By the Zonagirante.com team @spinning zone
An ironic character, one of those rare individuals, once said that in the Spanish Civil War The Republican side had the best songs, but unfortunately, the Francoists had more powerful weapons. Today, if we continue to apply the same logic, the left, for many, surely has the most likeable artists on its side, but the right, even the most extreme, has the support of large media corporations, the most rigid religious institutions and, if necessary, the armed forces. These are times of the most technologically advanced manipulation, the fake news better made and where any measure in favor of the immigrant, the member of the LGBTI community, the woman, the poor and the minorities of society can be combated with the use of fear, sin and imprudence. Everything can become like Venezuela, they tell us., And that is why we cannot speak in favor of the black person, the transsexual, the disadvantaged, nor question the great advantages of billionaires or the inequalities that suit the elites of always, God protect us from that.
Caetano Veloso, The Brazilian music legend, upon the election of Jair Bolsonaro, a truly sinister figure, warns that dark times are looming in his country. He asserts that what has happened signifies a return to fatal moments experienced five decades ago. «"In the late 1960s, the military junta arrested and imprisoned many artists and intellectuals for their political ideas. I was one of them, as was my friend and colleague Gilberto Gil.". Bolsonaro's statements, which are not new, but which in current times are even more surprising due to their intemperate irrationality, resonated strongly among the 55% of the population that went out to vote. Veloso still insists on staying in Brazil, and he published this a few days before the elections: «"Many people have said they plan to move abroad if the retired military officer wins. I've never wanted to live in any country other than Brazil, and I don't want to now either. I was already forced into exile once. It won't happen again. I want my music, my presence, to be a permanent resistance against any anti-democratic traits that might emerge from a likely Bolsonaro government.".
Veloso, preserving his democratic spirit, contributes to the resistance for what is to come, recovering songs of his own and of other authors from his country, to reclaim them as anthems and sing them in the difficult times that seem to be approaching. Sure, it's not much, it's not the best shield against injustice, but you have to start somewhere. This list, which Veloso himself has simply called Policy, It includes 24 tracks, featuring veteran stars such as Gal Costa, Chico Buarque, Os Mutantes, Carlihnos Brown, Joao Bosco, Angela María, Jair Rodrigues, Nara Leao, Milton Nascimento and others. It contains rock, bossa nova, samba, jazz experimentation, and hip hop. 24 musical pieces that can be listened to without any preconceptions and for the simple artistic pleasure of it because they are wonderful compositional examples, but they are also recordings that, in these times we live in, can remind us that..., If we don't get our act together, things could get worse and everything we take for granted could be lost.
