If you haven’t noticed, the big debate right now in my lovely and massive (yes obese too) country is about the “g” word. Guns is the “g” word, and no one says the “g” word, they just say guns because it’s actually okay to say that word still, but who knows how taboo the word will become in the future. I’m not going to get into it a silly argument here about whether or not the gun kills or the person with the gun kills. I hate that argument. I’ve heard it my whole life and it NEVER gets anywhere. But I am fortunate enough to understand both sides. I’m from Arizona, yeah we have Jews here too, well there are three from here, Gary Shandling, Steven Spielberg and myself (The Three Jewmigos? I wish). Down here guns are so incredibly commonly owned that it’s not thought about much. We have the loosest gun laws in the nation. We can conceal without a license, we can carry and conceal guns anywhere unless there is a sign posted by the owner of the establishment saying otherwise. That means we can carry into most bars unless there is a sign posted. This is just our mentality and we’ve become used to it because if you were raised in Arizona then it’s a non-issue.
This may sound weird to most people, (not to Middle Easterners or Africans) to the rest of the world it must seem insane. For example let’s go with yours truly. I like shooting guns. I’ll admit it. When I was a teenager I had a 9mm semi auto. It held ten rounds in a clip. I took it with me in my car everywhere I went. Keep in mind this is completely normal here. I carried it in my glove compartment in my old car. One night driving home I was pulled over by a police officer. My registration was expired on my car so he was giving me a friendly warning (this happens to white people). When he saw my gun upon opening my glove compartment to retrieve my insurance papers, he simply asked me to hand it to him so he can hold it until he leaves. That is a precautionary thing to do to make sure I don’t end up being crazy and try to shoot him. But you see it was nothing to him. He took the gun and put it on my roof of the car. He saw that it was loaded and even asked me to hand over my other loaded clip (always carry two loaded clips). Then he returned the gun before letting me go with his friendly warning. The gun was not even a small issue. Again it is very common here for anyone to carry. Of course if I had a bad record the story would have been different. My point is to explain how common it is here to own and carry firearms. This was before 9/11, before the infamous Columbine High School shooting, and long before all these other current shootings.
Keeping this history in mind I must honestly admit that I’m starting to see how things “really” are within the minds of those who surround me. I found out as though waking up from a dream that perhaps I’m one of the sanest of the people on this planet! What I’m going on about is that in all honesty based on my understanding, the people who are adamant about gun rights and ownership share one major thing in common mentally, they are all convinced completely that there is a coming apocalypse. It amazes me because after I woke up to this realization, I think back to many conversations with old friends from times past and it all becomes clearer. They are totally convinced that the government will take their guns away and then enslave them. In their eyes this is the end of days. This realization came about three weeks ago when I was at a little get-together noticed my friends were all packing. We were in friendly company and most of the people were armed, and were concealing their arms. I wasn’t armed and I felt left out, I felt odd, as though I was a fool or missing something. This is when I really started paying closer attention to what everyone was saying. It was a lot of apocalypse talk. A lot of conspiracy theories, a lot of U.S. constitution allegiance swearing, and a lot of Thomas Jefferson talk (he’s our “go to” freedom fighter guy).
Then one week ago I was at another gathering. We were gathering to discuss climate change and all that jazz. But after awhile the conversations started taking different turns. To the left of me and to the right people were discussing their “cool” ideas for “intelligent” weaponry. Here I was in a room full of people talking about interesting ways to most efficiently cause harm to enemies. I really woke up at this point and even exclaimed to the people in the room that I can’t believe these discussions were happening so nonchalantly. I exclaimed that we really are a crazy nation if this is normal conversation. And surely the rest of the world should fear us if this is what the average citizen is discussing in the privacy of our friend’s house. I can see why they want to keep their guns. They believe “they” are after them and “they” are going to take their rights away and enslave them in a post apocalyptic world. Such incredible delusions I say.
Maybe I am the one that is delusional because I would rather spend money on more lenses for my camera so I can take beautiful pictures of this beautiful world to show off how beautiful life is, instead of spending my money on guns and ammo. I know this is a little extreme of a subject to write about here on the beloved Sexxy Saturday Cumbia, but I really feel the tension in the air these days and I wanted to share my observations however subjective they may be to the rest of the world, who may be wondering why we are so obsessed with our guns here in the U.S.A. Maybe I shed some light on the subject.
I apologize for my long introduction. I promise from now on to keep them shorter in the future and focus more on the music and joys of life. Thank you dear reader for your patience with me.
Our boy Turbo Sonidero Futuristico has been busy with an interesting new production. He produced a cumbia track with a rapper named Zach G, making an all-original piece. It’s worth checking out. Turbo Sonidero Futuristico is one the most interesting experimenters in our scene.
I had to bring back Mr. Jags this week with his new Soy Raka remix. It’s dope and flows really nicely.
Speaking of flow, no one flows as well as Hannah Shinohara. And with Brujjas Deejay they both make an impeccable duo. They just released their new single earlier this week called Lección De Cumbia. Again these kids blow me away. Some artists we just know immediately after hearing them, that they will be a big hit, and these two are such artists.
It’s always a massive pleasure for me to have DJ Neber here on Sexxy Saturday Cumbia. He is one of, if not the, dopest of DJ remixers. I have a couple of his latest ill tracks to share here.
El Dirty Sonidero is our crazy little French country rabbit that has found himself in an unlikely place for such rabbits, in a cumbia land. And we are fortunate to see or rather hear cumbia from the mind of the wild and crazy rabbit.
It’s been a while since I’ve featured anything from Augustin Sound System here on SSC. I return him here with his new schizophrenic cumbia mashup production.
I couldn’t resist putting FeroZMonas’ new track up here this week. I brought him onto SSC last week with his bizarre cumbia digital music. He has a unique style of a very futuristic cumbia sound. He shows us the evolution of cumbia and where it’s going next.
Tu Guaina is another nu cumbiero in love with digital experimentation. We are lucky to have him producing such cool and interesting new sounds for us.
DJ Pase returns here with a very powerful edit of Yaguaru’s “Tendras Que Llorar.”
Here is a very interesting minimal cumbia mix put together by DJ’s Marcelo y Marios. There are some interesting tracks on here. I’ve never heard a cumbia mix like this one. It is definitely very unique in track selection and mixing.
Something newer from Marcel y Marios is this pretty sick cumbia house edit of El Remelon’s cumbia mashup of Daft Punk’s classic “Around The World.”
It’s an absolute pleasure to have new music coming from the insatiable due Animal Chuki. I love this couple a lot. Their productions are refreshing and always intriguing. They recently remixed ZZK’s new superstar La Yegros’ song “Viene de Mi.” Check this beauty out.
The provider of this week’s awesome artwork, 4:20 Music Flavor, is also represented here this week with his musical side of his creative mind. This is a deeply entrancing cumbia mashup of the brilliant Waxuma VS MC 900 feat. Jesus.
Our lovely Pedrolito returns here to SSC with his new beautiful cumbia love mixtape of some of the latest and loveliest cumbia. As always a wonderful selection from our good cumbiero friend in Paris, may he never cease providing these lovely mixes.
Dale amor a la cumbia que la cumbia te lo devuelve #41 by Pedrolito Radioglobal on Mixcloud
The masters known as The Empresarios represent the nu cumbia scene like the masters they are. Their latest “La Secretaria” is simply brilliant. Please download this and “like” their Facebook page. These guys are some of the best cumbieros around today.
Last up I have a new mix from a new person here to SSC. It’s a lovely cumbia mix featuring more classic cumbia sounds with new touches. I mean there is Msiss Bolivia, Frente Cumbiero and Mad Professor for example. This is a cool mix by Mangroove Sessions.
Mangroove Session This is Cumbia by Ajicero on Mixcloud
I do wish to point out that I have a much better chance of hitting a target by throwing a rock at it than by hitting it with a bullet shot from a gun (of course depending on the gun my accuracy changes). Shooting guns accurately isn’t easy. It is nothing like the movies. If anything this is something that needs to be understood and perhaps even taught. To demystify things takes their power away (at least to some extent).
Peace
