Manuela Carrasco
by Antonio Mejías-Rentas
TO PLAY OR NOT TO PLAY: A veteran Latino act is joining an artistic boycott of Arizona over the passage of SB1070 while another is criticizing the strategy and keeping announced dates in the state.
Roots-rock band Los Lobos announced it was cancelling a June
10 concert at The Talking Stick Resort of the Salt River Pima Maricopa
Indian Community, in Scottsdale. “We support the boycott of Arizona,” the group said in a statement. “The new law will inevitably lead to unfair racial profiling and possible abuse of people who just happen to look Latino. As a result, in good conscience, we could not see ourselves performing in Arizona.
”With the cancellation, Los Lobos joins a growing list of artists that include such high-profile names as Juanes, Calle 13 and Los Tigres del Norte, who refuse to perform in Arizona because of the law that goes into effect in July. SB1070 will require local police to check on immigration status when they stop an individual they suspect to be in the country ilegally.
But another veteran rocker, Spanish singer Enrique Bunbury, believes that a better way to defeat the new Arizona law is to speak out against it on the state’s stages. Bunbury recently told the Associated Press that he expects to keep dates this summer in Phoenix and Tucson, as part of his current U.S. tour.
“I think it’s a mistake… the boycott is giving in to them,” he saidin a Spanish-language interview.
A younger artist who shares his view is hip-hop singer Mexia, whoalso told AP, “I’m against the state but not its people.
”This week Mexia is releasing the single Todos somos Arizona, in which he raps his sentiments on the danger of SB1070, a tune he expects to perform in Arizona. Ironically, he is the son of of Hernán Hernández, the vocalist of Los Tigres del Norte. WITHDRAWN: Mexican director Guillermo del Toro says he can no longer stay committed to the film version of The Hobbit, which he was set to direct.
Del Toro announced he was withdrawing from the project, which is being produced in New Zealand by Peter Jackson, because of the delays caused by financial issues at MGM, one of two Hollywood studios involved in the film adaptation of the Tolkien novel.
The director of Cronos and El laberinto del diablo has spent the last year in New Zealand preparing for the shoot and working on the film’s script. with Jackson, who may take on the directing job. The Hobbitt is expected to be released in 2012 and Del Toro has said the film will recquire some 300 days of shooting over the next two summer seasons in New Zealand.ONE LINERS: Sur les traces, a 1945 cubist painting by Wifredo Lam, sold for $1.4 million at auction last month, setting a new record for the late Cuban artist… Protesting the visit of Peruvian president Alan García, actress Q’orianka Kilcher was arrested for tying herself to a White House fence last week…Univisión issued an apology over a South Africa soccer skit performed by the hosts of its morning show Despierta América, in which they donned large wigs and used spears while dancing to “jungle” music. African-American activists in Los Angeles protested the demeaning stereotypes… Hispanic Link.
