Songs of the Times - Antipatriarca

While this is a music blog and I don't feel competent enough to write about politics in depth, sometimes, being a citizen means you have to express yourself. I'll try to keep it focused on music as I usually do, but I have a feeling there may be more of a creep in of social and political issues in here. I'm going to try to post on songs that fit specific issues or moments that come up, so I can relate it back. Here's my first attempt at a song of the times.

Like most sane individuals with a knowledge of history and an ounce of compassion, I have been freaked the fuck out since November. This past weekend it all came to a head when the Alternative President was sworn in before a crowd of hundreds and he hasn't disappointed, signing a barrage of those executive orders Republicans were hysterical about when the supposed evil tyrant monarch Obama signed a few. And that's fine, it's his job. But already women's reproductive rights, health care and the fucking planet are in jeopardy. None the less, this weekend also gave us history with the largest protest ever in the US, and possibly the world. Millions of people marched all over the world lead by and in support of rights for women and all people, really at Women's Marches on all 7 continents. Seeing those crowds, especially from people I actually know that were out there in their respective cities, was hugely encouraging and inspiring to say the least.

There are many songs I could pick from to mark this moment, this movement. Many of them could be from this same artist, but how could it not be "Antipatriarca" by Ana Tijoux?

I could go into details about why this song is perfect, but I think it all speaks for itself with the most relevant verse to the march and the current need for this movement:

"Yo puedo ser jefa de hogar, empleada o intelectual

Yo puedo ser protagonista de nuestra historia y la que agita

La gente la comunidad, la que despierta la vecindad

La que organiza la economía de su casa de su familia"

"I can be head of the household, worker, or intellectual

I can be the protagonist of our story and she who incites

The people, the community, she who wakes up the neighborhood

She who organizes the economy of her house, of her family."

Anti-patriarchy means many things. On the simplest level it's about the liberation of literal women from literal, physical oppression, but that's only the most basic level. It's also about the symbolic oppression that systems designed based on narrow gender roles have entrenched in most, if not all, world cultures. And, ultimately, because of that, it's not just about literal females, but rather the female perspective - the feminine aspect of everyone.

When Prince died, I changed my profile pictures on social media to his Love Symbol which merges male and female. I have purposely not changed it and have no intention of doing so. It's a reminder that, as Prince sang, we are all 50/50 girl. Anti-patriarchy is about accepting that and empowering the female side of ourselves in everything we do. This song is a celebration of the first level of that acceptance and liberation and letting the feminine lead us. That it's also by a Chilean artist who always sings about the oppressed, anti-colonialism and more so-called revolutionary topics. only adds to the mix. It's the perfect song to highlight the march this weekend and I look forward to a revolution that is centered around this idea. It's not their fight, it's our fight. All of us, even if you disagree with it, will benefit from it.

2015 Week 50: Top 100 Tracks Streamed

Spotify's year in music is one of the great things about streaming. You can get a wrap up of at least some of your music habits in a way that would take way more obsessive nerdetry to do offline than I think even the most insane among us would never do. So, even though I do listen to vinyl and this year started using Google Play to stream my own collection, this number is pretty damn close to reality. 62 thousand minutes. Take that! But what was I listening to? Was it all the same band? Not quite. I don't think I can name 4, 526 artists, but that's what I listened to, at least once. I give everything a chance. How else would you find anything? Spotify also tells me I listened to 12,000 different tracks, mostly in the following genres.

But who gives a shit about genre? Not me, apparently. My top artists where:

1. Tom Waits - 247 Streams
2. Elvis Costello - 189 Streams
3. Arctic Monkeys - 156 Streams
4. Elvis Costello & The Attractions - 144 Streams
5. Ana Tijoux - 121 Streams

So I guess, technically, Elvis Costello should be number 1, but that's how Spotify breaks it down. I'm not sure what they consider a stream though since I get the sense the individual numbers might be too small.  Anyway, next measure was albums and no surprises there either:

1. Tom Waits - Rain Dogs - 117 Streams
2. Tom Waits - Swordfishtrombones - 77 Streams
3. Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie, etc. - 58 Streams
4. Royal Thunder - Crooked Doors - 54 Streams
5. Thunderbitch - Thunderbitch - 52 Streams

Which brings me to my top tracks. I won't get into the top 5 tracks and instead just direct you to this week's playlist, which is just my Top 100 for 2015, according to Spotify. I've been listening to it the past couple of days and while there really aren't any complete surprises, there are a few songs I hadn't actually heard in a while, but I guess I played them a lot at the beginning of the year. There are a lot of newer songs but mixed in with some of my old standbys. Shuffle this playlist and it's pretty much what riding around with me is like.

2015 Week 15: Riding with Tijoux

Funky grace in action.

This past weekend, I saw The Budos Band and Ana Tijoux at the Heineken Transatlantic Festival. I wrote full reviews of both over at FDRMX, so click over and read them. I mentioned in the Budos review that a good measure for how good a show is if you end up liking the artist more than you did before. That's happened to me many times, from The Tallest Man on Earth, St. Paul and The Broken Bones, Budos and most dramatically, Ana Tijoux. It might be that it's freshest in my mind, but it's been almost a week and I can't stop listening to her now. And I have to wonder if it was just the performance or a combination of that and the brief, but affecting experience of meeting her. Then again, yesterday I watched her appearance on Al Jazeera's The Stream, and it only further deepened the respect I'm feeling towards her.

There are a couple of moments on that episode that stood out. One is when she says that just because a woman is in power doesn't mean that woman is going to address feminist issues. That tells me she's the real deal. Too often people get so hung up on the gender or race or party affiliation of a leader, and blind themselves to the reality of that leader and what they actually stand for and do. But this isn't a political blog, so I'll just leave it at that. The next moment is when she says that artists are full of bullshit like anyone else and it's a constant struggle with balancing the message with the art and the commerce. She's not just smart, she's realistic and down to earth. That's not a common combination in my experience. Combined with her attitude in the 3-4 minutes when I posed for a picture with her and shook her hand, I think this is one of the few times I can safely say, without really "knowing" her that the image she projects is the real deal. I don't know if that's necessarily admirable or a goal for an artist or celebrity of any kind, but she has my respect as an artist and as an individual human being. And this is coming from someone who believes respect is earned not automatically given.

We tend to grow up idolizing artists, often for all the wrong reasons. Sometimes we forget to separate the art from the person, sometimes we just forget there is a person there at all. We can skim over a lot of really horrible behavior if we like the music. So it's refreshing when an artist comes along and you not only don't have to do that, but it appears that your respect is all in the right place. Now, I'm way too old to idolize anyone at this point, and the fact is that's not even what I'm getting at. Nobody should be idolized. And I think Ana is a good example of an artist that wouldn't want you to idolize her in any way. Put it this way, if my daughters considered her a role model, I'd be proud. That's really all there is to it.

This happened.

Anyway, in honor of my new best friend, this week's playlist is a sort of greatest hits. I'm sure fans would find things I left out that should be there, but I like to keep these playlists at around an hour long, tops. Go listen, whether or not you speak Spanish. I put Vengo on my list of top 10 albums last year for a reason. But what you'll find is that her talent can't be pinned down. There's hip hop, jazz, various Latin styles, some Middle Eastern flair, she raps, she sings, and it's all balanced perfectly. It's a vision of how music should be, with no boundaries, and it makes me wonder what might be next for her. It could be anything. Let's call the list Riding with Tijoux. Enjoy. Be sure to share it.