iLe on Song and Protest

Latino USA

My Cultura, Futuro and iHeartPodcasts

Society & Culture

4.9 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 10 January 2023

⏱️ 20 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

For Puerto Rican singer-songwriter Ileana Cabra — known by her stage name, iLe — music has always been a way to reflect and comment on the world around her.

iLe began her musical career singing with her brothers in their renowned rap group Calle 13. But in 2016, iLe decided to go solo. She would go on to release three studio albums, using those platforms to explore many musical genres with deep roots in Latin America and the Caribbean: from boleros and salsa, to pop and reggaeton. As a songwriter, iLe puts her lyricism at the forefront, delving into themes of patriarchy and colonialism in her music.

In this episode iLe walks us through the evolution of her music as a form of protest, and how she is daring herself to show a more personal side in her most recent album, “Nacarile.”

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	We've been through so much, it takes away your energy and you feel like, yeah, like,
0:14.1	like you're stuck.
0:16.2	But at the same time, like, we have to find a way to give each other strength.
0:21.7	I was focusing more on the courage that I feel that we all have inside of us that is
0:27.4	actually what makes us react and gives us the strength and the impulse that we need
0:33.9	to send the message that we want to send.
0:37.3	From Futuro Media and PRX, it's Latino USA.
0:43.7	I'm Mariano Posa.
0:45.3	Today, Puerto Rican singer-songwriter Ile on the evolution of her music as a form of
0:52.0	protest.
0:58.0	For Puerto Rican singer-songwriter Ileana Cabra, better known by her stage name Ile, music
1:04.9	has always been a way to understand the world around her even from a young age.
1:11.2	I was a little one in the house where I grew up, so I kind of absorbed all that music
1:17.5	and the quality that my whole family was listening to.
1:22.6	Ile remembers listening to salsa and boleros with her family, often taking note of the political
1:26.8	messages in the lively, danceable songs.
1:30.6	My dad always likes to try to find the background of songs that he likes.
1:36.2	So I remember, for example, there's a song from Ruín Blades that is called Tiburón and
1:42.3	he wrote an important rico and it is very connected to the history and our situation still
1:50.6	being a colony from the United States.
2:01.5	In Tiburón, Ruín Blades, sings about a ruthless shark symbolizing the United States.
2:09.0	The praise on the Caribbean and for Ile, songs like this cemented the relationship between
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from My Cultura, Futuro and iHeartPodcasts, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of My Cultura, Futuro and iHeartPodcasts and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.