The Inspiration
Music has been part of every liberation movement throughout history. You know the songs—“We Shall Overcome.” “De Colores.” “Joe Hill.” The songs on this CD are labor and immigration songs, written by workers in the Mexican and U.S. low-wage labor movements. They tell the stories of factory workers and immigrants - stories of strength, courage, and resistance. These are the voices of our movement, and Our Voices Will Rise For Justice.
Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. 1980. Betty Robles, a young factory worker, is forbidden from talking on the job. Nevertheless, she organizes a victorious wildcat strike by singing labor songs to her co-workers in the factory, the maquiladora. Today, still singing, Betty is the leader of the maquiladora workers’ movement in Coahuila, Mexico, and is the inspiration for this CD.
Ciudad Aguilares, El Salvador. 1977. Jesús (Lolo) Rivas, a rural campesino and young musician, commits his life and music to the struggles of the working poor. In 1983 he joins the seminal nueva cancion (new song) band Cutumay Camones, tours internationally, and records four albums. In 1990 Lolo immigrates to Los Angeles and begins work as a day laborer. He cofounds the popular day laborer band Los Jornaleros Del Norte before moving to Portland, Oregon, where he composes and plays music and continues to participate in the movement for immigrant and worker rights.
Hemet Valley, California. 1965. Peter Cervantes-Gautschi becomes active in the labor movement as a young farm worker, working 15-hour days in the sun, picking marigold petals for a penny a pound. In 1997, still fighting for justice for low-wage workers, Peter brings together international labor organizers to found Enlace, a collaboration of U.S. and Mexican labor organizations that build trans-national campaigns to fight trans-national corporations. Enlace affiliates seek to change the balance of power between the rich and the working poor - in other words, to create a more just world. The songs on this CD, with the exception of Libertad, are written by and about Enlace’s affiliate organizations.