A Video and a City: Parafonista and El Alto

By Luis A. Gómez

November 16, 2004

“The feeling of sharing comes from below, from the people that have always sustained this land with persistence, unconcerned with the objections of outsiders. From there we came, and there shall we go,” said Alvaro Montenegro to me a few days ago in his studio. His words, completely out of context, could be used in Bolivia to speak of politics, or sports, or art. But Montenegro, one of the most creative and refined Bolivian musicians in these difficult times, was speaking of the spirit that drives Republica, the new album by Parafonista, the La Paz-based fusion group that he has led for three years. That day, we went over the preparations for the disk’s release party in the Municipal Theater, and watched the music video for the piece “Los ríos profundos” (“The Deep Rivers”). We present that video, here today, exclusively, for several good reasons. I’ll explain three:

1. For all of you out there, outside of Bolivia and far from El Alto, it is your best chance to get a look at the city that took on and defeated power just over a year ago, giving the people new hope. The video is a display of pain and rage, of the unstoppable force of people organized to resist a tyrant that had been selling their common patrimony to transnational corporations. It is a portrait of the city that rose up to topple then-President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada even as its fallen lay dead in the streets. Angelino’s images are powerful, working in perfect harmony with the intensity of the insurrection and the profoundity of the music.

2. Parafonista is part of the vanguard of current Latin American musicians (and I have as a witness Al Giordano, who once came with me to see them and is a friend of Alvaro Montenegro as well). Their particular mix of Latin rhythms (especially those of the Andes) with textures of jazz and classical music result in an unusual power. Finding its calling in such crossbreeding, the music aims to recreate a notion of our communities, to explain it from the perspective of a less-than-perfect urban world, and, above all, becomes a loving testament to life itself.

3. This video, which just one Bolivian television station has dared to show, is in my opinion the best and most committed stand taken by an artist (or group of artists, if we that Parafonista is a quintet, and include the director and his crew) in this war-weary country. In a fight for the nation, rising out of such disparate trenches, the group’s music has its roots in the cultures of Bolivia, holding up a mirror that allows different people to see one another. With their new album, of which this video is our first glimpse, Parafonista reminds us that from the people comes not only strength, but also beauty.

That’s why we’re here, now, about to testify to how art comes to give a kiss to politics in times of emergency, when the best people have to offer of themselves joins together in order to survive this war.

Welcome, and have a nice trip...