Beyond Son Nica: Revolutionary Popular Music in Sandinista Nicaragua with T.M. Scruggs

Jackson joins ethnomusicologist and anthropologist T.M. Scruggs to discuss Nicaraguan popular music in the decades leading up to the 1979 Sandinista Revolution, as well as during the first Sandinista government from 1979 to 1990. With a focus on the work of FSLN-affiliated musician Carlos Mejía Godoy, we dive into the history of the Nicaraguan political song movement that emerged in the late-60s and early 70s and discuss how, especially after the 1972 earthquake that devastated Nicaragua’s capital of Managua, this musical movement merged with the FSLN to form a part of its artist-intellectual cadre. We also take a look at the FSLN’s post-revolutionary musico-cultural policy in the 1980s, exploring the work of the Empresa Nicaragüense de Grabaciones Artisticas y Culturales (ENIGRAC), the state-owned record company established as a part of the FSLN’s Ministry of Culture.   Tracklist: Carlos & Luis Enrique Mejía Godoy - 'Que Es El FAL?' (0:00)   Elías Palacios - 'Aquila Indita' (12:45)   Carlos Zapata - 'Flor de mi Colina' (17:10)   Carlos Mejía Godoy - 'Vivirás Monimbo' (21:18)   Carlos Mejía Godoy - 'Pancho Escombros' (26:10)   Jorge Issac Carvalho - 'Campesino' (29:02)   Carlos Mejía Godoy - 'Los Explosivos' (32:07)   Carlos Mejía Godoy - 'Canto de Entrada' (41:20)   Carlos Mejía Godoy - 'Miskitu Lawana' (44:32)   Grupo Pancasan - 'Pancasan' (47:08) Luis Enrique Mejía Godoy - 'Pan con Dignidad' (49:40)   Grupo Pancasan - 'Juventud Sandinista' (52:49)   Mario Montenegro - 'El Gallo Ennavajado (1:10:31)   Duo Guardabarranco -'Ya Era Santo De Nombre' (1:13:35)   Grupo Pancasan - 'El Yankee se Va a Joder' (1:20:43)