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ATMOSPHERIC DISTURBANCES - oh, malinzin

from ¡ AY CARAMBA ! by Various Artists

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ATMOSPHERIC DISTURBANCES
États Unis
oh, malinzin, 2021, 9:59

I’ve never been to Mexico. I live 1,500 miles from the border. So most of my inspiration for these tracks comes from reading copious amounts of Wikipedia articles and poring over stock footage and time lapse videos on Youtube.

What I came up with was four tracks — one for Mexico today, one for Mexico yesterday, one for Mexico tomorrow, and one for Mexico for all time.

The track for Mexico today (maquiladora) was inspired by the exploitation of workers along the Mexican border, and throughout the country, by export led manufacturing industries, often foreign owned. The days are long, the conditions are deplorable, but for many workers there is no other choice. I know it’s kind of a downer, but it represents something real, an issue that matters, and the lives of many Mexicans.

The track for Mexico yesterday (oh, malinzin) was inspired by the story of Cuauhtémoc, the last free Aztec ruler of Tenochtitlan. After being captured and tortured by the Spanish, he was executed unjustly by the conquistador Hernán Cotéz. His last words, spoken the Cortéz’s interpreter, are recorded as:

“Oh, Malinzin! Now I understand your false promises and the kind of death you have had in store for me. For you are killing me unjustly. May God demand justice from you, as it was taken from me when I entrusted myself to you in my city of Mexico!”

With the track for Mexico of tomorrow (donde hubo fuego cenizas quedan), I tried to create something optimistic, but still aware of the baggage of the past and the injustices of the present. It’s meant to represent a country and a people constantly moving, moving, moving forward, trying to find meaning and purpose in the narrative they have been written into.

The last track I included (la mujer dormida) takes its title from the nickname of a rather large, dormant volcanic mountain in the south of Mexico. The nickname comes from an old Aztec myth, but really the idea is that the mountain was there long before the nation of Mexico and will remain long after. It has witnessed millennia pass, shifted with the continents, seen stars come and go in the night sky, and will likely exist through to the end of the Earth, a natural monument seen and touched by countless Mexicans and visitors of Mexico.

ATMOSPHERIC DISTURBANCES :
atmosphericdisturbances.bandcamp.com

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from ¡ AY CARAMBA !, released April 19, 2021

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