We’ve been talking a lot about Chile these past few weeks, as well as how historians can use popular art as a way to understand revolutionary struggles, so I wanted to share this new song/video from Chilean rapper Ana Tijoux. (More links to class themes: Tijoux was born in France while her parents were exiles during the Pinochet Dictatorship. She’s talking about cacerolazos, the style of “pots and pans” protests we’ll discuss in class on Friday. And we talked about how new media facilitates the spread of global protest movements.)
The lyrics (Courtesy of SpinLyrics):
Spoken at the beginning: En doscientos metros, gire a la derecha y corre, conchetumare, que vienen los paco’!
Cacerolazo!
Cacerolazo!
Cacerolazo!
Cace, cace, cacerolazo!
Cacerolazo!
Cacerolazo!
Cace, cace, cace!
Quema, despierta
Renuncia, Piñera
Por la Alameda, nuestra e’ La Moneda
Cuchara de palo frente a tus balazo’
Y al toque de queda? Cacelorazo!
No son treinta peso’, son treinta año’
La constitución, y los perdonazo’
Con puño y cuchara frente al aparato
Y a todo el Estado, cacerolazo!
Escucha, vecino, aumenta la bencina
Y la barricada? Dale gasolina!
Con tapa, con olla, frente a los payaso’
Llegó la revuelta, y el cacerolazo!
Cacerolazo!
Cacerolazo!
Cacerolazo!
Cace, cace, cacerolazo!
Cacerolazo!
Cacerolazo!
Cace, cace, cace!
Camilo Catrillanca (cace!)
Macarena Valdé’ (cace!)
No má’ AFP (cace!)
Aguante, estudiantes! (cace!)
Cacerolazo!
Cacerolazo!
Cacerolazo!
Cace, cace, cace!
And my (ROUGH) translation (I can’t find another English translation for some reason, and my Chilean slang is pretty dated) of the main verses (y’all already know what Cacerolazo means!). ANY FIXES TO MY TRANSLATION WELCOME AND APPRECIATED, STUDENTS – I’ll keep updating!
Burn it, wake up
Resign, Piñera [Chile’s president]
To the Alameda [a main street in Santiago], ours is La Moneda [the presidential palace bombed in 1973]
wooden spoons facing your bullets
And the curfew? Carcelorazo!
It is not thirty pesos [the metro fare increase], it is thirty years
The constitution, and the Perdonazo [a taxation change that benefited the richest Chileans]
With fist and spoon facing the system
and all of the State, cacerolazo!
Listen, neighbor, increase the fuel,
And the barricades? Give it gas!
With lids, with pans, facing the clowns
The revolt has arrived, and the cacerolazo!