For the first video single off her latest album, Ana Tijoux fully embraced her Amerindian heritage in the form of an anthemic battle cry. In “Somos Sur,” she uses “south” in a geo-political more than a strictly geographical meaning. It’s not about pinning the southern hemisphere against its northern counterpart, but about representing the plight of all oppressed and indigenous peoples across the planet, regardless of their coordinates.
That’s why she finds a perfect partner-in-rhyme for this in Shadia Mansour, a young femcee from Palestina, and gives shout-outs to the natives of Nicaragua, Algeria, Costa Rica, and other countries that aren’t technically in located in the southern half of the planet but have been equally submitted to colonization.
Since mademoiselle Tijoux first rapped “si tengo sangre indígena mejor, porque es hermosa” in her first 1999 single with Makiza, her Mapuche pride has always been part of her lyrics and aesthetics, but never to the extent of her fourth solo album, Vengo, where she also incorporates it in the form of musical choices.
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