The social conscience of Calle 13 continues apace. Here’s the scoop on their latest collaboration:
The Puerto Rican urban music group Calle 13 presented its latest video clip on Thursday, in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), denouncing the damage done by weapons and violence all over the world.
“This is a very important topic, close to my heart, because we’re in a state of emergency in many countries where there is violence in general,” said singer René Pérez Joglar, alias “El Residente”, in a press conference.
Directed by Simón Brand of Colombia, in collaboration with other directors from various lands, the videoclip for the song, “La Bala” (The Bullet), covers places such as France, Holland, Spain, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the United States to address the impact of violence on a person.
“I wanted to give a personality to the bullet and, in doing so, you can see how people can understand the damage it does,” said the artist, who assured that he wants to avoid clichés and not show blood so that people keep their eyes on what is the impact of a bullet.
This is the second time in which Calle 13, consisting of Pérez and his stepbrother Eduardo Cabra, “El Visitante”, has collaborated with UNICEF. A year ago, they took part in a campaign against human trafficking and exploitation.
“Collaborating with the group has helped us to reach young people with very important messages in a way that is close to them,” said UNICEF’s Latin America representative, Tamar Hahn.
“‘La Bala’ greatly reinforces what we are doing and gives us an incredible platform for reaching the young, because sometimes the way UNICEF expresses itself isn’t the best way to get the message out to young people,” Hahn added, referring to violence in Latin America as an “epidemic situation”.
Hahn said that education is fundamental for avoiding this problem, a point with which Pérez agrees.
“It’s the principal factor, the low priority our governments place on education is a huge factor and the reason for which we’re living in violence,” said the rapper, who is convinced that more education will discourage the use of weapons.
Calle 13 will be appearing December 1 in a solo performance in Mexico, at the Palacio de los Deportes in the capital.
Translation mine.
Sorry I couldn’t find the video mentioned in this piece; in the meantime, enjoy the video above, which supplies a handy English translation of the awesome lyrics. Will post the video described in the news item as soon as I can find it.