With the initiatives “Rap manifests itself” and “Theater on the front line”, the performing arts and urban music joined the national strike marches, adding a month of protests in the country.
Rap and the national theater have something in common: they are born out of protest. Due to this critical and rebellious capacity, these two sectors chose to actively participate in the national strike. The message of rejection of violence and the violation of human rights, as well as the call to build unity and peace, led rappers and playwrights to join the wave of protests that the country is experiencing. With the initiatives “Rap manifests itself” and “Theater on the front line”, these managers spoke out in favor of a change.
“This is not a party, it is not a festival, it is a cultural takeover in which rap demonstrates against the violent repression of peaceful protest, against the murder and systematic disappearance of artists, students, indigenous people and social leaders. Rap manifests itself in support of the demands of a people that demands change, it demonstrates against the policies of a government that plays with hunger and represses the citizenry, it demonstrates for a country that needs actions and accurate changes to be able to build peace ”Reads the statement with which the initiative“ Rap manifests itself ”invited citizens to march from the Resistance Portal, as the Portal of the Americas was baptized, to the Galán neighborhood, during yesterday’s protests .
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Darly Calderón, one of the organizers of the initiative, comments that rap is born from the need to communicate the reality of the country, which is the result of several years of living in inequality and of “being governed from a position distant from the needs real people ”. Although this social discontent has been demonstrated throughout different manifestations and cultural events, Calderón considers that “Rap manifests itself” was the first time that several rappers met, in one voice, asking that life be respected. That the people be listened to and governed according to their needs.
Diana Avella, who has been rappering for twenty years and works as a human rights defender, remembers KRS ONE and her book The gospel of hip hop . Paraphrasing what the rapper says in his narration, Avella claims that a concert has never been a crowd listening to an artist, but rather a community event where marginalized, young revolutionaries and children exchange ideas. His participation in “Rap manifests itself” is because he saw there “a possibility to raise their voices for those who have been killed for resorting to their legitimate right to protest. I participated for Lucas Villa and for the possibility of believing in art as a conviction, also for Nicolás Guerrero and the dream of seeing more walls full of art. I participated for them, for Puerto Resistencia, for the entire Pacific and for reconciliation as a way ”.
Follow the news of El Espectador on Google NewsUnion, that is the message that rappers leave with their participation in the national strike. And under this premise, Spektra de la Rima, another artist who was linked to the initiative, emphasizes that rap was born out of protest and that history has been narrated through time: “Participating in this national strike is almost a must. This is for everyone ”. Being the first time that she is mobilized with her music, the rapper believes that it is a good time to protest through art, taking into account “that the subject is quite hot and the message must transcend”.
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The call for respect for life and rejection of the violence that is experienced in Colombia is also shared by the national independent theaters. Under the initiative “Theater on the front line”, the playwrights joined the national strike in defense of human rights and peaceful protest. “Seventy groups and theaters from all over the country, affected by the early death and disappearance of young people in the marches of the national strike, we respond with art and theater in the streets, squares and in digital spaces. While we are hurt, we are also full of hope for a better future for the youth of Colombia. We unite from the theater to the First Line to protect life, culture and art. With this sample we mourn and at the same time we sing to life ”, it reads in the program of the initiative.
Catalina Murillo, manager and actress of the Little Theater of Medellín, affirms: “We cannot forget that the Colombian theater was born from the protest, it was born from the unions and the marches of the 60s and 70s. arts: the complaint. Normally with our works, no matter how comedies or dramas they are, we are always denouncing an action or a fact. In that sense, the theater has always been in the forefront, and at this moment it has to be ”. Murillo also assures that “Theater on the frontline” was a tribute to all the victims of the national strike, to those friends, children and parents who have been violated in the midst of the protests.
Rodrigo Rodríguez, director of Ditirambo Teatro, adds that “Theater on the front line” sought to be a space for reflection, a path through dialogue for peace, under the premise of supporting protests from non-violence. The playwright affirms that throughout the demonstrations the leading role of artistic expressions has been seen, since the artists have made their playful, aesthetic and creative actions available to the public to advocate for equity and for the implementation of substantive reforms , including the management that from the political sphere has been given to the cultural sector.
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Finally, Fabián Velandia, from the Free Theater, joins the voices of his colleagues. According to him, this national movement of independent theaters had the purpose of supporting “the historical moment that Colombia is going through”, in which, through the demonstrations that have taken place in the streets, a construction of the country and the identity, in the midst of the need to generate spaces for understanding and listening. “Culture plays a key role in understanding where we are, where we are going, what we want and what is happening.” With the conviction that theater is a reflection of reality, as William Shakespeare said, the way in which the performing arts can contribute to this national discussion is through the didactic and pedagogical capacity that theater has.
