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You are here: Home / Archives for New Song

Albuquerque Musician inspires awareness with her new song

July 31, 2020 by Nichole Harwood

By Nichole Harwood 

In her black and white music video, local Albuquerque musician Zandi Ashley Cabiltes leans over her guitar, her eyes lowered as she begins singing in rhythm to her strumming. Her song “The Country’s Burning (Can You Hear Us Now)” was inspired by her desire to make a positive stand against racial discrimination. 

Cabiltes was spurred to write her song in response to the riots that took place after the wave of protests swept the nation following the murder of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 

Despite being miles away from the incident in Albuquerque, Cabiltes said she still remembers singing the chorus of the song in her car over and over again, moved by everything that was happening across the nation.

 “It’s crazy to see how much racial discrimination still exists, honestly, it opened my eyes as well and all I wanted to do then was learn more about what I could do, as well as stand together with our black community,” Cabiltes said. 

Cabiltes’s chorus pleads to her listeners to view recent events through a different lens outlining both the protest and the following riots. 

“Oh, the country’s burning can you hear us now? 

We tried the peaceful protest but it wasn’t loud. 

How many black lives does it take, 

to prove there’s still hate?” 

(“The Country’s Burning (Can You Hear Us Now)” by  Zandi Ashley Cabiltes)

https://abq-live.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/ABQ-musician.mp4

Cabiltes said she is the type of individual who sees a person for who they are, but that she had to admit to her own ignorance in regards to how powerful racism remains in the modern-day. 

“It was eye-opening to me that racist jerks still exist,” Cabiltes said. “When I first heard of George Floyd’s murder, it was just heartbreaking. I definitely consider myself an empath and so that was very upsetting, as it was for others.” 

Cabiltes said she watched as Floyd’s death sparked a desire for change and reform, not only towards police protocol but within society’s shift and outlook towards African-Americans. 

“Then the protests happened,” Cabiltes said. “The peaceful ones, the riots… There was such a chaotic energy, and I felt it. All I really wanted to do was give the world a hug because so much was happening. There was so much fire in me, being inspired by protests, the togetherness of everyone standing together; my heartbreaking at the same time, seeing how as a nation, there still existed this disgusting type of hate.” 

Picture taken in Albuquerque by Armando Orona

Local Albuquerque musician Zandi Ashley Cabiltes hopes to see a future where people look past skin color: Picture by Armando Orona

Cabiltes saw the riots as the inevitable outcome of peaceful protests being ignored. She emphasized that, while non-violent protests are great, she finds it infuriating seeing the black community practically screaming in a peaceful manner without an answer. This, Cabiltes said, began with Kaepernick taking a knee in 2016, followed by the L.A. Lakers wearing “I Can’t Breathe” shirts after the death of Eric Garner in 2014. Despite the mass circulation of these messages, among others, the black community still wasn’t, and perhaps still isn’t, being heard. 

“It had to get crazy to make the news,” Cabiltes said. “When people are silenced for so long, people will do what they need to in order to be heard. Martin Luther King Jr. did well with his peaceful protests, however, Malcolm X was on the other side of the spectrum. In my opinion, the rioters were somewhat a catalyst to spark the change our society needs.” 

Each day, Cabiltes said, she continues to learn about the racial discrimination that exists within her community. She stays in tune to the voices of Black Lives Matters in her community by following the Instagram account @BlackVoicesABQ, which posts events in regards to the Black Community in Albuquerque, as well as when upcoming protests are. 

“Honestly, the type of change I’d like to see, just in general, is for people to truly look past skin color and to value others based on who they are. Some other things I’m doing personally is I joined a book club and we’re reading the book, ‘White Fragility.’ I think it’s so important to keep educating ourselves on social issues that we have the ability to change. To stand together as a community and support each other through it,” Cabiltes said. 

Until the day that discrimination becomes a thing of the past, Cabiltes said she and other musicians will continue to communicate the message that America needs to change their societal views regarding racial discrimination. 

As a musician, she sees this as essential as artists have forever been the ones to use their platforms to advocate for the issues society needs to address. As a young musician and citizen of Albuquerque, Cabiltes advises everyone, regardless of age, to educate themselves. 

“It’s one thing to be ignorant, but that is always changeable,” Cabiltes said. “Do your research! Donate, help out, protest. Stand with your fellow human race. And, never ever be afraid to stand your ground and use your voice.”

 

For more on her music, you can follow Zandi Ashley Cabiltes on social media at:

@zandi.ashley on Instagram

and

Zandi Ashley on Spotify

 

Filed Under: Around the web, Art, Featured, Magazine, Music Tagged With: ABQ Music, Albuquerque, art, artist, black live matter, music, new article, New Mexico, New Song, Zandi Ashley Cabiltes

Griff Lamar: Return to Music

July 23, 2019 by Nichole Harwood

By Chris Castellanos

In a genre of music that celebrates the constant flexing of sex, cars, money, and drugs, one artist, Griff Lamar, decided to take a step back before diving into the alluring shimmer of the professional hip-hop scene. Back in 2012, thousands of people knew Lamar when his song “Super Swag” played on BET’s “106 & Park.” Finding himself in a spotlight, which he had been so eager to grasp, Lamar wasn’t satisfied. For Lamar, there were voices where there weren’t any before, questioning his actions: What does my music mean? What am I saying? Will I be proud of what I have done with my voice? Lamar took a hiatus promising himself that if he ever was going to come back to hip-hop, it was going to be with something to say from the heart.

Fast forward to the start of 2019, Griff Lamar was featured by KRQE for his remake of Michael Jackson’s Thriller, staged at the KiMO Theatre. ABQ-Live had a chance to sit down with Griff Lamar and discuss how he plans to move forward in his return. 

Q&A

Can you tell us about yourself?

Griff Lamar, Air Force Veteran, college graduate, father. That should have been first honestly (laughs). Jack of all trades, I film my videos, I edit my videos. I write music, I have a very particular way of doing things that help me to accomplish what I want. I have a lot of ambition and it’s always been there. I am a person who makes it happen, if I want it I get it, nothing is going to stop me.” 

Can you tell us a little about your song “Super Swag”?

I was going to UNM during that time. To be honest, it was something to do. I had just gotten out of the military. Because of the military, I had the benefit of going to college. I was more focused on the music. With the success of “Super Swag”, I gained a lot of confidence — it was like I knew this is the route.

To be constantly working is something that seems embedded in our culture, especially for a creator. While on your break, did you feel a lot of pressure to get back to creating music, or were you content in your hiatus?

I have to tell you why I stepped away first: I was conflicted about the message I was giving. I was on that whole wave of doing what everyone else was doing. Being young in your 20’s living that life, going out, partying, drinking, smoking, all of the above. –it was conflicting for me because I may have been living that lifestyle, but it wasn’t something I was necessarily proud of. I had a daughter at the time and as she got older, I started to realize: What am I instilling in her? What am I going to tell her as far as what she should and shouldn’t do? She can look back on me and literally look me up on YouTube. That was a big part of it. I wanted to keep my morals whether or not I saw that quick success. 

I had thousands of views on YouTube, but I deleted them because I wasn’t proud of them. I didn’t know what I was going to talk about, but I knew that I didn’t want to talk about that lifestyle anymore. I didn’t want “Super Swag” to be my whole image and that’s it. There is so much more depth to me not only as an artist, but as a person and I didn’t feel that I had the opportunity or platform to really show that. I wanted to please everyone or not please but I wanted the approval. All [of] that made me want to step back. I want to make sure that I look back at what I did and be proud of it, even if they [fans] don’t like it.

In your new songs. “Energy” and “Talk About It,” the idea of a complex past keeps coming up. Can you explain why that is? 

Even during the “Super Swag” era, there were plenty of songs that were more emotional, that came from my heart that had to do with my personal experiences with relationships, but those didn’t get as much attention as “Super Swag.” I wrote “Talk About It” during the “Super Swag” era, and there were other songs that I planned to release. “Talk About It” was a song I never really got behind because it was also during a time when I was wondering if I wanted to keep doing this. 

Hip-hop and rap started out almost therapeutically to tell the stories of those who seemingly had no voice. How do you explain the shift from real-life struggles to a more materialistic brag? 

It’s always been a part of it, even back in the early ’90s and it was so easy to get swept up into it. It’s not like I was lying. I had girls, I had money, I had friends and that whole lifestyle– it was just an aspect of my life I never wanted growing up. I know I wanted to create, I wanted to be appreciated for my talents. That whole lifestyle was a product of my environment. All of us are kind of caught up in this space where we pretend like it is the best thing to live that way, but the reality is that we are using this to cope with our issues — that’s what I was doing. I’m not going to shun people for doing that, because I know, I lived it. I know how easy it is to get sucked into that. I just can’t glorify that kind of lifestyle anymore.

Are there any influences in the music or crazy music video ideas from your experience in the Air Force? 

The Air Force introduced me to some really close friends. You meet people from all over and y’all bond up, you’re tight and then go our own ways. I’ve had some of my best friendship experiences in the Air Force because I lived everywhere growing up. This was the first time I got a chance to get familiar with the area. If you asked me where Central and Wyoming are, I could tell you — that was one of the best aspects of the military — a bunch of people in an unfamiliar area and we grew to know it as well as each other. As far as writing music, not right now. As I delve deeper to tell my story, I’m sure it’ll come up. 

Authenticity is another running theme in your music Can you talk about why that is important to you? 

I experienced this rare thing where everyone was my friend and no one was at the same time. I didn’t have anyone checking on me or asking how I was doing I had people asking if I wanted to go party or if I knew where the party was. No one cared about asking about me. They wanted to tell me about their cousin who raps, their brothers, sisters, uncles, their mom. They wanted to tell me about all these people who hated me and then I would see these people in person and they would make a beeline for me, shake my hand, pat me on the back and tell me I’m doing a great job. I didn’t know how to feel about it. I think everyone wanted to be cool with me because they didn’t know how far I was going to go. They would say how they really felt with friends, but in public show open support to me and it was confusing. I honestly had more respect to the people [who] stood by what they said about not liking me or my music.

The way I was raised, you communicate your differences. Communication was the way you bridge the gap between personalities and differences. It comes up in the music because it’s a reality. I’m not going to pretend I don’t have my issues, because I do, just like everyone else, but I am self-aware. I don’t get in my own way and if I do, I have people around me who are going to help me. 

What are your plans for the future?

I definitely wanted to shoot a music video for “Energy,” [so] I’m putting things together for that. I have a couple of other songs that have already been released that I am not actively pushing for I also plan to do videos for. I am starting a clothing line, and I designed my own logo. I am really trying to dig my hands into every aspect of this. I’m going to hit the ground running, go places. If you like good music, good art, I’m your guy. More than anything good work that I’m proud of. 

Griff Lamar’s new music can be found on Spotify, Apple Music, SoundCloud, and YouTube.  


     

Filed Under: Art, Featured, Magazine, Music Tagged With: Abq, abq live, ABQ Music, abq-live the magazine, Albuquerque, Griff Lamar, music, music video, New Mexico, New Song

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