By José Gandue @Gandour Photos by Simona Malaika @simonamalaika
Today, April 10, the District Institute of the Arts (Idartes), an entity belonging to the Mayor's Office of Bogotá, announced the first guests for what will be The twenty-sixth edition of the Rock al Parque festival, to be held on June 29 and 30 and July 1. From the outset, with a host of big names, the city's mayor and his subordinates are ensuring that Simón Bolívar Park will be packed for three days, and it wouldn't be surprising if they surpassed the figures recorded in the twentieth edition., when it is estimated that four hundred thousand people attended. This guarantees them a great photo on the front page of the main local newspapers the next day, much to the pleasure and delight of the responsible public officials. So far, so good.
Likewise, upon seeing what today's announcement contained, we allow ourselves to question a series of facts that, without falling into unfounded reproach or unnecessary complaint, must be carefully analyzed and discussed. For now, I propose dividing the matter into three parts:
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Undeniably, the international lineup presented for this Rock al Parque is very striking. You could almost say that it has no loose ends, aiming to return to the impressive scale of the event. Last year, attendance figures weren't remarkable (officially, they reported 180,000 people, an average of 60,000 per day), and the images showed many gaps in the audience seating. This was surely discussed within the Mayor's office, and, taking advantage of the importance of reaching the 25th anniversary (the old fetish for round numbers), a significant budget was allocated for the event. On the other hand, to create political memory among the audience (although the official reasons given were different), the festival's original November date (as it had been promoted since the very end of the previous edition) was moved back to mid-year. Let's remember, 2019 is a municipal election year And, before we get confused by political campaigns, the Mayor's interest is to be remembered for each of his works, including a grand and striking realization of this series of concerts that, ironically, he wanted to end in his first term, back in 1998.
Equal, The lineup, featuring artists from four continents, is very impressive. But two curious sensations remain. The first is that, without exaggeration, This festival will have the highest average age among international guests. The way each of the contracted groups was referred to (with notable exceptions) was by highlighting their 20, 30, 40, and even 50 years of experience in the music industry. We're talking about many musicians over fifty years old (some nearing seventy) trying to captivate an audience mostly under thirty or twenty-five. Nobody (least of all me, at 53) objects to the presence of musicians of all ages, with all their experience, at a festival the size of Rock al Parque. But the work of preparing this poster was not done, as in previous years, with an attractive balance between experience and current events. There was very little room for sonic risk-taking, for delighting in novel proposals, in surprising rhythms. The decision was excessively conservative, playing it safe, too safe. The feeling of discovering what's happening today in the alternative music scene around the world, and especially in Latin America, where perhaps much of the best artistic work in the world is currently taking place, was lost this time. And that's regrettable, since that's one of the advantages of a free, state-sponsored festival: Not having to necessarily think about sacrificing the cutting edge for economic gain. Even private events, which do have financial constraints, have taken more opportunities this year to explore new trends, knowing that their audience will appreciate it.
Likewise, we celebrate the happy presence of an increasingly interesting Christina Rosenvinge, from the surprising presence of Rita Indiana, from the return of Eruca Sativa and the opportunity to celebrate alongside classics like The Great Silence, Fito Páez and Babasónicos. Anyway, don't worry, we'll be covering our favorite festival with our best smiles, as always.
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In the second point we have two questions, closely related to each other: Does Rock al Parque need Juanes' presence? And does Juanes need to be at Rock al Parque?
The question goes further: Does Rock al Parque need to go to mainstream Colombian to grow? That is, if Juanes comes, it wouldn't surprise us if later, in one of these upcoming milestone years, we include Carlos Vives and Shakira, among others, in the program. Does the presence of these world-renowned artists, so far removed from the festival's initial purpose, add anything positive? Did they ever serve as a reference point or a beacon of inspiration for the local rock scene? Mind you, someone will remember Aterciopelados and make the comparison, and I'll tell them it's very different. Héctor and Andrea grew up with Rock al Parque. The rest of the mainstream music industry has never been interested in the festival and has even tried to sabotage it in the past. When celebrities have become involved with the festival, serious problems have arisen.
Furthermore, I raise this without intending to incite the radicals who are already prepared to sabotage Juanes' presence at the festival, but, Do we want to risk the results not being as peaceful as they are naively expecting?
I suspect this decision wasn't made by the festival's curators but rather pressured from high-ranking officials in the Mayor's office (and who knows where else). And that makes the atmosphere a bit tense. Without advocating a reckless and counterproductive boycott, friends of Idartes, is there still time for reflection on this matter?
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The third point of discussion concerns the local talent that will participate in the festival and is currently being selected through district-level calls for submissions. These are the city's representatives at its most important musical event. Therefore, we must take care of them and pamper them more than ever.
Given such a lineup of international guests, It's very easy to downplay the presence of Bogota bands, to forget about them, to belittle them when presenting them to the press., unfairly displacing them in production decisions, vilifying them on stage, and, for all of this, rejecting them from the audience for seeing them out of place, more heavily promoted, and defenseless against the guest act. Rock al Parque was born to grow the Bogotá music scene and, over the years, bring it up to par with the international scene, but we all, those responsible for making that happen, often fall into foolishness., in believing too much of the story told by the star who visits us and already believing that our talent is not worth enough.
Idartes must take immediate action and rectify all necessary issues in the areas of communication, promotion, and production. I am certain that the groups selected this year to participate in the festival generally possess all the qualities needed to succeed. and deserve the attention of all the fans, But if the organizers don't take this whole matter seriously, this festival won't serve Bogotá and its music scene as it should, and will only be a big entertainment spectacle that will fade away twenty-four hours later. It will be a costly collection of memories and nothing more.