In interview with Article 66the singer-songwriters Luis Enrique Mejia Godoy Y jandir rodriguez They expressed prior to the start of their concert held on Saturday night, December 3 —Spanish time— in the Nuestra Señora de las Delicias parish in Madrid, their closeness to the Nicaraguan people, after four years of government repression.
“When it comes to the rebellion of a people, we —the little artists— are chroniclers, just like independent journalists of a struggle, and logically we stand in solidarity,” said Mejía Godoy.
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He stressed that during his musical career, both he, his brother and other artists, «we have never abandoned being next to the people; that trench is ours and whatever feeling the people have, we will reflect it in our songs».
«We sing joy, hope; I hope we never (sing) defeat, but a lot of patience. We must not despair, but be sure that this has to end at some point, but the people must be unified,” he added.
He also indicated that “the song as a tool for peace and a tool for struggle” serves to unify and bring hope to the Nicaraguan people.
For his part, Jandir Rodríguez stated that the music he has created in the political and social context that Nicaragua is experiencing has tried to dignify the struggle of Nicaraguans “and leave a historical record of what has happened in our country.”
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«My music has tried to unite Nicaraguans and even more so the youth who for a long time lived almost asleep, but who in 2018 stood up strong and said “we are the young people here” and among those —uprisings— is my singing and the singing of many other artists who have come out in this fight in April, “he said.
“It is the young who make the big changes”
Compared to the rebellion of the Nicaraguans in the 80s and now, the singer-songwriter of protest music affirmed that “It is the young people who make the big changes in that is what is most similar”.
«What differentiates this —Ortega’s repressive wave— with the struggle of the Sandinista Front (…) is that this is a civic struggle; at no time can we pretend that it is through weapons. My respect for people who think differently, but I believe that the people cannot continue putting up heroes, sacrificing their young people.
«The amount of blood that there is is too much; The martyrs of April are enough, the political prisoners are enough, the thousands of exiles are enough, the people who are forced not to express themselves in Nicaragua are enough.” affirmed Luis Enrique Mejía Godoy.
Regarding the forced exile that Mejía Godoy lives, he said that he never thought of leaving Nicaragua, “much less going into exile. Fortunately I am in exile in Costa Rica, where I lived in the 70s and thus I am closer to Nicaragua.
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On the other hand, the artists advanced to the media that they are working on a musical collaboration between the two after this tour that took them to various European countries, where they exposed the dramatic situation that Nicaragua is experiencing under the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
«I learn a lot from the young, but what is said is that the young learn from the old, the only advantage we have is that we have a rear-view mirror, that we can see the past, a past that I never want to anchor myself to. and thanks to Jandir we are renewing the Nicaraguan song,” concluded Mejía Godoy, who also said that “I may not see the change in Nicaragua, but I fight with the same passion and the same vocation for peace.”
