Rompan Casi, Pero No Todo.
By: Erick Iniguez
Tags: Latinx, Documentary, Música, Rock En Tu Idioma, Rock En Español

Missing voices in Rock en Español’s recent docuseries.

There are quite few documentaries that touch on the decades long history of Rock en Español. So for most of us fans were very excited to hear unknown and known stories of the music we grew up with. For majority of us that meant 80s, 90s and 2000s. Although I appreciated the first 2 episodes they were a bit boring. They also, in my opinion, neglected to talk about pre-rock artists/bands like Tin Tan, Don Tosti and or Lalo Guerrero, those artists paved the way for others. 60s had great songs, bands and artists but no mention of Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs, Question Mark &the Mysterians, El Chicano, Canibal and the Headhunters or Thee Midnighters. Also, why was Silvio Rodriguez of the Nueva Trova of Cuba not mentioned yet his songs were extremely important to Rock Musicians? Can we agree that 70s Rock en español was not that good? It was a bit heartbreaking not to “discover” great songs.

Heroes del Silencio were not mentioned at all. Not even a visual half second or mouthed by anyone. How can one of the most influential rock bands be omitted like if they didn’t even exist? Every party, every mix tape/cd, every rock space etc Heroes are there. I wasn’t a big fan until my 20s but everyone around me respected and were in to them. Not to mention Bunbury’s solo work is one of the most creative work in any language. Other Spanish bands not mentioned: Hombres G, La Union and Jarabe de Palo. Your backyard parties wouldn’t be the same without the first two and your sentimental lonely night wouldn’t be the same with the last one.

Caifanes were treated as a one hit wonder who only had one album instead of the most influential Mexican rock band. A total disrespect that I can’t comprehend. They along with Heroes and Soda are part of the holy trinity of Rock en Español. Without a doubt they inspired more youth to create their own music than any other band in Mexico. Although their songs were not overtly political, they were as a band.

Mano Negra/Manu Chao, another omission. Their genre fluid songs and heavy concerts that were political should have been easy footage to showcase. Manu’s work around with communities all around north central and south America pushes other artists to “walk the walk” in Artivism. It bothers me so much that even Manu’s Clandestino, an immigrant lament that has been echoed in many Immigrant marches to strengthen the masses, was never mentioned.

We Chicanx/Latinx in the US are again not validate and, besides 5 seconds of Raul of Ozomatli (totally f*cked up) are not even talked as a community, let alone an important crucial community in Rock en Español. Los Lobos should’ve been talked about since they did reinvigorate, audibly, Ritchie Valens legacy, yet were already creating the mix of mexicano, blues, rock etc. Going back to Ozo, the late 90s in LA was hotbed for diasporia rock en español that created so many acts that should be a documentary in itself. Im looking at you Quetzal, Aztlan Underground, Ozo… Jorge N Leal has a great IG page Rock Archivo LA that displays the history of Rock en Español with the 90s as focus.

https://www.instagram.com/rockarchivola/?hl=en

Los Fabulosos Cadillacs were talked about so briefly that it almost seemed that the production didn’t really care for them but put them there so as not seem “como unos boludos!” Vasos Vacios is such an instrumental album that even though it was a compilation, it recreated previous songs to much better production. Which later albums showed their maturity in production like La Marcha del Golazo Solitario that featured samba and tango rythms. Other than a Celia Cruz photo and Matador mentioned as there break out hits, no more minutiae were mentioned. And the way that the documentary talks down toward LFC Ska/Reggae foundation and over all sound was bothersome. Like they weren’t a real band until they shed their Ska/Reggae sound.

Which leads me to; This doc hates Ska and Reggae or at least looks down at it as I assume a “non-rock” genre. So many bands were omitted because of this. This crucial genre that for most of the world connects us all through its rhythms beats and tempos. Much like Rock fans in the US, most don’t consider Ska or Reggae as part of Rock nor do they consider hip-hop for that matter. Roots Reggae bands like Los Cafres, Cultura Profetica, and Rastrillos could’ve shed light on the creating safe spaces with their music. On the flip side having Los Autenticos Decadentes, Sekta Core, Inspector, Panteon Rocco & 15 Letras talk about dancing/skanking.

A band similar to Mano Negra and who was also shunned was Todos Tus Muertos. Sadly, the reasons might be not just because of their sound but because of they’re identity. The lack of Afro-Latinx representation in a 6 part series is a representation of where we are at as a community. Some will say they don’t exist and some will say they didn’t produce anything. Yet I will contest Whiteness and institutional racism prevail in all aspects. Brazil was omitted like we omit them in the Latin American discussion. Brazil has gone through as much dictators, revolt and insurrection as any other country. Was that not good enough? If we are to learn from documenatries then why not take the time to teach Latinx about Brazil?

LGBT representation was no where to be found in the docuseries and to be honest in Rock. I was hoping they would discuss artists and local movements that most of us don’t know of, but not even a discussion of LGBT issues. Another disappointment was Women representation, or the lack of, which was talked about by Andrea Echeverri and the irony is that there were women missing in the episode 6. Eg. Ely Guerra, Ana Tijoux, Carla Morrison, Natalia Lafourcade, La Mala Rodriguez. On the political side of the doc I feel like there should have been a mention of las mujeres de juarez especially when bands/artists would use their platform to bring to light the femicides and to work with NGOs.

Where are all the Metaleros? We saw a brief flyer with Rata Blanca and although Ekhymosis bathed in Metal riffs, it was more of a hard rock band, almost grundge. Where was Luzbel or Brujeria or all the other bands that I don’t know of? That whole scene is also still looked down and not respected.

The idea of Latin America was used to gather an audience but as we saw, not all of Latin America was represented. As stated before, countries were not talked about and whole regions; eg Central America & Caribe. Was this about Spanish Language Rock only in Latin America? No, if that were true they wouldn’t have had Los Toreros or Mecano. Was it a bit of an homage to Gustavo Santaolalla? Yes and I wish it was more overt because he does need to be given the recognition for helping shape Rock En Español. He is for most artists/bands the Guru and we saw his fingerprints in most but we also saw that he had to learn too. For example when Rocco (Maldita Vecindad) had to take him all of DF and show him how they lived and how life was different than Buenos Aires. But lets be clear, he was not the only producer of Rock en Español and unfortunately the docuseries would express that.

The docuseries had me question what rock is and where the line of pop starts. There was a humorous part with Aterciopelados about early Shakira that I wished they would’ve gone into. Hector mentions her and Andrea looks at him with a “are you serious” face. Its interesting to remember that Shakira was a labled as Rock en Español in the beginning of her career. Her unplugged album is a respected Rock el album by most, yet, Looking back its all very pop. If Julieta Venegas can still be considered Rock, Im biased since i feel her first two albums are her best, than we have to evaluate Shakiras position in Rock en Español history. We also need to consider Gloria Trevi and Alejandra Guzman as roquera pioneras too. And if there are various Rock genre can we also say that Los Temerarios and early Bukis are Soft Rock and not just “regional” music? Can we say that Rock becomes pop when the radical/subversive spirit is gone?

I appreciated how they showed how of corrupt authoritative governments understood the potential of Rock en Español to mobilize the masses against Authority. And how there was continuous oppressive regimes to stop any congregation of Rock. The moments where it showed artists/bands purposely using their music to rebel against conformity and or status were very commendable. It goes without saying that most of us don’t know each other’s countries history and we forget that our communities had to live through and continue to live with, various oppressive regimes. Rompan Todo is another approach to discussing Identity for Latin America; as a space and as a people. I hope we can learn from this and continue exploring how we are all connected and the importance of documenting all of our participation so that we are not omitted in our own histories.