit the attention focused on the Olympics.

However, President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz was determined to stop all sorts of demonstrations by taking it to the federal level, instead of letting the local police handle it. The government took strong interests since this caused embarrassment due to heavy tourism because of the 1968 Olympics held in Mexico City. Alas, the government decided to solve the situation of outspoken students by shooting one of the school’s doors off with a bazooka during a student conference. Instead of diminishing the authority’s problem maturely, it caused a bigger dispute and other schools got involved causing massive demonstrations. Because the government had a brutal repression towards its students, and their refusal to meet with the students needs, logically the rallies grew exponentially. The masses increased from 20,000 students to 200,000 students, and finally to half a million people demonstrating at the heart of the city, Zocalo. The image of the nation was out of control, especially since the whole world had its eye on Mexico City, due to the Olympics.

Early October 2nd, ten days before the big day of the Olympics, students called out a rally to inspire people to demonstrate and meet with the leaders of the state. This demonstration was held on the Plaza de tres culturas. The setting was a symbolical landmark located in Tlatelolco since the plaza has three cultures in one space: Aztecs ruins, a Spanish colonial cathedral, and modern buildings of the time by the ruling Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI). For this demonstration, about 10,000 people showed up. Strangely, there was a very unusual and suspicious vibe around; a heavy police and army presence, and boxed in plaza with no easy exit. There were undercover police and military members dressed in civilian clothing; however, each wore a single white glove indicating they were not civilians. Dreadfully in this demonstration, the protesters paid their consequences for “embarrassing the country” during international attention. Commanded by president of the time, Díaz Ordaz, the protesters were forcefully trapped in the plaza. The snipers with the white gloves fired into the crowds slaughtering activists who strove for national justice along with innocent residents including children and elders. Tremendous amounts of people were heartbroken, frightened, yet raged. The Mexican government had reported eighteen deaths of people in the massacre of Tlatelolco, which in truth resulted to be around 300 to 400 deaths.

Folk singers, or nueva canión activists, started chronically narrating this movement, the 1968 student movement. Because as mentioned before, the ruling political party, PRI, would not allow any officially distributed news to favor or sympathize these students, any media representation expressed towards this movement were all in a negative light. Several new song musician/activists who created a counter narration of the events are Jose de Molina, Oscar Chavez, Judith Reyes, Pedro Calderon, and Angel Parra. In the case of Judith Reyes, she was another musician who was abducted and held imprisoned under the strict custody of presidential guards, where she remained in complete darkness under physical and psychological torture. Her release was obtained after major protests demanding it.

These outspoken and innovating musician/activists, or in Gramscian terms ‘organic intellectuals,’ paved the way to other upcoming musicians to touch upon this particular event. This was a boom of musicians singing about Mexico 1968 of folk-rock, punk, and rock en español genres. They include Masacre 68 (punk group named after the massacre), Maldita Vecindad, Panteon Rococó, Tres Botones, Banda Bostik, La Parranda Magna, Rodrigo Gonzalez, amongst others. A major theme reoccurring within lyrics was the concept of “October 2nd will never be forgotten.”
Major reasons of why once controversial folk music survives today are largely because of the growing technological expressions for media representations reaching the hands of the rest of the population. Old footage retrieved that documents these events and songs, like Calderon’s song (see his footnote), and added on social media networks, shared through P2P file sharing, and other forms of media expressions, have constituted forms of resistance and raised consciousness for such events badly represented by official modes of communication.

When music uncovers and spreads the message of oppression, injustices, public militaristic executions, and state massacres, the rest of society starts questioning the governing of the nation and the media. When repressive and physical coercion reaches a point of breakage, such as how these folk revivals disrupted the hegemonic system, then those in control have to reinvent methods to keep society controlled, oppressed, and watched. Although the commodification of music had already existed during this folk revival, hence one of the reasons for its emergence, then technology and media furthermore tie in stronger to aim towards public consent and ideological coercion.

"My Guitar Is Not For The Rich" (Taffet's Title): The New Chilean Song Movement

Culture and music in Chile during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s provide us a famous illustration of challenging the elite’s cultural hegemony. This case study retraces briefly retraces the actions of the New Chilean Song Movement, also known as the NCCh. This was a move made by a group of traveling musicians and activists that oversaw the extreme oppression, marginalization, and injustices of the working class. During this time in Chile, foreign and pop music to some degree distracted Chileans from worrying about real life issues, such as poverty, indigenous marginalization, and political injustices. The administration of the time allowed large proportions of foreign cultural production to invade Chile, such as U.S. films, popular music, television programs, and popular magazines. The music was also standardized and those Chileans who had airtime allowed by the State were those who imitated these foreign bands, otherwise pop lyrics without any means of threatening content and all sung in English. This was a mechanism for control as Adorno quarrels, “The products of the culture industry are such that they can be alertly consumed even in a state of distraction. But each one is a model of the gigantic economic machinery, which from the first, keeps everyone on their toes, both at work and in the leisure time which resembles is (1969: 46).
U.S. and Latin America Researcher, Jeffrey Taffet, in his article, “My Guitar is Not for the Rich,” examines the concept of cultural hegemony during Chile’s foreign cultural invasion, it “posited the control of national culture [to] strengthen the elite’s hold on power” (1997; 92). By controlling culture, the elite manage a far more stable domination, and eliminate the subordinate ’s capacity to conjure up the conceptual tools to defy the structure of the system. Founders and members of the NCCh such as Violeta Parra and Victor Jara, challenged this cultural hegemony by redefining the establishment of popular culture and reinforcing ethnic and folkloric Chilean music. This music was not spread through mechanical means, but orally and “aurally.” They used traditional instruments instead of typical foreign rock’s electric guitars, drums, and such. NCCh’s musical lyrics were about social commentaries and protest songs, commonly called la nueva canción, or the new song movement, where it also favored certain leftist political ideas and strove for anti-imperialism, anti-monopoly and anti-Americanism.
As the NCCh gained large amounts of popularity with their radically alternative music versus the imperialist mainstream music, the movement was becoming a minor threat to the government. Consequently, lead activist of NCCh, Victor Jara was captured by the coup and executed by militaristic forces. This was to put and end to the movement when dictator and fascist ruler Augusto Pinochet arrived to power. Jara’s body was savagely thrown out on the street. His fingerers were tortured and mutilated. The myth goes that while he was captured, he was forced to play those songs that caused a threat to the governing system. Subsequently, while playing those songs, the guards cut them off. Taffet concludes, “Unfortunately for the left, that power was strong enough to threaten the elite, but not to destroy it” (100).

The song “Manifiesto” was one of Jara’s last written songs, and it was somewhat prophetic that in his lyrics he states “A man who will die singing.” Extreme cases have led to artists being tortured and as far as their being executed for publically conscientizising their listeners about governments’ dishonesty and corruption. Music has encouraged and inspired revolutions; thus governments tortured musicians like Victor Jara in hopes to destroy a song by silencing the composer and maintaining its power.

The NCCh without mass reproduction or distribution of its music, but with word of mouth, the songs were able to awake the Chilean working class without integrating into the culture industry.

Yo no canto por cantar
ni por tener buena voz,
canto porque la guitarra
tiene sentido y razón.

Tiene corazón de tierra
y alas de palomita,
es como el agua bendita
santigua glorias y penas.

Aquí se encajó mi canto
como dijera Violeta
guitarra trabajadora
con olor a primavera.

Que no es guitarra de ricos
ni cosa que se parezca
mi canto es de los andamios
para alcanzar las estrellas,
que el canto tiene sentido
cuando palpita en las venas
del que morirá cantando
las verdades verdaderas,
no las lisonjas fugaces
ni las famas extranjeras
sino el canto de una lonja
hasta el fondo de la tierra.

Ahí donde llega todo
y donde todo comienza
canto que ha sido valiente
siempre será canción nueva.
Victor Jara, "Manifiesto" (1973)

[English Translation]
"I don't sing for love of singing
or to show off my voice
but for the statements
made by my honest guitar
for its heart is of earth
and like the dove it goes flying
tenderly as holy water
blessing the brave and the dying
so my song has found a purpose
as Violetta Parra would say
yes, my guitar is a worker
shining and smelling of spring
my guitar is not for killers
greedy for money and power
but for the people who labour
so that future may flower
for a song takes on a meaning
when its own heartbeat is strong
sung by a man who will die singing
truthfully singing his song

I don't sing for adulation
or so that strangers may weep
I sing for a far strip of country
narrow but endlessly deep
in the earth in which we begin
in the earth in which we end
brave songs will give birth
to a song which will always be new"

Something Is Happening Here, But You Don’t Know What It Is

Eavesdropping, censorship, recording, and surveillance are weapons of power…Recorded noise and eavesdropping – these are the dreams of political scientists and the fantasies of men in power: to listen, to memorize – this is the ability to interpret and control history, to manipulate the culture of a people, to channel its violence and hopes.
Attali, Noise, pp. 7

Since the earliest philosophical writings tell us, music before the Common Era, and probably even longer, has served as a substance of control. NYU, Media and Communications Professor, Aram Sinnreich analyses it from the origins since Plato’s days until more recent configurable movements. He describes that since the beginning of recorded history, music has constituted modalities of control. The Athens certainly were aware of this 2,300 years ago (when Plato’s Republic was written; 360 BC). He states that, “The Republic suggests that music should be regulated legally, codified through political mandates and policed by the states” (Ch. 1, pp. 4). Sinnreich examines Part III of the Republic. While Socrates is philosophizing with another Athens citizen, they agree that only two harmonic modes are of importance to the State. One is the Dorian, which during wartime is valuable because it builds courage to its listeners. The other one is Phrygian, since it inspires peacetime and encourages obedience. Other rhythms, such as Ionian and Lydian, Socrates suggests, should be vanished from the state as they promote drunkenness, softness, and indolence – these rhythms are too ‘relaxed’ and therefore they are no use to the state. Schafer expands on this point by stating that “A society too drunk with music is incapable of other operational achievements, and the ruler who wishes to stay in power knows how to stimulate music and when to withhold it” (30). Shafer continues, “Music is probably more informative. I refer, of course, to pop music, which is really the only kind permitted in the free world. (Any other kind of music might be, and on occasion has been, considered conspiratorial.)” (29). Sinnreich points out that while Socrates’ concern of music being a modality of control, he only focused on the aesthetic perspective: the rhythm, harmony and timbral (ibid). Although music can serve as a powerful tool for control and regulation, nonetheless, acoustic environments such as caves became inevitably controlling to humans for listening to sounds since ancient times, as well as eavesdropping, and latter other methods of state surveillance.

Dionysius of Syracuse (430-367 BC) the brutal and tyrant leader, rose to power because of war achievements, and famous for his technique on listening. It is speculated, as Schafer’s section “The Ear of Dionysius” describes, that the Tyrant designed prisons in concealed points of observation and with acoustic means to not only monitor prisoners’ actions but listen to their conversations and whispers (28). While the cave, the Ear of Dionysius, actually exists today, it has become a metaphor for all sources of acoustic surveillance conducted by the government as the panopticon and the internet today. Schafer declares, “The ears of the state have never been more curious and open. Everyone has a voiceprint and somewhere everyone’s voice print is on file” (29). Sinnreich distinguishes, “In the case of music, there are at least two other methods of regulation that often come into play: ideological regulation, in which one set of ideas about music is given primacy over another; and commercial regulation in which companies such as broadcasters or record labels serve as “gateways” between musical producers and consumers” (ibid). As technology advanced, techniques of surveillance became inevitably apparent. Shafer continues, “Not all of this listening is carried on in secret. This is no longer necessary once mechanisms are created for society to express itself openly on every possible issue” (29). Sinnreich states, “[A] strategy for coping with institutionalized surveillance…is to participate in the surveillance processes (both as surveillant and object of surveillance)” (Ch. 11, pp. 12). Radio shows and opinion polls then became a more modern way to monitor people when conducting surveys questions for marketing. When media, such as television and radio shows, became popularized, the masses were more willing to participate and share their lives in order to receive exposure.

Even more recent, the internet is looked upon as the new panopticon, or the ultimate form of surveillance while having society’s consent. With new media and the new social networks revolution, we volunteer to have our information on such websites as well as post recordings, pictures, and videos of ourselves. Schafer confesses, “The failure of the twentieth century really comes down to a fascination with buttons and switches in an attempt to modulate information intake. As the twentieth century progressed there were fewer ‘off’ switches; media-massaged society remained in a perpetual state of ‘red alert’” (38). Because newer forms of technology are created and are heavily advertised in today’s society, it is a social ‘unwritten’ rule to own a cell phone in order to keep up with modern culture. Consequently, Schafer notes, “The cellular phone…is the latest installment in this drama. Answer when you’re master calls. Life without secrets, without privacy without freedom. The latest shackle for the technological prisoner to carry about” (38). Besides being on call all the time by the master, what is more uncomfortable and disturbing is that those in authority can ‘turn the switch on’ and listen to anyone’s conversations if they feel like it. Though most of us are aware of this, it has become to a certain degree acceptable, and technology and music have become commodified.

I Read the News Today Oh Boy

¿Ya oíste las noticias? ¿Quién, yo?
Hoy vi en la tele que el país no está tan mal
Con Jorge Campos ganaremos el mundial,
Yo no se a quien creen que engañan,
La calle no está en la pantalla
Mienten mucho, no les creo nada
Mienten mucho, no les creo nada

Hoy vi en la tele que el peso no se iba a devaluar
Dice la radio: "El desempleo va a terminar"
Y en la ciudad a donde mires encontrarás
Gente en la calle buscando como ganarse el pan
Mienten mucho, no les creo nada
Mienten mucho, no les creo nada

¿Que es lo que dicen?
Dicen las noticias:
Que no ha habido matanzas
Son suicidios por la espalda
Que no hay levantamiento
Es una guerra de internet
Mienten mucho, no les creo nada
Mienten mucho, no les creo nada

Hoy vi en la tele que la tira iba a aumentar
Y que el ejército tiene nuevo arsenal
Muchas redadas y retenes
La paz de los sepulcros quieren
Mienten mucho, no les creo nada
Mienten mucho, no les creo nada
Maldita Vecindad, "No Les Creo Nada" (1996)

(English Translation)
Did you hear the news? Who, me?
Today I saw on TV that the country is not doing too bad
“With Jorge Campos we’ll win the World cup”
I don’t know who they are fooling/
The street is not on the screen
They lie too much, I don’t believe them at all

Today I saw on TV that the peso was not going to devaluate/
The radio says: “Unemployment will end”
And in the city wherever you look you find
People on the streets finding ways to make ends meet
They lie too much, I don’t believe them at all

What do they say? The news says:
That there have been no slaughters/
They are suicides from the back
That there is no uprising/
It is an Internet war
They lie too much, I don’t believe them at all.

Today I saw on TV that police numbers are going to increase
And that the army has a new arsenal
Many raids and check-points/
The peace of tombs is what they want
They lie too much, I don’t believe them at all.

In 1996, the album Baile de Máscaras came out in a changing political climate where, Mexico’s ruling political party, Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), and leftist guerrilla insurgency, Ejercito Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (EZLN) were shaking up Mexico’s political and social order. The people of Mexico no longer had full faith and reliance on the government and its media outlets. Furthermore, an increasing number of musicians challenged authorities as government corruption, injustices and oppressions became endemic – the song mentioned above. “No les creo nada” argues that media covers up massacres, manipulates the public with lies, and brings false hopes to Mexican citizens. In Mexican politics, the PRI ruled for 72 years, until its collapse in 2000, and own Televisa, the conglomerate and monopolistic official outlet of communication. During the 1990s, the rise of the internet was becoming a power medium for communication and Maldita Vecindad declares there is “an internet war.” This is so since politics, technology, and media were tightly intertwined, there was mainly a “one-way” communication of those in control to the citizens, causing an oppressive and unjust ruling resulting to war. While the lyrics of Maldita Vecindad call out the authorities and mainstream media, the song actually broadcasts official government news dubbed in the background, showing how the news contradicts itself with real life situations.


[Maldita's fifth album, Mostros, portraying those who own the media, or TV, are power driven deceiving monsters]
As several writers have theorized about music’s several characteristics, Murray Schafer, in his article “Open Ears,” quotes De Bary et al. (1960), which says, “The music of a well-ruled state is peaceful and joyous and its government is orderly; that of a country in confusion is full of resentment and anger and its government is disordered; and that of a dying country is mournful and pensive and its people are in distress” (2003: 29). So why pay attention music? Or for that matter, sounds and noise? Through the song example, the listener is able to comprehend that the social and political order of Mexico was disorderly, as the song expresses anger and resentment. Throughout the years, the role of technology and media has not only documented and preserved songs as narrations and reflections of societies, though new possibilities came about with such roles, and therefore shaped our listening strategies. So how has the role of technology and media shaped our listening strategies? We'll explore these in upcoming blogs...

The Folk Revival: The Counterculture of the 1960s and Music’s Potential

For many individuals, the 1960’s were known as beautiful times, whether it was lived or learned about. It was a salient moment of creative and artistic outburst which filled the air with social and political expressions. The spirit of the 1960’s followed after the repressed and conservative era of the 1950’s. New and existing genres began to take shape with a whole new meaning. The emergence of the folk revival of the late 1950’s and early 1960’s and soon after rock music became revolutionary anthems of the generation in the U.S. Music was very inspirational and musicians became the voice of the people. Spokes musicians such as Joan Baez and Bob Dylan took after the roots of folk music that originated in the 1930s during the Great Depression with notable musician/activists like Woody Guthrie and later Pete Seeger. Although this musical culture had its boom in the 1960s and carried on highly political and artistic elements, it inevitably found itself in opposition to the mainstream social political thinking and social norms. The radical actions and movements inspired from this generation were a critical platform for current theoretical discourses surrounding the understanding of society through its cultural production and media representation. The folk revival not only in the U.S., but in other countries in Latin America, became global a phenomenon inspiring new strategies for ‘listening.’ Folk music raised sociopolitical consciousness of certain issues troubling the people. It purposely strove away from making profit and mass commercialization. This era confirmed that music can scratch political system, that it has the potential to challenge it and inspire the masses, and change the way we perceive it.

Since the interlocking of technology, media, and music, music has gone through major transformations. The governments’ hold on media gave it new powers for control, and creating consumerism. Lets explore moments in history in were music, noise, and sounds has modalities of control, commodification, and social bonding through the mediascape and technology.

My old band Montecristo @ SD Anthology

El 2 de octubre no se olvida: Justice through music

The idiom: October 2nd will not be forgotten. Or has it? It has been precisely 40 years today since about four-hundred students in Mexico City were scandalously massacred for demanding their rights as students and receiving the resources they needed as students, instead of all attention being focused on the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. It is said the government was trying to "save" the country... but from what? communism? maintaining conservative and traditional Mexican values? or from rebellious students without a cause? whatever the excuses are, this horrendous act has not been justified from this unethical and conspicuous decision authorities requested. To those who know about October 2nd, it was a dividing point between working class citizens, students, campesinos, and other activists and the PRI, Mexico's ruling party for 7 decades.

I have researched a list of songs created in that time and further on in time, that counter-narrate the massacre, provide an alternative viewpoint (since the official version was never clear), and provide a sense of justice to those affected, and others for who fight for the sake of a just government.

For la nueva cancion, or the new song, key figures are:
Jose de Molina (songs: Ayeres, En esta plaza, representing the plaza of three cultures in Tlatelolco where the students were killed, from Aztec ruins, Spanish cathedral, and modern PRI buildings)
Oscar Chavez (entire album on Mexico 68, hence the title)
Amparo Ochoa
Angel Parra (song titled: Mexico 68, son of Violeta Parra, founder of the Nueva Cancion de Chile, NCCh)
Judith Reyes (album: Cronología del movimiento estudiantil)

Others from other genres like rock, folk, punk, ska, and so on are:
Banda Bostik: Tlatelolco 68
Pedro Calderon: Así fue
Grupo Masacre 68: Masacre 68
La Parranda Magna: 2 de octubre
Maldita Vecindad: 2 de octubre
Panteón Rococó: Nada Pasó
Rockdrigo González: ­Campeón olímpico de la muerte
Tres Botones: Guantes blancos (because the killers were dressed as civilians with one white glove to identify each other.)

Many other songs and artists are still on the search....

The Mother, the Roots, and thoughs on Amalgamation

Tension between the UCPD and Berkeley's tree sitters and supporters has come to desperate measures. Many trees have been cut down and only a few remain. Yesterday afternoon, my housemates and I came to Berkeley to support the tree sitters who have lived up in those redwoods close to two years. We performed a ritual traditional Mexica dance to honor our Mother Earth, Berkeley trees, tree sitters, and all the supporters who have succeeded on creating a conscious mentality and remind us that trees represent more, life, and why they should not be cut down on the brute. Trees, in the Native American culture, are wiser than us humanity since they have been around much longer and have a direct connection to the earth. They posses wisdom.

Therefore, we continue to see the same armed forces which much more limits our rights and freedom to express and to amalgamate. We continue to see coercion and force applied when society does not carry that manipulative forceful linear pattern to segregate from that 'unwanted' and build to narrow the hierarchy of power, wealth, and prestige. Militarization on the border, unwanted immigrants...humanity, militarization on the Berkeley trees, unwanted trees...Mother Earth. When the people begin to conscientisize and activate outside the hegemonic system, an alternative solution is created which allows us, everyone and everything, to understand things, possibly the struggle for power or our the fruits of trees. Dancing, drumming, and rattling...all symbols of the earth's creation...music and dance in resistance and unification of the earth. Kamisaraki (good morning in Quechua).

What is at question

So what is conscientization through music? Conscientization of what? What kind of music? Music has suggested and provoked many ideas, alternatives, and actions in the past; depending from region and genre. Instances such as, Chile's la nueva cancion and demonstrations, counter-narratives of Midwest folk and west/east coast hip-hop, outspoken defying and raging England's punk bands, provocative mind liberalizing free spirited psychedelic music, and borderland corrido folklore, which all tell us untold stories and different perspectives of underrepresented situations and populations, amongst other enumerable examples.

Music and its lyrical content has provided a once previously unheard voice, or even a neglected one, since most contemporarilly notable the last half century. What is vital to my thought process is that all these genres, artists, and songs, which have conscientisized 'something' in various visible or subconscious ways, have defied sociopolitical establishments of the power bloc's culturally 'acceptable.' They are the songs that have shook up political order. Its censorship is the proof that intents us listeners to keep away from this: The unknown, the marginalized, the unwanted, the vulnerable, the classless, the subaltern population...

Proposing a possible start for blogging about music

The next step it is. So I finally decided to start a blog, labor day: the day "off" for the "working citizen," the end of the summer, 2008. "Summer's almost gone, where will we be" (The Doors), 40 years ago since "the summer of love," well at least for the one recognized since the hippies' countercultural movements.

And where are we at now? Culturally speaking, the nostalgia, the chilanga banda, El Tri, speaks about, has yet returned again. In love with being in love, liberation, free speech and countercultural ideologies of 'lets get naked an love your neighbor.' Sociopolitically wise, to fight Lenin's ideological State Apparatuses, Marx's oppressing capitalistic bourgeoisie, and Gramsci's elites' control on cultural hegemony. And now, the national turning point that the current most influential nation has been waiting for, and the rest of the world, the 2008 elections.

Anyhow, after refining my love of music and its sociopolitical importance, I do realize I want to keep exploring its influential power, and maybe its censorship, as Attali's "Noise" briefly pointed out, "A facet of social life for which the rules are breaking down (sexuality, the family, politics) - it is censored, people refuse to draw conclusions from it." During the next followning blog posts, I will begin exploring what I have critically thought of, and see where this will eventually lead me to. Of coarse, this will all deal with music, and think of "breaking the rules in public spaces" in some way or another.