Lately, I have been listening to more and more Latin American music. I go back and listen to music I grew up with, as well as new music. Latin America produces music of all types: Salsa, Merengue, Bachata, Reggaeton, Bossa Nova, Cumbia, Tango, among many others.
One of the most prominent musicians of the last two decades has been Residente. He is a Puerto Rican rapper, singer, and songwriter. He has won four Grammy Awards and 27 Latin Grammy Awards. In his music, he integrates social and political issues in Latin America. He is known for constantly promoting social awareness.
I wanted to share this music video since the video portraits (through music, visuals, and lyrics) resistance in the continent. I can connect it with the work of Doris Salcedo (renowned Colombian artist), who makes art that involves Latin American history.
The title is really interesting. In Spanish, we do not say ‘americano’ when we talk about a U.S. citizen (as in person who lives in the U.S.), since we use the word ‘estadounidense’, which is the adjective for someone from the U.S. (Estados Unidos). Therefore, the word ‘americano’ is adjective for someone who is from America, which is the continent. This means that for us U.S. (country) and America (continent) are not the same.
Moreover, I found that Alfredo Jaar, a Chilean artist, has done some art related to the phrase ‘This is not America’ (There is a reference to this piece at the beginning of the video).
On Apollo Magazine, one can read: “Jaar assigns corporate logo status to what are arguably two of the most recognisable signs of ‘Americanness’: the flag and a map of (mainland) USA. Two declarative sentences dance around the symbols: ‘THIS IS NOT AMERICA’ and ‘THIS IS NOT AMERICA’S FLAG’. After a while ‘America’ morphs into a borderless outline of the entire Western hemisphere, with the notable inclusion the South American continent. By contrasting a natural landmass with its arbitrary social borders, he forces a reconsideration of fraught geo-political histories and the construct of nationhood”.
TW: There is demonstrations of blood and violence in the video.
A short explanation of the music video on the Rolling Stone website. Here, it explains how Residente portraits how the U.S. has caused suffering in different ways to the continent.
A blog post that I read (which mentions how this video challenges Childish Gambino’s music video, but also in a way adds a new perspective, for example: what is America/Americas, and resistance in the continent):
This one explains the visual references:
If you would like to watch more, another video that portraits Latin America and its identity is this one, by Calle 13, in which Residente is a member.
The way Residente mixes lyrics, music, and visuals is impactful. Music, with Spotify and Youtube, can reach millions of people in a few seconds. I believe this type of videos has to be at least watched once since it carries a lot of meaning for a whole continent (I would also recommend reading the comments since a lot of people share their experience about their life as well as their experience watching the video).
