This week, my chosen song is Hasta la Raíz, created and released on August 30, 2020, by the YouTube channel Playing for Change. This song, whose title translates to English as Down to Your Roots, was initially written and performed by Mexican recording artist Natalia Lafourcade for her 2015 album that goes by the same name. The heartfelt song sings the importance of remembering your roots, which include your family, friends, home, experiences, and love. However, in the video, the song conveys additional meanings alongside these messages, which are clearly expressed to the audience during the film’s intro. This intro informs watchers about the Day of the Disappeared, which is a holiday celebrated throughout South America and Mexico in honor of the forced disappearances of thousands of individuals due to many damaging factors, including war, drug trafficking, and other violence. The holiday was established in 2010 by the UN and has since been celebrated each year on August 30 as a day to remember the ones who were lost and the despair their families experience. However, the day also serves to bring hope that these heartbreaking disappearances will come to an end and that each missing person will soon return to the love, comfort, and safety of their families.

When listening to the music in the video, the audience experiences the solemn emotions of this holiday as the instrumentation, which consists of varying chordophones, rattles, drums, and a harmonica, plays alongside heartfelt vocals at a slow, relaxed tempo that conveys the reflection and remembrance that occurs on the Day of the Disappeared. However, the feelings of love and yearning for reunion are also reflected in the song through lyrics stating, “One evening as I climbed a high hill and pondered the past, you’ll know that I haven’t forgotten you.”

I chose this song this week because the message it conveys in the video needs to be heard and seen. Thousands of people have vanished throughout South America and Mexico, and, therefore, thousands of families have suffered, broken by the fact that they don’t know where their loved ones have gone. This YouTube channel knows that, although people may not be able to make a direct influence from where they watch the video, sharing the names and faces of those who have disappeared and their families, which preludes the playing of heartfelt music, causes hope to spread across the globe and promotes the creation of a stronger voice for, as the channels name suggests, change. Because of the heartbreaking stories that led to this video’s creation and its breathtaking and unifying music, I wanted to select this composition to share with the class this week. 

*If anyone wants to see this video’s impact on people across South America and Mexico who have experienced these losses in their lives, look at the comment section. Many of them are heartbreaking, but they are so sweet and full of hope. I would highly recommend looking at a couple.