In Defense of Ska Ep 118: Aranivah (Dance Culture By Aranivah, Ratas En Zelo)

Aranivah didn't dance when she was a punk teenager living in El Salvador. It wasn't till years later after she immigrated to New York that she fell in love with ska, cumbia, soul music, and dancing to these genres. With no formal training, she discovered that she was really good at it. But she wasn't just good at moving her body. She made it accessible to other people. Her videos dancing to ska and other subgenres soon went viral on TikTok and Instagram. She used this online popularity to create dance classes.

Today, we speak with Aranivah. We talk at length about the ska bands that speak to her personally. In particular, we break down a YouTube video she made that namechecks Prince Buster, Inspecter 7, Akatz, Vieja Skina, Bad Manners, Desmond Dekker, Decibelios, Laurel Aitken, Ska Cubano and Skalariak. Some great ska tunes!

We also talk about her formative years as an El Salvadorian punk, we talk about her experiences immigrating the New York at the age of 17, the Brooklyn Rocksteady / Dirty Reggae scene in the 2000s that turned her on to the genre here (The Hard Times, The Far East, The Forthrights, The Frightnrs), and we talk about what led to her starting Dance Culture By Aranivah.

We also talk about her dancing in a Hub City Stompers video, how she approaches social media, and she even tells us all about a really cool reggae club she visited in Mexico last year called Cultural Roots. 

If you’d like to support us and listen to early access, ad-free episodes with bonus content, check out our Patreon! 

If you like our theme song, go download the EP Lives by Slow Gherkin. They wrote the opening and closing songs for our podcast. You can get both tunes from their Lives EP. Also, check out Dan P and the Bricks two LPs. They provided the mid-roll ad transition music. 

Support the In Defense host Aaron Carnes by purchasing a copy of his book, In Defense of Ska. The 2nd, expanded edition of In Defense of Ska will release in Oct 2024. 

Co-host Adam Davis has a band called Omnigone. Their latest record, Against The Rest released on March 31, 2023. 

The In Defense of Ska editor Chris Reeves runs a record label called Ska Punk International. They have new releases coming out all the time.

Support In Defense of Ska by checking out StubHub: https://stubhub.prf.hn/l/DLXVmMB

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy