Speaker 1: In Uptown New York City.
Speaker 2: Underdogs created a sound that changed music forever, and we
Speaker 2: call it Saisa and one label captured that sound like
Speaker 2: no other Bania Records. I'm Rosy Perez and this is
Speaker 2: our thing. The Birth of Salsa in Nueva York, an
Speaker 2: original podcast from Perturo Studios. Listen now wherever you get
Speaker 2: your podcasts.
Speaker 3: It's twenty nineteen in Las Vegas. It is the night
Speaker 3: of the Latin Grammys the Red Carpetmire is a lover
Speaker 3: of that. Chilean singer songwriter Monte la Ferte is terrified,
Speaker 3: but it's not with the normal evengitters. Tonight she's nominated
Speaker 3: for Best Alternative Album for NORMA. It's about the passionate
Speaker 3: stages of a relationship.
Speaker 1: Pierto le.
Speaker 3: Mon is often described by the media as a kind
Speaker 3: of fem fatari with her pale skin and her popping
Speaker 3: red lips. She's got a sultry look, kind of like
Speaker 3: a nineteen fifties pinup model. She wears tight corset tight
Speaker 3: dresses and a line skirts to her knees in bright
Speaker 3: colors that pop. But tonight she shows up on the
Speaker 3: Red Carpet wearing a black trench coat tied around her waist,
Speaker 3: flowing black pants and thick black sneakers accented with a
Speaker 3: green scarf around her neck, not an ounce of skin showing.
Speaker 3: Her black wavy hair just down to her chin, had
Speaker 3: short bangs across her forehead.
Speaker 1: Saville Metemla la piernas.
Speaker 3: On the red carpet. Her legs start to shake, but
Speaker 3: even hearing her tell me about how nervous she was,
Speaker 3: I've watched the video closely, and you can't tell she's
Speaker 3: nervous at allia One takes her position in front of
Speaker 3: the first set of photographers and begins to untie her coat.
Speaker 3: The black trench coat opens slowly to reveal her bare shoulders.
Speaker 3: Then she fully opens the jacket and she reveals her
Speaker 3: naked breasts with these words in Chile they torture, rape
Speaker 3: and kill written in Spanish across her chest.
Speaker 1: Iluego.
Speaker 3: In that moment, she thought, well, I guess the worst
Speaker 3: that could happen is people say I'm crazy. And people
Speaker 3: did have a lot to says One. Had just traveled
Speaker 3: from her home in Chile. It was a country going
Speaker 3: through political unrest, with people protesting against military oppression.
Speaker 1: Beyela Protesta's scanti la pression militar claren Baique.
Speaker 3: Now, remember, Chile had seen a military dictatorship in the
Speaker 3: not so distant past. But in twenty nineteen, Chile was
Speaker 3: in an uproar. During one of the biggest protests since
Speaker 3: the fall of the dictator Agusto Pinochet in the nineteen nineties,
Speaker 3: over a million people hit the streets. Initially, the protests
Speaker 3: were sparked by a rise in metro fairs, but soon
Speaker 3: they gave way to bigger issues plaguing in the country,
Speaker 3: like social inequality and the cost of living.
Speaker 1: Paco chile Co Madre yego, Las Vegas alos Latin contrast.
Speaker 3: More now faced a contrast that made her head feel
Speaker 3: like it was going in circles mass upheaval in her
Speaker 3: country against the lavish backdrop of the casinos, the luxury
Speaker 3: of Las Vegas, the Latin Grammys, and the Red Carpet.
Speaker 3: But amidst her worry and stress for her people in Chile,
Speaker 3: the mix of feelings gave way to something great, the
Speaker 3: moment that shocked the Red carpet and audiences and fans
Speaker 3: alike with Mon's bare breasts. Yes, Toyaki, she thought, if
Speaker 3: I have to be at this red carpet, I might
Speaker 3: as well do something powerful, something meaningful, And remember the green,
Speaker 3: the green scarf that she wore around her neck. That
Speaker 3: color is the feminist symbol that represents the green wave.
Speaker 3: It's the big Latin American movement of women and allies
Speaker 3: fighting for safe and legal abortion. Now sitting directly across
Speaker 3: from me. Seven years later, she still wonders where that
Speaker 3: courage came from.
Speaker 1: Giotti. Second most, mont la.
Speaker 3: Ferte was already a well known artist by then a
Speaker 3: talented singer, but this moment propelled her into the role
Speaker 3: of a feminist icon across Latin America. That's because in
Speaker 3: the region, rates of femicides are high. On average, eleven
Speaker 3: women are killed every day, and for decades, musicians across
Speaker 3: the globe have raised their voices to advocate for real change,
Speaker 3: and the loudest for women's rights are bold women like
Speaker 3: mont la Ferte. Because music has the power to unite people.
Speaker 3: But if you zoom in, that change is still pending
Speaker 3: for so many women artists themselves, because representation of women
Speaker 3: in music is still exceptionally low. So how do we
Speaker 3: get more voices to make real change? Musicians like mon
Speaker 3: are doing something about it from Futro Media. It's Latino USA.
Speaker 3: I'm MARIANOJSA. Today a conversation with Chilean singer songwriter mon
Speaker 3: La Ferte about her new album, fem Fatale Volume Two.
Speaker 3: We're also going to speak with singer songwriter Francisca Balensuela.
Speaker 3: She's the founder of Rivosa Fest. It's an all Latina
Speaker 3: music festival and research platform. We're going to talk about
Speaker 3: the intersection of music activism, feminism and how these singers
Speaker 3: are changing the game for women artists. So you know,
Speaker 3: I caught up with mont La Ferte recently in New
Speaker 3: York City. We met up in the pash Sony Studios
Speaker 3: in Midtown. Even though we never met, we hugged like
Speaker 3: we were old friends. We sat down to talk about
Speaker 3: her new album, fem Fatal Volume Two, which is a
Speaker 3: collection of songs that she'd had in the works for
Speaker 3: a while.
Speaker 1: Carlos No.
Speaker 3: The new album that easily became Volume two a follow
Speaker 3: up to her last album of the same name, fem Fatal,
Speaker 3: with twenty songs. This new album is an introspective process
Speaker 3: about love, loss and letting go. And that title what
Speaker 3: mont tells me it is who.
Speaker 1: She isla de la peligrosa.
Speaker 3: The fem fatal French for fatal woman was considered in
Speaker 3: old times to be a seductress who was dangerous to men. Right,
Speaker 3: women who acted by night, who were strong and sure
Speaker 3: of themselves, sexy, unafraid of the dark, women who were
Speaker 3: the same as men. And how powerful could women be
Speaker 3: if they were so strong and sure of themselves?
Speaker 1: Do this Claro live in a centil.
Speaker 3: In this sense, Mone says that fem fatal was free,
Speaker 3: so that freedom drew her in. It's fun to say
Speaker 3: I'm dangerous because I am free, Saysmon. And the lyrics
Speaker 3: to the songs are just as bold as the statements
Speaker 3: she makes in her activism.
Speaker 4: No mehusta American sia.
Speaker 3: For your consideration, specifically in her song for your Consideration.
Speaker 5: You see.
Speaker 1: Photograph.
Speaker 3: The title of the song in English is a wink
Speaker 3: at the awards process, because during most awards seasons there
Speaker 3: are full on campaigns by artists, directors and producers, lots
Speaker 3: of people wanting judges to look at their work for
Speaker 3: your consideration. So you're not, Mon says. She lives with
Speaker 3: these contradictions every day. She thinks I'm going to stay home.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna get fat happily. To hell with the industry.
Speaker 1: But then illegopian. No no, no, no no sea mesta medivierto,
Speaker 1: no no no no no.
Speaker 3: I love this, I have fun and I'm going to continue.
Speaker 1: CONTRADMPO.
Speaker 3: She is a person full of contradictions. Who is she
Speaker 3: the femme fatale, a dangerous free woman? Or is she
Speaker 3: said in her song a dumb feminist is? A feminist
Speaker 3: is a woman who takes control of her life. Mone says,
Speaker 3: a woman who doesn't belong in a place. But nowadays
Speaker 3: the word feminist means different things to different people.
Speaker 1: The feminist Macao perroes brgueze Mantello.
Speaker 3: The term, she says, has been tarnished, pedro relmente. She says,
Speaker 3: we should all be feminists. It is not a bad word.
Speaker 3: Feminists want their voices to be heard, even if that
Speaker 3: means bearing your breasts on a red carpet, as Mon
Speaker 3: did during the Latin Grammys in twenty nineteen. And Mon's
Speaker 3: coming into activism is not unique. In fact, it's part
Speaker 3: of an important tradition of artists from Chile who use
Speaker 3: their voices for social change. When we come back, we
Speaker 3: unpack how musicians and activists from her country have influenced her,
Speaker 3: and how some female artists like Francisca Peninsuela, are working
Speaker 3: to change the music industry.
Speaker 6: The idea of using music as a vehicle to shed
Speaker 6: light on things has always been there.
Speaker 3: Stay with uses.
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Speaker 7: But available wherever you listen to podcasts, it's Latino Usa.
Speaker 3: I'm Maria Whosam. I'm speaking with Chilean star Morna Erte
Speaker 3: about her new album, fem Fatale Volume two. It's out now.
Speaker 3: We're talking about what motivates her to create art and
Speaker 3: how she knows that she is part of a deep
Speaker 3: Chilean tradition of speaking up for those in need politico.
Speaker 3: As Monte la Ferte told me, Chile is a very
Speaker 3: political country. It's impossible for it not to be after
Speaker 3: everything that we've experienced, she says.
Speaker 6: But I do think that Chile has that heritage, and
Speaker 6: I think there is a history of fearless, creative megapunk.
Speaker 3: That's Francisca Balinsuela, a Chilean singer, songwriter and founder of Gridos,
Speaker 3: a fest. It's an all women's music festival. We'll get
Speaker 3: into that a little bit later. Francisca is an artist,
Speaker 3: a feminist, and like mont la Ferte, she is inspired
Speaker 3: to sue activism because of Chile's deep history.
Speaker 6: Like I think, in Chile, even the folk scene is
Speaker 6: originally like the most punk thing.
Speaker 3: The list of outspoken musicians from Chile is too long
Speaker 3: to count, and by the way, yours truly was inspired
Speaker 3: by all of them to create my first ever radio
Speaker 3: show in college.
Speaker 6: Whether it's speaking openly about issues about gender inequality or
Speaker 6: the female experience and through this patriarchar lens right, or
Speaker 6: songs that are like against the abuse of power, are
Speaker 6: songs that are about revolution.
Speaker 8: At inclusoso, as Morne la Ferte says, younger generations are aware,
Speaker 8: conscious and engaged.
Speaker 3: One of the most infamous moments in Chilean musical activism
Speaker 3: is about the life of Victor Hara. He was murdered
Speaker 3: in nineteen seventy three following a military coup that put
Speaker 3: the dictator Augusto Pinochet into power with help from the
Speaker 3: United States.
Speaker 9: But Chile's dictatorship found them threatening.
Speaker 10: The famous Folks singer Victor Harra was murdered at the
Speaker 10: start of a brutal military rule.
Speaker 3: He was used as a warning to others speaking out
Speaker 3: against Pinochet. He was one of the thousands of people
Speaker 3: killed during Pinochette's reign of terror on human rights in
Speaker 3: Chile that went on for over a decade.
Speaker 1: Too Momento, it's important, Monte la Ferte says, to not
Speaker 1: forget these moments so we don't repeat the same mistakes.
Speaker 3: Mont la Ferte ses this deeply affected her generation of
Speaker 3: musicians and artists, and so did other musical heroes, as
Speaker 3: she calls them, people like Ba.
Speaker 4: Gracia sal la via, quimelodios, nusoque.
Speaker 1: Seigno a music yavla mas honest.
Speaker 3: Taught everyone to make music that speaks from the most
Speaker 3: honest part of our souls. She says. Buletta spoke up
Speaker 3: from marginalized communities and documented the folklore across Chile. She
Speaker 3: was a pillar of Leile, the new song movement, songs
Speaker 3: that were influenced by folk music and lyrics that held
Speaker 3: amplify voices that weren't being heard.
Speaker 9: So I grew up with and poets and artists.
Speaker 3: That's Francisca again. Beuleta is another major influence for both
Speaker 3: montla Ferte and Francisca Malinsuela.
Speaker 6: It goes a ha hand in hand here, and I
Speaker 6: think that was caught my attention when I was in
Speaker 6: other countries and I didn't see the artistic scene being.
Speaker 9: Committed to political or social causes.
Speaker 3: For Francisca, as a Chilean, it was a no brainer
Speaker 3: to speak up.
Speaker 9: I try to contribute to certain change and open and
Speaker 9: facilitate things.
Speaker 3: You know, and the tradition of using your platform for
Speaker 3: change in Chile didn't stop during the dictatorship in the
Speaker 3: nineteen seventies. During the twenty nineteen protests that we heard
Speaker 3: about earlier, a familiar nineteen eighties song was blasted through
Speaker 3: the crowdss Brizionero's were a staple of the nineteen eighties
Speaker 3: rock en Espanol movement rock in Spanish. Their lyrics were
Speaker 3: hugely critical of the country's inequalities, and years after Pinochette's fall,
Speaker 3: they became the soundtrack of these modern protests. Elviile de
Speaker 3: los Quezovran the Dance of Those Leftover. It's from nineteen
Speaker 3: eighty six. The song is about realizing that no matter
Speaker 3: how hard you work, the good life is really only
Speaker 3: for the privileged few. And during the twenty nineteen protests,
Speaker 3: there was also music from the feminist group Collectibo Lastesis.
Speaker 3: They created a song called a Rapist on Your Path,
Speaker 3: Undo Lador and Tucamino. It quickly became an anthem to
Speaker 3: denounce sexual violence against women and it was heard all
Speaker 3: around the world. Women started playing it and dancing to it.
Speaker 3: All these decades later, the youth in Chile, they are
Speaker 3: still resonating with that music.
Speaker 6: Music as a vehicle to shed light on things has
Speaker 6: always been there. There's an intimacy just me and I'm
Speaker 6: listening it's inside of me and feel like it activates
Speaker 6: you in a way. And then it also has the
Speaker 6: community aspect that that happens altogether and that you belong somewhere.
Speaker 3: Music and activism often go hand in hand because music
Speaker 3: unites people, and having music that says something makes an
Speaker 3: even bigger statement. We'll be right back. Hey, we're back.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna wrap up my conversations now with Chilean artists
Speaker 3: Monla Ferte and Francisca Palinsuela. Like Montla Ferte, Francisca's music
Speaker 3: ranges from the feminist perspective, with albums like fort Lesa
Speaker 3: all about finding inner strength and self empowerment, to her
Speaker 3: upcoming album Maldita, where she dives deeper into her feelings
Speaker 3: of feminine rage and her own postpartum experience. Francisca's music
Speaker 3: can be described as singer songwriter meets Elton John piano pop,
Speaker 3: going from incredibly catchy poppy songs to heart wrenching.
Speaker 9: Ballads e Laska Siene.
Speaker 5: Yes.
Speaker 3: She says her feminist rage comes from a very specific place,
Speaker 3: a systemic discrimination that she herself has experienced.
Speaker 6: For example, I was booking shows in Mexico and the
Speaker 6: promoter was like, we have this festival, but we already
Speaker 6: have one woman.
Speaker 9: We don't want to.
Speaker 3: Franciska was inspired to put her feminism into action in
Speaker 3: twenty sixteen when she founded Ridosest, the All Latina music festival,
Speaker 3: and it's also a research platform.
Speaker 9: At that point, I was like, this can't be the
Speaker 9: only way. It's not about me. I'm not the problem.
Speaker 9: This system is a problem.
Speaker 3: We know that women make up half of the world population,
Speaker 3: but according to statistics from Ridos Fest, women represent less
Speaker 3: than twenty percent of festival lineups.
Speaker 6: Still encounter behavior, comments, or practices that seem crazily antiquated
Speaker 6: and limited. It's not only Chile, it's not only Mexico.
Speaker 6: It's the Americas or the Spanish speaking market.
Speaker 3: She was consistently turned away from labels at first, until,
Speaker 3: of course, she began to do well.
Speaker 6: I reached out to labels years ago and they all
Speaker 6: shut the door. And then while I was successful, they
Speaker 6: all approached me with horrible contracts.
Speaker 3: That's when she began noticing something.
Speaker 9: There were no women in the majority of rooms I
Speaker 9: was going to.
Speaker 3: That's when Rithosa Fest was born. The all Latina led
Speaker 3: festival comprises workshops and panels dedicated to affecting real change
Speaker 3: in the music industry.
Speaker 6: I wanted to create an instance where we can talk
Speaker 6: candidly about the issues and struggles within the music industry
Speaker 6: that can be gender based or can also just be
Speaker 6: about the fact that it's a difficult industry to navigate.
Speaker 3: In twenty sixteen, the first iteration of the festival was
Speaker 3: difficult to get off the ground. She faced a lot
Speaker 3: of resistance.
Speaker 6: Everyone industry that I was inviting from not the women,
Speaker 6: but in the male counterparts or promoters or sponsors or
Speaker 6: even musicians.
Speaker 9: Are my male musician friends. They were like, why would
Speaker 9: I want to go listen to women complaining?
Speaker 6: There was this constant notion that it wasn't an actual issue,
Speaker 6: and so that's when the study and the research area
Speaker 6: popped up. I was like, I have to get the
Speaker 6: numbers out there because people think this is.
Speaker 9: A perspective thing.
Speaker 3: Ridosa has put out some of the most comprehensive data
Speaker 3: analyzing music lineups from four hundred large festivals from seven
Speaker 3: different countries across Latin America and Latine events in the
Speaker 3: United States, and among the more shocking findings, all female
Speaker 3: bands accounted for just one percent of total bookings, with
Speaker 3: headliners slots by projects led by women making up yes,
Speaker 3: zero point four percent of the headliners.
Speaker 6: When that came out, a lot of promoters in the
Speaker 6: region did reach out and were like, we had no
Speaker 6: idea that there were was this issue. We weren't seeing
Speaker 6: the lack of diversity in our festivals. If you don't
Speaker 6: kind of force society's hands to look at those things,
Speaker 6: you will have issues and they will become systemic.
Speaker 3: Francisca's solution to her questions about representation was to create
Speaker 3: a festival, But when we asked her about the future
Speaker 3: and what she hopes for women across the industry, she said,
Speaker 3: I get a.
Speaker 6: Lot of invitations from festivals to do like a Ridosa
Speaker 6: stage in a festival, and I actually tell them, I'm like,
Speaker 6: I prefer that you book more women, just don't make
Speaker 6: a stage for them.
Speaker 9: Get them in all the stages. Don't make us a
Speaker 9: small little stage on the side.
Speaker 3: Because in a perfect world we would all be equal.
Speaker 3: Until then, the need to be outspoken through music is
Speaker 3: going to continue. Both More and Francisca hope their platforms
Speaker 3: will make significant changes.
Speaker 6: I think like every new generation is even more powerful
Speaker 6: and resourceful and like badass, and now people are making
Speaker 6: music from the whole consonants of the world can kind
Speaker 6: of dream bigger, and I think that is a change.
Speaker 1: Coke ter de Pierrelo perroez Loki.
Speaker 3: So one tells me that there is a Ranas in
Speaker 3: her that she's tried to polish for years, but it.
Speaker 5: Is who she is.
Speaker 1: It is in her work or Macinto.
Speaker 3: So she's celebrating that Ranis by doing things like burying
Speaker 3: her breast and calling out rape and femicide. Later, the
Speaker 3: night of the Latin Grammys twenty nineteen, she accepted the
Speaker 3: award and called out words from a fellow Chilean feminist.
Speaker 9: Chile mes.
Speaker 1: Mebees Cana gril Sen Chile Chile Entro Chile La Milicia l.
Speaker 3: Monla Ferte told me that she'd always been a feminist
Speaker 3: without even knowing that she was one. Maybe not much
Speaker 3: of a surprise to a Chilean singer in a country
Speaker 3: with such a rich feminist and activist history. You can
Speaker 3: hear my entire interview in Spanish with montla Erte in
Speaker 3: a special bonus episode of Latino USA talking about her
Speaker 3: album fem Fatale Volume two and Francisca Valenzuela's latest album, Maldita,
Speaker 3: comes out late in July and if you're in New
Speaker 3: York City this summer. You can catch read those a
Speaker 3: fests take over of Lincoln Center on July twelfth. This
Speaker 3: episode was produced by Gini Montalbon. It was edited by
Speaker 3: Penny Lera Merez and Fernanda Echavari. Production assistants by Jim Marquez.
Speaker 3: It was mixed by Julia Caruso. Fact checking for this
Speaker 3: episode by Roxanna Aguire. Fernando Echavari is our managing editor.
Speaker 3: Nancy Trujillo is our production manager. The Latino USA team
Speaker 3: also includes Stephanie Lebau Luis, Luna Jueta Martinelli, JJ Krubin,
Speaker 3: Adriana Rodriguez, and Nicole Rothwell. Penni Lera Medes and I
Speaker 3: are executive producers. I'm your host Badao HOSTA. Remember Latino
Speaker 3: USA is part of Iheart's Michael Duda podcast net work.
Speaker 3: Executive producers there are Leo Gomes and Arlene Santana. Join
Speaker 3: us on our next episode. Look for us on social media.
Speaker 3: Don't forget to join futuro Plus. You get to listen
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Speaker 10: Latino USA is made possible in part by the Heising
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