Breaking the Silence (Romper el Silencio) Podcast Series

"In Columbia, amidst a history of conflict of more than 60 years, the stories of war and struggle have permeated the beat of the drums, the strings of the harps, the blowing of the flutes and have inspired the voices of young and old."

This podcast series is part of the Breaking the Silence (Romper el Silencio) project, a multimedia edutainment initiative in Columbia that sought to encourage conversations about the armed conflict that had gripped Columbia for 60 years and, following the signing of a peace agreement, to ensure the acceptance of the peace agreement, as well as national reconciliation.

Throughout the 7-episode podcast, issues of the armed conflict in Colombia are addressed through the music that has emerged in different communities as forms of resistance and memory. Voices from different territories in Columbia affected by the conflict are woven together, allowing audiences to understand the potential of music as a vehicle to show the realities of the territories and to open spaces for dialogue around conflict and peace. They share the stories of people who have resorted to music to collect the memory of their people, to teach people to trust, to claim dignity, and to break the silence.

The stories highlighted in the podcasts are as follows (hyperlinked titles will take you to the podcast recordings in Spanish):

• Chapter 1: Rhythms of Resistance, Music and Armed Conflict - This introductory podcast provides an overview of the podcast series and briefly introduces each of the characters and their stories. Click here for a full description in Spanish.
• Chapter 2: The New Age of Rap - The story of The New Saga, a rap group from Quibdó, tells of forced recruitment into criminal gangs as one of the many manifestations of the social violence against young people in Columbia, which led to the death of four of its members. It also introduces the efforts of people like Stiwar Palacios, with his initiative called Conscious Minds, which works to free young people from the conflict. Click here for a full description in Spanish.
• Chapter 3: Bullenrap, Resistance and Freedom - "If the paramilitary occupation broke social ties by silencing the drums, then rapping bullerengue is the tool to regain confidence and rebuild the social fabric". This episode tells the story of Bullenrap in Libertad, a community in San Onofre, Sucre, where a group of young rappers manage to rebuild the social fabric destroyed during the paramilitary occupation that had controlled the daily life of the town, including its music. Click here for a full description in Spanish.
• Chapter 4: The Verses that Travel the Plain - Through her music, Elda tells the story of struggle and resistance that she inherited from her father Pedro Flórez, a survivor of the Llano guerrillas led by Guadalupe Salcedo. Click here for a full description in Spanish.
• Chapter 5: Where Are They? - With their songs, poems, and marches, the leaders of the Association of Women Mothers Heads of Household and Victims of the Armed Conflict talk about the disappearances of their sons and relatives in Aguachica. Click here for a full description in Spanish.
• Chapter 6: Sound Antimilitarism - This podcast is about Sound Antimilitarism, a festival that was established as an act of youth resistance against the violence - including robberies, murders, massacres, and disappearances - experienced in the city of Medellin. It explores the urban movement and punk subculture that resisted being recruited into the armed forces and that became known as antimilitarism. Click here for a full description in Spanish.
• Chapter 7: The Copla Cocalera - Through the life story of the peasant and composer Abimelec Torres, audiences can start to understand one of the leading issues of the armed conflict in Colombia: the colonisation by guerrillas of the mountains and the cultivation of coca crops for the production of cocaine. Click here for a full description in Spanish.