Más Allá o Más Acá – Trotsky Vengarán

Have you ever listened to rock music from Uruguay? Well, if not, you’re about to. Woohoo!

Over the weekend here in Bogota, the outdoor event Rock Al Parque was held, where multiple big Latin American and international acts performed. I didn’t go in person, but yesterday, while channel-zapping during the ads in the Cleveland – Tampa Bay baseball game, I stumbled across the live broadcast. So I switched between that and the baseball.

It was a bit of a bummer for the revellers that the festival was rained on all weekend, but given the incipient drought here, partly due to the El Niño effect, and the super-low dam water levels in Colombia, I don’t think you’ll find too many complaints. Hey, those in the mosh pits couldn’t have given two hoots. They looked ecstatic getting drenched.

One of the acts I immediately enjoyed watching was today’s featured group, Trotsky Vengarán (roughly, Trotsky Will Take Revenge). Having majored in Political Science, with a particular focus on the Bolshevik Revolution, I couldn’t help but raise a wry smile when I saw the Uruguayan group’s name.

Trotsky was one of the leading figures of the Bolshevik Revolution and the early Soviet state. He fell out with the party leadership, particularly Stalin, and eventually fled to Mexico, where he was tracked down and assassinated.

Back to the music… Trotsky Vengarán have a punk rock, alternative rock sound. If you could fuse the music of Green Day and The Offspring and give it a Latin American coating, this is what the hybrid might sound like. Their Wikipedia page says they were influenced by groups such as the Ramones, Beastie Boys, AC/DC and the Sex Pistols, as well as other bands from the 1950s and 1960s.

I can be quite fickle and selective when it comes to music, but when I dug deeper into Trotsky’s catalogue this morning, I was more than pleasantly surprised by everything I heard. I tell you what, that doesn’t happen often. No siree – Hallelujah!

Listening to this music transported me back to my 20s, around the time the Seattle alternative rock and grunge scene was taking the world by storm. My mates and I were reveling in it at the clandestine music joints in Canberra, Australia. This is the sort of music I would have revelled in back then, and it made me happy to see the young Latin American kids pogo dancing to it yesterday. Whole new generations can enjoy and savour this music and, decades from now, remember it fondly, just as I do the music scene of the early 1990s.

So, it didn’t surprise me to learn that Trotsky Vengarán emerged from Montevideo’s underground music scene in the early 1990s, in the years following Uruguay’s military dictatorship. The band formed in 1991 and has now been around for more than 30 years. It has earned a place among Uruguay’s most popular rock bands, with a loyal fanbase that packs out its shows.

The band has performed in Paraguay, Mexico, Chile, Argentina and Colombia. It was in Colombia that they recorded their live album, Una noche de rock en Medallo. Recorded in Medellín, the album captures the energy and festive atmosphere Trotsky generates at its concerts.

Today’s song Más Allá o Más Acá (Eng: Beyond Here or Beyond There) appears on the band’s album Relajo Pero Con Orden, released in 2016. The lyrics are really good. Check ’em out below if you have a sec.

There will be other songs by Trotsky Vengarán that I’ll try to fit in here (along with more information about the band) as we turn the corner and make our way down the home straight of this Music Library Project. Oh, wow, that brings to mind the announcer’s call, ‘Race is Go Now!’, from the classic Australian film Phar Lap. I won’t cry, folks.

No creo en el destino, no creo en la suerte / I don’t believe in destiny, I don’t believe in luck.
No creo en la justicia de la ley del más fuerte / I don’t believe in the justice of the law of the strongest.
No le creo al rebaño, ni al lobo, ni al pastor / I don’t believe in the flock, nor the wolf, nor the shepherd.
No creo ni en mis ojos, pero creo en vos / I don’t even believe my own eyes, but I believe in you.

Más allá del tiempo, más allá de la sangre, de la belleza, de las promesas / Beyond time, beyond blood, beyond beauty, beyond promises.
Quiero que te acuerdes de esto que te digo / I want you to remember what I’m telling you.
Donde el viento te lleve, yo voy contigo / Wherever the wind takes you, I’ll go with you.

Y si la confianza te deja tirilla / And if trust leaves you worn out and threadbare.
Si el desengaño no te deja hacer pie / If disillusionment leaves you unable to find your footing.
Cuando la mano venga jodida / When things get really rough.
Y la angustia te ponga contra la pared / And anguish backs you against the wall.

Más allá de la rabia, más allá de la ira / Beyond rage, beyond anger.
De la venganza, de las mentiras / Beyond revenge, beyond lies.
Quiero que te acuerdes, esto que te digo / I want you to remember what I’m telling you.
Donde el viento te lleve, yo voy contigo / Wherever the wind takes you, I’ll go with you.

Y más allá o más acá / And whether it’s farther away or closer to home.
Acordate que yo creo en vos / Remember that I believe in you.

References:
1. La Música del Día: Trotsky Vengarán, más allá o más acá – En Perspectiva