Jose Alejandro Bastidas

The Desert Sun

What do you do in between sets at Coachella?

If you’re deep in the crowd of one of the festival’s biggest stages, waiting for the next act to come on stage can be a pretty grueling task.

Holding your place when other groups try to cut to the front and dealing with being surrounded by thousands of smelly, possibly intoxicated strangers can prove to be a challenge. But it’s worth it when 20-30 minutes later you get the best view of your favorite artist onstage.

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You just need a way to pass the time.

Such was the case Friday after Of Monsters And Men wrapped up their set and crowds waited for M83 to come up to the Coachella stage.

The crowd was antsy for the show to start; one group in particular started singing. I couldn’t make out the words they were singing at first but I started noticing other groups weren’t joining in, but instead were looking around muttering to themselves with uncomfortable looks on their faces.

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Confused, I listened carefully and came to a realization. The group was singing a Spanish-language song.

Coachella is rich in its cultural diversity. Bands from all over the world hit the stage and festivalgoers have all kinds of culinary options from burgers and French fries to Pad Thai and tacos.

Which is why I never imagined that I would experience such blatant racism in what could be considered a cultural Mecca.

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“I didn’t pay $350 to hear them sing,” one girl told her friend.

Other people in the crowd were saying they were uncomfortable and yelling “No Español!” or “Stop singing please!”

I understand that people sometimes feel uncomfortable when they can’t understand what people are saying in big crowds. But why is it that a group of people singing a song in Spanish is met with such animosity? Do people feel threatened when other cultures make themselves known in mostly white, English-speaking events? Is it OK for white girls to wear bindis and white men to wear kimonos but not OK for a group of Hispanic concertgoers to sing a song to pass the time in between sets?

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The one comment that took the cake for me was after one person suggested that the crowd start singing another song to quiet down the Spanish speakers.

“Yeah, let’s sing the National Anthem,” a girl responded.

I’m not sure if this girl thought about her comment too much, she could not have been older than 18 years old, but the fact that anyone would consider using the National Anthem as a way to silence people of other cultures is distressing, even if that person only intended it to be a harmless joke.

People come to Coachella to listen to good music and have an overall great time. Others doing the same thing in another language should not ruin that for you.

Jose Bastidas is a print and digital producer for The Desert Sun. You can reach him at jose.bastidas@desertsun.com or on Twitter @jabastidas.