On a Saturday night earlier last month, I found myself in a very diverse crowd. It was March 5th, and we gathered to celebrate Los Wálters’ Década de Amor, a concert experience hosted by the Puerto Rican indie band honoring the ten-year anniversary since their debut. Accompanied by fellow musical artists Chango Menas and Enyel C, concert-goers were welcomed into an energetic and magical party at Isla Verde’s Vivo Beach Club.
Standing among the crowd, I couldn’t help but reflect on my relationship to Los Wálters’ music and how it resonates with the experience of being Puerto Rican. Through their psychedelic sound, one can appreciate the island’s bountiful nature (“Cabaña,” “América”), celebrate our places of gathering (“Mayagüez,” “San Juan”), and reflect on times of adversity and our relationships as people (“Distracción,” “Ciudad Fantasma”).
This appreciation for Puerto Rico is a constant throughout their discography, most notably captured in 2016’s “Isla Disco.” In addition to the mainstream music industry, the island’s indie scene provides compelling works that represent what it means to be Puerto Rican in contemporary times where austerity and destruction are the state’s norm.
The band’s music speaks to a generation of people that have grown up within this dilemma of loving our island while witnessing its degeneration due to political neglect and corruption. Music allows artists to share their thoughts with audiences, creating connections between people under collective experiences and feelings. Studying it can tell us a lot about ourselves and the world that surrounds us. Los Wálters invite us to consider: If this world is burning, we might as well keep dancing.