At the end of August, nationwide strikes and protests numbering in the thousands reached Bogotá, reflecting widespread discontent with the implementation of the TLC free trade agreement between the United States and Colombia and the irreparable harm to Colombian campesinos. Coupled withrampant urban inequality further solidified by neoliberal policies and politicians’ close family ties to media dynasties, popular discontent rose to a boiling point as protesters grew to the tens of thousands “to include dissatisfied teachers, miners, doctors and students critical of what they say are government privatisation policies that are making them vulnerable to market volatility. Protesters [demanded] government subsidies for agricultural commodities and reduced fuel prices” (Al Jazeera).

During the week of the agrarian paro in Bogotá, Pablo Martínez, vocalist for 70s nuyorican-style salsa band La 33, gathered with some friends to reflect on the situation and on their roles as artists. In solidarity with the demonstrators, they decided to record a version of the campesino protest songCampesino Embejucao (see below) and convert it to have the chorus “Papa con Yuca” to reflect a tagline from the current struggle. Encouraging submissions from artists across disciplines in Bogotá’s independent music scene, the idea resulted in a multi-disciplinary collaborative project gathering together more than 60 musicians both in-person and outside of the country to “create an original song as our form of pacifist resistance,” as described by Pablo.