By the Zonagirante.com team @spinning zone
It is obvious that if I invented this site twenty-five years ago, after collaborating with some print media such as El Tiempo, El Espectador, La Prensa and Suburbia (and once, while I lived in Argentina, Página 12), It was because of my adoration of music and because I enjoyed writing about it (whether I do it well or not is a discussion for another time). And what was someone with a degree in Political Science and Sociology doing writing album reviews and interviewing artists? The truth is, I've always been passionate about the facts and circumstances of politics., But music, and especially rock, at that time, excited me more. I never played an instrument, and when I sing my friends ask me to stop, but music was (and is) my thing. But, not wanting to diminish my studies, I also understood, from then on, how art played a vital role in social movements, how it shaped and changed prevailing trends, the sound and image of what was happening, and where the anthems of each era emerged, resonating in protests and celebrations, generation after generation. I like to mix politics, society, and resonance in many of my writings. I enjoy it.
Of course, what I do doesn't make me any more popular or more widely read, not by a long shot.. Besides, as they say, people are reading less and less. And on the other hand, due to the irresponsibility and banality of some, music has become background noise for many, something we wouldn't notice unless the volume was turned up, or even if it played on a loop forever. Me, a fussy old fellow, I avoid those who answer me, when asked what kind of music they like, "Oh, everything."« (when all they hear is the radio and its hits). That clearly means they don't care about music, that it hasn't made any impact on their lives. And that's fine, everyone has their own interests., But I, for my part, continue to escape from those characters. I still tear up every time I hear the version of Waltzing Matilda When Tom Waits plays, I remember the ex-girlfriend I loved most. I feel much better., by Charly García, and I have marked the moment I first heard it Come Together Primal Scream, amidst the revelry, at Barbie, a nightclub located in northern Bogotá, whose owner and DJ was Héctor Buitrago, from Aterciopelados. Likewise, I'm one of those who feels grateful for things as different as a song, Grándola villa morena, It was the signal to start the Carnation Revolution, fifty years ago in Portugal, as well as when Dillom covered Mr. Collections at the last Cosquin Festival, making thousands jump, demonstrating the anger that a large part of the Argentine people have against the current government. Music can move mountains, and that's what I like to talk about.
I believe I have repeated quite a few times what it says about performing these tasks, The most responsible thing one can do is to be a chronicler of one's time and place. That's why Zonagirante.com is dedicated to covering, in its own way, what's happening with Latin American music. That doesn't mean I stop listening to many of my favorite bands from the English-speaking world. and say things like that Going Black Again, Ride's album is one of my five all-time favorite albums, that much of my happiness in front of the speakers is thanks to New Order, or that some incidents of youthful madness had the tunes of Godfodder, from Ned's Atomic Dustbin. If I owned a bar, I would name it Hope Sandoval, after the beautiful singer from Mazzy Star., And the first song I would play in that place would be Just like Honey, from The Jesus and Mary Chain. But my interest, when it comes to doing music journalism, is to delve deeply into what is happening on this continent. (and where the diaspora generated by all our conflicts is located).
My interest is in Latin America, not just because I want to live here. and always feel that this is our great neighborhood. It is also because, evidently, what happens in these parts, and not only in commercial matters, can set the standard for the global sound. It is the daily work of Zonagirante.com to make it known that great things happen here. That, however much we are constantly bombarded with the words and songs of notable American and European artists, whose worth we will not deny, We cannot forget what is happening around us. We are no longer, as was the case a long time ago, second-rate, nor serial copyists of what happens in "the first world". I don't see what the album has to envy it for, musically. Fish, Rubio's comments on what Lorde has published. I can say the same when it comes to listening Evil Angel, of Entropic, or Malagría, from La Reyna Tropical. I see that, on the hip hop side, hThere are notable representatives such as N. Hardem, Tsh Sudaca and Comida para Llevar, who have the same potential to captivate masses as many well-known names like Wos and Trueno. There are rock bands that I have no doubt have what it takes to captivate a massive audience both here and beyond our borders. As examples, I can cite Slowkiss, normA, and Mad Tree. Yes, that's what I'm interested in., But sometimes all this seems like a diatribe full of shouts against the fury of hurricanes.
In few Latin American countries do major media outlets consistently report on local talent. And when they do, Their motivation is gossip or money. What reporter is truly interested in what's resonating in the daily lives of small auditoriums and stages in their city, if their stories don't add up to thousands of likes, or a generous payment from those interested in moving the events? Haven't you noticed how, in large cities like Bogotá or Lima, after all this time, Are the city's artists just cannon fodder at big concerts? There are exceptions, of course, but this progress was not achieved with the help of businessmen or the city's radio stations., It was in spite of them. Furthermore, failing to generate interest in what happens a few blocks from our home and our culture (which, in the long run, is the same thing) is to miss out on and erase what is really happening in our society. And that ceases to be journalism and becomes a broadcast of nonsense.
Zonagirante.com, after a period of internal crisis, is recovering strongly. There are new social and digital tools that have allowed us to grow and gradually recover the impact we want to make. We want and ask our audience and their friends to support us. We want to ask for your donations, your words of encouragement (and criticism), that you share our content and, of course, that you continue listening to the talent of this great neighborhood. Don't get me wrong, this isn't about pity. This is a plea to help us all grow together, and for our music to shine here and around the world.
