Film on the US-Mexico border: The Fence, in Syracuse on May 13

Playing at ArtRage: www.artragegallery.org

FRIDAY, May 13, 2011 7pm Free to the Public
THE FENCE (LA BARDA) 2010
Directed by Rory Kennedy

In Oct. 2006, the U.S. government decided to build a 700-mile fence along its troubled 2000-mile-plus border with Mexico. Three years, 19 construction companies, 350 engineers, thousands of construction workers, tens of thousands of tons of metal and $3 billion later, was it all worth it? Rory Kennedy (HBO’s Emmy®-winning “Ghosts of Abu Ghraib”) follows her subjects through private ranches, protected wilderness, bustling border towns and scrub deserts for a revealing, often surprising look at the controversial southern U.S. border barrier. As many as 500,000 undocumented immigrants are estimated to cross into the U.S. every year. In the aftermath of 9/11, the Bush administration responded to the enormous political pressure to close what was seen as a dangerous open door with a seemingly simple, some say simplistic, solution: a fence dividing the United States from its neighbor to the south.

HBO Documentary Films presents THE FENCE (LA BARDA); a Moxie Firecracker production; directed and narrated by Rory Kennedy; producers, Rory Kennedy, Liz Garbus and Keven McAlester; writer, Mark Bailey; associate producer, Lauren Barker; editor, Sari Gilman; cinematographer, Nick Doob. For HBO: senior producer, Nancy Abraham; executive producer, Sheila Nevins. Sponsoring Organizations: The Justice for Immigrants Campaign of the Syracuse Catholic Diocese, Workers’ Center of Central New York, Nosotros, Your Latino Voice, A.N.S.W.E.R. Coaliton, Syracuse Peace Council, Detention Task Force, La Casita Cultural Center Project, LULAC.

FEMALE CHICANO VOCALISTS

We have discussed a couple of female Chicano vocalists: Linda Rondstat, Selena….I thought I would look for a contemporary vocalist and found Lysa Flores, and Eastside LA native. Newsweek is quoted as naming Flores among, “20 young Latinos to watch in the new millennium.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R39HRnzhsDM

Do you like her style?

QUEBRADITA

Of all the contemporary music we have heard from Mexico, I like the quebradita music and dance the best.

An audio file of the music:

http://www.songarea.com/mc/2/quebradita.html

http://www.songarea.com/mc/3/quebradita.html

These are the best videos of the dance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eZg_pxXz5Y

http://tu.tv/videos/como-bailar-quebradita

One article referred to quebradita as folklorico music. Do you think it can be expressed as folklorico?

MORE ON BORDER AND FILMS

While the USA is futilely trying to suppress immigrants from crossing our southern borders, there are many illegals living and prospering on our soil. The INS conveniently looks the other way and does nothing about the Mexicans that are already living within our boundaries. And the reason that they do this is that Mexicans provide a service to our economy – cheap labor. And they do the jobs that most American will not do (because they are beneath us). It is not true that they are taking jobs away from Americans. They are taking the jobs that Americans do not want to do. They are itinerant farm workers, they clean out sewers; things that Americans would not do.

I recently found out that there is a little known film made in 2004 on this subject. It was released in only parts of the USA. It is a comedy about what would happen to California if all the Mexicans suddenly disappeared. Who would pick the fruit? Who would do the dishes? Who would take care of the lawns? I have not seen it yet bit I intend to!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8t8DCSP020

SELENA

I recently re-watched the film about Selena, the popular Chicano singer, played by Jennifer Lopez (although of Puerto Rican ethnicity, I thought she did a great job portraying Selena). The part of the film that related to our class was when we talked about Chicanos and the need to keep their culture alive. This theme was central to the plot of the movie. Selena was born in the USA of Mexican immigrants who wanted to keep their culture alive. Her father saw the music industry as a way to earn a living in the USA. He insisted that his children learn to play instruments and Selena was a good singer, so they formed a band. Selena’s father insisted that the children learn Spanish and to play to the Chicano people in the USA. At first the children didn’t like the idea because they thought of themselves as American, but the father persevered. Unfortunately, Selena met with very untimely death, but while she lived she was extremely popular and her father was very proud of his family.

SOCIAL MOVEMENT ISSUES

A pause to comment on border problems; the problems of the Mexicans / USA border are so complex I hesitate to bring it up, but it also hard to ignore. We try so hard and spend so much money on trying to keep Mexicans out of the USA. A wall…what were they thinking? The border is 2,000 miles long! Reminiscences of the China Wall…the Berlin Wall? And do I even want to get into the violence and killing on the border?

First of all, the history of the border is confusing. Years ago, the Mexican/USA border was hundreds of miles north of where it is now. In 1848, due to war with the USA and a treaty that followed, Mexico lost 55% of its land. What is now California, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, parts of Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, and Oklahoma where all Mexico. So you might say, they are just trying to come home!

Another issue is the wonderful NAFTA program imposed upon the Mexican people! It was supposed to create an economic boon but has had the opposite effect, causing an economic depression among the Mexican peoples (websites do not discuss or admit to this problem). So if we have caused Mexican people to be without work, how can we morally or ethically suppress peoples from trying to earn a living and feed their families?

Maybe we could enter into another type of trade agreement. We could trade people. A lot of American and Canadian citizens are leaving their countries to move to Mexico. In Mexico, there are springing up English speaking communities for those who have moved south.

http://puertobahiavillas.com/video.html?gclid=CIys6pe-1agCFQbCKgodgDb7AQ

What do you think?!?

Hey i found this really great article about mexican music in general and about norteno and tejano and banda and everything . check it out

http://latinmusic.about.com

good bands they suggest are:

los tigres del norte
conjunto primavera
los kumbia kings... many more