speaking truth to power through humor

mexico city is a very large city. it often feels very small. There are a few neighborhoods which are connected by a myriad of backstreets and clogged avenues–la condesa, roma, polanco being the favorites of the cultural (and economic) elite. If you have a destination in mind, you’d better know your way, though, as cabs seem to be reluctant to use maps. Perhaps this is because Mexico City (aka DF, day effay), like the Zona Sul in Rio De Janeiro, operates on a different logic than traditional cartographic mapping strategies can provide.

Here, like Brazil, red lights turn to green at night, both for the safety of the driver, as well as for the speed of the streets. Accidents are frequent, but it is a small price to pay for convenience. I look everywhere for things that connect to each other. Street signs, bodies, waves of cars and psychotic bus drivers only seem to interrupt the flow of Mexico City. The city itself seems to move sluggishly, shifting its weight around, fed by a steady diet of Tequila, Tacos and Tumult.

I used to try to connect the dots in Los Angeles, but there, the sprawl and the car culture seems to overdetermine even the smallest of quotidian desires–a trip to the supermarket is like a small expedition, connected by quasi-anonymous superhighways and bumper to bumper traffic. Here, as I sit in la Condessa, I am reminded more of the Zona Sul in Rio, where I could walk from Leblon to Ipanema, to Copa Cabana, to Leme,or head in to Lagoa, Jardin Botanico and Gavea. I could walk now to la Roma, or to my work, and in a matter of 20 minutes along tree-lined streets, arrive at my desination.

But then there are the connections that go beyond the streets, the ones we can’t quite map. Tomorrow night, I will go see Jose Gonzales play again. Here, in DF, there is a separation from the cosmopolitan Rio. The North/South Divide seems to be ebbing and flowing. Rio, though receptive to visitors from “the exterior”, feeds more from itself, relies on its own ever-expanding repetoire of sounds and art to create its discourse. Perhaps it is the geographic proximity that affords DF the opportunity to have so many artists arriving from metropoles around the world.

Or maybe it is due to a lack of fear, an implicit understanding that no matter what, a strong, fortified, rich national culture only grows with each new arrival, each new guest, each new ex-patriot, each new sound. There is no fear of representation, and a critical gaze towards multinational and transnational corporate power can be felt from all sides, despite the overwhelming participation of its citizens in these power sites.

On the surface, once given the opportunity to nationalize and grow, Mexico seems to emulate this international model, not oppose. Here one only need think of Carlos Slim, the second richest man in the world, owner of just about everything national one sees—from a cellphone monopoly, to a k-mart like store “Sandborns”, to a large stake in phillip morris and all the national production— to understand that what is needed is not “success” but new models for distribution. The average income of a mexican is $7,450 dollars a year. Carlos Slim’s worth is conservatively estimated at 60 billion.

Yet, if one turns on the radio, or walks in Centro, it seems it is as Attali reminds us, that music always leads the way. And the sounds from the streets now are definitively local, often pointing to the depletion of the most cherished national resources–the population of mexico only rises 1% a year, due largely to illegal and legal migration North. What one hears more often than not, like Rio, is a calling for the nation to unite based on local representation, civil strength.

One video: yo soy de puebla–a classic from grupo sonador for those who haven’t already heard. Of course, it’s Puebla, not DF, but the amazing shopping mall starbucks montage vs. old city comparison still sticks…and hard. It is from Eddie..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddHgeAi2NXY

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And a second Sonideiro track, which led me to the first video above: La cumbia de los barrios

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Since people have been asking, here’s a quick glance at the new Rich and Shameless EP from N-RON and $mall ¢hange that is vinyl only (thanks Brooklyn Phono!).

The cover art is silkscreened, and reflects the excess of the record.

There are only a few copies left, I am afraid…I think that applecore might have a few, so get them while they are still hot:

“It you’re gonna steal something, go to the bank”–richard prince

Here’s track 1 from Side II from the record:
Boa Tarde Povo (afternoon mix)

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