Frida Robles, Alvaro Collao, Ujjwal Kanishka: Pliego Petitorio

#Performance #LaborProtestSongs #LatinAmerica

This concert-performance is a reflection on the sonic tradition of labor protest in Latin America. Pliego petitorio, literally translated into English as “petition sheet”, has been one of the common tropes of protest throughout organised labor history. It represents the detailed requests that a particular struggle or strike are aiming to get. There is something sad and beautiful in the idea of the petition …  

The claim in the form of the fold, pliego – meaning the sheet that folds – that has the capacity to be folded, to be multiple. What then is it to perform a multi-folded sonic request, supplication, acknowledgement? To invoke the ghosts of the immense pain that has been inflicted to oh so many people due to exploitative, capitalistic and racist labor structures. How to acknowledge the soft and consistent power that music has given to numerous workers’ struggles throughout centuries? How to acknowledge the importance of the voice as a means to be present, to occupy space, to stand strong? This piece honours the important labor that music has and continues to be within structures of resistance, especially emotional and spiritual resistance.