Para leer la versión en español de este ensayo hagan CLICK AQUÍ
Caifanes burst into the scene at the right moment.
While Rock music had a moment in the sun between the mid-50’s and early 70’s, a
government crackdown on the legendary musical festival Avandaro led to the suppression
of stations and distribution of Mexican Rock, as part of the PRI’s attempt at
quelching what they viewed as radical Left-wing subversion and the importation
of foreign ideals into the pure cultural landscape of Mexico. The belief that
the Mexican Rock bands were contaminating culture and society based on their
street language, use of Spanglish (or just plain English in cases like that of bands
like the Dug Dugs) and lyrics about every-day, gritty lifestyles was also an
essential part of this onslaught. Mexican Rock musicians did not disappear between
the early 70’s and the late 80s, but they went underground, their songs
released independently and shows played at small or medium sized venues in the
major cities.
Caifanes (at this time made up by singer/guitarist/main
composer Saul Hernández, bassist Sabo Romo, drummer Alfonso André and
keyboardist Diego Herrera) was influenced musically, lyrically and fashion-wise
by the alternative British music scene of the time, and they named-checked
Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division, The Cure and Bauhaus as some of their
influences. The album’s cover serves as an unequivocal proof of this: a black
and white photograph of the band in moody poses, all dressed in black, three of
them with Robert Smith-style manes of hair, their pale skins contrasting with
their eyeliner. They looked like British exports and a lot of people were turned
off by their appearance. Little did they know that the band was made up of
lower class Mexican kids who grew up listening to the same music as most
Mexicans did: Agustín Lara, Pérez Prado, Javier Solís and Los Panchos. Their
debut album, which features many of their most famous song, is testament to
these mestizaje, a manifestation of Mexico’s dual nature: equally European and
Amerindian. The band's name is a reference to the classic 1966 Mexican film, one of the first films of that decade's burgeoning counterculture.
A droning sound. Heavy breathing. A drumroll. A
victorious cry. That’s the beginning of “Matenme porque me muero” ("Kill Me
Because I’m Dying"), Caifanes’ blistering, no hostages taken opening track to
their self-titled 1988 debut album. The song’s cheeky title recalls Tin-Tan’s
farcical 1958 comedy film and perfectly encapsulates the band’s ethos: bridging
its Goth, Post-Punk influences with the Mexican tradition of romantic fatalism.
Drenched in an atmosphere of melancholy, it’s lyrics speak of the sweet embrace
of dying while issuing a declaration of devoted love for the ages: “When I’m
dead and they have to bury me, I want to be buried with one of your
photographs/So I’m not afraid to be down there/So I don’t forget your face/So I
can keep feeling a little bit alive”.
Caifanes redoubles their efforts while doing a slight
tempo change. “Te estoy mirando” (“I’m WatchingYou”) starts up as an up-tempo
bopping beat with some Calypso influences, and then it shifts into a
straightforward Goth ballad, with its nighttime piano tinkling and driving
bass. The third track is “La Negra Tomasa”, Caifanes’s first single and monster
hit that turned them into a household name. A cover of a song written by Cuban
composer Guillermo Rodríguez Fiffe, it sold
600,000 pressings. The song was picked by Caifanes and crafted as a Rock-Cumbia
to show their connection with their lower-class Mexico City upbringings and as
an amusing reminder that, while influenced by Joy Division and the Cure, they
were capable of tapping into the fun, festive side of Latin American popular
music without missing a beat (they open their concerts with the song as well, originally
because they thought it was fun to throw people off with their most un-Rock
song). Rock purists in Mexico were furious and called them sell-outs, but the
song introduced them to a wider audience and remains one of their most loved.
The bouncing beat that doesn’t leave your ears for days, Hernandez’s lovelorn
delivery and an epic three minute musical breakdown that included a flute and a
very sexy saxophone sound makes it one of the definitive Rock Cumbia songs ever made in
Mexico.
They return
to their darker side with the gothic paean to heart-break induced depression in
“Cuentame tu vida” (“Tell Me About Your Life”), a song that conveys a universe
of jagged sounds, man-as-a-sick-crawling dog (comparisons between dogs/wolves and men are a recurring Caifanes motif and eventually became the band's logo), alienated street-living and overwhelming obsession. Typical
of Caifanes, the chorus sounds upbeat, but the verses bring them back to a
purgatory of their own making. It’s a song that packs more hooks and musical
changes in four minutes and twenty-five seconds that a lot of artists can do in
their musical careers. “Sera por eso” (“Maybe That Is Why”) ups the ante and is
the song that sounds more like a straightforward Post-punk ballad. The song’s
narrator (singing in a graver, more downbeat tone than usual) is an alienated man and it’s a touching song by way of its lyrics and
music. It’s imagery of
electroshocks (given to him, sings the narrator, partly because he refuses to
shave) and dissociative reality was unlike anything heard in mainstream Mexican
music at the time, and one wonders how 1988’s nascent Caifanes fans took this
song in. The killer saxophone outro and Hernández's enigmatic, chilling laugh at the end close the track in great fashion.
The crowning jewel of this album, as far as I’m
concerned, is the amazing “Viento” (“Wind”) a song that stands out because it
sounds different from the rest of the album, for it is neither a
Latin-influenced number nor an example of British post-punk, but a thrilling,
romantic song about devotion towards a loved one. The lyrics are beautiful and
so vulnerable, greatly aided by Hernandez’s soft-delivery, a rhythm section
that evokes a feeling of hopefulness and longing in equal measure and a chorus
that plainly states that love knows no limits: “I want to orbit around the planets/Till I come across one that's empty/For I wish to live there/Just as long it is with you/Time, bind us together/Time,
stop for many years”. In here you can tell the influence of Javier Solís, the
greatest interpreter of beautiful romantic imagery that sometimes bordered on the
psychedelic.
The following two tracks foreshadow the band’s
direction in their following album, a sound that can only be described as “Pre-Hispanic
Rock”, since the arrangements and soundscape sound like what Aztecs would have
played if they have dabbled in Rock music, an apt description for the signature
style that Caifanes is remembered for. “Nunca me voy a transformar en ti” (“I’ll Never Turn Into You”) is a forceful, defiant statement about being influenced
by negative forces around us, be they society, family or broken relationships. “Perdí
mi ojo de venado” (“I Lost My Deer’s Eye”) is a reference to a folk remedy from southern Mexican Indians, and has a very fun
chorus that is based off a very Mexican series of rhyming prayers to Catholic
saints and a great flute sound coming from Herrera’s keyboards.
The last three tracks that close the record are my
least favorite, and they are still terrific pieces of work. “Amanece” (“It’s Dawning”), “La Bestia Humana” (“The Human Beast”) and “Nada” (“Nothing”) close
the musical statement that is “Caifanes” with moody, but highly charged
statements of independence, yearning and embracing the alienation and
loneliness of the human condition. Of these three songs, “La bestia humana” is
a standout for two reasons: the singing narrator’s angry statement that the manipulations and cruelty of his beloved are turning him into a
jaded, angry human beast; and the fact that none other than Gustavo Cerati,
that Argentinean giant of Latin Rock music, is featured playing guitar with
that unmistakable sound that made Soda Stereo one of the all-time great Rock
bands in Latin America. His influence can be felt in the arrangements and in the precise, funky work of Sabo's bass and André's drumming.
“Caifanes” is one of the best debut albums I’ve heard and
with not a single track I could call “weak” and definitely one of the most
momentous records in Mexican musical history. The whole band is on fire, and Sabo, Romo, Herrera and Hernández mesh together fantastically. It was one of the albums that
kicked off the mainstream revival of Rock music in Mexico and it would be
followed by many other terrific bands during the 90s. A great musical
statement, it was also the first and last album in which Caifanes would wear
their British influences up their sleeves. They were a band that changed their
style with every record, and their following album has more of moody folk-Nahuatl
influence than a lot of the moody British influence that’s present here. As
a work of fusion between different genres and musical sensibilities, “Caifanes”
remains unmatched and is my personal favorite of their four albums.
5/5
Runtime: 45:56 (note: the
CD edition I own, courtesy of the “Recupera tus clásicos” line, includes three
bonus tracks: an alternate version of “Matenme porque me muero”, the radio
version of “La Negra Tomasa” and mono versions of “La bestia humana” and “Matenme…”)
Tracks Ranked and Rated:
1.
Viento
(5/5) (.5+ because it's one of my all-time favorite songs)
2.
Matenme
porque me muero (5/5)
3.
Sera
por eso (5/5)
4.
Cuentame
tu vida (5/5)
5.
Perdí mi ojo de venado (5/5)
6.
Te estoy mirando (4.5/5)
7.
La Negra Tomasa (4.5/5)
8.
Nunca me voy a transformar en ti (4.5/5)
9.
La bestia humana (4/5)
10. Amanece (4/5)
11.
Nada (3.5/5)
Emotions: moody, romantic, yearning, alienated, introspective, defiant, melancholy, angry, hopeful, playful, cheeky.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario