Los de Abajo raise the pennant as the Underdogs of Chilango City Chilango means Hispanic -- specifically Mexico City inhabitants. People from Mexico's provinces use it as an insult denoting a lazy, tricky, cheating person from the big city. Seen on bumper stickers: "Haz Patria, Mata Un Chilango" (Make Mexico great, kill a Chilango).
Happily, Mexico City residents Los de Abajo seem to have struck a good balance in mixing poilitcs & music. Their name means "those from below" and represents a statement of solidarity with the oppressed people of the world. When they first took their demo tapes to Mexican record companies, their music was considered insufficiently commercial to warrant release, so they decided to do that independently. The group plays benefits for the infamous Zapatista movement, which is fighting to bring a degree of self-determination to the people of Chiapas in southern Mexico.
Los de Abajo came together in 1992, formed by Carlos Cuevas (keyboard), Yocupitzio Arrellano (drummer), Liber Ter (vocals) and Vladimir Garnica (guitar). They initially had a Latin-ska sound in mind, but as their ranks expanded, they soon began hosting high-energy gigs at various ersatz clubs and spaces in Mexico City's largely improvised rock scene.
They soon found however, that they were outside the emerging network for bands. ?We learned that the only way to survive was to do it ourselves, through our people and our own roots, forgetting about the glamour, and making our way as musicians.? They began playing political events as well as parties. As drummer and founding member Yocupitzio Arrellano puts it, "the context in which we developed was this - injustice, neglect for the poor, and lack of avenues for free expression".
They take their name from a classic novel about the Mexican Revolution, and they fervently believe that change comes from below. "Of course, the ideas had an influence on the music," says Yocu. "This became the most punk and radical thing: combining our sentiments with the strength and heat of Afro-Latin rhythms."
We were always looking to translate our ideas into scenery, theatre and installation?, says Yocu. The diversity of ideas and concepts was such that no record company could get the entire picture, so they went DIY, recorded two cassettes that spread through Mexico City's rock underground, and toured throughout the Republic.
In an interview with BBC3 group member Lider Terán stated what he sees as the the most serious contemporary issue facing the Mexican people: "The political and economic crisis throughout Latin America, especially Argentina and Colombia. In Mexico, people don't believe in political institutions, as there is ever-growing unemployment and social inequality. On the other hand, civil rights movements and Zapatismo [the ideology of the Zapatista movement which is fighting for the rights of the indigenous people in Mexico's southern state of Chiapas] have renewed the people's hope. This is one of the most universally relevant struggles of these times, since it shows solidarity with Los De Abajo del mundo!" [oppressed people everywhere]. The opening lyrics to Los de Abajo's song 'Si Existe Ese Lugar' (That Place Does Exist) are a good example of their rallying cry for the underdog: 'For the one who no longer sings For the one who has hardened inside It is rising up My song rises up...'
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