Fall 2014

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Bringing New Life to Gleeson Library: Dobles Vidas & Mexican Folk Art Changing the World from Everywhere: Father Privett and his Latin American Journeys Inside Stories: Daniel Alarcón and the Spanish Language podcast Radio Ambulante Our Lives Matter: Alex Nieto & USF's Response to Police Brutality On the Tupac Amaru Rebellion

Photo Courtesy of Fidel Dolorier Links

Center for Latino Studies in the Americas Inside Stories: Daniel Alarcón and the Spanish (CELASA) Chican@ Latin@ Studies Language podcast Radio Ambulante Latin American Studies Written by Tiye Sheppard Latin American Student Organization (LASO) I was welcomed to my seat by Bay Area DJ Crew La Pelanga. A quick paced cumbia, mixed cleverly with a familiar pop beat seemed to bounce off the walls. The excitement of the audience created an indistinguishable hum. The room was filled with English speakers, hispanohablantes, and Spanglish wizards like myself, all eager to hear quality storytelling. From the metalhead ‘frikis’ in La Habana, Cuba to drunken nights and wedding days in , Radio Ambulante was set to present it all. This mezcla, or merging of ‘here’ and ‘there’ is what I would say award winning Daniel Alarcón and his stellar team do best. On November 2nd, 2014 the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts hosted a live show of the popular Spanish podcast, Radio Ambulante. Founded in 2011, the programing focuses on Latin American stories from the inside. The word ambulante usually refers to street vendors, who move from place to place selling their goods. In the context of radio, the content is sourced from any where that Spanish is spoken, picking up new stories along the way, and delivering them fresh to an online audience.

For those who enjoy long-form reads, this podcast yields the same satisfaction, only audibly. The layers of narration, interview, ambient, and soundtrack seem to wash over you, and reminisce of a time when our imaginations trumped the images on a TV screen.

Many have taken notice of Radio Ambulante’s ability to achieve this level of successful storytelling. Recently in October of this year, the Gabriel García Márquez award for ‘Innovation’ was given to Radio Ambulante for its rigorous yet creative presentation of journalism. The Foundation for New Ibero-American Journalism, and the city of Medellín, Colombia launched this new award in 2013. It has become increasingly important to the literary and journalism communities of after the passing of García Márquez in April, 2014. Not only was he a notable Colombian writer and journalist, he was and continues to be the most revered Latin American literary icon of the 20th century. He was known for folding in creativity and imagination into his stories, pioneering the style of "magic realism", as seen in his widely acclaimed novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Similarly, Radio Ambulante captivated its audience by blending a crafted soundtrack with live performances of their podcasts. Live readings are not new to the podcast world, yet Radio Ambulante has found another way to stand out by offering their audience a chance to witness in real time what they do best.

Though many have referred to Radio Ambulante as the Spanish This American Life, Daniel has a differing opinion. “The main thing is that we tell stories from inside the culture. We're not telling Latin American stories for Americans, but for Latin Americans. We're not doing cultural interpretation for people with a passing or superficial knowledge of the region. That makes it different from the very premise.”

A thread that does connect Radio Ambulante to most popular podcasts is that the focus on storytelling and high-quality audio. In a way, upgrading the endeared experience of those who grew up dialing in to Sherlock Holmes or Simplemente María. As mentioned in an interview with Democracy Now!, Daniel grew up in a radio family, his father was a radio announcer in his youth, and his uncles and cousins have worked within radio all over Peru. Far before Radio Ambulante, Daniel penned a novel entitled, Lost City Radio, largely inspired by his fascination with a Peruvian radio program called Busca Personas (People Finders). It was a public bulletin of some sorts, used to connect loved ones during a time still occurring in Latin American nations, were urban migration, political violence, and family separation leaves many needing an alternative outlet of communication.

Radio Ambulante to a degree echoes this reality. As found in the 2013 census, there are 54 million people living in the United States who identify as being Hispanic or hailing from a Latin American country. With such an impressive presence in the population, it makes sense that programing not only in Spanish, but from a Latin American perspective find success within the ever increasing landscape of online, digital radio.

Just as with many ‘brick & mortar’ industries, terrestrial radio is on the decline. Creeping up into its place are digital formats, often hyper-focused on building a world between the listener and the host, one far different from the stations on the dial. “Passive choice listening” as Daniel puts it, do not allow listeners to “choose your voice and your way of seeing and interpreting the world” whereas “on-demand listening” such as Radio Ambulante, This American Life, Radiolab, and the countless others do. Daniel sees this as a huge change, one that will continue to grow with each show.

Radio Ambulante itself is in a time of change. Upon accepting professorship at Columbia University, Daniel and his family will be relocating from the city by the bay to the Big Apple. He finds it to be an “exciting move”, noting as a “great radio town” just like the San Francisco Bay Area. When asked if being on the east coast, where the population of Latinos from the Caribbean is notably higher than on the west, Daniel replied that this might impact the content of Radio Ambulante.

“There are definitely East Coast stories that have been hard to report, and this will change. On the other hand, the vast majority of Latinos in the US are Mexican, and we're very concerned with what’s going on in that country right now. It's one of more troubling scenarios in the region, and we'd be remiss not to report on it”, said Daniel.

As the lights started to slowly turn back on, there was a peculiar energy circulating the room. We had been taken on a journey from place to place, just like a vendedor ambulante. We sampled some of Mexico, Cuba, Colombia, Southern California, and our home of San Francisco. Though there was no formal 'goodbye', there was indeed a sense of closure. As with all new beginnings, there is much hope to Daniel's move to New York City.

Whether in San Francisco, New York, or , Peru, Daniel and subsequently Radio Ambulante will continue to serve up quality, fresh, and enticing stories from inside Latin American lives.

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