87. Dick El Demasiado (Season Finale)

About this episode

Markly Morrison interviews Dick El Demasiado about his music, cultural background, and artistic journey.

When I first developed an interest in rough-around-the-edges cumbia music, a friend (thanks Matt!) introduced me to the music of Dick El Demasiado, purveyor of “cumbias lunaticas.” Over the years I’ve managed to glean a bit more about him, then I recently saw a documentary about him called Dick Verdult: It Is True, But Not Here. I learned Dick El Demasiado the musician is a mere sliver of what Dick Verdult the artist has to offer. His culture-jamming tendencies are a reflection of his culturally scattered upbringing- born in the Netherlands, raised all over Europe and South America, and currently living in the Spanish town of Calanda. When Arrington de Dionyso and I spoke to him last November, he was at home in Spain. Dick discusses the music that spoke to him in his youth, moving 20 times in his first 20 years, writing ugly poetry, creating music alone vs with a group, having an audience in a notorious street gang, that signature skeleton costume, and his definition of cultural distortion. Gratitude to Jack Habegger for all the the portraits you've seen this season! Such strong work. Want to hear the show more often? Be a part of the movement! Whenever I have enough money to…

People in this episode

Host: Markly Morrison

Guest: Dick El Demasiado

Topics covered

• cumbia music
• cultural identity
• music creation
• interview
• artistic expression

Keywords

• cumbia
• Dick El Demasiado
• cultural distortion
• music interview
• artistic expression

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Dick Verdult: It Is True, But Not Here

Places: Calanda, Netherlands, Europe, South America

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