The Audio File: Mija

I always found tales of immigrants to be fascinating. They offer a window into a world that I can only imagine. I often find myself pondering several questions. What would it be like to leave behind the land of my birth? What would it be like to try to assimilate into a totally different culture? What, if any, aspects of my own culture would I preserve and pass on. The audio drama we’re reviewing today deals with these questions, and a lot more. It is the tale of immigrants; their trials and tribulations, their triumphs and tragedies. We’re taking a look at Mija from Studio Ochenta. 

Mija is a story about families of immigrants. Those alive, those long gone, and those still dreaming. Each season is a self-contained story that follows a different family of immigrants. Season one follows a Colombian family in New York, season two follows a Chinese-Vietnamese family in Paris, and season three follows an Egyptian family in London. The story of each family is told by its own Mija, which means “my daughter” in Spanish.

As I said in the intro, stories of immigration have always fascinated me. The Italian part of my dad’s half of the family came to America via Ellis Island, and eventually found their way to New Orleans. We don’t know too much about the German and Irish parts. Meanwhile, my mom’s side of the family has been here since before the American Revolution. In fact, I had a few ancestors who were part of Jamestown. As is often repeated, all Americans, except for Indigenous people, have ancestors who came here from other lands. It was an interesting experience listening to Mija when I did. Immigration has become a hot-button issue as of late.

So, a bit of terminology before we got forwards. The narrators of season one and two are both called Mija. For the sake of convenience, we shall differentiate them as New York Mija and Paris Mija. Technically, the narrator of season three is also a Mija, but she’s more often referred to as Binty, which means roughly the same thing in Arabic. So, we shall call her Binty.

Season one is, in my opinion, the best of the three main Mija seasons. Season one is a very personal story for Studio Ochenta founder Lory Martinez. She drew upon her own experiences and the stories of her family, with some embellishments, to craft season one of Mija. Unsurprisingly, Lory also provides the voice of New York Mija. It was also from season one that I learned where Studio Ochenta got its name from. New York Mija grew up on Ochenta Street in Queens. I wasn’t familiar with that street. So, I looked it up, and realized that I actually did know it, because Ochenta means Eighty in Spanish. It was in that moment that I knew I had brought shame upon all of my Spanish teachers. And to my mom, who lived in the Panama Canal Zone for a few years during her childhood.

Getting back on topic, I could tell from the first episode that this was a very personal story for Lory Martinez. There was love and affection in every aspect of season one. The way she describes New York and Bogota paints such a vivid picture. I felt like I was there along with the characters. The story of season one is not only a tale about immigration, but also a tale about heritage and culture. We get the story of New York Mija’s parents, and how they made a new life in a new land. But we also get the story of her family members back in Colombia. In fact, even that ties into the theme of immigration. Several of Mija’s family members had to move from the Colombian countryside to Bogota as a result of violence from insurgency groups. It was scary, and hard at times, and certainly wasn’t what they planned for. And yet, they built new lives in a new home.

I often saw shades of my own family in New York Mija’s story. The scene where she reveals that she is part of a group text with several members of her extended family was super relatable. My aunt, uncle, and cousins all live in Temecula, which is a suburb of San Diego. So, naturally, we don’t get to see each other often. But we stay connected with the group text and phone calls. My parents are both from South Louisiana, but had to move to North Louisiana to find work as lawyers. For reference, North Louisiana and South Louisiana are basically two different states. My mom has talk about how hard it was for her to be away from her support network when I was first born. And yet, thirty years later, here we all still are. I also learned what a pollo chico is. It’s a chick that sticks very close to its mother hen. So, a mama’s boy, basically. Mija mentions that her dad and brother are both major pollo chicos. I guess I’m also a pollo chico.

Season one of Mija is a story of surviving and thriving, but there is also a strong undercurrent of melancholy throughout it all. For example, Mija’s maternal grandparents weren’t able to attend her parents’ wedding because the U.S. embassy rejected their visa applications. Then there’s also the reasons why the episodes tend to be ten minutes long. Mija’s father worked as a taxi driver, and often long hours at that. Oftentimes, Mija only had ten minutes each morning to really spend time with him. In the final episode, Mija talks about how her extended family doesn’t often get to be together because of how spread out everyone is, and how difficult travel can be. She also reiterates that many immigrant families face this problem as well.

But there is also hope. Throughout season one we are introduced to the concept of el cacumen. It’s kind of like good luck, but there’s more to it than just that. It's kind of like saying that things might be bad, but we’ll make it through somehow. Clearly, everyone who was part of season one of Mija had el cacumen on their side. The central question throughout Mija is, well, what is home? And where is home, for that matter? The answer that Mija goes with is that, where you have family and friends who love you, then that is your home.

I’m not the only person who thinks that season one of Mija is absolutely fantastic. Lory Martinez was interviewed on NPR’s All Things Considered. She discussed the origins of Mija, and various behind the scenes details. There is a slight irony that Lory Martinez has become an immigrant herself. She moved to Paris in 2015, and it is where Studio Ochenta is based. Apparently, her family didn’t take it well at first, but they came to terms with it once they got to listen to season one of Mija.

Mija is not just devoted to its global scope purely in terms of story. Mija is available in multiple languages. Currently, English and Spanish are the only languages that all four seasons are available in. Seasons one and two are available in French, season two is also available in Mandarin, and season three is available in Arabic. However, Studio Ochenta is working to translate all four seasons of Mija.

With the success of season one, there was the obvious question of what to do as a follow up. There could still be more stories from New York Mija, but that didn’t seem right. Though, Studio Ochenta did eventually release a series of short vignettes set in the life of New York Mija and her family. But no, everyone decided that the story of Mija wasn’t just limited to a Colombian family in New York. There are plenty of Mijas all over the world. The question, then, was where to go next?

Studio Ochenta teamed up with Melanie Hong to tell the story of a Chinese-Vietnamese family living in Paris. Season two had some good ideas, and it certainly meant well. However, it was also plagued by some serious growing pains. It was pretty clear that the Mija team were still trying to figure out exactly what the podcast would be going forward. One theme they wanted to emphasize was the common connections between the stories of immigrants. This is all well and good, but the execution left something to be desired. Several bits of Paris Mija’s dialog are copied almost word-for-word from New York Mjia. This is most apparent in the episode that focuses on Paris Mija herself, and in the final episode, especially the twist at the end. We also get an episode where Paris Mija takes us on a tour of Paris; much as New York Mija showed us around Queens. Good idea, but again, undercut by the self-plagiarized dialogue.

I also feel that season two bit off more than it could chew. In season one, there is certainly a feeling that there’s more to the story of New York Mija’s family than we see. However, with season two, it feels like the Mija team tried to squeeze too many ideas into only eight episodes. Paris Mija is unique in that she has a multiethnic background. However, given the limited scope of the season, I felt we didn’t get to explore the two sides of her heritage as much as we could have. Also, her parents are divorced and she has a stepfather, but this doesn’t factor into the plot as much as you might think. Now, as far as narration, Melanie Hong tried, she really did. Unfortunately, she just couldn’t compete with Lory Martinez’s performance in season one. Part of that was down to the lackluster script, but part of it was due to English not being Melanie‘s first language. There were a few times it was kind of hard to understand her, and I had to rewind the podcast a few times.

Now, I want to be clear here. I did not hate season two. It had it’s flaws, to be sure, but it also had plenty of moments where it shined, especially in the later episodes. That all being said, there was still a lot of room for improvement, and I consider it to be the weakest season of Mija.

It would seem that the Mija team were well aware of the need to iron our the kinks. I’m happy to report that season three saw a notable improvement in quality, and a welcome return to form. I’d also like to take a moment to say how grateful I am that the protagonist of season three had a name other than Mija. It makes writing this review that much easier. Season three is structurally inverted compared to its predecessors. The previous seasons start with Mija, then her brother, her parents, a cousin, her grandparents, and then a family reunion. In season three, we go in reverse order. Occasionally, I had trouble keeping track of who was who, but it didn’t take me long to get the hang of things. In other inversions, instead of a force of good fortune, like el cacumen in season one, we get the evil eye, the bringer of woe and misfortune. Binty’s family always tries to remain humble, and avoid boasting, for fear that they may attract the gaze of the evil eye.

The narration also saw a notable step-up compared to last season. Rana Abdelhamid overall does an excellent job with the narration. My only issues is that Binty has lived most of her life in London, but doesn’t have even the slightest trace of a British accent. It just seems a bit odd. Binty also differs in how her story came to be. Unlike the previous season, there’s not a single writer. Rana Abdelhamid and Mona Elboghdadi are the head writers, while Sadia Azmats and Alya Mooro acted as cultural consultants about the Arab/Egyptian-Londoner experience. So, I would assume that Binty contains elements of all four women, making her something of a Franken-Mija.

Binty and her brother move to New York towards the end of the season. I was wondering if New York Mija was going to make an appearance, but no, this never happens. I suppose that was for the best. Season three is supposed to be Binty’s story; there’s no reason to tie it into the stories of the other Mijas. On that topic, season three did a much better job of showing the common connection among the experiences of Mijas and their families. I felt that it did so in a far more organic way than season two did. There’s no repeated dialog to be found. The episodes are also slightly longer than in the first two seasons. This gives season three a bit more breathing room to tell its story.

Another difference I noticed is that we don’t get an episode where Binty takes us around London. In fact, Binty, and to a lesser extent her family, seems to have something of a disdain for London. We get plenty of loving descriptions of life in Alexandria, but not really any of London. In previous seasons, the Mijas and their families took great pride in their new homelands. The previous Mijas also embraced themselves as the blending of multiple cultures. Binty, by contrast, considers herself to be Egyptian first, and everything else second. Binty mentions that, when she was younger, she tried really hard to assimilate. Then, later in life, she really threw herself into her Egyptian heritage. Though, the impression I got was that she simply swung from one extreme to the other. Compared to the other Mijas, Binty seems to still be struggling to come to terms with her identity, and isn’t totally comfortable in her own skin.

Season three puts more of an emphasis on the bigotry and prejudice that Binty and her family had to overcome. We do get hints of this with the other Mijas, but its more of a background detail. This does add to season three having a more distinct tone compared to its predecessors. That said, I felt that it got laid on a bit thick at times, and occasionally things got a tad preachy. I would argue that season one worked in part because it took a somewhat understated approach when it tackled serious issues. I also have to ding one scene in the episode about Binty’s mom. She grew up in Alexandria, but moved to London to work in the egyptology department at the British Museum. One of the things that strikes her when she moves to London is that she see Muslim women wearing hijab outside of mosque and prayers. Uh, do what now? I find it hard to believe that she wouldn’t have seen that plenty of times in Egypt.

Honestly, though, those two points are really my only critiques of season three. It was a noticeable step up from season two. Season three didn’t quite reach the same heights as season one, but it got very close, and proved to be a worthy successor.

There’s also a spin-off miniseries called Mija Música. It is something of an unofficial fourth season of Mija. It is a notable departure from the main series in terms of style. It follows a young man named Gavilán. He lives in New York, but he is originally from Monterey, Mexico. He has found himself back in Monterey due to his grandfather’s Lolo’s funeral. Lolo was a musician who had a passion for Colombian vallenato music. Gavilán is determined to investigate his grandfather’s music career. Along the way, he’ll explore the history of vallenato, and discover some secrets about his grandfather.

Like I said, it's different, but that’s not a bad thing. I wasn’t familiar with vallenato music, but I had fun learning about it. The episodes are a bit shorter than in the main Mija seasons. Speaking of music, I also wanted to take a moment to discuss the use of music in the main Mija seasons. Each season uses music from its respective immigrant culture to help set the mood. It was one of those little touches I appreciated, and it helped give each season its own feeling. And that is most certainly true of Mija Música as well. You’ll be well acquainted with the many styles of vallenato by the time the miniseries is over.

We’ve had three seasons, and one miniseries, of Mija so far. I certainly hope that this is not the last we’ve heard from Mija. It tells the stories of families of immigrants. Those who leave the land of the birth to seek a better life, those who stay behind, and those with feet in both worlds. It is a celebration of community, culture, and the places we call home. It is absolutely fantastic, and I can’t recommend it enough. Give it a listen today.

Well, I think that should do it from me for now. I will see you guys next time.

The Audio File: The Luchador: 1000 Fights of El Fuego Fuerte

Sometimes, I like to wait a little bit before I review certain audio dramas. I want to make sure they don’t pull out any sudden surprises right as I’ve finished the review. However, sometimes there is an audio drama that just demands to be reviewed. No, I’m not talking about when people ask me to review their shows. What I means is that I listen to a show, and I know that I have to share it with everyone as soon as possible. Such is the case with the audio drama we’ll be taking a look at today. We’re taking a look at season one of The Luchador: 1000 Fights of El Fuego Fuerte. 

In Mexico City, generations of masked wrestlers, known as luchadores, have been the champions of the people. From the noble tecnicos to the jeering rudos, these athletic whip-smart warriors set aside their rivalries of the ring to keep their city safe from the dangers of this world, and beyond. Of all the luchadores, of all the ages past, none were as brave or as strong as El Fuego Fuerte: The Might Champion of Mexico City. These are his battles. These are the 1000 Fights of El Fuego Fuerte, The Lachador.

I first became aware of The Luchador thanks to the weekly tread of new Audio-Drama.com show links on the r/audiodrama subreddit. The Luchador sounded promising, so I decided to give it a listen. It only had two episode when I first started listening, but I quickly fell in love with it. The first season is now out in its entirety. I had considered waiting until season two was out, but I then I decided that I absolutely had to review this show right now. So, here we are.

From a young age I had been fascinated by the world of lucha libre. Admittedly, most of that came via cartoons I enjoyed. ¡Mucha Lucha! was one of my absolute favorite cartoons. Yeah, it was all exaggerated, and include several fantastic and unrealistic elements, but it was still awesome. There was also Jackie Chan Adventures. One of Jackie’s allies was a luchador name El Toro Fuerte; not to be confused with El Fuego Fuerte from The Luchador. Even other shows, such as El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera, included some elements of lucha. On the live action side, I saw a few episodes of Los Luchas. It was basically Power Rangers, but with luchadors rather than Power Rangers. I didn’t watch it as much as Power Rangers or Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog, but what I did see was fun.

I say all of this to emphasize that, while I do admire lucha libre, I’m far from an expert on the topic. As stated, most of what I know comes from cartoons. All that being said, I still greatly enjoyed The Luchador: 1000 Fights of El Fuego Fuerte. Honestly, it successfully replicated those feelings I felt when watching all of those cartoons I mentioned. Series creator Daniel Valero Fletcher says that The Luchador was largely inspired by lucha movies from the 1970s. Again, never seen any of them in full, but I have seen clips from various lucha movies. They always looked like good campy fun. Daniel also cites Lucha Underground from the El Rey Network as a major influence. 

Now, lets discuss a bit of wrestling terminology. People often say that professional wresting is fake, but that’s a bit of misnomer. True, the outcomes, and much of the choreography, of the matches are predetermined. However, all the stunts are very real. The bodyslams, atomic drops, piledrivers, people getting hit by folding chairs; all of that is absolutely real. As such, professional wrestlers deserve major respect, because they take a series beating for your entertainment. There’s kind of a willing suspension of disbelief among wrestling fans known as kayfabe. Basically, you know that wrestling is scripted, but you act like it is real. Think of this like whenever The Muppets get interviewed. Yeah, we all know they’re really just puppets, but everyone acts like they’re real. The wrestlers playing heroes are known as faces, with tecnicos being their lucha equivalent. Wrestlers playing villains are known as heels, with rudos as their lucha equivalents.

Obviously, things are a bit different in the world of The Luchador. The matches are depicted as having some scripted elements, but they’re also sort of depicted as being unscripted and real, for want of a better word. Though, from what I understand, this way of doing things isn’t that uncommon in wrestling fiction.

El Fuego Fuerte is, for all intents and purposes, a superhero. As with any good superhero, he adheres to a strict moral code. In this case, the rule of lucha libre. For example, during a car chase, El Fuego Fuerte refuses to shoot at the pursuers, for a tecnico is never the first to introduce a foreign object to the match. He also never appears in public without his mask on, because that’s a big no-no in lucha. Though, that said, El Fuego Fuerte does have a large collection of masks, such as dining masks, which he keeps for special occasions and appearances. However, we also get hints that El Fuego spent some time in America, and did some things that he isn’t proud of. That’s definitely going to play a role in the coming seasons. My guess is that he used to work as a heel, and possibly performed as a very stereotypical Mexican persona. El Fuego does say he felt that he brought shame to Mexico. 

Of course, ever superhero needs villains For season one, El Fuego Fuerte faces off against undead Aztec vampire women known as cihuateteos. They are actual creatures from Aztec Mythology, and are said to be the spirits of women who died in childbirth. There’s a part where El Fuego pleads with the cihuateteos, and tells them that they are mighty warriors. Aztec women who died in childbirth received the same funeral rights as men who died in battle. The Aztecs viewed the act of giving birth as rescuing a hostage from enemy territory. So, El Fuego wasn’t wrong to call them warriors.

On the anti-hero side of things, we’ve got El Hijo de Lobo Sangre. He is the second luchador to hold that title, but he’s not the biological son of the previous Lobo Sangre. Rather, he was more his protege. Lobo is a rudo, but he’s willing to work with El Fuego if it means protecting Mexico City. He even develops a grudging respect for El Fuego Fuerte. So, Lobo is the noble demon character. Though, I should emphasize that he is not literally a demon.

Maria Amaya is an archeologist who works at the Museum of Anthropology. Naturally, El Fuego seeks out her help when researching the cihuateteos. She doesn’t really think too highly of lucha at first, but comes to appreciate it after spending time with El Fuego. We also a few sparks of romance between Maria and El Fuego. There’s a few other things I could mention, but that would be spoilers.

The narrator isn’t really a character, but he has an epic voice, and helps introduce new scenes. Daniel Valero Fletcher has said that he hopes that The Luchador might one day become a television series. If it does, the narrator absolutely needs to come along for the ride. The series just wouldn’t be the same without him.

Actually, while we’re on the subject, let’s talk about the voice acting. Almost all of the characters are voiced by actual professional wrestlers. Again, not my area of expertise, but I’m sure fans of professional wrestling might find this rather exciting. Overall all, everyone did a fairly decent job. El Fuego, Lobo, and Maria Amaya were the three strongest performances. There were a few characters who didn’t quite hit the mark, but I’m willing to cut the voice actors some slack. They’re professional wrestlers, not professional voice actors. The accents are all over the place. Some characters, such as El Fuego, sound believably Mexican. Others, such as the mayor of Mexico City, sound straight-up America. However, this is probably intentional. Like, presumably, the characters are actually speaking Spanish, but we hear it as English for our convenience. So, presumably the actors were all told to just use their natural speaking voices.

Each season also brings the opportunity to win tickets to real life wrestling matches. This is part of El Fuego Furte’s Luchador Crime Club. At the end of each episode, a secret word is revealed. You then email the word to The Luchador’s email address, which you can find on the website, and you are entered for a chance to win the tickets. The official Twitter account for The Luchador frequently live tweets various professional wrestling matches. In fact, you could be forgive for mistaking it for a wrestling fan account, rather than an audio drama podcast account.

There you have it. Season one of The Luchador: 1000 Fights of El Fuego Fuerte is absolutely fantastic. It combines lucha libre with urban fantasy adventures in Mexico City. I can’t wait to see what future seasons have in store for us. Do not wait to listen to this audio drama. Believe me, you will not regret it.

Well, I think that should do it from me for now. I will see you guys next time.

Flag of the Aztec Empire

This is the flag of the Aztec Empire. It comes from a world where the Aztecs defeated Cortez and his troops. Smallpox still ravaged the Aztecs, but due to the more limited exposed they were able to recover by the time the Spanish sent additional expeditions. It soon become obvious that the empire would need to reform itself if it was going to survive the European colonization of the Americas.

The debate around these reforms leads to social upheavals and rebellions. The empire ultimately survived, but with a Tlaxcalan ruling dynasty. The Tlaxcalans, always one of the more reform minded peoples of the empire, set about instituting serious reforms.

The first reform was the structure of the empire. The provinces became much more centralized in their organization. The emperor still ruled over all, but each province sent a group of delegates to represent the needs of the province in a special council in Tenochtitlan. The priests and priestesses also began to slowly phase-out human sacrifice from the traditional religion of the Aztecs. Trade relations were established with multiple European nations both to gain access to European technology and to play the various powers off of each other.

For the next few centuries the Aztecs would be prosperous and would have good relations with their neighbors. They provided troops to the Federated Provinces of Cabotia during their rebellion against the British Empire. To this day the two nations remain close allies to this day. The Aztecs also maintained good relations with the Incan Empire, which also managed to avoid European conquest. The Aztecs went on to expand their territory to stretch from the American Southwest to the tip of Panama, and even managed to nab a few islands of the Caribbean.

The next major wave of reforms occurred during the 19h century. The Aztecs, much like Japan during the Meiji Restoration, underwent a Westernization process. Though from the Aztecs points of view the term would more accurately be Easternization. Industrialization began to take off, and Western clothing and customs were slowly introduced to improve relations with the great powers of Europe. However, the Aztecs did not completely turn their backs on their traditional culture. Aztec clothing still remains very colorful and incorporates many traditional designs, and nose rings are still somewhat popular for men and women. More traditional clothing is usually reserved for special ceremonies and occasions, such as religious festivals and the emperor's birthday.

The Aztecs also still worship their old gods, and many temples and shrines can be found throughout the empire. On the other hand, secularism is on the rise, and many people only perform the old rituals out of habit and tradition. What was once an empire imfamous for its bloodlust is today known as a thriving center of technology and innovation.

The flag features the colors red and green, which are traditional Aztec colors. The maze pattern is a common feature in Aztec artwork. The red snake is the feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatl, god of the winds and one of the most important gods in the Aztec pantheon.