Episode 2: German Villegas – Chile

Migration Patterns Episode 2 - German - Chile

In the 2nd episode of Migration Patterns, I sit down with local podcaster German Villegas of the Modern Manhood podcast. German moved to Edmonton when he was seven years old but he’s recently been feeling a shift in his identity and the need to reconnect and rediscover his Chilean roots.

In this interview, German describes the exploding artistic scene in Chile, rediscovering his cultural identity, and how he’s bringing attention men’s mental health and modern shifts in manhood. I love his podcast and highly recommend you check out one of his interviews after this episode.

German’s Picks

From the man, himself…

Fan made video of the student protests in 2011 which dealt with the privatization of Universitie- Fan made video of the student protests in 2011 which dealt with the privatizatis. But also was a view of the inequalities going on in Chile, you can read about it here. But the video showed these images, accompanied by the song “Shock” by Chilean rapper Ana Tijoux. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNVTavPEupk
Ana Tijoux also made a song called “Anti-Patriarchy” which is a great combination of modern rap, typical Andean wind instruments into a great song about feminism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoKoj8bFg2E

But personally, my heart is tied to this song by Chilean artist Camila Moreno (who my fiancee loves without knowing a lick of Spanish) covering a classic Chilean song “Los Momentos” (which is my dad’s favorite song) to make it sound very Radiohead-esque (who is my favorite band).

I think anyone who is Chilean and beyond should listen to Camila Moreno, she is one of the best and a true representation of where Chilean music is going.

In general, for anything cool going in Spanish or Latin countries I turn to Remezcla (http://remezcla.com/) which is an English website dedicated to music and culture of latin-america. It’s really where I find all the cool music or styles going on in Chile and elsewhere.
One of the coolest things that I saw coming from Chile is the “Hombres Tejedores” or the Men who Knit. These men fight stereotypes and help men learn how to knit, and they do it in public to show it how it’s done. Their facebook page is this one: https://www.facebook.com/hombrestejedores/ but here’s an article about them: http://observers.france24.com/en/20170112-chile-men-cute-knit-hombres-tejedores
And of course, I can’t talk about Chile without mentioning soccer.

Alexis Sanchez is Chile’s number 1 soccer star who right now is playing for Arsenal in England. Besides being an awesome soccer player, he loves his dogs, so much so that he would make instagram posts of his dogs playing with Phil Collins in the background. And because people have noticed this and made banners about it he actually made an instagram for his dogs Atom and Humber: https://www.instagram.com/atomhumberoficia1/