tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8466350633522517538.post-25045028426385006772007-11-27T20:53:00.000-03:002007-11-27T21:14:30.788-03:00My DJ pal <a href="http://www.myspace.com/inrefusal">Refusenik</a> sent along this new Spanish-language <a href="http://www.ensantelmo.com.ar/vernota.php?id=447&amp;cate=izquierda">interview</a> he did with the Buenos Aires online magazine <a href="http://www.ensantelmo.com.ar/">En San Telmo</a>. It an interesting little read, but the part I found most enjoyable was how Refusenik's enthusiasm for cumbia caused such shock and dismay on the part on the interviewer. Here is one particularly telling excerpt (that I have translated to English):<br /><blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;">Refusenik</span>:<br />...All the DJs I am connecting with tell me that they want to hear cumbia and now is the moment to make it known.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Freaked Out Interviewer</span>:<br />This electro-cumbia phenomenon is getting attention! Here in Argentina cumbia is associated with poor neighborhoods, the lower classes, ignorance, delinquency...</blockquote>Oh no! The spread of cumbia is a sign of the apocalypse! Civilization as we know it is coming to an end!<br /><br />Although this interviewer's ignorance is both sad and laughable, I must say that there is something oddly comforting in knowing that class-based and racially-motived fears are being irrationally applied to music genres on both sides of the border. Maybe Argentina's anti-cumbia zealots could join forces with the United States' anti-gansta rap crowd and put together some kind of International Musical Ignorance Conference.Disco Shawnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11075681653589200997noreply@blogger.com