Viet-Nam

Annotation

Contemporary folk protest group formed in Mexico in 1968, led by Ismael "Mailo" Colmenares, during the "1968 movement in Mexico", which sought greater political and civil liberties, and less inequality in Mexico. This album featured the song "Viet-Nam" (Nueva Voz Latino Americana # LP-JS-16). The back of the record said: "Since 1968 Los Nakos has performed in factories, squares, colonies and schools throughout the Mexican Republic. It has also attended Latin American music festivals in Central America, Venzula, the United States and Europe. In Germany, Los Nakos received first place in political music for their song Vietnam". Spanish: "Desde 1968 Los Nakos se hon presento en fabricos, plazas, colonias y escuelos de tado la Republic Mexicano tambien hon asistide a festivales de musica latinamerica en Centro America, Venzula, Estados Unidos y Europa. En Alemania Los Nakos recibleron el primer lugar en musica politca por su cancion Vietnam". This song took a strong anti-war perspective, referring to the US as "oppressive yankee" and the war as the "colonisation of the invading empire". Also note the reference to the "napalm bombs, fire and destruction" - chemical weapon Napalm B was a jellied gasoline mixture, with polystyrene, benzene, and gasoline. Declared a war-crime since 1980, the US government extensively used this weapon during the Vietnam conflict, dropping 388,000 tons on Indochina between 1963 and 1973.123Sources1Napalm: An American Biography (Robert M. Neer, 2013)↩2Times Higher Education: Napalm an american biography by robert m neer↩3Napalm, An American Biography (book website)↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — Latin & Central American, & Caribbean Music

Contemporary folk protest group formed in Mexico in 1968, led by Ismael "Mailo" Colmenares, during the "1968 movement in Mexico", which sought greater political and civil liberties, and less inequality in Mexico. This album featured the song "Viet-Nam" (Nueva Voz Latino Americana # LP-JS-16). The back of the record said: "Since 1968 Los Nakos has performed in factories, squares, colonies and schools throughout the Mexican Republic. It has also attended Latin American music festivals in Central America, Venzula, the United States and Europe. In Germany, Los Nakos received first place in political music for their song Vietnam". Spanish: "Desde 1968 Los Nakos se hon presento en fabricos, plazas, colonias y escuelos de tado la Republic Mexicano tambien hon asistide a festivales de musica latinamerica en Centro America, Venzula, Estados Unidos y Europa. En Alemania Los Nakos recibleron el primer lugar en musica politca por su cancion Vietnam". This song took a strong anti-war perspective, referring to the US as "oppressive yankee" and the war as the "colonisation of the invading empire". Also note the reference to the "napalm bombs, fire and destruction" - chemical weapon Napalm B was a jellied gasoline mixture, with polystyrene, benzene, and gasoline. Declared a war-crime since 1980, the US government extensively used this weapon during the Vietnam conflict, dropping 388,000 tons on Indochina between 1963 and 1973.123 Sources1Napalm: An American Biography (Robert M. Neer, 2013)↩2Times Higher Education: Napalm an american biography by robert m neer↩3Napalm, An American Biography (book website)↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam / Men are born from the furrows that lit a light from rice and shrapnel / Him and her comrades, from the jungle a song arises / What does shaking do to the earth / Attention to the invader! / This town does not surrender! / Attention to the invader! / This town does not surrender! / Napalm bombs / Fire and destruction / Colonisation of the invading empire / Of the oppressive Yankee / Napalm bombs / Fire and destruction / Colonisation of the invading empire / Of the oppressive Yankee of the oppressor / Yakee, the flame that warms the Vietnamese will / Not go out / The peace that I reach in history will not end / The example of your people for the liberation of the world will remain, Vietnam...

About the artist

Los Nakos were a Mexican protest and satirical folk group formed out of the 1968 Mexican student movement, whose members over the years included Ismael 'Maylo' Colmenares on guitar and vocals, the singer Mayra Cebreros, Jorge Silva on percussion and Francisco Barrios 'El Mastuerzo'. They specialised in political parody - their 'La balada del granadero' reworked José Guardiola's 'La balada del vagabundo' against the riot police - and recorded from their self-titled 1976 debut through 'La Lengua' (1980) and 'Va Por Chiapas' (1998). "Viet-Nam" belongs to this body of politically engaged…

In collections

Latin & Central American, & Caribbean Music · Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]