What makes hip hop an effective kind of political music in Guatemala?

What makes hip hop an effective kind of political music in Guatemala?

Hip-hop has been used for decades as a form of expression against oppressive government policies that seek to deprive the minorities of the fundamental human rights. In Guatemala, hip-hop has taken a similar step where the native locals have adopted the use of hip-hop as a way of expressing their concerns with the government of the day. According to Tamayan, marginal urban zones that separate through social structures in terms of wealth is what leads youth to identify with hip-hop in Guatemala (2). The need to pass down their culture to the younger generation has prompted hip-hop musicians to dig deeper into their pockets to achieve this critical step. The culture of the poor Guatemalans has been oppressed by the majority who have, in turn, alienated them from their land. Floreceras Guatemala, by Kin-Lalat, is an excellent example of how music plays a part in Guatemala (00:02:40). Hip-hop in Guatemala has been a result of political segregation, which has forced the minority communities to lack a voice in the government. The youths who come from minority communities often find difficulties in national identity, and they come up with a way to express their discontent about their life experiences (Tamayac 3). The local community used Hip hop as a form of activism in demanding respect and equality from the government. Hip-hop has proven to be the only way that the native Guatemala community can be able to communicate their concern even to the i9nternational about the atrocities they are going through in terms of cultural alienation. The need to come up with a solution and a voice Hip Hop proves to be the only way the local community can be able to get an arena and the audience that might be able to comprehend their challenges.

1. Describe one of the examples of Indigenous popular music you listened to from Australia or Canada. What do you hear when you listen? How does the song relate to its social or political context?

We have Survived by No Fixed Address was the most impactful reggae song from Australia. The No Fixed Address band is talking about the struggles of the native minority communities living in the country who have faced a history of oppression and discrimination. After listening to this indigenous popular music, I was able to grasp the torment and pain the minorities were going through because of powerful officials in the government who were formulating laws that will continue to put the poor minority communities down. According to Tamayac, “The dominant culture often stigmatizes youth from the settlements and blames them for violence” (2). The No Address Band explores the idea of oppression from the police who racially profile them and harass without any regard that they are citizens too and, more importantly, the original inhabitants of the land. The We have survived the title of the song speaks all about the atrocities the minority grouped has passed for decades and what they have gone through to survive.

The song relates to the Australian social and political context in terms of the long histories of injustices that the native communities have undergone under the laws of the white ruler. Alux Nahul Fueral shows the passion the poor have when they can freely express themselves through a genre of music that they can relate with generality (00:00:50). In this country, the local community has been branded as uncivilized, uneducated, and criminals, especially the youth who have been painted as gang members. The government has alienated the community from their original land and kept them away from power.

Across Australian and Canadian examples, why might you hear repeated lyrics around the theme “we are still here”?

When one listens to indigenous popular songs, there is a similar theme that exists of the native musicians repeating that they have gone through so much turmoil under the government of the white man, and they have still survived to tell their community story. This theme carries years of oppression, discrimination through social, political, and economic sectors of the native communities. Hip-hop and reggae have a history being the genres of music that express the white supremacist and how it has affected the lives of Africans and Latinos. According to Tamayan, “Hip-hop is a voice that denounces and opposes dominant economic and cultural systems”(3). The most critical thing is to understand that the native community has suffered from harassment, violence, genocide, and racial discrimination, and they have still come out down but not beaten. The poor communities have always been left at the mercies of the dominants who offer limited possibilities for progress. Kixajo (Vengan), in their song Fernanando Scheel y Poesia Loca, depicts the poor neighborhood the minority live (00:1:00). The wealthy dominated government has resulted in criminalizing and blaming the youth from impoverished areas for their situations. The theme of “We have survived “speaks thousands of words to the minorities in the community, and if they have been able to overcome all these challenges, there is a bright future ahead.