{"id":406,"date":"2012-10-14T14:34:00","date_gmt":"2012-10-14T14:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.novonon.com\/blog\/2012\/10\/14\/beyond-the-block-a-new-rupture-mix\/"},"modified":"2012-10-14T14:34:00","modified_gmt":"2012-10-14T14:34:00","slug":"beyond-the-block-a-new-rupture-mix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.novonon.com\/blog\/2012\/10\/14\/beyond-the-block-a-new-rupture-mix\/","title":{"rendered":"BEYOND THE BLOCK & A NEW RUPTURE MIX"},"content":{"rendered":"

BEYOND THE BLOCK & A NEW RUPTURE MIX<\/a>:
This weekend we gave away physical copies of my latest mix CD. Today I\u2019m offering it online. The mix is directly inspired by transnational Mexican sonidero culture, and uses its format to air the voices and stories of a group of dedicated rent strikers out here in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Here\u2019s a download of the mix and the story of how it came to be\u2013
\"\"
This past Saturday, friends & I threw a community-minded block party at Rainbow Park in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn. The basic idea was to air live music that reflects the population here (Latino, Chinese, Arab\u2026), to bring folks together into a space with great sound as community groups offer info and services.
It takes much painstaking organization, discussion, and collaboration to create an open-ended space, any inclusive moment wide with margins of possibility. I think we managed to do it. Hundreds showed up, listened, participated.
\"\"
[BTB – kids at Nuria Montiel’s print vinyl station, photo by Sound Liberation Front<\/a>]<\/small>
Planning for \u2018Beyond The Block\u2019 began in late spring and continued \u2014 with weekly meetings! \u2014 until this Saturday. Our we<\/em> grew over time, expanding to include people from Beyond Digital<\/a>, Dutty Artz<\/a>, The Arab American Association of New York<\/a>, CAAAV<\/a>, La Uni\u00f3n<\/a>, La Casita Comunal de Sunset Park<\/a>, Sound Liberation Front<\/a>, and various local artists and community members. Manhattan electronic music school Dubspot<\/a> donated a grip of top-quality gear. On the day of the event, dozens of volunteers came to help everything flow.
\"\"
[Undocumented youth activists. Ty Ushka’s instagram<\/a>.]<\/small>
We made posters for Beyond The Block in four languages: Spanish, Mandarin, English, Arabic. Musicians\/DJs held extended conversations with community organizers working towards social justice. Various worlds shrank. We focused on local, person-to-person outreach \u2014 that\u2019s why you didn\u2019t see mention of this event on any blogs for example. Our digital hype\/ \u201csocial networking\u201d skills were put towards helping our partner organizations located in Sunset Park and Bay Ridge activate & amplify the word through their<\/em> networks.
\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

[Beyond The Block flyers by Talacha<\/a>]<\/small>
If the dominant mode of musical experience in 2012 is a web-sped diet of consume and move on, then Beyond The Block is interested in learning about the slow social manifestations of all this music that moves us, and asking how our excitement over these sounds can contribute, in a direct way, to the communities where its heartbeat comes from. And besides, I\u2019ve lived in Sunset Park ever since I moved back to the US in 2006.
As we wrote in the mission statement:<\/p>\n

Can a hype block party double as an opportunity to spread information about stop & frisk, immigrant rights, police surveillance, and housing? We say yes. As the championing of diversity, a global outlook, and a celebration of the local become increasingly common in today\u2019s dance music scenes, we see an ideal opportunity to use the energy & open-ended vibe of a great party to connect musical ideas to their real-world analogs \u2014 to create a space where we can talk about \u2013 and dance to \u2013 an incredible musical selection while sharing useful information for our communities that are impacted by issues pertaining to undocumented workers\u2019 rights, transnational identity, health care, police violence, housing and more.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

How did it go? Fine late summer sun shone on nonstop music performances across a variety of styles and languages \u2014 including teen rappers from around the block, Omnia Hegazy\u2019s English-Arabic guitar songs, Los Skarroneros\u2019 Marxist ska-punk, Uproot Andy DJing<\/a>, and a perfectly-pitched closing ceremony by Cetiliztli Nauhcampa Quetzalcoatl in Ixachitlan<\/a>. (This last group had me wishing that DJ Javier Estrada<\/a> was there, indigenous time rise up<\/a>).
\"\"<\/p>\n

[photo by Neha Gautam<\/a>]<\/small>
In addition to the music were things like: a handball court transformed into a realtime street art gallery, Nuria Montiel\u2019s incredible pushcart art station that let kids transform vinyl records in printing devices, a dozen or so community groups sharing info, $1 spicy grilled octopus from the Chinese food cart\u2026
As fellow organizer Larisa Mann\/DJ Ripley<\/a> wrote, \u201cthe face-painting and mural-painting folks were total troopers mobbed by excited kids all day, the community organizations & folks at the tables were full of useful information and good humor and the basketball and handball NEVER STOPPED.\u201d When Ashland Total Freedom came walking up I had to pinch myself. As it turned out, everything really did happen<\/em>. We\u2019re working on a website but until then you\u2019ll have to peer into the soul-sucking abyss of the Zuckerborg<\/a> to see it.
\"\"
[painting produced on the day, Ty Ushka’s instagram<\/a>]<\/small>
The point is not to brag about this event. The point is to remind ourselves: this is possible. A few dedicated individuals can leverage a lot. Music can start & sustain conversations. You can throw a block party like this wherever you live, too. Getting the permits and such wasn\u2019t that hard (despite NYC\u2019s somnambulant bureaucracy); sharing the workload made everything easier; post-meeting tacos & micheladas formed their own satisfying world.
But about this new mixtape\u2026
As the planning went on, I started thinking about ways to extend the outburst of energy that comes \u2013 then goes! \u2013 with putting on a party. Something that could spread slowly, perhaps in online worlds, after we tended to the here-and-now on one exquisite September day.
\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

[Beyond The Block flyers by Talacha<\/a>]<\/small>
In helping to make this block party happen, I ended up working closely with people involved in the rent strike on 46th St<\/a>. The mixtape idea clicked into place all at once: I would select made-in-the-USA cumbia instrumentals, and have those sounds serve as a backing track to the rent strikers explaining, in their own words, what is happening, why they are struggling. Most of the three rent striking buildings\u2019 residents are Latino immigrants, many from Mexico. I mentioned my idea at a meeting \u2014 people were into it. Pues\u2026 \u00a1V\u00e1monos!
\"\"
[photos taken by rent strikers<\/a>]<\/small>
Noelle Theard<\/a> introduced me to some of the principal rent strikers, then she and Dennis Flores<\/a>, who had already been working closely with the strikers, conducted incredible interviews. As the Spanish-speakers among us will hear, one of the other great things about these interviews is how very different each person\u2019s perspective on the rent strike is. It ranges from deeply personal accounts \u2014 say, of dirty water dripping on Eulogia\u2019s stovetop \u2014 to broad political analysis examining the banks\u2019 roles, to philosophical reflections on rights and dignity and how a just struggle can empower. If you don\u2019t understand the Spanish then hopefully the deep cumbias will communicate.
\"\"
The \u2018Sunset Park Rent Strike Speakout Mix\u2019 was directly inspired by Mexican sonideros. Sonideros (DJs\/sound-people) talk on the mic and select tunes, narrating the party and activating the music, cracking jokes, taking requests to dedicate shoutouts to (often-distant) friends, family, lovers. They literally speak community into existence. Dozens of sonidero parties rock NYC each month, from private weddings to all-nighters in inconspicuous venues under the BQE<\/a>. (Here\u2019s an introductory article<\/a> on cumbia sonidera in the New York Times from 2003, and an excellent Spanish language e-book<\/a> published by friends over at El Proyecto Sonidero.)
Another nice thing about the voices gathered here is how they reflect the high level of women involved in the struggle for housing justice in Sunset Park. (With notable exceptions like DF\u2019s Lupita de la Cigarita, sonidero culture skews heavily towards men on the mic).
But I\u2019ve said enough. Here you go:
\"\"<\/p>\n

DOWNLOAD : Sunset Park Rent Strike Speakout Mix<\/a> [25 minutes, 61MB] (mixed by DJ Rupture, produced by Noelle Theard & Dennis Flores)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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