The sound of Venezuelan protest music over the last 30 years

All Songs Considered

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Music

4.4 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 21 August 2024

⏱️ 24 minutes

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Summary

Over the past month thousands of Venezuelans have taken to the streets to protest the disputed election of president Nicolás Maduro, while Venezuelan artists like Danny Ocean use music to reflect on this political moment. But Ocean's work is just one data point in a long history of music from Venezuela that embodies the political opinions and emotions of those within the country and the diaspora.

On this week's episode, Felix Contreras and Anamaria Sayre are joined by producer Isabella Gomez Sarmiento to walk through crucial moments in Venezuela's political history over the last 30 years, and the music that soundtracked it.

Songs featured in this episode:

•Yordano, "Por estas calles"
•Carlos Baute, "Yo me quedo en Venezuela"
•Canserbero, "Es Épico"
•Danny Ocean, "Me Rehúso"
•Apache, "Rompiendo el Hielo"

Audio for this episode of Alt.Latino was edited and mixed by Taylor Haney, with editorial support from Hazel Cills, Zach Thompson, Tony Cavin and Didi Schanche. Our project manager is Grace Chung. NPR Music's executive producer is Suraya Mohamed. Our VP of Music and Visuals is Keith Jenkins.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	From NPR Music, music, this is Alt Latino. I'm Felix Contreras.
0:08.0	And I'm Anna Maria Sayer. Let the Chisme begin.
0:11.0	Anna, there is a lot going on in the news lately with Venezuela.
0:15.3	It's very, very emotional.
0:16.7	It's very difficult, intent, and of course, music is playing a big role in what's going
0:21.5	on right now. Felix, the subject came up a few weeks ago when we played a very emotional track from
0:27.0	Venezuela musician Danny Ocean.
0:28.9	I talk about him a lot and he's a part of a really long story of Latin American and Caribbean musicians who use music
0:36.9	to vent frustration and even anger at the way their countries have been impacted by politics. This week we're going to dive a little
0:45.6	deeper into Venezuela and some of the music that has reflected that country's intense social and
0:51.0	political situation.
0:53.0	To do that we're bringing on our amazing colleague Isabelle Goma Sarmento who has lived some of that history.
0:58.1	Isa, welcome back to Alt Latino.
1:00.4	Thank you guys for having me.
1:01.4	Okay, before we get started, why don't you tell us a little bit about your connection to Venezuela?
1:06.4	So my entire family is from Venezuela.
1:08.9	I was not born there, but I live there for the first seven years of my life and I still consider it very much to be my culture and my home.
1:16.0	So what Anna and I are going to do are try to provide a social and political timeline and
1:20.5	ESA is going to bring us some music that reflects the feelings and sentiments of
1:25.2	Venezuelan society during those eras.
1:28.0	So in the midst of economic crisis in the 80s and 90s, Hugo Chavez rises to power first through an attempt at coup in 92, which he actually
1:35.3	went to jail for, he was then quickly pardoned and ultimately wins the election for president in
	...

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