Guitarra Armada

Subject: Guitarra Armada
From: The_one_and_only_Dai
Date: 16 Oct 01 - 10:09 AM

I've recently been listening to a new album by the best band I've heard in ages, Boys From The Hill. Very powerful stuff and I commend it to anyone who might be interested.

One of the original songs on the CD is entitled 'Guitarra Armada'. Quoting from the sleeve notes:

An album kindly loaned to us by Gary Phillips of the Amigos provided the inspiration for this song. The album was a collection of songs set to a typical Latin Salsa, but the lyrics were quite deadly. The Sandinistas of Nicaragua had to educate a largely rural population to the tactics and techniques of guerilla warfare and this is how they succeeded.

This little piece of info caught my imagination. Can anyone shed some more light on this remarkable means of communication? Have any other groups or governments disseminated information through the manipulation of music?

Subject: RE: Guitarra Armada
From: Wesley S
Date: 16 Oct 01 - 11:13 AM

This might be too obvious an example but the British played Beethoven's 5th to notify the French Resistance that the D-day invasion was on the way. There may have been more examples that they used music to signal resistace forces.

Subject: RE: Guitarra Armada
From: Anglo
Date: 16 Oct 01 - 06:05 PM

Well, Dai. aren't you the lucky one! I have a copy of this CD with next to no sleeve notes at all, just some color pictures of Welshmen of different ages (some of whom might be the band) and a closed fish & chip shop on a council estate. For this song it says Words Jones, Music Jones McDonald.

Do I have a US edition? Are your sleevenotes in Welsh?

To come to your question, the American Labor movement is filled with songs, parodies of hymns often enough, with tunes everyone knew, encouraging joining the union. British labor movements too. Then there are the Ban the Bomb songs, same deal as far as I'm concerned. Every time there's an H-bomb test you get a little more strontium under your vest; that's dissemination of information in my book, however primitive.

Subject: RE: Guitarra Armada
From: The_one_and_only_Dai
Date: 17 Oct 01 - 03:36 AM

Anglo - sleeve notes can be found at this blicky. The colour photos are the band and the old guy is Ben Russ who provides some vocals. The Gors Fish Shop is on the Townhill estate in Swansea, where the band come from (I think the photo on the cover is one of the band as well)

Subject: RE: Guitarra Armada
From: The_one_and_only_Dai
Date: 25 Oct 01 - 03:59 AM

FYI, the implication of the song is that the Sandinistas distributed a record of songs the subject of which included how to prime a hand grenade, proper care of firearms, sabotage and insurrection. Any more thoughts before this one dies?

Subject: RE: Guitarra Armada
From: The_one_and_only_Dai
Date: 25 Oct 01 - 08:09 AM

NB - this thread even has 'Guitar' in the title, and 53 hasn't posted to it. I just thought I'd say...