By José Gandue @Gandour Photo by Simona Malaika @simonamalaika
The truth is, I had a great time at the 23rd edition of Rock al Parque. I saw some good performances, I saw that the organization took on its duties with more care than last year. And I was pleased to confirm that the public, especially the younger generations, prepared to attend the festival, to get to know its protagonists better and to learn the songs of those who, in many cases, They became their new idols. This is not a demagogic phrase, it is a reality: We have long underestimated Bogota spectators and it has been said quite a lot that they are a stingy audience that only attends, and reluctantly, free shows. On the contrary, rock fans in Bogotá are grateful and attend Rock al Parque to celebrate in style. They call it stingy because most people don't pay two hundred dollars or more for tickets to see the big international stars. Some still believe, in this country full of social climbers, that we live in Switzerland and consider those less well-off to be ignorant and mean.
I stand by what I said a few days ago in an article: Rock al Parque is the most democratic music event held in Colombia. It is there that the Bogota musician finds the evidence to understand that his performance venues should not be limited to the wealthiest areas of the city and that he should, without hesitation, expand his artistic commitment to the entire urban perimeter. The idea, promoted by certain private interests, that contemporary music is only for the wealthy has backfired on the majority of the public and, absurdly, also on the musicians themselves. Rock al Parque should sound the alarm within the local scene and demonstrate the untapped potential offered by a city of more than nine million inhabitants., whose youthful population wants to welcome the most outstanding local talent into their neighborhoods.
Of course, we still live in a violent country, and there are always actors who, in their profound ignorance and selfishness, want to, to steal the spotlight of the moment. We're talking about a bunch of idiots who kill each other every Sunday in the stadium for a shirt that doesn't even belong to them. A group of brainless orangutans who unfortunately discovered the music of 2 Minutos and Los Caligaris, among others, to have more reasons to fight with their enemies. It's absurd, and it will sound very naive, but instead of thinking "this guy, who is my rival in sporting events, enjoys the same music I listen to, and that should unite us at the party,", More than one troglodyte was seen showing off his football tattoos before brazenly kicking his antagonist., ...in the middle of the concerts. As Mosca, the singer of 2 Minutos, clearly stated: «"We make music, we don't play football, otherwise we'd be very rich, so stop messing around.". Even without going into details, we cannot fail to point out the behavior of some members of the police force who, at the slightest provocation, sought to inflame the situation and acted irrationally. Fortunately, these were all isolated incidents., But we need to see how they are prevented in the future.
I don't know the official attendance figures for Rock al Parque 2017, But I suspect they were satisfactory. All this, despite the lack of a communication strategy. People attend out of habit and curiosity, but the organizers' promotional efforts fell short of expectations. It's not enough for the usual crowds to turn out in droves: Good communication would help the entire city feel proud of its festival again. And also to establish better bridges of dialogue with other music scenes in Latin America. That's no small matter. I would recommend starting to think seriously about it with the upcoming park festivals.
Starting now I extend my congratulations to Chucky García, curator of the event, who, despite pressure from all interested parties, managed to pull it off with great effort (and with a smaller budget than you can imagine) a balanced, interesting program with a high artistic level. Hopefully, it will have more resources for future editions, so that it can continue to grow in its intention to once again make Rocxk al Parque a benchmark of the scene on this continent.
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