Amor y Música

Mothering with songs of protest

Ever since I had a child, my daughter has become the calibrator for my interaction with music. Not only have I become a homebody, missing show after fabulous show (Bunbury, Calamaro, Enanitos + Hombres G! Ouch!), I would rather give in to listening to the music she wants than contend with her toddler stubbornness/potential tantrums just to listen to HDS Would Tour 2007 for the three millionth time, let alone listen to a new recording that I may or may not even like.

Before she could talk, Nayáhuari indicated if she wanted more of something with an inflected “Mmm?” She used it for everything – tortillas, games, and of course music. She could nominate songs for our “Rolas Favoritas de la Chunk” playlist by simply giving the “Mmm?” seal of approval when a song ended. However, if she said this in the middle of a song, it was her cue that track didn’t make the cut, and I had to hit the fwd button to keep her from going into an “Mmm? Mmm? MMMMM!” rampage.

Early on I was looking for songs in Spanish she might like. De Colores seemed to be a hit when I sang it to her, so I dug up the old Joan Baez recording of it that another hippie Chicana—my mom—used to listen to on her Gracias a La Vida LP. Baez’s arrangement got an instant “Mmm?” seal of approval from Nayáhuari and was soon transferred to our “Favoritas” playlist. One day, in an attempt to expand my child’s repertoire, I let the Gracias a La Vida album play in its entirety. Most songs were met with an instant “Mmm?”, indicating that my toddler was not interested in letting the particular track finish. But towards the end of the album, my then one and half year old child let this song go on uninterrupted.



It seems appropriate that my child would bring me back to the songs of my own childhood. This album, which preceded Linda Ronstadt’s Canciones de Mi Padre by ten years, was Baez’s tribute to her Latino roots and among my earliest exposure to the protest music of the era. Joan Baez recorded this album for the people of Chile, then living under Pinochet’s ruthless dictatorship, and I remember the distinct feelings of hope and freedom it inspired in me, even at the tender ages of 3, 4, 5, and 6 years old, which were the years when we still had an LP player in our living room, and the scratchy note songs like Gracias a La Vida, Cucurúcucu Paloma, Te Recuerdo Amanda, and De Colores left their stamp in my mind and my imagination. Maybe it was the image of Joan raising a hand towards the heavens framed by the bright purple of album’ cover. Whatever the inspiration, the seeds to my future activism were there, in the music that moved me even before I could understand the words (I grew up speaking English and didn’t become bilingual until much later in life).

These days, Nayáhuari knows the words to De Colores. She has a blast imitating Magaby’s Pequeños Gigantes performance of Cucurúcucu Paloma, and she still wants to hear Las Madres Cansadas twenty times in a row. My hope is that these songs will also make a place for themselves in her heart and in her mind and that their presence in her life will guide her—on whatever path she chooses—to walk with a passion for justice, with optimism, and with hope.

For lyrics to the English version Las Madres Cansadas, see:
http://www.joanbaez.com/Lyrics/wearymothers.html

colombia tierra querida

cantando cantando yo viviré...
: colombia tierra querida (tradicional, lucho bermudez)

**

foto: choc quib town (via sxsw)

**

colombia has given us so much good music. an entire constellation of pop stars, but also some rock buenísimo and of course our beloved cumbia colombiana.

lately i can't get enough of choc quib town & systema solar. part of the new school emerging out of coastal colombia (pacífica & caribe, respectively), these are some of the best elements of latin american dance music right now i think. systema is a sound system collective, latin-dub + electronica, with an affinity for cumbia and vallenato. and choc quib town is the work of female mc goyo and her compañeros, mc tostao & mc slow ... modern hiphop colombiano, with traditional indigenous & afro-colombian sounds mixed in for good measure.

love-ly. sshhh. listen...


chico de mi barrio : systema solar



alguien como tu : choc quib town



both, happily, have songs that champion the working class, and call for unity against oppression & exploitation. it is so time for some more music that's popular and popular, isn't it? even better if you can throw down on the dancefloor to it.

here is cqt's beautiful anti-colonialista & pro-revolt oro (gold)...

oro : choc quib town




como dicen los colombianos... ¡está bacano!

**
¡abajo uribe! ¡arriiiiiba coloooombia!

cementerio de hormigas

recently, there was what can only be described as an elaborate ant funeral cortege in my apartment. at all hours i would see the ants a couple at a time dutifully retrieving their dead and carrying them to the windowsills, piling them up in ant graveyards of sorts. i don't know why all the dead ants, perhaps a change in the weather. but the meticulousness of their efforts in piling up the bodies of their fallen compañeros was impressive. and it reminded me of a curiosity i've had since i was little. why do they do that?

this question and a desire to find info in a place with a little more authority than yahoo answers lead me to my new favorite website, madsci network, which is like an archived scientist q & a (so cool!). as it turns out, that particular ant behavior most likely evolved as a precaution against potentially harmful bacteria on the dead ants infecting everyone else in the nest. or ... if you ask my sister (not a scientist) it's simply a matter of honor. either way it's a pretty amazing level of organization, the ant society.

**

in other insect news, the episode also reminded me of alejandra, who once made me listen to a similarly themed song which had so moved her by its beauty that she found herself listening to it over & over & over again. i emailed her about it and she knew exactly what i was talking about! she found it, and sent it to me (see below). thank you, querida alex! besos!!



foto: teamwork by macropoulos

lo feo : gema y pavel (letra, teresita fernández)



alita de cucaracha
llevada hasta el hormiguero.
alita de cucaracha
llevada hasta el hormiguero.
así quiero que en mi muerte,
así quiero que en mi muerte,
así quiero que en mi muerte,
me lleven al cementerio.

¡felicitaciones!

my parents got married 40 years ago today :) feliz día to them!!

a couple years ago we were sitting around talking and my dad caught us all by surprise when he recounted to my mom the exact outfit she was wearing when he first saw her in his 10th grade english class. can you imagine? good god!

here they are on their wedding day. so cute.



felicidades, for sure. and now, because i know they like them, a little maná as a regalito for this occasion...

de pies a cabeza : maná



hoy te quiero mas que siempre
hoy te adoro mas que nunca

:)

dialectic

hey! my camarada ying-sun is in this band dialectic, which has just released their latest, laugh like a bandit/love like a thief. they will perform at the hotel utah on tuesday for their record release. felicitaciones to ying-sun, mario, & ian on the new record!! see you tuesday nite at the hotel utah :)

here is a taste...

homecoming : dialectic



sweet!

dialectic record release party
9pm : tuesday, may 26th
at the hotel utah : 500 4th street @ bryant, sf
w/ misisipi rider & dj willie maze
$7 at the door
ages 21+


speaking of dialectics... i want an umbrella like this one:



foto: communist party of india (marxist) party supporters hold party umbrellas with the sickle and hammer during an election rally in agartala on april 21, 2009 (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

rock en euskera

para ti, pati :)
abrazos,

-diabólika


¡despierta!
¡dispara!
un gringo,
en tu casa.*

: nicaragua sandinista

* wake up! / fire (a shot)! / a gringo / in your house.


it's true. there's also a lot of excellent (and left!) music that's come out of the basque country...

nicaragua sandinista : kortatu



inkomunikazioa : fermin muguruza



todos los hintxas : skalariak



euskadi antifaxista : betagarri

panteón es la dosis perfecta

hmmm...so que pasó con el video de pachuquita? well, in the meantime...

la carencia : panteón rococo



la dosis perfecta : panteón rococo





cover, 2005 compilation which includes la carencia



you know, there are some moments where you think, this just would not happen in english. songs are often like that i guess, but i always think that when i see la carencia & la dosis perfecta performed live. at shows those are the 2 most beloved pantéon rococo songs, and everyone shouts the lyrics very fast very loud when they are played. and in english it just would not work. though fairly translate-able, i cannot imagine la carencia, a song about accumulation by dispossession, being quite so melodic & catchy and getting that same amount of love in english. "... y en el mundo globalizadooo, la gente pobre no tienen lugaaaar... y la carencia ¡arriba! y los salarios ¡abajo!" (and in the globalized world, poor people are left without a place ... the deprivation goes up! and the wages go down!). jeje, divertidiiisima! the song, not the accumulation by dispossession.

and then la dosis perfecta, oh man. there are i think two types of songs that panteón does best: songs about working class resistance & songs about tormented love. la carencia is the first and la dosis perfecta the second.

cuando veíamos estrellas y tu eras una de ellas
de esas que abrazan la tierra con su luz
y hoy me llamas y me dices
que empacas tu presencia
que has hecho las maletas
que hoy dices adios

despues de romper el cielo juntos,
esa forma tan tuya de hacer el amor y estallar al llegar
no, no puedo aceptar que hoy te vayas
y me dejes un cuarto de mil batallas
cobrarte yo no quiero, no quiero cobrarme
sólo quiero que tú te quedes aquí, yeh yeh yeh

hoy mi cuerpo necesita de ti saber
que la dosis perfecta esta en tus caderas
en tus besos, tu sonrisa, tu cabello y ese cuerpo que me erizaaaaa
hoy mi alma sabe que estás bien
pero tú dime, tú dime quien
estará para aliviar mi dolor
si ya no estas tú.

this song i will not attempt to translate because 1. it wouldn't be adequate; english is too un-accommodating and 2. even just reading over the words that i copied & pasted there makes me blush. but same as la carencia, i love seeing hundreds (a thousand?) of people shouting these lyrics so urgently at the tops of their lungs. it amuses me because the words are after all a very lovely and poetic contemplation of the intricacies of desire & absence. they go nicely with the shouting though. hurray for el rock en español!

for the friday night may first show, panteón waited until the encore to play both la carencia and la dosis perfecta one after the other. by the time they finally came up all hell broke loose on the dancefloor. well there was this split second of calm, which was almost graceful, and then you blinked and then everything went flying everywhere (cerveza in my hair again)... kind of like between the gang fight scene in west side story and a riot. well worth the price of admission ;)

rock en catalán

you know, there has been a lot of good (and left!) music that's come out of the països catalans...


viure sempre corrent
avançant amb la gent
rellevant contra el vent
transportant sentiments
viurem mantenint viva
la flama a traves del temps
la flama de tot un poble en moviment

: la flama


obrint pas : la flama




mesclat : el burgès




brams : brindis







republican militia training. barcelona, cataluña. 1936.
foto : gerda taro

¡¡¡rock en árabe!!!

we saw rachid taha last night! i don't have time now to write very much except to say : 

1. i absolutely loved the show, every single minute of it. he is very roquero, very dramatic, very hilarious, and really an excellent performer. and the music was sooooo good. 

2. he plays again tonight. i would go again if i could, but i can't make it :( if you can swing it you really should! 

3. la pachuquita danced with him!! 

she took a few pictures & video so we'll add to this post later but for now here is the info & a little taste...

rachid taha 

tonight! 

friday, april 24th

yoshi's in sf @ 8pm

$30 

rachid taha : ecoute-moi camarade

la misma porquería iii

tomorrow the obama administration is to name alan bersin as border czar. ¡pero que carajo es eso! i don't approve of czars of any kind, and especially not a czar to police the perimeters of this land that's stolen anyway. the expansion of the drug wars, the taking of more lives, the diverting of more weapons to the corrupt & murderous mexican army & police. ugh. also alan bersin, during his time at the u.s. attorney office, is responsible for operation gatekeeper, which is responsible for the militarization of the us-mexico border and an ever-multiplying number of immigrant deaths. vete al carajo, alan bersin.



foto : 3 mil corazones. between 1994 & 2004, the first 10 years of operation gatekeeper, more than 3 thousand immigrants died or were killed trying to cross the border between mexico & the united states.

**

los de abajo : la fuga



buscando el chivo expiatorio
te van a buscar en el directorio
si no copartes sus ideas
te has metido en un gran problema
encuentra la forma de correr
no importa si eres inocente van a proceder
en plan chingativo
llegan provocando buscando un motivo

lumumba

leili sent me a link to this documentary, death colonial style : the execution of patrice lumumba, which is a dissection of events leading up to the assassination of lumumba, the pan-africanist anti-colonial leader and first democratically elected prime minister of the congo. the coup d'etat that deposed him just 10 weeks into office & his subsequent execution were orchestrated covertly by belgium & the united states. incredibly this documentary contains interviews with a few of the actual asesinos de mierda who took part. i'm the last person to have any kind of faith in any international "justice" system, still i was kind of taken aback. i mean how are these guys just sitting there?! there's a belgian asshole that still has lumumba's teeth as a souvenir. it's disgusting. pinches imperialistas. que se chingen.

**

these lines are translated from patrice lumumba's speech on 30 june 1960, congolese independence day. it is said this speech sealed his fate, classified him permanently as an enemy of the imperialists...

Men and women of the Congo, Victorious fighters for independence, today victorious, I greet you in the name of the Congolese Government...

We are proud of this struggle, of tears, of fire, and of blood, to the depths of our being, for it was a noble and just struggle, and indispensable to put an end to the humiliating slavery which was imposed upon us by force. This was our fate for eighty years of a colonial regime; our wounds are too fresh and too painful still for us to drive them from our memory. We have known harassing work, exacted in exchange for salaries which did not permit us to eat enough to drive away hunger, or to clothe ourselves, or to house ourselves decently, or to raise our children as creatures dear to us...

We have seen our lands seized in the name of allegedly legal laws which in fact recognized only that might is right. We have seen that the law was not the same for a white and for a black, accommodating for the first, cruel and inhuman for the other. We have witnessed atrocious sufferings of those condemned for their political opinions or religious beliefs; exiled in their own country, their fate truly worse than death itself. We have seen that in the towns there were magnificent houses for the whites and crumbling shanties for the blacks, that a black was not admitted in the motion-picture houses, in the restaurants, in the stores of the Europeans; that a black traveled in the holds, at the feet of the whites in their luxury cabins. Who will ever forget the massacres where so many of our brothers perished, the cells into which those who refused to submit to a regime of oppression and exploitation were thrown? All that, my brothers, we have endured...

But we, whom the vote of your elected representatives have given the right to direct our dear country, we who have suffered in our body and in our heart from colonial oppression, we tell you very loud, all that is henceforth ended. The Republic of the Congo has been proclaimed, and our country is now in the hands of its own children. Together, my brothers, my sisters, we are going to begin a new struggle, a sublime struggle, which will lead our country to peace, prosperity, and greatness. Together, we are going to establish social justice and make sure everyone has just remuneration for his labor. We are going to show the world what the black man can do when he works in freedom, and we are going to make of the Congo the center of the sun's radiance for all of Africa...





**

y éstas, leilita, son para ti... dedicadas con mucho cariño :)


patrice lumumba : yuri buenaventura




vive patrice lumumba : vicky longomba

¡feliz día internacional de la mujer!

miren compañeros, la verdad es que no se puede hacer la revolución sin la participación de las mujeres... / look, comrades, the truth is you can't make the revolution without women...

: el zenzontle pregunta por arlen





foto: zapatista women (selva lacandona, chiapas). gracias, oriana eliçabe.


las roqueras would like to wish you a happy international women's day! and dedicate songs...

from la cumbiambera:

Written in response to the Argentine economic crisis earlier this decade, this song is an homage to women who handle business. So to all of us women who are forces to be reckoned with, Rock-n-roll, sisters.

mujer maravilla : los enanitos verdes




from diabólica:

this song is about arlen siu, one of the first female sandinista martyrs in the fight against the somoza dictatorship in nicaragua. a student militant, cultural worker, and guerrillera, she died in combat in 1972 at 20 years of age. ¡presente!

el zenzontle pregunta por arlen : norma helena gadea & carlos mejía godoy

primer

para ti alex, con cariño. feliz cumpleaños :)



image : anti-fascist school primer, spain 1930s


in 10th grade my friend katrina handed me a zine called an anarchist primer. i don't recall much of the content, but i do remember it had a picture of jerry falwell* with a swastika drawn on his forehead. that was exciting. that was also my introduction to the concept of primer. like the first coat of paint that prepares a surface for future coats, that little text aimed to prepare my 14-year-old brain and heart for anti-capitalist theory & practice.

following are tracks from a rock en español primer that i compiled recently for friends. at first i was going for a sort of kitchen sink approach. but then i thought, no, that's not a primer, that's like a colección de oro vol. i, ii, & iii or las 100 mejores canciones or something. that's not what i want, i'm not making any claims of essential or best of. i just want to give a little taste, strong & sweet...


* remember that guy? right-wing lunatic televangelist, defender of apartheid in south africa, the state of israel & zionism, racial segregation in u.s. public institutions, patriarchy, and theocracy. died in 2007. good riddance, hijo de ___!



**

bueno, aquí está. ¡buen provecho!

primer :: rock en español **





a la orillita del mar : los de abajo (méxico)
bolita de trapo : cabas & enrique bunbury (colombia, españa)
va a escampar : la vela puerca (uruguay)
la dosis perfecta : panteón rococo (méxico)
mc dollar : ska-p (españa)
pobre de ti : tijuana no! (méxico)
de música ligera : soda stereo (argentina)
tu cárcel : enanitos verdes (argentina)
esa noche : café tacuba (méxico)
cumbia lunera : el gran silencio (méxico)
sin documentos : los rodríguez (argentina)
veneno es antidoto : división minúscula (méxico)
la colina de la vida : ataque 77 (argentina)
20 de abril : celtas cortos (españa)
electricidad : los abandoned (chile, eeuu)
el listón de tu pelo : jarabe de palo & julieta venegas (españa, méxico)
padre nuestro : fabulosos cadillacs (argentina)
amargo adios : inspector (méxico)
yo tomo : bersuit (argentina)


** countries of origin listed for identification purposes only, and not intended as a scorecard. pero que viva méxico lindo y querido, jajaja!

the workers

hurray!!! the sf chinese progressive association celebrates a great victory today. after a 3-month heroic fight against their former boss for back wages & past-due overtime pay, the workers at new on sang poultry shop in chinatown finally won their demands. regularly joined on the picket lines by other low-wage & immigrant workers and their families, their win is a victory for just compensation but also for worker solidarity. ¡¡felicidades, compañeros!! the celebration is today at cpa @ 1pm. all are welcome.

from shaw san:

new on sang worker leader lin gan sums it up: "long live worker unity!"... this fight isn't just about unpaid wages; it's about standing up against exploitation of immigrant workers in chinatown and elsewhere. we hope you will continue to support all workers who are struggling against wage theft, and for full respect and dignity as workers.


el vals del obrero (the workers' waltz) : ska-p



éste es mi sitio, ésta es mi gente
somos obreros, la clase preferente
por eso, hermano proletario, con orgullo
yo te canto esta canción, somos la revolución.

¡sí señor!, la revolución,
¡sí señor!, ¡sí señor!, somos la revolución,
tu enemigo es el patrón,
¡sí señor!, ¡sí señor!, somos la revolución,
¡viva la revolución!

**

this is my place, these are my people
we are the workers, the most important class
it's why, my proletarian brother, with pride
i sing you this song, we are the revolution.

yes sir, the revolution!
yes sir, yes sir! we are the revolution,
your enemy is the boss,
yes sir, yes sir! we are the revolution,
long live the revolution!


i've recently been working on some curriculum about la crisis económica, and thinking a lot about the working class, increasing productivity & declining real wages, globalization & de-industrialization. and about: how and when will the workers finally seize the means of production?!... hmm, sometimes the picture looks pretty bleak. but thank goodness for the worker leaders of new on sang, republic windows & doors, fasinpat (ex-zanón) & chilvert! they remind us all of what's possible...

¡todo el poder al pueblo! ¡que vivan los trabajadores!

fotos : 1. occupy-resist-produce 2. raúl 3. fermín 4. base & superstructure diagram : chilavert reclaimed printing press, under worker control : buenos aires, argentina

amor a la mexicana

¡pura caña! ¡puro amor!
amor a la mexicana
de cumbia, huapango y son
caballo, bota y sombrero
tequila, tabaco y ron

**

pure sugarcane! pure love!
love "a la mexicana"
of cumbia, huapango & son *
horse, boot & hat
tequila, tobacco, & rum

* traditional & contemporary musical rhythms in mexico


amor a la mexicana : thalía



say what you will about thalía, i don't care. i admit i like this song. in fact i suggested it for the first dance at my sister's wedding several years ago, i thought that would be hilarious. she did not take the suggestion ;(

thalia really is too much though. i thought about posting the video for this song, but couldn't bring myself to do it, too embarrassing. you can take a look if you'd like... there are actually 3 versions: original, (semi) banda & remix. i have to say, she does a mean quebradita at the end of the banda one...also, in the remix version she rejects a policeman who's trying to get at her. it would seem she rejects him because he's a cop.

bueno. ¡feliz día de san valentín! xox







lotería cards by teresa villegas. more here...

speaking of uruguay...

compro aire ... y si es puro ... pago mucho mas



























fotos : montevideo, uruguay

i made a post about this band trotsky vengarán the other day. then i thought oh my goodness, how have i never made a post about la vela puerca?! also from montevideo, they have a really appealing style. it's that familiar south american rock-ska-protest pop en español, but with maybe a bit less urgency, a bit more bohemia. and similar to the way that el gran silencio utilize cumbia & vallenato or don omar incorporates a little bachata now & then, la vela also pull in the traditional rhythms of their patria, murga & candombe. sooo nice!

they also have a really sweet how-they-got-their-big-break story. basically the singer sent in a demo tape to a television contest without telling his bandmates. they found out he had entered them in the contest when they were announced as finalists. they won the contest and the prize was a guitar, an amp, & 80 hours of studio time which was how they put together their first album.

el viejo : la vela puerca



de atar : la vela puerca

sooo good, no? oh how i wish they would come to sf for a show! or even to sunnyvale ;) enough of this playing all over alemania and the czech republic. our turn!!! que no?

doble filo : la vela puerca




zafar : la vela puerca

another band from uruguay, recommended by pato, is no te va gustar. it's funny because of course there was confusion in our conversation about them. i think we were watching one of their music videos on tv and it went something like this...

pato: this band is from uruguay, they're good. kind of like la vela puerca.
me: what are they called?
pato: no te va gustar.
me: oh... ¿no? ...¿por qué no?
pato: (laughs)

and on & on, you get the idea. jaja. here's a video which i find very amusing (and which prompts me to think about what they might be giants might be like if they were south american). it's a little bit salsa, a little bit just ridiculous.

llévame contigo : no te va a gustar

pinche u.s. government, stealing from us again

mierda. mierda. mierda. this makes my stomach turn...

...the Border Patrol now has migracorridos that sing of the danger immigrants face when crossing the border illegally...What Mexican listeners don't know is that the migracorridos are the U.S. government's latest effort to convince migrants to stay home.

: san antonio express-news

foto : sf chronicle

it's not enough apparently to steal our land and our labor. also now our music.

not enough to build a 3-tiered fence, extend it all the way into the ocean, put floodlights and barbed wire on it, and set armed men and dogs to guard it. not enough to enact policies that separate families, that force transnational workers to cross further into the desert where they are more likely to die. no, the migra has to try to disguise state propaganda as popular music and infiltrate the mexican radio airwaves as well. but a song cannot go up against the desire to feed a family... a todos los inmigrantes: que dios los proteja en el camino...

culture is a weapon (thank you, amilcar cabral). time for us to use it against them. ¡la tierra es para quien la trabaja!


**

and now for some corridos de verdad (as opposed to the fake migra-sponsored variety)...

here is amparo ochoa's version of a famous corrido which dates from the days of the mexican revolution:

adelita : amparo ochoa



victor jara (chileno) had such an affection for the corrido that he recorded a mexican revolution one too:

el corrido de pancho villa : victor jara



also here is the obligatory narco-corrido, perfected by los tucanes:

niño de oro : los tucanas de tijuana



and, of course, any proper discussion of these songs should include the beloved corridos of los tigres del norte. and since it's awhile since i posted any rock en español, here are 3 corridos from the tributo a los tigres del norte album, a great compilation of roqueros covering tigres songs.

la tumba falsa : ely guerra



el circo : maldita vecindad



contrabando y traición : la lupita



these lines are from el circo, about political corruption in mexico & the pri party/salinas family despotism. i think they also work for the above-mentioned migra scheme. que se vayan a la chingada esos running dogs.


pura tranza. puro circo. pura farsa.
la misma tranza, la misma farsa, es pura tranza, la misma farsa
pura pura tranza, puro puro circo, pura pura pura pura farsa!

venezuela ♥ palestina

...


caraqueños protest at the israeli embassy
foto: ap

last week chavez gave the israeli diplomats in venezuela 72 hours to leave the country. expelling them was, he said, a "gesture of dignity". yesterday venezuela's cargo planes left for gaza via egypt carrying 12.5 tons of medical supplies, with 80 more tons of aid to follow this week. and the palestinian flag will fly in their national assembly for one month. ay, venezuela ¡me haces latir el corazón! and i'm not the only one...

viva venezuela : tambor urbano

asalto navideño

christmas time in the united states is so irritating for so many reasons. high on my list of seasonal allergies is the music. ugh, english-language christmas songs, i hate them almost all. and they come at you from all directions in public places, no escape. christmas music in spanish definitely varies, but is better.

the puerto ricans in particular have a very developed christmas music tradition and like many puerto rican things, for having such a small island, they do it real big. i'm not exactly sure what all it involves but there is something about an asalto navideño (¡¿?!) and more traditional jíbaro-style music than is generally appreciated at other times of year. sounds good.

la banda : héctor lavoe & willie colón (from asalto navideño, vol. 2)




amadito's favorite holiday song is the one about the burrito sabanero, which he calls de belén. he would play it 24 hours/day year-round if we allowed him to...



oh! i guess amado isn't the only one who likes this song. here is a version by juanes...



and this version comes with some pretty cool shepherd dance moves...




jeje, how was that for an asalto navideño? or maybe asalto burrito de belén ;)

la argentinidad

aahh, buenos aires. ¡¡¡a mi me encanta!!!

the tiny cups of café with medialunas, balconies & central courtyards, abuelitas that bring you mate in the morning :) oh and also: las madres in the plaza on thursdays, the fábricas recuperadas, the daily manifestaciones, & el museo de la deuda externa!! so lovely. i was talking to my family today and teasing them que aquí me quedo.

last midnight we went to have dinner at the river, río de la plata, which according to the argentines es el río más ancho del mundo. we were having a conversation about it, and of course this bersuit song came up...

bersuit : la argentinidad



... not just the widest river, but also the longest street?! and cinco presidentes en una semana... jaja! 5 presidents in one week. that should definitely be a record of some kind, said my dinner companion.

el dulce de leche, el gran colectivo,
alpargatas, soda y alfajores... las huellas
digitales, los dibujos animados, las jeringas
descartables, la birome... la transfusión
sanguínea, el seis a cero a perú, y
muchas otras cosas más...

gracias, pato, por acordarme de esta canción, y a todos por hacerme reir tan fuerte anoche ;) pasamos un tiempo, como dicen acá, "re-lindo" (is that how you spell that?).