Connect, BTS - Buenos Aires

CONNECT in  BUENOS AIRES

What CONNECT, BTS inspired in Argentina

by

Diana Salvo

When CONNECT BTS Buenos Aires was announced along with the comeback schedule, to say the country was paralyzed is an understatement. Theories rapidly coming from every corner claimed to know what was going to happen, “they are going to come”, “they’re going to livestream”, “there will be ads on the 9 de Julio”. Fortunately, none of those theories was correct, and I’m not saying fortunately because I don’t wont those things to happen, but because what CONNECT, BTS was about surpassed all our “inside of the box” expectations. I’m not lying when I’m saying most of ARMY population in Argentina didn’t know about Tomás or his work and it’s not that we don’t find it worthy, at the contrary, but artists here generally don’t get the attention they deserve.

The days passed and we started to investigate more about him and the connection his work had with BTS, or why BTS chose him to be part of the global project. “A balloon that can fly with only the power of the sun and the wind” it was love at first sight, we could see BTS in there, it made sense along with other actions BTS took in favor of climate change and how we can make this world better. But the thrust was, it was so much more than that.

Friday January 31st, summer in Buenos Aires, you could feel the heat emanating from the floor, people running to catch the first transport who can take them back home after a long day, and right there in the middle of one of the busiest capital in the world, ARMYs were coming from every corner of the “conourbano”, were gathering for “Vuela con Aerocene Pacha” at the Centro Cultural Kirchner, making long lines from early in the morning to save their stop, no one wanted to miss it.

“I’m sorry, do you have a ticket?” a girl came and asked our group, we thought she wanted one but no, she had 1 extra and she was asking every person in her path if they wanted it, so someone could also have the chance to view it.

It was 7:15 pm and you could see people outside taking pictures, some waiting for their partners, some selling BTS goods (Argentinians never miss an opportunity) something we gladly enjoy with pride, every time you walk the streets of Buenos Aires, you can see just how much BTS has somehow mixed themselves into our popular culture.

It was 7:30 and a queue of almost 1500 ARMYs were talking, waiting to enter the art film projection, we didn’t know exactly what to expect, or if Tomás would be there, we just knew it was the first time in history that BTS had noticed Argentina, and for that we were ready to wait, to walk, and to go wherever.

A little after the scheduled start time of 8:00 pm we began entering the venue, the Auditorio Nacional. It was my first time being there, the space outside held what was like a metallic balloon suspended in the air, but inside was all wood, and screen, and a large music organ. While we were waiting for the 3 floors to fill up with ARMYs and press, ARMY were sometimes singing or fanchanting, later opting to patiently wait. For what? At that point we could only imagine.

Aerocene - Twitter

It was 8:30 when people started clapping at someone, it was Tomás, he was walking up the stairs to the stage carrying a large backpack, we couldn’t believe it, someone who had talked with BTS, someone that inspired Namjoon, was there... walking distance from us! The excitement was palpable.

The first to talk was the Connect, BTS curator, and the first thing he say addressing the crowd was “Are you a fan of BTS?”, and the Auditorio Nacional went crazy. He said our voices would reach BTS, and that was it, we do love expressing our feeling and screaming is one of the things we do the most, he recorded us and said he would send it to them. Every second of this is already worthy I thought. When he presented Tomas, the crowd started chanting “Ole ole ole olé, Tomás Tomás” something we do when we’re welcoming the start of the night like if he was the #10 of a soccer team.

The atmosphere of feeling it was one more BTS event we had here changed drastically when Tomás started talking. He said, “the press just asked me If the multinational should hear about this project…and I think there’s someone more important that is listening now, and that’s the young people here tonight”. We were no longer on a BTS event, we were at the age of a changing paradigm. In a country were everything gets politicized and polarized, we, fans of a South Korean group were the main focus of the national press because of the power we hold. I felt proud and filled with new responsibilities to show the skeptical press, our nation, and the world that we meant something, and that we could do something with what Tomás and BTS worked on giving us that night.

The show started, there were short films, showing first how native people live in the Salinas Grandes and how big companies go with machines and promises to exploit their homeland. How the weather changed the region because of it and how it’s affecting their native species to the point were finding pure water has become nearly impossible. They helped Tomás by decorating the balloon with the legend “El agua y la vida valen más que el litio” (Water and life worth more than lithium) and watched the balloon with hope in their eyes.

On January 21st, a woman, Leti, flew a balloon held only by the sun and carried by the wind, breaking 6 Guinness records in her path. She flew over the Salinas Grandes in front of thousands of people watching the livestream who were on twitter screaming “it’s flying!!”

After that Tomás took the stage again and asked every person involved in the project to come to the stage with us clapping. There Verónica took the microphone and said, “Our Salinas Grandes are in danger by the big companies we need your help”.

The native people from Jujuy kept repeating how important and how impressed they were with all the people there to hear about Aerocene and how they were convinced we could change the world.

The show finished with one man from Tomás’ team who it seems created their own Aerocene fan chant, clapping and screaming the catchy words ARMY didn’t miss to follow. It was a party, a party were in the center of Argentinian culture we could barely believe it was thanks to BTS. And we understood there how big the message was, it wasn’t only about a project to protect our world, it was about hearing the voices of the people who have been shouted over by big companies’ interests, and it was also about empowering women, with Leti leading the project.

CONNECT, BTS a project created by seven young artists from South Korea who wanted to connect their form of art with different causes to fight for, all over the world was necessary for me to stop and look around me and the problems that are threatening my homeland and my people.

We connected not only with BTS and Tomás’s work, we connected ourselves, with our roots, our land, and our forgotten values.