And we thought it was bad before
By Alejandra Gutiérrez / http://aleteatro77.wix.com/aletorica / Twitter.com/aletorica
Recently, I’ve been listening to Yordano a lot. He’s been the musician of many generations of Venezuelans. I remember my sisters used to listen to his music during the 80s, and later on my college friends and I did it during the 90s. One of the songs I’ve listened to again is one of his more famous: “Por estas calles”, a title we loosely could translate as “In our streets”. When we listen to that song in light of what Venezuela is these days, the lyrics gain a new and profound meaning. That song was part of the soundtrack of a soap opera from 1992 with the same name, written by Ibsen Martinez, which was very popular because it dealt with political and social issues. 1992 was the year of the coup d’etat against President Carlos Andrés Pérez, the year of the infamous phrase “por ahora” (for now) by Chávez, and the beginning of a fate that we never suspected would transform our country into the sadness it is now. And believe me, I’m not one to think that before Chavez we were fine, that during those forty years of democracy everything was wonderful. I understand that what happened was a response from all the victims of injustice in those decades, but that’s another story… What grabs my attention while listening to “Por estas calles” and watching the video clip is how Yordano foreshadowed what Venezuela would become, what he thought it already was without even imagining that all those hardships would grow to make our country what it is today. Lines like: “tú te la juegas si andas diciendo lo que tú piensas” (you play with fire if you say what you think), “por eso cuídate de las esquinas, no te distraigas cuando caminas” (so be careful at every corner, don’t get distracted while walking) or “porque además de quemarte se hacen llamar señores” (because they not only burn you, but also make you call them Sir), all make you feel a resigned sadness. We just have to look around to see that violence, corruption, censorship, nepotism, abuse, and a long etc. are the hallmarks of our lives nowadays. That’s it. That’s the Venezuela that now exists. The scenes on the video easily could have been filmed yesterday in any of our cities’ streets. “We are tired of being abused,” says a banner. And it’s true, our country has been the victim of repeated and devastating abuses, and this has changed the lives of its people forever. Yordano never imagined how prophetic his words were: “Y hay algunos que hasta se lanzan pa’ presidente” (Some of them even run for president)…
