Protest Music Revisited

Comment

Comment by Luis Motta da Silva on March 10, 2013 at 11:13am

"And standing there, as big as life,

And smiling with his eyes,

said Joe: what they could never kill

went on to organize, went on to organize..."

From the "Joe Hill" song, I learned from a Joan Baez record back in the late 60's...

Comment by Patrick Dodd on March 9, 2013 at 4:11pm

Luis: Wow.  I have been wrapped up for a few days and I am late to this post, I can only say I'm sorry. I will follow this link you provided. It is indeed a wonderful example of just the sort of song I was referring to. I look forward to learning more about this brave soul. I know the feeling of having a body that stops being able to endure the abuse the spirit brings to bear upon it.  My last arrest of note was at the end of what the press had begun to refer to as the "homeless war's", I had aggrivated power to the point that jail house abuse and illegal arrests were becoming pretty common and very rough. When my friends were working my case up the ladder of appeals I was forced to face that moment when the body wants to surrender but the soul is still holding on to something it has deemed even more important than you own well-being and even years later the struggle between my weakness and the last threads of higher callings are not something I recall easily. But you know my friend, of all the old guard that I learned my songwriting craft with somehow I think that I, the man who chose a life out of the lime light, a life that included little glory and more than it's fair share of perceived suffering, come to the end of my time upon the stage with not one thing that I regret, except for the worn out body that won't let me keep doing it another decade or two.  Thank you for translating this wonderful poem for us; please share more. Till next time I will see you in the streets.

Comment by Luis Motta da Silva on February 22, 2013 at 4:28pm

OK...

Meia-palavra (half-word), is how we call something that is not openly said, clearly said, but, even so, will be perfectly understood by a competent listener.

Vampiros (Vampires) is probably the most well-known Portuguese political song, and is all written in half-words. José Afonso (also known as Dr. José Afonso or "Zeca" Afonso) is the author and singer of this powerful song.

If you just google "José Afonso" or "Zeca Afonso", you will easily find a wikipedia article about him (in English).

This link will take you to a youtube video of "Vampiros":

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

The video was shot at his farewell concert, shortly before his death (he was already seriously ill, and other artists organized the concert and did most of the performing, but he still could sing this song).

These are the first lines of the song, followed by a a very rough translation:

Do céu cinzento, sob o astro mudo / from a greyish sky, under a dumb star,

Batendo as asas p'la noite calada / moving their wings in the silence of night

Vêm em bandos, com pés de veludo/ they come in flocks, with velvet feet

chupar o sangue fresco da manada/ to suck the fresh blood of the herd.

Se alguém se engana com seu ar sizudo/ Those mislead by their grave look

E lhes franqueia as portas à chegada / May open the doors as they arrive

Eles comem tudo, eles comem tudo / Then the vampires will eat everything

Eles comem tudo e não deixam nada / And there will be nothing left.

"Velvet feet" means (obviously) silent steps, and the Portuguese word "bando" means both a flock (of birds) or a gang (of criminals). And I guess you all will know perfectly well who the Vampires are...

The song dates from the 60's, and by that time, a fascist dictatorship ruled the country. Even written in "half words", Vampiros granted his author prison, physical and psychic aggression, and banishment from teaching. When I first met him, in 1970, he was recovering from emotional and intellectual exhaustion, he couldn't sing his own songs by heart, he sang them on stage reading the lyrics from a sheet of paper - but he could still sing, and how!

So, this was a "song to the choir", no doubt, but also a masterpiece. And it helped the "herd" to fight and beat the "vampires". No doubt!...

Comment by Patrick Dodd on February 20, 2013 at 2:27pm

Luis:  My friend, you seem to do fine in English, and the truth shows through the roughest of speech; so as we say around here - you rock bubba.

Most of the great things that a small group get accomplished for the body politic are like good meals - put together with a little of this and a little of that. I am always deeply honored when I am told that one of my songs was one of those small parts.

I was one of those young men on the wrong side of a civil war in distant parts and the importance of the anti-war music around me cannot be overstated. In fact it was that music what helped me dedicate my life to sharing truths through tunes. I also think you are right that anti-war songs translate well to other lands, and the work of the last two writers you mentioned - Woody and Big Bill show that songs about labor rights and the struggles of the working class tend to also travel well. I would mention two other writers, it's a good bet that I ain't telling you nothing new, but on the historical end of things check out Joe Hill, one of the original I.W.W. activists and song writers, and Anne Feeney, a buddy of mine who most of us consider the greatest labor writer of her generation.

You make two your other two well spoken points: first that artists play (or paint or sculpt) what others wish they could, and that good social justice music re-enforces what the group believes. I agree with both though for my own work I kind of divide songs of social justice into two camps - songs to the masses that need the truth about people they are afraid of and songs for the choir. The first is fairly simple - just get your facts straight and sing it through the eyes and hearts of the people you are singing about. Singing to the choir though is just as important though it gets a bad rap I have always felt is undeserved. I have always felt honored to be one of the people called upon to uplift the troops while they are in the streets, I love telling people I admire how proud I am of them and how much I believe they can accomplish together through a song.

In fact Luis as I close I wanted to tell you that I would love to hear some of the songs to the choir from your culture, I dearly love words and music that lift up the common folk while they struggle against great odds for the betterment of their children. We have a saying around here that goes "Well met by moon light" talking with you reminds me of the reason we say it. Till next time Fellow Worker.

Comment by Luis Motta da Silva on February 17, 2013 at 3:27pm

Very wise and mature statement. It is a fact that a good song, with the right words, can clarify an issue. If "a good picture is worth 1000 words", well, a good song line is equally powerful, too.

If my comment sparkled the verbalization of your points of view, well, there you have something positive in it.

You know, back in the 60's, Portuguese troops were fighting three wars at the same time - in Angola, Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau - and they were in the wrong side in all three of them. No wonder that American singers who sang anti-war songs about the US involvement in Vietnam war were so popular among Portuguese youth... one could just translate those words, change some names, and their songs would seem to be written about this country. That's how I came to be interested in American protest songs and American folk music in general. My "heroes" were Dylan, Baez, PP&M, Paxton and others, but, later on, I came to appreciate country blues, Sleepy John Estes, Leadbelly, Lighting Hopkins and, above all, Guthrie and Big Bill Broonzy.

Anyway, your comment reinforces this simple belief I have: An artist is the person who says what the other people want to say, sings what they would like to sing and does what they would like to do, and DOES IT WELL - so well, that on listening, or seeing, that person's act, other people think, "that's precisely what I'd like to do (or sing, or dance, or play) if I could. This person speaks my mind (or my heart)". And you sure find that, for instance, in Guthrie's songs. So, if you got that, you've got talent...

But consider the other side of the coin: if the audience adheres to what you're doing, then their approval means you're saying what they already knew or felt... even if they weren't conscious of that. And that is all a good song is worth, or stands for: a gain in collective consciousness. Now, that is a great thing, even if not the decisive thing...

Oooof!   (It's hard to maintain a conversation like this in a foreign language! Hope I've correctly understood the comments I've read, and hope my comments are within the adequate limits of a forum like this, and clear enough in spite of my poor English!)  It's a pleasure and an honor to share this forum with you!

Comment by Patrick Dodd on February 14, 2013 at 6:54pm

Luis:  After 25 or so in the trenchs as you say I couldn't subscribe more to what I think is the heart of what your feeling, but being old it comes with a couple of important caveats.  First: When you are surronded, out-gunned, out-spent, and facing the advancing hoard music is, as my friend Daryl Cherney says, "is a great thing to remind you you are brave enough, and right enough to hold on."  It's a way to give a life its due humanity while that life is under great stress. And, I have found that music can humanize the group speak and get it off sides and positions, helping both sides see the human gain and loss in the decisions they are about to make.  Somebody ask me why I get arrested with the people I write songs about.  I told them that if I get the song right, they will know that their cause is just, and if I believe my song had something to do with their decision to resist it's the lest I can do. I completely agree - songs don't change the world, but niether does the majority, which often lags the social justice of an ever evolving society.  People change the world, but the folks on this page, I hope, believe as I do that words put to music help those people change the world by helping them believe in themselves long enough to accomplish great things.  And by the way I don't mix my social justice and my work; they are one and the same. Even when I write barroom ditties, as in the case of the collection "Drunken Fun", it doesn't take to close a listen to tell that the drunks I am entertaining are a bunch of class warriors. I am honored to play drinkin' songs for my friends, they're a bunch of workin' stiffs who have earned some down time. But go with the people change things man I really think you helped me verbalize some of this for the first time. Isn't it odd, we get so busy doing the work that until someone asks about it we don't really start to analize it. We just do the work. I'm really glad I found you folks.

Comment by Luis Motta da Silva on February 13, 2013 at 4:01pm

Alan,

I couldn't agree more.

However, my point still stands...

Comment by Alan Williams on February 13, 2013 at 3:31pm

Luis,  I think that music is a great way to get a message noticed through the din that is comercial broadcasting these days.  With wealthy conservatives able to buy up all of the air time a good song puts its message bouncing around in the head of a listener for many hours after it is heard and levels the playing field.

Comment by Luis Motta da Silva on February 13, 2013 at 2:32pm

Good people,

I've been following this very interesting thread, I come here from time to time, I read the comments, OK... Most of times, I may agree, or disagree, but I don't add a comment.

However, the last comments by Patrick Dodd, Bob Crain and Lon  Milo Du Quette urged me to post this comment:

1. I agree with the things you say - and that's from the heart. I could subscribe most of your statements.

2. However, I came to doubt the power of words, or protest songs. Why?

Because, if you consider the popularity of Left-wing singers and songwriters, Social Justice heralds if I'm allowed to call them so, it is by far much bigger than the electoral expression of the political parties they stand for. WHAT I MEAN IS, left wing ideals have a tremendous influence and acceptance at all social levels, BUT that doesn't convert in left wing majorities or governments.

That induces the conclusion that social justice concerned songs MAY HELP spread some ideas, or some ideals, BUT they don't change political majorities, so they won't change the state of things.

The obvious conclusion is that the so-called protest songs, or social justice songs, have "their place in the trenches" but they are not the decisive weapon. They're just aren't effective as a mean of change towards social justice. Plain and simple political activity is much more effective. Nevertheless it is true that just singing keeps your hands clean - which politics not always permit.

This said, and though I can write lyrics, my music is 100% instrumental - just have a look on my page, and you'll have proof of that - and I don't mix my social/political activity with my music.

Would you subscribe this attitude? Will you, at least accept, or understand it?

Comment by Bob Crain on February 13, 2013 at 2:22pm

Patrick, I play a 1973 D-28 and a 90's remake of a 60's model Guild Starburst f-hole semi acoustic....you can see photos of both and hear some of my stuff at www.bobcrain.com.au. Look forward to listening to some of your stuff and continuing this little chat.

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