2017 Create Change Fellow Ingrid Romero and Bedford Stuyvesant Artist-in-Residence Lizania Cruz uses prompts to discuss music and the power of songs to underscore their cultural experience.
Prompt 1 from Lizania: What is a song that you listen to before going to your motherland? And what is the motherland for you?
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Ingrid:
Song: Cariñito by Rodolfo y Los Hispanos
Music fills in the space that words can’t fill up. My heart aches thinking about Colombia, thinking about being the first link to separate from legacies in the Andes, how isolated I’ve felt but I find comfort in the music.
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Lizania:
Song: La Hora de Volver by Rita Indiana
I love how she describes the Dominican Diaspora in NYC and the feeling, expectations and wants of going back.
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Prompt 2 from Ingrid: What is a song that you listen before going to your motherland? And what is the motherland for you?
In honor of prodigy from Mobb Deep passing — as warrior women, we always fighting to survive, struggling to make it through everything that comes up in our way – what songs inspire that badass, unapologetic, fierce, but still vulnerable and soft, spirit?
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Ingrid:
Song:
Raíz by Bomba Estéreo
All the needs you describe I feel in my body and wondering if maybe a gemini feeling – pero raíz reminds me of where I’m from, and offers a slower pace so i can check in with myself and know that I’m feeling and that I’m powerful and soy hija de la tierra.
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Lizania:
Song:
Window Seat by Erykah Badu
It’s the need to fly, the need for newness, the need to be needed. Shedding skin
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That’s my visual. because you know I be getting tight all day but have to take a step back.
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This image by Awol Erizku reminds me of the vulnerability of nakedness and the power of holding our own skin to survive.
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Prompt 3 from Lizania: “Our people are our mountains” by Amílcar Cabral is one of learnings from Create Change that I can’t get out of my head. Que canción te acuerda las batallas, las victoria, and the failures of the people fighting for a better future?
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Ingrid:
Song: Aguacero de Mayo by Totó La Momposina
Toto is a luchadora who inspires me through the pulse of my blood in veins stemming from el rio magdalena cerca bogotá, all the way to the east river by the williamsburg bridge. my soul sista told me rain is good luck, and i was born in the middle of a rainstorm in may. so with that, this song is dedicated to my survival. which is then dedicated to the resilience of my ancestors.
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Lizania:
Song: Playa Girón by Silvio Rodríguez
Silvio para mi was one of the first poets I knew. When I was a kid during our family trips to the beach we will sing his songs as anthems of our journey. Playa Girón es una de esa canción que siempre me acuerda la lucha de la gente.
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Image by melanie cervantes because…my mood.
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And then this image of shoes left behind by undocumented immigrants for a project called el Sueño Americano of items left behind at a C.B.P processing center in Ajo Arizona
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Prompt 3 from Lizania: “Our people are our mountains” by Amílcar Cabral is one of learnings from Create Change that I can’t get out of my head. Que canción te acuerda las batallas, las victoria, and the failures of the people fighting for a better future?
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Ingrid:
Song:
Casi Te Envidio by Andy Montañez
My go to at the jukebox, this is on my soundtrack of life!
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Lizania:
Song: Si Vuelves Tú by La Lupe
Saying goodbye for the better. La Lupe fierceness. La Lupe es increíble. She makes me feel like I can do anything.
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My image is Grace Jones not giving a fuck/being Grace Jones. cause así es sometimes.
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Shitttttt! I am looking for a middle finger image too
Jajajajaj
This was the photo I was thinking. For some reason I remember it as her middle finger but oh well, that works too.
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Prompt 5 from Lizania: What is a song of hope?
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Ingrid:
Song: Mister Magic by Grover Washington, Jr.
Cause jazz gives me hope. Cause when I was a rebellious teenager I found this vinyl somewhere in west 3rd street and picked it up and it is still in my collection. This cover is so beautiful to me.
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Lizania:
Song: Ojala que llueva café by Juan Luis Guerra
Esta canción es de esperanza al pueblo. The farmers that work all their lives. The dreams of fantasy in everyday.
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This picture was taken during the new moon Friday night. Hope is continuing to expand and feel and be.
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This painting by Yoryi Morel. Because music is an act of hope, of dreaming, and escaping.
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