The Discursive Power of Rock en español and the Desire for Democracy Jorge N. Leal

Episode One Sypnosis:
As a music genre, Latin American rock and roll had long been associated as part of the so-called counterculture and oppositional politics in different Latin American countries.So, let’s start at the beginning…well there are many beginnings. Así que, in this first episode we go over some key info on the history of Latin America in the 1980s, particularly, Argentina, Chile, and México and its interserctions with el rock.
Song Listing:
In this episode we hear a version of Soda Stereo's Música Ligera performed by the students of Mira Monte Music Program, based in the MiraMonte school in South Los Angeles.
We also heard We are South American Rockers by Los Prisioneros, Maldita Vecindad with Apañon and Mojado.
Original songs played our episodes are included the Podcast Playlist. Make sure to check it out as new songs are included weekly during the summer 23.
Episode One Bibliography. Books and Articles for further reading and research:
—Judith Adler Hellman. Mexico in Crisis. (New York: Holmes & Meier. 1999).
Emiliano Aguayo. Las voces de los' 80: conversaciones con los protagonistas del fenómeno POP-Rock. RIL editores, 2012.
—Hector Calderon. "The Mexico City—Los Angeles Cultural Mosh Pits: Maldita Vecindad, a Chilanga-Chicana Rock Banda de Pueblo." Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies 31, no. 1 (2006): 95-137.
—Guillermo Cuccioletta, and Martín Cuccioletta. Soda Stereo, 1982-1997: La Historia. (Buenos Aires: Galerna, 1997).
—Mara Favoretto. "The Falklands/Malvinas War (1982) in Argentine Rock Songs." Lied und populäre Kultur/Song and Popular Culture 63 (2018): 53-66.
—Federico Finchelstein. The ideological origins of the dirty war: Fascism, populism, and dictatorship in twentieth century Argentina. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017).
—John Fiske. “The cultural economy of fandom.” In Lisa A. Lewis (Ed.), The adoring audience: Fan culture and popular media. (London: Routledge. 1992). 30-49.
—Joseph, Gilbert M., Anne Rubenstein, and Eric Zolov, eds. Fragments of a golden age: The politics of culture in Mexico since 1940. Duke University Press, 2001.
—David Harvey. A brief history of neoliberalism. Oxford University Press, USA, 2007.
—Matthew B. Karush. Musicians in transit: Argentina and the globalization of popular music. Duke University Press, 2016.
—Rubén Martínez. "Corazón del Rocanrol." Border/Lines 27 (1993).
—Marcos Novaro and Vicente Palermo. La dictadura militar, 1976-1983: del golpe de estado a la restauración democrática. (Buenos Aires: Paidós, 2003).
—Ignacio M. Sánchez Prado. "The Idea of Democratic Transition." Modern Mexican Culture: Critical Foundations (2017): 166.
—Pablo Vila, , ed. Music and youth culture in Latin America: identity construction processes from New York to Buenos Aires. Oxford University Press, 2014.
Patricia Vilches. "De Violeta Parra a Víctor Jara y Los Prisioneros: Recuperación de la memoria colectiva e identidad cultural a través de la música comprometida." Latin American Music Review (2004): 195-215.
—Diana Taylor. Disappearing acts: spectacles of gender and nationalism in Argentina's “Dirty War.” (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1997).
—Paula Thorrington Cronovich. "Out of the Blackout and into the Light: How the Arts Survived Pinochet's Dictatorship." Iberoamericana, XIII, (2013): 119-137.
—Louise Walker. Waking from the Dream: Mexico's Middle Classes After 1968. (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2013).

In this episode, we will discuss the arrival of Rock en Español to Los Ángeles. How the genre encouraged Latin American immigrants and U.S. Latinas/os to hang out with each other and create a vibrant Rock Angelino scene to claim themselves as part of Southern California at an tense moment of demographic change, economic restructuring, racial tensions and anti-immigrant politics...which was the 1990s, but as you might realize, it can also have parallels to the present.
Song Listing:
In this episode we heard a cover of “Fronteras,” a song originally by Gaby Moreno. The episode version was performed by the students of Mira Monte Music Program, based in the MiraMonte school in South Los Angeles.
We also listened to Rock Angelino trailblazer, Eclipse with “Que triste vive mi gente en Estados Unidos.” Los Olvidados with "Silvestre" and "Viernes." Las 15 Letras' “Aunque no quieras” and "Bi" by Pastilla.
Make sure to check our the Podcast Playlist as new songs are included weekly during the summer 23.
Episode Two Bibliography. Books and Articles for further reading and research:
—Avant-Mier, Roberto. Rock the Nation: Latin/o Identities and the Latin Rock Diaspora. Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2010.
—Harvey, David. A Brief History of Neoliberalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.
—HoSang, Daniel Martinez. Racial propositions: Ballot initiatives and the making of postwar California. Vol. 30. Univ of California Press, 2010.
—Jiménez, Tomás Roberto. Replenished ethnicity: Mexican Americans, immigration, and identity. Univ of California Press, 2010.
—Leal, Jorge N. "Mapping ephemeral music forums in Latina/o Los Angeles." California History 97, no. 2 (2020): 124-127.
—Leal, Jorge N. "Mapping the city from below: Approaches in charting out Latinx historical and quotidian presence in metropolitan Los Angeles: 1990–2020." European Journal of American Culture 40, no. 1 (2021): 5-26.
—Leal, Jorge Nicolas. "Seremos capaces de pensar por nuestra cuenta (We’re capable of thinking on our own): 1990s Immigrant Los Angeles and Latin American Intellectual and Publishing Traditions.." Printing History. Combined Issue, 2022. New Series Number 31-32, Fall 2022. 70-89.
—Lechner, Ernesto. Rock en Español: the Latin alternative rock explosion. Chicago Review Press, 2006.
—Verbuč, David. DIY House Shows and Music Venues in the US: Ethnographic Explorations of Place and Community. Routledge, 2021.

This episode is hosted by Dr. Citlali Sosa-Riddell (Cal State University, San Marcos) and looks at music as a form of dissent in Latin America.Music in the form of nueva canción, canto nuevo and rock and roll became a creative space for dissent with young people frustrated with the anti-democratic societies they lived in and challenging it through their participation in musical culture.
Así que this episode examines Argentina, Mexico, and Chile from the 1960s to the 1980s to find out exactly why rock music became a space of creativity against the dictatorships.
Song Listing:
In this episode we listened to Enanitos Verdes “El Extraño de Pelo Largo,” which is a cover originally from La Joven Guardia, "Avándaro" by Tinta Blanca and "Lamento del indio" by Inti Illimani. These songs is not available on any streaming services. And we also heard Sol y Lluvia with "Organizando.
We also heard a a version of "Eres para mi" originally from Julieta Venegas. This episode's version is episode was performed by the students of Miramonte Music Program, based in the MiraMonte school in South Los Angeles.
Original songs played in our episodes are included in our Podcast Playlist. Make sure to check it out as new songs are included weekly during the summer 23.
Episode Three Bibliography. Books and Articles for further reading and research:
—Abello Onofre, Carolina. "Scratching the Stones of Rock and Roll: Love Lyrics in the Times of the Argentinian Dictatorship." Rock Music Studies 5, no. 1 (2018): 76-93.
—Carreño, Rubí. Av. Independencia: Literatura, música e ideas de Chile disidente. Cuarto propio, 2013.
—Espinosa, Christian Spencer. "Hacia un nuevo cancionero popular: música, creación y política en la revuelta social chilena (2019-2020)." Boletín Música 54 (2020): 29.
—Favoretto, Mara, and Timothy Wilson. "El Gran Hermano burlado: la neolengua oficial y la neolengua contracultural durante la Dictadura Militar (1976–1983) en Argentina." Contexto-Revista do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras da UFES 31 (2017).
—Favoretto, Mara. "The Falklands/Malvinas War (1982) in Argentine Rock Songs." Lied und populäre Kultur/Song and Popular Culture 63 (2018): 53-66.
—Manzano, Valeria. "“Rock Nacional” and Revolutionary Politics: The Making of a Youth Culture of Contestation in Argentina, 1966-1976." The Americas 70, no. 3 (2014): 393-427.
—McSherry, J. Patrice. "La dictadura y la música popular en Chile: Los primeros años de plomo." Resonancias vol. 23, n° 45, julio-noviembre 2019, pp. 147-169.
—Neustadt, Robert. "Music as memory and torture: sounds of repression and protest in Chile and Argentina." Chasqui 33, no. 1 (2004): 128-137.
—Pensado, Jaime M. "“To Assault with the Truth”: The Revitalization of Conservative Militancy in Mexico During the Global Sixties." The Americas 70, no. 3 (2014): 489-521.
—Prado, Ignacio M. Sánchez. "The Idea of Democratic Transition." Modern Mexican Culture:Critical Foundations (2017): 166.

In this episode, la profe Sosa-Riddell interviews Emilia Parodi, a recent Argentinian immigrant to the United States and current Pierce College student. They discuss how the experiences of Emilia growing up with the songs and the history of “el rock nacional” (argentino). While Emilia was born 15 years after the end of the dictatorship in Argentina, she is still impacted and inspired by the power of “Rock en Español.”
Song Listing:
In this episode we heard Argentina's rock pioneer Los Gatos with their song La Balsa. We also listened to Charly Garcia’s “Los Dinosaurios.” In addition, we heard segments from “El Reino Del Reves” by Maria Elena Walsh and a fragment of “Porque no se van” by Chile’s Los Prisioneros y nos despedimos con un pedazito de “Mil Horas” performed by the students of the Miramonte music program. The song is originally from Los Abuelos de la Nada and Andres Calamaro.
Original songs played in our episodes are included in our Podcast Playlist. Make sure to check it out as new songs are included weekly during the summer 23.
Episode Four Bibliography. Books and Articles for further reading and research:
—Alabarces, Pablo. Entre gatos y violadores: el rock nacional en la cultura argentina. Vol. 3. Ediciones Colihue SRL, 1993.
—Favoretto, Mara. "Charly García's allegories as counter-discourse." Confluencia (2012): 61-74.
—Favoretto, Mara. "Brothers in rock: Argentine and British rock music during the Malvinas/Falklands War." The Bloomsbury handbook of popular music and social class (2020): 291-313.
—Inchaurrondo, Nicolás. "Charly García: dictadura vs democracia." Primera Generación (2019).
—O'Brien, Michael S. "Cómo Vino la Mano: Orígenes del Rock Argentino. By Miguel Grinberg. Buenos Aires: Gourmet Musical Ediciones, 2008 (4th revised and expanded edn).
—Robben, Antonius CGM. "How traumatized societies remember: The aftermath of Argentina's dirty war." Cultural Critique (2005): 120-164.
—Trolliet, Ana Sanchez. "‘Buenos Aires beat’: a topography of rock culture in Buenos Aires, 1965–1970." Urban History 41, no. 3 (2014): 517-536.
—Trolliet, Ana Sanchez. "" MAKING LOVE IN THE KITCHEN": WOMEN, DOMESTIC SPACE AND ROCK CULTURE IN THE EARLY EIGHTIES/" Haciendo el amor en la cocina": mujeres, espacio domestico y cultura rock en los tempranos ochenta/" FAZENDO AMOR NA COZINHA": MULHERES, ESPACO DOMESTICO E CULTURA DO ROCK NO INICIO DA DECADA DE OITENTA." Cuadernos de Musica, Artes Visuales y Artes Escenicas 13, no. 1 (2018): 85-103.
—Vila, Pablo. "Rock nacional and Dictatorship in Argentina." Popular music 6, no. 2 (1987): 129-148.
—Wilson, Timothy, and Mara Favoretto. "Making the “Disappeared” Visible in Argentine Rock." Lied und populäre Kultur/Song and Popular Culture 60 (2015): 351-364.

In this episode,we are again joined by Prof. Citlali Sosa-Riddell (Cal State University, San Marcos) She will be examining essential Rock Nacional (Argentino) songs to consider how "el rock nacional" became a space to confront the painful memories of the military dictatorship even before the dictatorship collapsed.
The songs became important discursive spaces across Latin America because it was a way to engage with the national conscience, to tell stories of the murdered victims, and to deal with crimes of the dirty wars of the state against the population when the courts and nation would not.
Song Listing: In this episode we heard “El Show de los Muertos” by Sui Generis, León Gieco with “El Fantasma de Canterville.” Luis Alberto Spinetta with "Maribel se durmió." Alejandro Lerner’s “Indulto” and Bersuit Vergarabat with their song “Vuelos.”
Original songs played in our episodes are included in our Podcast Playlist. Make sure to check it out as new songs are included weekly during the summer 23.
Episode Five Bibliography. Books and Articles for further reading and research:
—Abello Onofre, Carolina. "Scratching the Stones of Rock and Roll: Love Lyrics in the Times of the Argentinian Dictatorship." Rock Music Studies 5, no. 1 (2018): 76-93.
—Citro, Silvia. "Ritual transgression and grotesque realism in 1990s rock music: an ethnographer among the Bersuit." In Youth Identities and Argentine Popular Music: Beyond Tango, pp. 19-39. New York: Palgrave Macmillan US, 2012.
—Favoretto, Mara. "Brothers in rock: Argentine and British rock music during the Malvinas/Falklands War." The Bloomsbury handbook of popular music and social class (2020): 291-313.
—Giusti, Cristian Secul. Rompiendo el silencio: La libertad en las letras de rock-pop argentino (1982-1989). Editorial Biblos, 2021.—Hernán, Dal Molín. "Al son del horror. Música y dictadura en la Argentina." HyA ediciones (2023): 31-46.
—Hernandez, Deborah Pacini, Héctor D. Fernández l'Hoeste, and Eric Zolov, eds. Rockin'las Américas: the global politics of rock in Latin/o America. University of Pittsburgh Press, 2004.
—Lopez, Diego, and Veronica Gomez. "Resistance to Censorship and Cultural Repression During the Military Dictatorship (1976–1983)." The Routledge Companion to Music and Human Rights (2022).
—Semán, Pablo, and Pablo Vila, eds. Youth identities and Argentine popular music: Beyond tango. Springer, 2012.—Vila, Pablo. "Tiempos difíciles, tiempos creativos: rock y dictadura en Argentina." Music and Dictatorship in Europe and Latin America, Harback, Amsterdam (2010).
—Wilson, Timothy, and Mara Favoretto. "Making the “Disappeared” Visible in Argentine Rock." Lied und populäre Kultur/Song and Popular Culture 60 (2015): 351-364.

In this episode, Professor Leal and Professor Citlali Sosa-Riddell discuss the historical themes examined in the first five episodes. Plus, they answer listeners' questions!
Dr. Sosa-Riddell (CSU San Marcos), who did the Latin American history episodes and is the series's co-creator, discusses her first encounters with Rock en Español as a third-generation Mexican American and how nostalgia can be useful when studying history.
In addition, Dr. Leal (UC Riverside) reveals the first ever Rock en Español songs that he furtively listened to during his long-ago adolescence in Guadalajara, Mexico, and how music pushes against many of society's most conservative norms.
From the listeners’ questions, we try to tackle questions such as “What are the Rock en Español legacy in Los Angeles?” and more.
Check it out and keep sending your questions in the comments or DMs to us!
Original songs mentioned in this episode are included in our Podcast Playlist. Make sure to check it out, as new songs are included weekly during the summer 23.