11. ...Comemos Todos
The phrase ‘Si Nos Organizamos Cojemos Todos’ (If we can get organised, everyone can get laid) comes from a novelty rephrasing of another, more traditional phrase – Si Nos Organizamos Comemos Todos. If we get organised, we can all eat. For some, this approach is best understood in the form of the Anarchist term ‘Mutual Aid.’ Unlike Charity, which emphasises the giving of unreciprocated aid from one person to another, Mutual Aid focusses on the ability of communities to sustain themselves by offering each other assistance, allowing for a sustainable, communal empowerment of the whole community. This allows for a community to self-identify its own needs, and build in a way that is empowering, rather than conforming to an outsider’s view of what they ought to be doing. I’m going to quote from Darren McGarvey’s book Poverty Safari – as a work about poverty in the United Kingdom it’s not entirely analogous, but it is a good expression of the problems inherent in the ‘outsider support’ model.
Poorer communities are viewed as primitive cultures that need to be modernised, retooled and upskilled. Not necessarily a bad thing, this approach is often predicated on the assumption that people in these communities don’t have any ideas of their own… this can lead to potentially life-changing work falling hopelessly out of sync with grassroots needs and aspirations, particularly when the work being carried out is conceived at executive level and makes very little sense in the community itself.
The tour of Buenos Aires that we have embarked on is, I believe, the antithesis of this. Community support at a community level means that the Underground has been able to supply its own needs. When radio wouldn’t play them, they built radio stations. When there were no studios, they built their own. When labels, and other infrastructure for design, organisation and distribution weren’t forthcoming, they built those too.
If I may propagandise for a moment, it would be to say this – that the Buenos Aires scene is worthy of emulation for any creative, social or political community. As we move forward into a world of increasing wealth concentration and political disfunction, it is only through organisation and solidarity that we are able to push back against the blind forces of history that batter us around like tiny birds in a storm. The first barrier to success is the atomisation and loneliness of late Capitalism, that teaches us that individually, we must all compete to be allowed to be the one who feasts at the table of success. But, if we get organised, perhaps everyone can eat.
Poorer communities are viewed as primitive cultures that need to be modernised, retooled and upskilled. Not necessarily a bad thing, this approach is often predicated on the assumption that people in these communities don’t have any ideas of their own… this can lead to potentially life-changing work falling hopelessly out of sync with grassroots needs and aspirations, particularly when the work being carried out is conceived at executive level and makes very little sense in the community itself.
The tour of Buenos Aires that we have embarked on is, I believe, the antithesis of this. Community support at a community level means that the Underground has been able to supply its own needs. When radio wouldn’t play them, they built radio stations. When there were no studios, they built their own. When labels, and other infrastructure for design, organisation and distribution weren’t forthcoming, they built those too.
If I may propagandise for a moment, it would be to say this – that the Buenos Aires scene is worthy of emulation for any creative, social or political community. As we move forward into a world of increasing wealth concentration and political disfunction, it is only through organisation and solidarity that we are able to push back against the blind forces of history that batter us around like tiny birds in a storm. The first barrier to success is the atomisation and loneliness of late Capitalism, that teaches us that individually, we must all compete to be allowed to be the one who feasts at the table of success. But, if we get organised, perhaps everyone can eat.
Things have continued to move in the years following my trip to Argentina. I checked back in with the people I met in Buenos Aires to ask about some of the changes that have taken place.
In general things change and stay the same. The structural challenges I witnessed in 2013 and 2016 are the same as those that now haunt the scene in 2020. The older artists get deeper into their work, or branch out in new directions, or move on, and as always a new generation of artists leave their own mark on the scene. Recently, this has included the emergence of bands focussed on a trap sound.
Ignacio Sandoval of El Espiritu Santo has continued to develop further projects including a solo project YOTO.
In general things change and stay the same. The structural challenges I witnessed in 2013 and 2016 are the same as those that now haunt the scene in 2020. The older artists get deeper into their work, or branch out in new directions, or move on, and as always a new generation of artists leave their own mark on the scene. Recently, this has included the emergence of bands focussed on a trap sound.
Ignacio Sandoval of El Espiritu Santo has continued to develop further projects including a solo project YOTO.
When I spoke to Anabel Gorbatt in 2015, she told me she was managing a record label with a focus on bass music. She was working towards putting her band YON back together, and also recording under the name A. Canyon as a solo project. Even so, she told me she was working towards finishing up her career due to the structural and financial pressures of music in Buenos Aires. Fortunately, this pessimism ultimately appears to have been misplaced. When we spoke online this year, things seemed much better situated, an improvement she credits to label Anomalia, who are also involved in hosting bands from 'all over'.
Kokote Multiversal has relocated to Bolivia, but his band Los Síquicos Litoraleños have continued to perform, last year touring Europe. They have also been the subject of a documentary. In 2019 they released a vinyl on the UK label The Hive Mind, titled Medianos Exitos Subtropicales vol 2: El Relincho del Tiempo. Kokote also hosts the radio show Radio Siquica, an exploration of weird Latinamerican music.
Maxi gives me a detailed account of his movements since I saw him. He's released several solo pieces, including El Plan Del Alma in 2016.
Maxi gives me a detailed account of his movements since I saw him. He's released several solo pieces, including El Plan Del Alma in 2016.
This same year Maxi was interviewed and invited to perform for the radio show El Monstruo está en la casa, where he also met with Mad Crampi, who I interviewed for Chasing Eris.
In 2017 Maxi formed a band called Vicente Robabroche with friends from the Villa Riachuelo neighbourhood and Facundo from Favalli. Together, they managed a bi-monthly festival called Círculo Vicente, hosting bands of different genres, including rap, hip-hop, heavy metal and rock 'n roll, over the course of 2017.
Ever restless, Maxi also began to play guitar in a third act, MUNDOS. The band performed thirteen live concerts over six months across 2017 and 2018. They played in the south, the west and centre of Buenos Aires, as well as an island in Zárate. In 2018 they recorded EP Eclipse.
Maxi also developed a conceptual counterpoint to MUNDOS. Mundos is Spanish for 'Worlds' so this second act was called MoonII. Through MoonII, Maxi and band-mate Victor Leonardo Ramon explore the 'parallel universe' of MUNDOS, with fully digitally generated songs. They released their concept album in January of this year.
There's yet more - in 2019 Maxi released an album from band Extrainterno, that was recorded in 2008 (which makes me feel a little better at taking four years to release this text!)
Maxi began to perform as a street musician in 2019. He tells me about this over Facebook, writing me these words in Spanish;
It became very difficult during that year to play due to the economy and the scarcity of sociocultural demand in general that the country suffered, submerged in a neoliberal philosophy that attacked them... as Kandinski says in his essay Concerning the Spiritual in Art, for a culture to flourish - a pendulum movement of the pyramid is needed - and here in the Argentine culture during the years 2018 and 2019 the pyramid stopped existing, to become a horizontal path. Those of us in the least wealthy place in the pyramid had to do what we could in the best possible way, which I believe many did.
This quote refers to artist Wassily Kandinski's conception of an artist as a spiritual leader who stands at the top of a pyramid, and by virtue of their insight and ability to conceive of and actualise new things, leads others to the top of the pyramid, feeding and nurturing their spiritual development. In periods where people choose, or are forced, to focus on the material world, the soul sinks to the bottom of the pyramid.
In 2020, Maxi is working on developing more polished recordings of solo work, some of which he has already published as lo-fi demos.
Mauro's band KNEI continue to perform and record, and plan to tour in the post-pandemic period.
In a shock to the scene, a major figure in the community was accused of sexual misconduct in an incident reminiscent of the #MeToo movement. In Argentina, a similar movement already exists, promoted with the tag #nonoscallamosmas (no longer will we be silent). This is connected to the Ni Una Menos campaign, which fights against violence towards women and femicide. In the case of the Under, these accusations lead to the collapse of a whole label and band. The person in question is no longer involved in the scene in any capacity.
Cesar from Pronoise tells me that he’s continued working heavily on various projects since our interview. Of course, there’s a pronounced difference right now due to Coronavirus. He tells me (like a ‘grumpy old man’ he notes dryly) that he and his community continue to pursue high quality music with a sense of maturity. However;
It seems as if culture is being taking for granted still; nobody truly cares for quality of music but in terms of hype and popularity. I feel the world (or the part I’m aware of) is permanently in adolescence.
The Pronoise team continue on with exciting projects, although they are now more likely to self-describe as a studio rather than a label. They produce a YouTube series called La Sangre en el Ojo (Blood in the Eyes) amongst other projects.
Cuco released a new album, titled Caminantes. They performed several gigs, including several in Buenos Aires. They also organised several of their own festivals, Mugre o Muetre. They also celebrated their 15th anniversary with a big, crazy party. In 2019 they began playing as a three piece, with two guitars and a drum kit. This year they had intended to record their next album in a professional recording studio, but instead are using phones to create low-fi recordings, on account of the pandemic.
Peru's Cadaver Exquisito at Mugre o Muerte
In 2016 El Mal performed its last show as support act of French cult band KaS Product. Immediately after that, they put the musical project on an indefinite hiatus and started to plan their exile. The chosen destination was Berlin. Marcelo had already been there once during a short visit on his years as a squatter in London, and Carolina had a long-time affair with the city due to her obsession with post-punk and NDW.
Currently they are working on new music for a new project and playing as DJs at underground parties in Berlin.
Currently they are working on new music for a new project and playing as DJs at underground parties in Berlin.
Alex Elgier has moved away from teaching, and works as a programmer instead. He’s also moved into different musical interests, shifting away from experimentation with silence, and developing an interest in more ‘athletic’ music. When I ask what he means by athletic he gives the following video as an example.
Musicos Organizados continues to agitate for the rights of musicians. Currently they are running a campaign requesting 30,000 pesos compensation for artists, to ensure compensation during the Coronavirus pandemic. This campaign is promoted with the hashtag #SinMúsicxsNoHayMúsica (No music without musicians).
This unemployment insurance must allow subsistence for the duration of the pandemic at least. We urge governments to create paid cycles, festivals, or concerts for musicians who cannot play in public places. We have so far registered some 4,000 musicians with urgent financial problems to attend, the organisation told me over the Internet.
However, they have also experienced internal issues; a number of members including founder Adriana de los Santos separated to form a different group called Asamblea de Trabajadores de la Música. This separation took place due to a belief that the group had become beholden to a political agenda that rendered the mission of protecting and supporting musicians a secondary concern. Currently, the Asamblea de Trabajadores de la Música are working towards similar goals of supporting musicians over the period of the Coronavirus pandemic.
My interview with Tatiana Heuman proved strangely prophetic. The visible interest in expressions of femininity through her work with Qeei has moved into the foreground of her work. Not long after we spoke, she moved into feminist and queer activism, which took a prominent place in her life and work. The personal became political, she tells me. This focus also became a wider trend amongst a segment of the musical community, and Tatiana tells me that, while still male dominated, a larger part of the scene features female and gender non-conforming artists. She speaks in Spanish about some of these developing trends in conversation with the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary art. Together with the work of her collective TRRUENO, especially TTCC, she’s also been a major part of a project called #Vivas. As translated from the #Vivas Tumblr:
This unemployment insurance must allow subsistence for the duration of the pandemic at least. We urge governments to create paid cycles, festivals, or concerts for musicians who cannot play in public places. We have so far registered some 4,000 musicians with urgent financial problems to attend, the organisation told me over the Internet.
However, they have also experienced internal issues; a number of members including founder Adriana de los Santos separated to form a different group called Asamblea de Trabajadores de la Música. This separation took place due to a belief that the group had become beholden to a political agenda that rendered the mission of protecting and supporting musicians a secondary concern. Currently, the Asamblea de Trabajadores de la Música are working towards similar goals of supporting musicians over the period of the Coronavirus pandemic.
My interview with Tatiana Heuman proved strangely prophetic. The visible interest in expressions of femininity through her work with Qeei has moved into the foreground of her work. Not long after we spoke, she moved into feminist and queer activism, which took a prominent place in her life and work. The personal became political, she tells me. This focus also became a wider trend amongst a segment of the musical community, and Tatiana tells me that, while still male dominated, a larger part of the scene features female and gender non-conforming artists. She speaks in Spanish about some of these developing trends in conversation with the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary art. Together with the work of her collective TRRUENO, especially TTCC, she’s also been a major part of a project called #Vivas. As translated from the #Vivas Tumblr:
#VIVAS was born from the NEED to EXPRESS OURSELVES
for
DECONSTRUCTING THE MECHANISMS THAT OPERATE OUR BODIES
in a cultural political system that bases its power on the physical, media and economic coercive force, killing us in symbolic and literal ways…
#VIVAS IS A HASHTAG in the mass digital media that can impact real life by generating links and social networks between people who want to push the borders of common sense together.
for
DECONSTRUCTING THE MECHANISMS THAT OPERATE OUR BODIES
in a cultural political system that bases its power on the physical, media and economic coercive force, killing us in symbolic and literal ways…
#VIVAS IS A HASHTAG in the mass digital media that can impact real life by generating links and social networks between people who want to push the borders of common sense together.
Like much of what we’ve seen though, the lines that define #VIVAS are left intentionally fuzzy, to allow for a continuing potentiality of purpose. The project makes use of a collaborative sound bank that encourages submission of field recordings, readings, testimonies, debates, percussions, melodies and other relevant sound, and a Soundcloud and other means of disseminating the resulting audio artwork that makes use of this sound bank. The project also internationally runs events in physical space, including concerts, workshops and social events. This is possible due to the now wide distribution of participants, with Tatiana and others now based in Europe, while other participants remain in Latin America. Tatiana has also released an album under her own name, titled ‘Qeei’.
Together, with Jorge Espinal, Tatiana continues to play in Ricarda Cometa, now structured as a duo. They have toured throughout Europe.
Facundo from Leticia Soma has continued to charge through the world of heavy music. Since we met, Leticia Soma have travelled extensively through Germany, France, Netherlands, all across Spain, Brazil and Uruguay. They also released two albums (Nido de Serpientes in 2018 & Profanadores 2020). He tells me that the scene in Buenos Aires has ‘improved to a new level of professionalism’ though it is still held back by the same structural challenges – ‘the lack of massive rock music media and record companies.’ He also plays bass in another project called Tarantula. They rehearse in a room besides some Trap producers. While the label Fauna no longer operates, Facundo now is the main figure in the Buenos Aires arm of Lucifer Discos, a label that began in 2016 and has subsumed many of the responsibilities of Fauna. A number of people who helped manage Fauna outside of Buenos Aires have migrated to Lucifer Discos for this purpose. The label have recently released a new compilation, showcasing their acts.
Javier updates me on Calato’s recent moves; Calato toured Brazil (late 2016 and late 2017), Peru (2018) and Colombia (2019). We also recorded 4 distinct records: one playing pieces we commissioned from 8 Argentine composers, another playing music by John Cage, another playing new pieces, and yet another one collaborating live in Colombia with a 5 piece experimental brass ensemble called VientoX.
Three of pieces are not yet available on records but Calato are in discussion with various labels to bring these out. The John Cage record however, is being released by Switzerland's HatHut records. Meanwhile, El Helicóptero released their album in 2017. Javier is also working on solo work, playing guitar. With this format, he has performed in Japan and the US over the past two years, and is preparing to release a solo album.
Javier has also continued to do curatorial work with a project called Ruido, organised until 2018 with the aid of Jorge Espinal, now managed predominantly on his own.
RUIDO is non-periodic new music concert series which focuses on bringing the foremost artists of experimental music worldwide to perform in Buenos Aires for the first time. Since 2017, we have hosted performances and workshops by the likes of Xiu Xiu, Mark Fell, Bill Orcutt, Jeremy Gara, Julien Desprez and Los Pirañas, alongside with the most important new artists of the local underground scene.
Three of pieces are not yet available on records but Calato are in discussion with various labels to bring these out. The John Cage record however, is being released by Switzerland's HatHut records. Meanwhile, El Helicóptero released their album in 2017. Javier is also working on solo work, playing guitar. With this format, he has performed in Japan and the US over the past two years, and is preparing to release a solo album.
Javier has also continued to do curatorial work with a project called Ruido, organised until 2018 with the aid of Jorge Espinal, now managed predominantly on his own.
RUIDO is non-periodic new music concert series which focuses on bringing the foremost artists of experimental music worldwide to perform in Buenos Aires for the first time. Since 2017, we have hosted performances and workshops by the likes of Xiu Xiu, Mark Fell, Bill Orcutt, Jeremy Gara, Julien Desprez and Los Pirañas, alongside with the most important new artists of the local underground scene.
Together with Label TV REC, Ruido also organises streaming festivals with international acts.
To be creative in a time of darkness is a challenge. In Argentina, that darkness has taken many forms - from the outright violence of fascism, to the slow crumbling tragedy of political incompetence, indifference and corruption. Through all this, the urge to create has never been dimmed, not by the lack of infrastructure, by the impossibility of success, or even the threat of political violence.
To me, this speaks to our time. As a pack of charlatans, gibbering morons, and cynical, bloodless opportunists consolidate their collective grip on wealth and power, and the threats of inequality, social unrest and Climate Change are permitted to race forward unchecked, we are forced to look inwards and question our response to such times. There is more to be said about the appropriate political response in other, more focused books, but our social response should be driven by Solidarity. To allow our better, more creative, inspired natures to rise to the surface, and to see the same nature in those around us, to reach out and nurture that impulse into community, and to defend, protect, and support that community until nobody is left behind.
Si Nos Organiza... You know the rest.
To be creative in a time of darkness is a challenge. In Argentina, that darkness has taken many forms - from the outright violence of fascism, to the slow crumbling tragedy of political incompetence, indifference and corruption. Through all this, the urge to create has never been dimmed, not by the lack of infrastructure, by the impossibility of success, or even the threat of political violence.
To me, this speaks to our time. As a pack of charlatans, gibbering morons, and cynical, bloodless opportunists consolidate their collective grip on wealth and power, and the threats of inequality, social unrest and Climate Change are permitted to race forward unchecked, we are forced to look inwards and question our response to such times. There is more to be said about the appropriate political response in other, more focused books, but our social response should be driven by Solidarity. To allow our better, more creative, inspired natures to rise to the surface, and to see the same nature in those around us, to reach out and nurture that impulse into community, and to defend, protect, and support that community until nobody is left behind.
Si Nos Organiza... You know the rest.
... |
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