Chavez in song: Venezuela vote has live soundtrack By CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER, Associated Press Writer Nov 19 CARACAS, Venezuela - Sunday's elections in Venezuela will be a key test for President Hugo Chavez a year after voters defeated his effort to change the constitution, and the socialist leader isn't missing a beat as he campaigns for his allies. Breaking into song at rallies, Chavez draws applause and occasional laughter from his red-clad supporters. One of his favorites is a folkloric ode he sings to a 19th-century rebel leader he claims as his great-grandfather. It appears on a compact disc released last week by the ruling party titled "Songs for the Battle." With a cover image of a clenched fist raised in the air, the CD also includes "Militants With Chavez," a reggae-rap track that samples the president's speeches; and "Comrade" by Ali Alejandro Primera, the nephew of late singer-songwriter Ali Primera, a musical icon among Venezuela's leftists in the 1960s. Radio jingles and blaring sound trucks are time-tested campaign tools in Latin America, and Chavez opponents also are joining in, with thumping speakers at campaign stops where sympathizers swing their hips to lyrics that promote candidates and ridicule opponents. Artists on both sides of Venezuela's political divide say music is being used as a campaign tool more than ever. Yahoo news
Chavez in song: Venezuela vote has live soundtrack
By CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER, Associated Press Writer Nov 19
CARACAS, Venezuela - Sunday's elections in Venezuela will be a key test for President Hugo Chavez a year after voters defeated his effort to change the constitution, and the socialist leader isn't missing a beat as he campaigns for his allies.
Breaking into song at rallies, Chavez draws applause and occasional laughter from his red-clad supporters. One of his favorites is a folkloric ode he sings to a 19th-century rebel leader he claims as his great-grandfather. It appears on a compact disc released last week by the ruling party titled "Songs for the Battle."
With a cover image of a clenched fist raised in the air, the CD also includes "Militants With Chavez," a reggae-rap track that samples the president's speeches; and "Comrade" by Ali Alejandro Primera, the nephew of late singer-songwriter Ali Primera, a musical icon among Venezuela's leftists in the 1960s.
Radio jingles and blaring sound trucks are time-tested campaign tools in Latin America, and Chavez opponents also are joining in, with thumping speakers at campaign stops where sympathizers swing their hips to lyrics that promote candidates and ridicule opponents.
Artists on both sides of Venezuela's political divide say music is being used as a campaign tool more than ever.
Yahoo news
The Author Eva Venezuelan-American attorney, writer and investigator. Author of The Chávez Code: Cracking US Intervention in Venezuela (2005) and Bush vs. Chávez: Washington's War on Venezuela. A native New Yorker currently residing in Caracas, living passionately every moment of the Bolivarian Revolution. The Second Annual Festival with the Peoples of Africa is also taking place right now in Caracas. Cultural and political representatives from the Congo, Namibia, Benin and other African nations are meeting with high level members of the Venezuelan government and sharing cultural traditions with the people of Venezuela. These initiatives are part of the Chavez Government's foreign policy based on cooperation and integration with other people's around the world that share similar characteristics with Venezuela: poverty, rich natural resources, colonized past, developing status, immense potential for social and economic development. http://www.chavezcode.com/2007/11/books-culture-and-revolution.html
The Author Eva
Venezuelan-American attorney, writer and investigator. Author of The Chávez Code: Cracking US Intervention in Venezuela (2005) and Bush vs. Chávez: Washington's War on Venezuela. A native New Yorker currently residing in Caracas, living passionately every moment of the Bolivarian Revolution.
The Second Annual Festival with the Peoples of Africa is also taking place right now in Caracas. Cultural and political representatives from the Congo, Namibia, Benin and other African nations are meeting with high level members of the Venezuelan government and sharing cultural traditions with the people of Venezuela. These initiatives are part of the Chavez Government's foreign policy based on cooperation and integration with other people's around the world that share similar characteristics with Venezuela: poverty, rich natural resources, colonized past, developing status, immense potential for social and economic development.
http://www.chavezcode.com/2007/11/books-culture-and-revolution.html
