How a victim of Colombia's gang violence found salvation through hip-hop… and gardening
Hip-hop and gardening combine in Agroarte, a program for Medellín's marginalized youth
"People do not understand how hip-hop and agriculture can blend. But by sowing the land you are creating art and life. To know how to rap you need to know how to sow. If hip-hop is street art, the land holds our history. We want to humanize this war." — El Aka
Luis Fernando of Medellín, Colombia began calling himself "El Aka" six years ago. His chosen pseudonym holds a powerful connotation: it refers to the AK-47 rifle gun that claimed the lives of thousands of innocent victims in Medellín from the 1980s to the 1990s under the reign of notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar.
El Aka grew up in a working-class neighbourhood of Medellín where street gangs ruled. At a young age, he was caught up in the violence that eventually brought his city to its knees. Unlike most of his friends, however, El Aka knew that he had to find a way out and in his darkest hours, turned to hip-hop for salvation. Eventually, El Aka became a well-known hip-hop artist in Medellín.
Planting gardens; writing songs
On the road to becoming an influential hip-hop artist, El Aka he discovered a passion for agriculture, taking the age-old adage "you reap what you sow" quite literally. He became a community leader and hero of Comuna 13 — the district that was once considered the most violent and dangerous place in Medellín — by founding Casa Morada, a community and culture centre in Comuna 13 that organizes agricultural and musical activities for marginalized youth.
Through Casa Morada he launched a program known as Agroarte, which combines agro (fertile land) and arte (art) to build a stronger sense of community for the future generation in Medellín's working-class communes. Agroarte teaches young people to develop agricultural skills — sowing seeds, tending soil and growing gardens — while helping youth to build confidence through music. The members of Casa Morada often write and sing their own hip-hop music creations or perform covers of their favourite songs for each other.
El Aka is currently working with the young members of Casa Morada to plant gardens around the San Javier Cemetery – the resting place for civilians killed during the Escobar years. For El Aka, planting new life is the most powerful way to remember the dead and to teach youth how to value the lives they are creating for themselves.
Learn more about how El Aka carved out a unique path in the Medellín arts community in the upcoming episode of Interrupt This Program, Friday, December 4 at 8:30 p.m. /9 p.m. NT.