While we're still anticipating the 2012 U.S. presidential elections, our neighbor Mexico has been having its own battle between the #YoSoy132 movement and the declared winner of Mexico's presidency.
On June 27, right before the Mexico presidential election, Tecaté's blues en Español darling, Carla Morrison, posted to her blog the final produced version of “Un Derecho de Nacimiento” ("A Birthright"), to which she lent her vocals. The track is produced and written by Natalia Lafourcade.
According to Club Fonograma, the song “came in the perfect time, resounding as an awakening anthem for this transcendental date [presidential election].”
“Un Derecho de Nacimiento” brings together talented artists from Tecaté to Argentina, including Juan Manuel Torreblanca, Pambo, Marian Ruzzi (Julieta Venegas), Madame Récamier and Vicente Gayo – also known as #Músicosconyosoy132.
Here's some background on how this all came to pass:
The Birth of #YoSoy132
#YoSoy132 sparked a movement of young Mexican voters coming together to oppose presidential candidate Enrique Peña Nieto, then governor of Mexico, for ordering state police to shut down campaign protests at a local university. Two people were killed in the wake of the order being issued. Nieto defended the order, claiming that the protesters were not students. In their defense, 131 protesters created a YouTube video in which they showed their student ID's. To express solidarity, one student tweeted “Yo soy 132,” and the movement started.
The next month a #YoSoy132 concert was held in Distrito Federal. There, Mexico City's melodious darling Natalia Lafourcade premiered a rough version of “Un Derecho de Nacimiento." To some, it's a folksy, gut-wrenching Latino version of will.i.am's “Yes We Can.”
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Disputed Election
On July 1, Mexico announced that the PRI party's Enrique Peña Nieto had won the presidential election. Critics and the #YoSoy132 (#IAm132) movement opposed the results of the election, declaring that there had been voter fraud and that corruption of the voting system had taken place, and critics accused Televisa, Latin America's largest television network, of biased media manipulation. The final vote count will be certified in September by the Federal Electoral Tribunal.
When all seems doomy and gloomy, “Un Derecho de Nacimiento” keeps supporters' hearts steadfast in strength. The chorus goes, “Yo no nací sin causa/Yo no nací sin fe” ("I wasn't born without cause/I wasn't born without faith"). The lesson the movement is trying to teach is that justice doesn't happen overnight and that critics need to keep the spirit of the movement alive.
Click here to download “Un Derecho de Nacimiento."
Dita Quiñones is a multimedia journalist with a passion for Latin alternative and hip-hop music news. In addition to SoundDiego, she contributes to Latina, FOX News Latino, Poder and HipHopDx. She is also the founder of the infamous music and politrix blog GN$F! Follow Dita on Twitter.
