Recently Green Left Weekly's SANDRA WALLACE caught up with JUSTO DIAZ of Papalote, one of Sydneys best known and most diverse Latin American bands.
Question: When and how did the band start?
The band began in 1979, but was known as Papalote from 1980, when we played at the cell block theatre in Darlinghurst. The original idea was to create music to go with the show Open Veins of Latin America, and eventually we started playing around as Papalote.
The members of the band, who come from many different cultural and musical backgrounds, reflect the nature of the group. We have never wanted to stick to one style; we play folk music, salsa and Mexican music. We always try not to narrow ourselves into just one stream.
That is our aim: to promote Latin American culture and Latin American issues. We don't just want to be an ethnic group playing to our own community.
Question: What does Papalote mean?
In Cental America "papalote" means kite, but in Nahuatl, an ancient Central American language, it means butterfly.
We originally took it from a recording by a Cuban songwriter who wrote about an old man he knew as a child, who was black and an alcoholic and was discriminated against by all the neighbourhood, except for the children. They thought he was a very important person because he made kites. We liked that image.
Question: What is the relationship between art and politics in your music?
We believe that politics and art are not separated. We have always tried to reflect what is happening in our continent and to express that through our songs and our commitment to solidarity organisations.
We have supported progressive situations in Latin America such as in Chile, Uruguay, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Cuba. Now, in the '90s, the situation has drastically changed as the power relationships have changed all over the world.
The group, belonging to one wing of the political spectrum, has in some ways been left out of the scene. Now, concerts, instead of raising issues through music, gather people together to dance. We have tried to accommodate this by playing music with more dance content, but we never play music with content that would be unacceptable such as sexism or racism.
Question: Why is music important both politically and culturally to the Latin American community?
Culture in general is very important in Latin America. To many communities, music is a soundtrack to their past.
In the '80s the music greatly reflected the politics of the community; many songs were sung about struggles, and there were a large number of refugees who had come directly from areas of conflict. In the '90s the politics are there, but usually not raised as much, partly because things are less clear.
[Papalote is playing with Sandunga and Cumana on July 25 at the Harbourside Brasserie. The concert will be a celebration of the revolutions in Cuba and Nicaragua, and all proceeds will go to the Cuban aid project sponsored by Committees in Solidarity with Latin America and the Caribbean.]