Inti-Illimani

¡Hola Amigos!

Every Wednesday night ISA hosts a 1.5 hour "History of Chile 101," taught by a professor from the university. The main topic is Chile's recent history (1970's onward) specifically events revolving around the coup d'état that created the Pinochet regime. The coup was supported in large part by the United States, and the regime under Pinochet committed countless human rights violations. Anyway the matter is still very fresh in the minds of many Chileans and it is important that we gringos understand the history so when the topic arises we don't make complete idiots of ourselves--hence the history classes. To read more about the history of Chile, I recommend visiting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Chile.

Anyway during these discussions Pablo (the prof) talks frequently about a musical group that was very important during this era: Inti-Illimani. When the military coup took place, Inti-Illimani was touring in Europe, and in light of the fact that artists, politicians, and musicians opposed to the new regime kept getting killed, made the wise decision not to return to Chile. Instead they stayed in Europe and worked from abroad to end Pinochet's regime. They were also in large part responsible for preventing Pinochet's re-election. The result is that this band is very very well respected and important to the Chilean polpulation and culture. Conveniently enough, we discovered that Inti-Illimani was playing at the Muncipal Theater of Valparaíso Friday night at 9.30. Student tickets were only five bucks, so a bunch of people went.

The concert was fantastic and the atmosphere of the concert was unlike any I have attended before. The two guys in front of me shared a 1.5 liter box of wine, for instance. But more than that, the crowd dynamic was fascinating. Usually at a concert everyone goes wild and screams and shouts for the band to come on, and when the band comes on they scream louder. Not here. The crowd was going crazy and cheering for the band, but the minute one of the band members began to talk, the theater became silent. The crowd would often "shush" people who were being obnoxious, and the person would always clam up. It was really a testament to how respected the band is.

Inti-Illimani is an 8 man gig, and their instrumentation includes everything from flutes to electric guitars to mandolins to native Mapuche (indigenous Chileans) instruments. I can't put my finger on the genre because I don't think it fits in to one, but its sort of a Jazz/Jam/rock combo. Also, each band member plays at least 5 different instruments, so the dynamic of the band changes almost every song. Right before the intermission, they played a song that was very meaningful to the crowd, and the sense of patriotism was palpatable. I think one reason that it was so cool is that (at least for my generation) there is absolutely nothing in the states that can compare. Sure there are good bands, but there is nothing so intimately intertwined with the politics and history of our country. I'm sure the older generations (in the states) understand the feeling I'm talking about, and may even have some equivalent, but unfortunately I'm not so sure that many people my age can really understand. It is the exact opposite of the apathy that I see on a daily basis in so many of my peers. Not that apathy doesn't exist in Chile...it does, but on the whole my Chilean friends are much much much more politically motivated, informed, and aware than my friends at home. Either way it was very powerful to have every single person in the theater, young and old, shouting at the top of their lungs.

I was also very appreciative that our group of Americans was welcome. In our efforts to avoid a "communist sandwich" during the 70's (Thanks Nixon), our government really screwed things up for Chile for a long time. Friday night, every person in the theater knew the United States' role in history and the consequences it had, but subsequently realized that it was the actions of a government of a past generation, and we were not to blame. All in all we felt very much welcome. Thank you Chile.

ya me voy
Andrius