In Defense of Ska Ep 82: Horacio Blanco (Desorden Público)

In the 80s, when Horacio Blanco was only 14 years old, a friend showed him a poorly dubbed cassette of The Specials' debut album. Even though it was hard to make out, when "A Message To You, Rudy" came on, his mind was blown. What is this music? In no time, he and his friends vowed to show everyone they knew in their hometown of Caracas, Venezuela ska music. First in the form of minitecas (mobile sound systems) and then form their newly formed band, Desorden Público, which would become Venezuela's first ska band ever. 

By the late 80s, Desorden Público would get signed to CBS and later Columbia Records and score some massive hits in their country, like "Allá Cayó" and "Valle de Balas," great dance-pop songs that also had a strong political message.  Desorden Público would be part of a movement of massive bands in Latin America that incorporated ska into their music, that included Los Fabulosos Cadillacs (Argentina) and Os Paralamas Do Sucesso (Brazil).

On today's episode, we speak with Horacio, who tells us the story of Desorden Público, whose name is a commentary on the repressive Venezuelan police they grew up with. He tells us how he set about spreading the word of ska to other Venezuelans, how he brought US ska bands to his country (The Toasters, Bim Skala Bim, NY Ska-Jazz Ensemble, The Slackers), and how surprised he was that Desorden Público was able to create hit singles with such bluntly political lyrics. 

He also talks about collaborating with ska bands from all over the world, from Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra to Neville Staple (The Specials) to Angelo Moore (Fishbone). We also talk about how Venezuela's economy crashing affected the music community, and he tells us what it was like to work with La Orquesta Sinfonica.  

Shout out to Mari Wendler for helping with translation.