When I was thinking of a name for this website, I really struggled to come up with something that encapsulated what I wanted this site to be about. I needed a phrase that was short and memorable. It needed to be unique. It needed to connect us to some larger movement and show that we were here for the culture.
The name “Pa’ La Cultura” came from a few places. It’s a favorite phrase of J Balvin (which Maluma pokes fun at in the music video for their song Que Pena). It’s also the title of a 2020 song by David Guetta and Human(x), which is a Latin supergroup.
The name also put words to the idea that we should introduce others to new things for a bigger purpose. It’s what I wrote about in my first blog.
I’m a firm believer in the idea that the more we share our cultures with one another, the greater our chances of achieving a better existence are. History is driven by the interactions of different groups and cultures. The history of art is full of examples of cultures interacting and creating beautiful results. Music history is rife with the same sort of stories. The more we share with one another, the less scary strangers seem. The more we understand other cultures, the less we tend to fear them. More interactions and shared experiences will lead to new experiences for all of us. We’ll see the world in ways never seen before.
For all of this to work, culture must be inclusive. Those who want to participate in something they enjoy should be able to freely. Calling people “culture vultures” because they enjoy something that is from a different culture is the kind of gatekeeping that causes fragmentation and resentment. If I, as a Hispanic man, tell someone that they can’t enjoy “my culture’s” music because they have a different background, I hurt us both. I rob someone of an experience that they could enjoy and I rob my culture of new eyes and ears. The potential of creating something new for all to enjoy is crushed.
This is clearly a subject that cuts across a lot of facets of life. Art, politics, and (obviously) culture collide in this space. Things like racism and xenophobia inherently have their roots in fearing the “other” and the unknown. What we’re striving to do here is to lower those barriers and fight back against the ignorance that causes these issues. While music plays a limited role in solving all of these issues, its an important part of the equation.
If this blog can inspire just one person to open their minds to something new, I did my job. If this blog inspires just one artist to try something new, to crossover into a new genre and a new culture, then I did my job. And finally, if this blog can help grow the culture in any way, then I did my job.
That’s what it means to be Pa La Cultura.