▲ The extraordinary singer-songwriter, actor and writer Kris Kristofferson died at age 88 last week; Along with his talent, his solidarity and professional courage are what most distinguish him among the cultural stars of the United States. The image, at a music festival in the south of England, in 2017.Photo Afp
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the extraordinary singer-songwriter, Actor and writer Kris Kristofferson, who died at age 88 last week, drifted in and out of national fame without caring much, but along with his talent, it was his solidarity and professional courage that most distinguished him among cultural stars. of the United States.
In recent days, Kristofferson has been remembered for his musical and acting work (he participated in more than 50 films), but less is said about his dedication to noble causes inside and outside his country, from supporting the UFW laborers union headed by Cesar Chavez, his solidarity with national liberation movements in Central America and South Africa, the defense of American political prisoners such as the indigenous leader Leonard Peltier and the Afro-American activist Mumia Abu-Jamal and his participation in protests against American interventions and wars and armaments nuclear.
His musical career and his artistic contributions deserve wide attention (see Pablo Espinosa’s tribute on these pages: https://www.jornada.com.mx/2024/10/05/cultura/a12n1dis ). His solidarity with popular and rebel causes was an integral part of his life in which, among others, he shared with Vanessa Redgrave his defense of the Palestinians and with Martin Sheen that of immigrant agrarian day laborers, as well as against the nuclear threat and the war policy of his country (and he had been a soldier and his father a general).
“I’ve been a radical for a long time. I guess it’s wrong since it would be more marketed as a right winger redneck (ignorant), but I got into this to tell the truth as I saw it,” Kristofferson commented in an interview with esquire in 2007.
Kristofferson began his career in the country genre, which has a reputation for being the most conservative and even racist of the musical fields in this country. But he was part of the progressive currents known as outlaw country, whose most prominent figures are Johnny Cash – his mentor, who opened the door to his career – and Willie Nelson, who continues, at 91 years old, both in music and in their formidable efforts to support farmers and rural communities.
Country also nourished currents that flow into rock, folk and so-called pop, and Kristofferson’s songs are also known through artists from other genres. For example, it is the voice of the great rocker Janis Joplin that forever enshrines Kristofferson’s song Me and Bobbie McGee (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ggFIeg5u1M).
Some of his less famous songs are important more for their political-social expression than for their musical quality, as is the case with his album Repossessed , from 1986 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXCr7f6A2DM) and Warrior of the Third World, which was issued in 1990, which includes songs that address the liberation movements in El Salvador, Nicaragua and South Africa. You can’t defeat him, he’s fighting for freedom / That’s all he wants, that’s all he needs / You can never defeat him with guns and money / There is no chain as strong as the will to be free (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzYTyERuj5g) In another he concludes: And I will say that until the day we free Mandela / The whole world will be in chains.
In a 1991 interview, Kristofferson was asked how he viewed the state of his country, and he responded with something he could surely repeat today: “beyond the fact that it reminds me of the choreographed, flag-waving patriotism we had in Nazi Germany ago.” half a century, the fact that we have a one-party system in control of all three branches of government, and a news media… that is generating propaganda for the government that would make a Nazi blush, beyond that, we are quite good”.
His songs will continue to be sung, his voice will be missed more than ever.
Johnny Cash & Kris Kristofferson. Sunday Morning Coming Down. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRU9i9egr7A
Kris Kristofferson. Border Lord. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dExX7ecmfBY