For Uruguay’s music undergrounds, pushing aesthetics and social change forward goes hand in hand. Listen to 5 music videos that function as safe spaces to express feminism, LGBTQIA+ rights, and hedonism.
Clashing with «latinx» stereotypes, there’s a vibrant underground scene that thrives in Uruguay consisting of independent like-minded artists that share an urge to reclaim creative freedom. Not covered by mainstream media, and mostly off the radar of music industry agents, these unique and diverse artists are constantly pursuing their own safe spaces to operate as communities, while actively working on integrating them into popular culture to push social change forward.
This list explores how a distinctive view of the world develops in Uruguay and neighboring countries in the Global South, that invites us to let go and relax (as Uruguay is very «slow life») while also being conscious about the need to address social issues like inequality and corruption. The LGBTQIA+ and feminist movements, as well as Black and Indigenous groups, have been key to this processes through activism, both in the streets and in the club, leading to structural changes in terms of human rights laws within the country. This includes groups like Mizangas Mujeres Afrodescendientes, Consejo de la Nación Charrúa, and movements like the 8M women marche. Sadly, in the last couple of years since the pandemic started, the new elected right wing government, in an unusual process, passed a series of controversial laws encompassed by the LUC project, which stands for «urgent consideration law». They seriously threaten people’s achievements by, for example, criminalizing protests while giving new powers to police and the military.
These songs come from artists of the diaspora, some coming from the interior parts of the country, others from the capital Montevideo, but all of them share and support each other’s work and collaborate frequently because it is a very small and unified scene.
Music: La Propia
Track: Secuencia (Uruguay, 2020)
Camera: Brian Ojeda
Editing: La Propia
«Secuencia» was born as a summer hit in my head, and the video came into existence just as organically as the lyrics. I wanted to take the concept of a sequence and repeat different everyday scenes with a little twist. It is sort of an homage to my friends and to love itself, whether it be romantic love, fraternal love, or any sort. I wanted, also, to include «romantic interests» of more than one gender to portray my own identity as a pansexual woman.
La Propia
Music: Nomusa, LVZY
Track: Montevideo 333 (Uruguay, 2021)
«Montevideo 333» is a song I composed and produced in March 2021. I think I produced the beat first and then I wrote the lyrics. Later on I spoke with my friend and colleague LVZY and invited him to collaborate on that track. The song has a strong influence of experimental music and afro music as well. I remember we were at LVZY’s house when I made the bass, then he added the drums. I guess when people first hear it they might think that the song has a romantic side, but the truth is that it has a political meaning. I always say, «I’m a Black woman making Black music and being loud about it». In that song I say, «Imma queen social conciencia», and I really mean that. I think that music should have that meaning, I think we all should be questioning the world and our privileges, because that’s how you change the world, by being critical about it.
Nomusa
Music: KIRA1312
Track: Radioaktiva (Uruguay, 2020)
Camera: Caetano López, José Dell Acqua
Editing: Caetano López
Assistant: Andrés Failache
I’m a rapper born near the Uruguayan-Brazilian border and my lyrics are charged with poetry and protest, shifting away from the traditional mysogynist and homophobic messages often found in the urban genre. «Radioaktiva» is a very important song to me because it’s about my origins, identity, and the roads I’ve walked to be where I am, having overcome adverse situations like migration and patriarchal violence.
KIRA1312
Music: Rasenk, Vicho
Track: A Fuego (Uruguay, 2021)
Camera: Rodrigo Hernández
Editing: Andrés Failache
Assistant: José Dell'Acqua
The video script describes a love story between two people outside of the cis-hetero-patriarcal norm that we see in the majority of mainstream reggaeton. It is a love story narrative of the day-to-day routines of many gay couples. The song has this romantic emotionality that steps away from classic romantic love stories, evoking the LGBTQIA+ community that shares and puts art above all. It is a song made for the dancefloor, to dedicate to your romantic partners while dancing to it.
Rasenk
Music: Franux BB
Track: Conectando (Uruguay, 2021)
Camera: Federico Castiglioni
Editing: Federico Castiglioni
Assistant: Julio Viera
Franux BB is a young artist from the local emergent urban scene who has gained the respect of a considerable audience, as well as well-known artists of the region, with his special voice tones and singing, and his street-poetical lyricism. In this track he dares to explore identity and spirituality: «connected to the native»; «another brown vibing», and invites the listener to connect with deeper meanings of life while urging them to do their best each day to overcome the difficult situations that this unequal capitalist system puts us all in. Also, in a funny manner, he quotes Kali Uchis’ «Telepatía» in his verse «Telepatía like Kali», and Coi Leray’s laid back attitude towards life on «Relaxed like Coiley, uhh».
