Revisit to resignify or, tiquitiquiti.
In Chile, in the midst of a pandemic crisis that left, in official figures, 62,893 deaths and more than a million broken hearts, one room left the light on. There, song by song, like a puzzle, the second solo album of Rodrigo Romero: Underground Antiques. Five years after its publication, the musician and composer revisited the songs that were his loneliness and reconstructed them to be his accompaniment, now with Phuyu and the Ghost.
An anticueca is antieverything
The origin of the album Underground Antiques (Reconstructed) It is, as its name indicates, the anticueca. This is a concept created by the folklorist Violeta Parrathe most transcendent, subversive and legendary Chilean musical artist that exists. When Violeta Parra He toured Chile looking for its stories and sounds, told the stories of the countryside and deconstructed the traditional Chilean cueca to create experimental pieces on the guitar with melodies that had no classical order and that were as free as his own soul.
The music of Violeta Parra It has been the school of probably every Chilean musician after her. This, at least, is the case of Phuyu and the Ghostwho, with all the respect, appreciation and affection in the world, even added his own version of “The Sparrowhawk” as a song almost 13 minutes long. Against all imperialism, against all strict formula, the album is anti-established order.
The power to intervene
Sometimes we forget that intervening is one of the most powerful tools we have as humans. Intervening, for better or worse, affects the environment where we are located. A graffitied white wall: intervention. An injustice happening before us and a protest against it: intervention. An artistic work reinterpreted for its new context: intervention. When we intervene, we move attention, we exert pressure, we interrupt the course of something to change its destiny. Intervening is so powerful. Who hasn’t saved a friend by intervening in time. Who has not needed intervention without inhibiting the freedom of their decisions.
It’s not that Underground Antiques needed to be redone, nothing was wrong with the 2021 release; perhaps only one intervention was needed, just as in another five or ten years it could happen, or, as he explains Rodrigo Romero: “Here is the best version of these songs that were born from the loneliness of the pandemic and that grew along with the project itself throughout these years.”
Of formats, shapes and closures
It is exciting that this album, reconstructed not only musically, but also on the cover, has a physical format for sale. This 2026 it will be available on CD and, according to information, next year it will have a vinyl edition that we are looking forward to.
At this point and with everything we have heard about Chilean music in recent years, we can say that there is an undeniable sound tradition to exploit in each creation. It is no coincidence: Chile is under the extreme right and Chile is screaming; If there are those who do not hear it, it is because their ears are blocked. If there is someone who does not see it, they are blindfolded. Chile is screaming with guitars, with voice, with drums. Chile is shaking everything up and Phuyu and the Ghost They are part of the collective tremor that is advancing with force and that soon, very soon, will come for you.
