At times I feel like I am loosing my sanity, like I can’t hold it together anymore, after all we can cannot normalize the times we are living through and what we are witnessing, this takes a massive toll on our minds and emotions and spirits.  One of the things holding me together through all of this has been music. Especially revolutionary song, of all kinds. And that of course has me thinking about the power of revolutionary song and art of all kinds, the commercial music industry and how it tries to co-opt this expression of the people and the trap of “representation” in media and pol ..read more

I have been extremely inconsistent here lately. And that is going to change very soon. I am very busy with a lot of other things I have going on, it’s really one thing in particular. But by early July I will definitely be back to consistent, weekly podcasts. Anyway, I didn't want to go another week without at least releasing something. I want to tell you about my trip to Puerto Rico recently, and share what I experienced, but I need more time for that. I want to do the experience justice with the show I’m going to do. This week will be a shorter episode, different than usual. I want to talk a ..read more

A journey into the life and music of Chilean nueva canción artist, journalist, novelist, playwright and poet Patricio Manns. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/anani-kaike/message ..read more

Víctor’s music reflects many things…a love for humanity, his own life experiences and the lives of regular people, the poor, the farmers, the laborers and artists that are often overlooked and forgotten. The people who make the country run, the people most exploited and forgotten among us. Víctor immortalized not only the archetype of the farmer, the laborer, the peasant but he also immortalized many individuals. Roberto Ahumada, Miguel Ángel Aguilera, Angelita Huenuman, the people senselessly killed in Puerto Montt in 1968 simply murdered for occupying the land of a rich family in southern Ch ..read more

I had a full circle moment recently. It was about this time last year, a cloudy day, drizzling.  I was wearing a wool sweater too, not the same one, but similar. I was moody and sad, both days. Last year, that day, I first listened to “Manifesto”, Victor Jara and I will say again, it changed my life. This past year has changed me as a person, and that moment when I first heard that beautiful voice and that guitar, I could feel the change. It was a song that I felt I had heard my entire life, yet a song I had never heard before.  This year, I finally after having known about him for m ..read more

In September of 1970 rightwing Chilean media baron Agustín Edwards Eastman traveled to Washington DC to meet with CIA director Richard Helms, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and President Richard Nixon. They discussed plans to overthrow the then newly elected government of Salvador Allende. This was just one part of the sinister role that Chile's wealthiest and most powerful media baron played in the events of the 11 September 1973. Songs: Plegaria a un labrador - Víctor Jara, Quilapayún Con el alma llena de banderas - Quilapayún Encuentro con la vida - Illapu --- Send in a voice message ..read more

I was perusing the internet the other day when I came across the music of Spanish pop sensation Niño Bravo and his song “Un Beso y Una Flor” and I absolutely loved his voice and the style of the song, that dramatic 1970’s baroque pop sound. I of course looked him up and found out that one of his most famous songs, “Libre”, was played while political detainees and political prisoners in Chile were tortured by Pinochet’s regime. I’ll let that sink in for a moment.  I was immediately horrified especially when I found out that the song was originally written against Franco’s regime in Spain ..read more

The horror in Gaza continues, people are killed by bombs, they are starved to death and massacred as they try to get flour to feed their families. In this time, sometimes we need poetry. So we take a breath and read some poetry from one of the greatest to ever give us a look inside of the soul and mind of a poet; Pablo Neruda. There are so many lessons to be taken from his poems, so many feelings to be shared and an immense amount of insight!  Chris Hedges' article about Aaron Bushnell: https://open.substack.com/pub/chrishedges/p/aaron-bushnells-divine-violence?utm_campaign=post&utm_ ..read more

With the ongoing genocide in Gaza, I often think about Che Guevara. What would he be saying? today we answer that question. We will be examine the lessons about imperialism we can learn from Che Guevara's 1964 UN speech. Peaceful coexistence, the crisis of the Congo, Vietnam, nuclear weapons and much more is discussed. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/anani-kaike/message ..read more

We are often told that Cuba is an authoritarian, repressive dictatorship. But did anyone ever take a second to ask who really made Cuba a dictatorship?  Some will immediately say “Fidel Castro made Cuba a dictatorship”. Let us consider for a moment that Cuba actually I ts a dictatorship. Now let us ask ourselves WHO made it a dictatorship. Was it Fidel? Was it Batista? Was it the United States interventions and interference? The bay of pigs invasion? The 600 assassination attempts against Fidel? Was it the threat of military invasion? Was it the constant attempts by the CIA to overthrow t ..read more