Music, rebellion, protest and marketing
The Vietnam War not only marked a milestone in the history of humanity because of the geopolitical consequences it produced in that bipolar world with the "cold confrontation" between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The entertainment world experienced perhaps one of the most influential influences to assume positions with a universal repercussion, although it was not the first time that demonstrations, such as music, expressed the claim of some sector of the population. But in the 60's of the twentieth century the pacifist theme was very much in vogue and many artists who mounted the "hippie wave" echoed in their lyrics of warmongering repudiation.
Also appearing were those who advocated civil rights, against racism with living legend and today Nobel Prize winner Bob Dylan as one of the great icons of this current that went along with what he called "commercial music." We could also mention expressions such as blues, soul or gospel, where the feelings of the Afro-descendant community of North America vibrated.
Many historians of music assume rock and roll as a manifestation of rebellion in that emerging society after World War II and Disco Music as a form of vindication of minorities such as homosexuals in the face of the "status quo" prevailing in the five continents . This list can include Jamaican reggae and urban rebellion that is endorsed by rap, which also points to complaints from one country in the first case, and the poorest sectors in the second.
But after the effervescence of the 60s and 70s, there were criticisms about what some people questioned as mere marketing to configure the artist as a product, as a simple added value beyond certain conditions for singing, composition, physique and dance, When he had them. "He's a 'good vibe' who also cares about global issues," though his knowledge of them ranged in the basic story of a beauty queen: "I aspire to achieve world peace."
Certain criticisms arise from the incongruity of what the "militant artist" wants to proclaim and the life he leads. In recent decades, a "Beverly Hills Left" or "5th Avenue Revolutionaries", who allegedly support the planet's most needy, are casting venomous darts at "the system," perhaps forgetting that their status as opulence Is the result of a cultural industry that has also turned the "good causes" into one more article of mass consumption.
Yet art stands as a redoubt for billions of human beings all over the world, at least as a collective catharsis for their hardships. With sincerity in the soul or riding on a wave that will give you international notoriety, actors and musicians continue to reflect in the present more varied subjects such as equality and tolerance for all sexual orientations, the drama of refugees, terrorism or xenophobia, for Just name a few.
In the presentation of the MTV Video Music Awards 2017 (VMA) last Sunday, August 27, a very sensitive moment was experienced towards the end of the show when the young Heather Heyer, an activist against the fascism that was assassinated in The events in Charlottesville, Virginia, when a neo-Nazi hit a group of people protesting against white supremacists. Susan Bro, the victim's mother, took the floor to remind her daughter and announced the creation of a foundation that will grant scholarships to those who fight "against hatred," such as the wave of racism unleashed in the US in recent months.
Previously, Pastor Robert Lee IV, descendant of the mythical General Lee of the Civil War of the United States, has been used historically by segregationist and fascist groups as his inspiration, adopting the Confederate flag as an icon of his fight against The rest of society. The religious indicated, faced with this reality that affects him directly because it is a family affair, he believed "a moral duty to pronounce against racism" in his country.
MTV's response to his VMA this year was that the "best fight against the system" award was shared by all nominees in that line, without a solo winner, with the honors being shared by Logic ft. Damian Lemar Hudson, The Hamilton Mixtape, Big Sean, Alessia Cara, Taboo ft. Shailene Woodley and John Legend.
Any skylight is used to the maximum, the slits are not wasted. In battles for Human Rights, small spaces are valuable, when millimeters look like thousands of miles of advance, although "fight against the system" comes from a billion-dollar transnational corporation, which is also part of that same establishment. Is not it a peculiar irony?
Humanity needs its artists, traditional emissaries of the mass crowds and the needs of the majorities. Whatever your discipline, there will be a group attentive to your work and the message of solidarity that can provide for hundreds, thousands and millions. And art will always be in that struggle of interests between the mere commodity and liberating weapon. It is the natural battle between interests, forces and powers, as old as ourselves.
BY: JUAN ERNESTO PÁEZ-PUMAR