Last Sunday, I experienced an emotional rollercoaster thanks to seeing the Venezuelan ska band: Public Disorder live. It’s my favorite band. It evokes wonderful memories for me, as it’s a group I grew up with since childhood.
I was born in the “valley of bullets”, and I’ve never stopped following them.
My first concert, I was about 12 years old and I got to see them at Christmas festivals where they mixed Venezuelan gaita groups (it’s a type of Christmas music, with groups like: Guaco, Maracaibo 15, etc.) with this delicious “Venezuelan ska” that never leaves anyone indifferent.
My first cassettes were theirs, and at that time, the usual way to listen to your favorite groups was to wait for them to come on the radio and record them to listen to them anytime.
Ska, a musical genre born in Jamaica, has grown and evolved beyond its borders and in Latin America, it found a cradle that gave it style and character.
DP has been an original proposal that gets anyone dancing.
With intelligent, poetic lyrics (“Simon Guacamayo”), without forgetting the irony, humor, and social criticism of the reality of their environment.
I must have seen them live more than 15 times, when they celebrated their 18th anniversary at the emblematic Teresa Carreño theater, which generated an album, I was there. Today, May 2025, celebrating their 40th anniversary tour, I had the honor and privilege of being at the first concert of the tour in Santiago de Compostela.
For me, borders have always been imaginary. I never paid attention to nationalities or flags.
I believe, as the Mago de Oz song says:
“You are not a tree, that’s why you have two feet, the wisest man is the one who knows that his home is as big as he can imagine”.
I’ve been an immigrant in Galicia for 17 years from Venezuela, and although from a Galician family, it’s normal that I think about my origins with some nostalgia for what it was.
But in all these years, it’s the first time I felt nostalgia for my country of birth thanks to the emotions experienced in this concert.
The repertoire was impressive, as they took us through the entire artistic career of the group, from their origins and first songs, their evolution, the most current titles, to closing the circle with “paralytic politicians”, one of their first hits and the first song composed by Horacio Blanco.
As a teenager, I was excited by “bad breath”, “slippery shoes”, and danced non-stop to “this is ska”.
“Where is the future?”, seemed to me much more than a song. It was an anthem of my childhood that introduced me to a type of ska that was very much our own and close to our reality.
The “Dance of the skeletons” for me, has more philosophy than many sacred books. It’s a cry against intolerance, racism. An ode to life in which I have always seen myself reflected when I felt sad. Music has an incredible healing power.
The skeletons dance
They dance through the ages
Without jewels or arrogance, without etiquette rules
Without vanity, without pride or modesty
(…)
The skeletons don’t go to temples
They discovered that there’s never a good reason
for hate and humiliation
They discovered that love sees no color
It’s a shame that at that time we didn’t have Spotify’s wrapped, but without a doubt the album “Popular Song of Life and Death” I must have played millions of times, accompanying and cheering almost all moments of my life (even today).
Some curious details about my history with DP:
- I have the first album autographed (by Danel, Caplís and Horacio, I missed Oscarello)
- When Horacio defended his thesis at the communication faculty, which was next to Anthropology, at UCV, I saw him and ran with a friend (Ramsey Salazar) (like a lovestruck “fan”) to ask for an autograph. Today, as an adult, I see it wasn’t the best moment. I hope he can forgive me for that indiscretion ¯ (ツ)_/¯
- Every time I went to Choroní, a coastal area very special for its geographical isolation, and home to many of my childhood memories, I used to listen to “Tiembla”
- I have ALL the group’s albums. Some in duplicate, like Diablo, because they released it in a promotional version with a telecommunications company and I wanted to have both versions
- An ex-partner (Tanny Salinas) and her group of journalism students from the Catholic University did some interviews with the group on a program dedicated to Caplís.
- I posed as a lighting assistant to be with them and offered to pick up Caplís from his house and take him to the interview.
- That car journey (long if you know Caracas traffic) was one of the best conversations about music I’ve ever had. Caplís is a music encyclopedia and introduced me to my second favorite ska band, but this time from Japan: “Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra” (there’s not a week I don’t listen to them).
- My sister (Kasbrika) and my brother-in-law Jon, gave me in 2012, the book: “Desorden Público, buscando algo en el Caribe” by María Isabel Cerón. Autographed by all the members at that time. A gift I received with much affection.
- Danel had another musical project: Papa Shanty (now disbanded) whose most famous song: “Música de paz”, I think is Buddhist philosophy. It’s a wonderful poetry of principles, human and spiritual values.
Thanks to Horacio Blanco, Jose Luis “Caplís” Chacín, Danel Sarmiento and Óscar “Oscarello” Alcaíno. Your work will always be an inspiration.
It’s incredible the effort and resistance for 40 years of doing what motivated you, evolving, but without changing your essence, spirit of rebellion, joy for music and life. ❤️
I hope the “combat” lasts many more years for you, and to have the luck of finding you anywhere in the world with your wonderful “disorder”. Long life and prosperity!
I leave some photos of the event in this gallery and thank my wife Alba Núñez for accompanying me to the concert. She knew absolutely nothing about the group and ended up dancing ska. 🙂
I say goodbye with a fragment of the lyrics of a beautiful song by Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra: “All good Ska is one”:
We can do it now
Meet the world with an embracing heart
Nothing can ever stand in your way
We can all unite like all good ska music
NOTES
- If you want to know more about the group and its history, I really liked the conversation they had with Professor Briceño (broadcaster and humorist) for this celebration of their 40 years.
- Good article —review by Xabier Sanmartín in El Correo Gallego about the concert, with good photos and with the dates of upcoming events.
