Paula González - La Bomba
Hi. What's up everybody? My name is La Bomba. I came into this Festival. Really at the end of the day it was really through OCAD.
I'm a multidisciplinary artist. I do Graffiti, I'm a Bass Player, I'm an MC, I'm a videographer, I've done documentaries on Urban
Culture in Latin America. I'm also a Youth worker.
Basically how I was involved with this Festival it's through the Latin American Student Association that was born at OCAD.
Many years later I was contacted by people that had been in the Student's Association that had a collective that was actively
putting this Festival. This is my fourth year in a row participating now. It's a Multidisciplinary Festival that really covers
a lot of genres that a lot a people wouldn't really assimilate with Latin America. You can see Pop Music, Funk, Hip Hop, Reggae,
you can see the whole African Diaspora through our cultures in the urban centers carried out by the types of music that we are
doing. At the end of the day this is quite a form for all the multiplicity that you see.
A lot of people say: "Latinos - Salsa". You know what, we got 33 different nations in Latin America alone. Each one has its own
regional culture. It'?s not uncommon to walk through the streets let's say, my home town is in Talca, Chile, 4 hours south of
Santiago and we are walking through the market and you are going to hear Cumbia, Flamenco music, Rock, Heavy Metal, Reggaeton,
Salsa, Tango. We in Latin America, we grew up with what is called here Multiculturalism. This Festival
demonstrates we are not the standard, stereotypical image of what Latinos are all about.
'?s coming through the media is really coming through the States. Toronto is a place where many people
are new comers, and if not new comers we are second generation. What we are bringing to this festival is very fresh, very
contemporary.
I started to do music in Toronto as far as I know 87-88. The first group, "Chicken Milk", was composed of 3 girls playing
together. Then it came another band that I formed which was called "Smeared", which was a Punk band, that toured through the
east coast. That was a great introduction into the music scene.
Then I was in another band which was called "Women and Rantings" for seven years in total. It was an all female Reggae Band.
All the members of the band where from Jamaica, except a couple of them who were from Nigeria, Guyana and myself from Chile.
I've always played the bass.
Later I went into perform with a group called "Papichulos". It was the first all Latin urban music crew in the history of
Canada. We've been in a lot of Latino Festivals. That was more into the mainstream of Latin Culture. Before I've been doing more of
independent stuff, very well attended, but not necessary inside the Latino community.
I've done a lot of travel in between. I travelled to Cuba, Jamaica. Later I moved onto my own crew, that you will see at the
Festival, which is called "Amazonica Sound Forc". When I put the band together it was to show the Diaspora of latinos, moving
out from the stereotype about what is Miami, what is New York, what is California, but what is happening here in Toronto, and
also what is really happening in South America. I'm from South America, that's a continent width of a difference culturally
speaking from the Caribbean, or Central American, even in South America there are many musical genres. My idea was to put
this band and fuse through this Hip Hop beat. The idea is to keep it fresh, inviting young poets, young MCs, young singers,
young dancers, mixing it up with older musicians that have that tradition, old school veterans. I play bass.
The idea was to create a crew, that electricity or not electricity we are still going to make music for the people.The other thing
that I want to promote is the fusion and understanding that Latin America comes in many shapes as in colours and that is what we
are. Our experience is collectively drawn to one of the biggest rivers of Latin America which is the Río Amazónico, the Amazon
River which is a factor of life for many of our countries.
Come on to the Festival. I'll roll deep. We are 25 to 30 people on stage. It's not a small show, It's a big show. You got dancers,
MCs and all that kind of stuff. That's what it is.
In terms of my social work I work as a Youth Programmer at the Syme Woolner Neighbourhood and Family Center, located at Keele
and Eglington. Lots of Programs that are run there on top of Youth advocacy, we do art based programming, we documentary
production and all that kind of stuff. The demographics covered are Afro-Caribbean and Latino. That's work that I've been doing
for around 15 to 20 years, travelling back and forth.
And the last component I'd like to talk about is documentary film work is really linked to OCAD, which is why I went to school,
to do documentaries about Culture in Latin America.
My last discipline is Graffiti Artist. I will present a book at the end of October 2009 called "Toronto Graffiti" which covers all the
Graffiti writers until 1988. The Graffiti Art came from the Culture Resistance in Chile, Mural Artists that were in Chile at the
time of the military dictatorship. I adopted the rebel style that speak for the people and adapted it to New York style, just to
put a name. That's given me a real sense way into our culture. Because that kind of thing you cannot fake them and you cannot buy them. You have to live them and you have to do it and it's all about your skills.
When you come to this Festival you are going to see people that show the best of their skills. And that?s what it is.