AZNIC UPDATE 25-10-18

AZNIC UPDATE 25 OCT 2018

Note: How can this be in a socialist paradise? Photos, etc. at link.
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TOP STORY
Songs of hope: Nicaraguan musicians spread message about their homeland
Oct 25, 2018 Updated 14 hrs ago

https://www.myheraldreview.com/news/bisbee/songs-of-hope-nicaraguan-musicians-spread-message-about-their-homeland/article_8cfa0f7c-d82f-11e8-a925-8f9ce6e3f245.html

Songs of hope: Nicaraguan musician spreads message about her homeland

Nicaraguans Nina Cardenal and her mother Katia are part of the nueva trova movement, which is a movement in Cuban music that emerged in the late '60s. The singers performed Tuesday evening at St. John's Episcopal Church's Parish Hall in Bisbee.
MARK LEVY HERALD/REVIEW

Songs of hope: Nicaraguan musician spreads message about her homeland
Katia Cardenal rehearses Tuesday night in Bisbee.

Nina Cardenal takes a quiet moment to herself. During the four months she and her mother have been in the United States, over 300 people have been killed in Nicaragua in a violent struggle against government oppression

Nicaraguan musician spreads message about her homeland

Katia Cardenal talks about the political climate in Nicaragua.
MARK LEVY HERALD/REVIEW\\

BISBEE — Over the summer, Nicaraguan singer-songwriter Katia Cardenal packed a carry-on suitcase and left her country to perform in the United States, thinking she would be gone for three weeks.

Four months later, she and her daughter, Nina, are still on what she calls an "endless tour" throughout the U.S., Europe, and Mexico, staying with friends and fans throughout the world, while her home country descends into chaos.

In the time that Cardenal and Nina have been gone, over 300 people have been killed in Nicaragua in a violent struggle against government oppression.

Now considered an enemy of the government for speaking out against Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, Cardenal isn't sure when she can return home.

She plans to keep on singing in the meantime.

"They made this new law that if you are against the government you are a terrorist. If you go in demonstrations, you're a terrorist, and I was in every demonstration," said Cardenal, whose songs center around themes of social justice, peace and the environment. "So we decided to just be on the road."

The road brought her to St. John's Episcopal Church in Bisbee on Tuesday night, at the suggestion of Tucson musician Ted Warmbrand, who has been friends with Cardenal ever since he produced one of her albums in the 1980s. When he heard about the turmoil in Nicaragua, Warmbrand invited her to perform and speak in Tucson because of the supportive fanbase she had there, which he knew extended into Bisbee.
"I wanted her to see the town, just to enjoy Bisbee," he said.

Other than Tuesday night's performance, Cardenal has also spoken and performed at locations throughout southern Arizona over the past few months, he said.
"I said, 'I'll find people who love what you do.'"

That love was evident at St. John's, where a crowd of locals braved the cold and rain to hear Cardenal's voice ringing through the small church.


Many of them, including Bisbee resident Emilie Vardaman, had been listening to Cardenal's music for years. Cardenal and her late brother, Salvador, first gained international attention for performing with legendary singer-songwriters such as Pete Seeger and Jackson Browne in the 1980s, drawing attention to the Nicaraguan Revolution, a war between the U.S.-backed Contras and the Sandinistas.

"I've been listening to Katia for 30 years," said Vardaman, who helped to organize the concert. "I mean she's just wonderful. … That, combined with the political situation, and how bad things are there today, I really wanted her to be here.

"People aren't really aware of what's happening, so hopefully they'll get educated, and maybe something will happen. "


For Cardenal, spreading the message about violence and oppression in her home country decades after the turmoil of the '80s had subsided — this time with her daughter at her side, instead of her brother — is eerily familiar.

"It's like a parallel world," she said. "We are singing the same songs we sang in the '70s, '80s. People are becoming political prisoners 40 years after our revolution — it's hard to believe."


Although Nicaragua experienced relative stability following the end of the revolution in the 1990s, long-brewing issues with current president Daniel Ortega's 11-year rule came to a head in April of this year.

Student-led protests erupted over the government's announcement that it would cut pensions, which were violently suppressed by the national police and paramilitary groups. The conflict has since escalated, with many Nicaraguans calling for Ortega to step down, and the president refusing to do so.

"People want peace, want respect, want to stop corruption," said Cardenal.
"They want to be able to say, 'I don't like you, I don't want you.' All of my life, I haven't been able to say I don't like you. Because I'm afraid — even though I'm a singer and I talk about human rights, I prefer not to say anything, because it can harm me and it can harm my family. But now, I don't care anymore, and that's the truth.

"And I think most of the Nicaraguans have this feeling, also."


While Cardenal spoke of the violence and oppression in Nicaragua during the concert, she also discussed the joy that music had brought her over the years. She told of the embarrassment she experienced as a 20-year-old writing romantic tunes in secret, and the happiness she felt when she learned a Catholic school used one of her songs in their classes.

"It's not just about Nicaragua," said Warmbrand. "That's part of it, but it's beautiful music. I think she's giving so much pleasure to people over the years, and the chance to give something back to her is important."

As for Cardenal's part, she said she hopes to continue sharing her story through song, whether it be in a concert hall at a university or a tiny church in the Mule Mountains.

"I can never be one of the people who have a big influence in changing the reality, but I can change people's hearts," she said. "I believe in a personal revolution. So when I sing, I think that maybe one heart can change a house, a community, a school or a politician.

"So I don't know where my seeds are going to fall. But I think good energy can bring something good."

END