A Journey Across Latin America – Canto Vivo in Concert

Songs (English Translations)

1- Abracadabras
We place note after note
One word after another
With a yearning so precise
Casting the spell of our Abracadabras
They are night owls, pampered
They are butterfly thieves
We let time go by
Seeking to imbue a phrase with that mysterious power
Where do songs go?
When we speak them to the wind
Carrying into unknown hearts, unknown feelings
Whoever has a verse to give
Open your hand and gift it to us
Poetry is a flower
That is nourished with every sorrow
We need only a whisper, a new feeling to drown in
With this voice that gladly
Yearns to go around the sun
They are night owls, pampered
They are butterfly thieves
We let time go by
Seeking to imbue a phrase with that mysterious power
Where do songs go?
When we speak them to the wind
Carrying into unknown hearts, unknown feelings
Whoever has a verse to give
Open your hand and gift it to us
Poetry is a flower
That is nourished with every sorrow
Poetry is a flower
That is nourished with every sorrow

2- Jacinto Chiclana
I remember it happened in Balvanera* on a night long ago
When someone dropped the name of a Jacinto Chiclana.
Something was also said about a street corner and a knife.
The years won’t let us see through the confusion or brilliance.
Who knows why that name keeps haunting me
I would like to know what that man was like.
I see him tall and fine with a restrained soul.
Capable of not raising his voice and of risking his life.
None with a firmer step
Has walked on this Earth.
None would have been like him
In love and in war.
On the ground and on the patio
The Balvanera towers,
And that random death
On a random street corner.
Only God knows the faithful soul of that man.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am singing about
What his name encloses.
Here goes, then, this milonga** dedicated to Jacinto Chiclana.
*Balvanera: a neighbourhood in Buenos Aires
**milonga: a dance rhythm faster than tango

3- El Humauaqueño
The Humahuaca carnival is arriving my cholita**
Celebration of the Humahuaca canyon to sing, to dance
Erque, charango and bombo ***
Dear carnival to sing, to dance

*Humahuaca: a region in northwestern Argentina
**cholita: indigenous woman
*** erque, charango and bombo: traditional wind, string and percussion
instruments

4- Si Somos Americanos (If we are American)
If we are American,
We are siblings, folks
We have the same flowers
We have the same hands
If we are American
We will be good neighbors
We will share the wheat
We will be good siblings
We will dance Marinera
Resfalosa, Samba and Son
If we are American
We will be a song
If we are American
We will not observe borders
We will care for the seeds
We will observe the flags
If we are American
We will all be equal
White, mestizo, indigenous
and black are as such
We will dance Marinera
Refalosa, Samba and Son
If we are American
We will be a song

*Belonging to the American continent

5- Todo Cambia (Everything Changes)
What’s superficial changes
and so does what’s deep
the way we think changes
everything in this world changes.
Weather changes over the years
a shepherd changes his flock
and just like everything changes
that I should change is nothing
strange.
The finest brilliant thing
changes its luster from hand to hand
a bird changes nests
a lover changes feelings
a walker changes directions
although it could cause harm
and just like everything changes
that I should change is nothing
strange.
Changes, everything changes
Changes, everything changes
Changes, everything changes
Changes, everything changes.
The sun changes in its path
as the night persists
a plant changes its garments
and dresses in green in spring.
Animals’ coats change
as well as old people’s hair
and just like everything changes
that I should change is nothing
strange.
But my love doesn’t change
even when far away
nor the memory nor the pain
of my country and my people.
What changed yesterday
must change tomorrow
just as I am changing
in this distant country.
Changes, everything changes
Changes, everything changes
Changes, everything changes
Changes, everything changes

6- El Aguacate (Lovesick/ The Avocado)
You are my love, my joy and my treasure,
my only pleasure and my illusion.
You are my love, my joy and my treasure,
my only pleasure and my illusion.
Come ease my pain woman, stay true to me my darling,
don’t lose the one who cries and longs for your passion.
I’ll always believe in you, my love
all of my dreams are yours now.
Come ease my pain woman, stay true to my darling
don’t lose the one who cries and longs for your passion.

7- Yo Me Llamo Cumbia (My Name is Cumbia)
My name is Cumbia; I am a queen wherever I go.
There is not one hip that keeps still wherever I am.
My skin is dark like the skins on my drum,
And my shoulders are a pair of maracas kissed by the sun.
In my throat, I have a fine flute that God gave me,
*Canuto de millo, drunk with tobacco, alcohol and rum.
I pick up my bag, light a candle, the sound rings out,
And I tangle my full voice in the moon and in the stars.
Since I am the queen, in my entourage I have a fine violin; a piano wins my
heart;
I am followed by a saxophone and a clarinet,
And the whole orchestra puts on a party around me.
And I am Cumbia, the coquettish woman, I’m happy in dance.
I was born on my country’s beautiful Caribbean beaches.
I am from Barranquilla, from Cartagena; that’s where I’m from.
I am from Santa Marta, from Montería, but above all,
I am Colombian. Oh, beautiful land where I was born!
*Canuto de millo: woodwind musical instrument of indigenous origin.

8- Confesión (Confession)
I come from a land
That overflows with heart
and strength of will
I dream of the day
when it overflows with reasons to
sing
I have two reasons that await me
That look at me deeply
I have more and more rewards
I have less and less words for this
I come from a land
that is bewitched
by the Indians that refuse
to step away from who they are
It has been a twenty-year journey
Learning to value my land
Which in my time as a child
Seemed so steeped in magic
I have a thousand reasons that still
stand
That look at me deeply
I have more and more rewards
I have less and less words for this
I have a heart
That never tires of missing my
homeland
So many dreams and hopes
That stay in my soul
I have a country
stuck in my throat
It just won’t let me
grow used to being away
I come from a land
that is bewitched
by the Indians that refuse
to step away from who they are
I have a country
stuck in my throat
It just won’t let me
grow used to being away
I come from a land
That overflows with heart
and strength of will

9- El Diablo Suelto (The Devil’s on the Loose)
Run back home kid for the Devil’s on the loose,
and between his horns, he’s got Ruperto’s son
Names a million he has got, they’ve seen him in Carora
San Juan too.
Grab the palm leaf cross, don’t waver or stop,
you’d better pray, grip a fistful of salt,
holy water too.
And don’t you tremble or moan and groan
just do it right cause this Devil’s delight
is to make you run and give you a fright.
Don’t you dream that with rum or tobacco
you’ll scare him straight
because this Devil delights in drinking and smoking, too.
Run, hop, jump
because the loose devil can catch you.

10- A Voz do Morro (The Voice of the Favela)
I’m the samba
The voice of the favela, that’s me indeed
I want to show the world that I have value
I’m the king of the terreiros*
I’m the samba
I’m originally from Rio de Janeiro
I’m the one who brings joy
To millions of Brazilian hearts
One more samba
We want samba
Brazilian people are the ones
Asking for that
Long live samba
Let’s keep singing
This melody of a happy Brazil
*Terreiro – location for the practice of Afro-Brazilian religious and cultural
traditions.

11- Chega de Saudade (Enough Longing)
Go my sadness
And tell her that I can’t live without her
Tell her in a prayer
May she return
Because I can’t suffer anymore
Enough longing
The reality is that without her there is no peace
There is no beauty, just sadness and melancholy
That doesn’t leave me
However, if she comes back, what a beautiful thing
What a crazy thing
Because there are fewer fish in the sea
Than the kisses that I will place on her mouth
Inside my arms
The hugs will be millions of hugs
Tight like this, stuck like this, silent like this
Hugs and kisses
And endless cuddles
To put an end to this business
Of you living without me
I want none of this business
Of you being away from me
Let’s forget this business
Of you living without me

12- Mi Tierra Veracruzana (My Veracruz Homeland)
In my Veracruz homeland
I just want to drink coffee
With a bit of sugar and cane
To start tapping my feet.

I am so in love
With the banana leaf
With its green and dark skin
I just want to see you again.

To see you again,
To see you again,
My Veracruz homeland, I want to
see you.
To see you again,
To see you again,
My Veracruz homeland,
I want to love you.

In my Veracruz homeland
I only want to embrace the sea,
To watch the night from a
hammock,
To sing in the morning,
To bury my legs in the fields,
To dance in the sand,
To give away my dreams in a boat,
To be lazy at home.
To see you again,
To see you again,
My Veracruz homeland, I want to see
you.
To see you again,
To see you again,
My Veracruz homeland,
I want to love you.

Not a day goes by without my thinking
of you.
Being away makes me long for you.
I paint melodies with your landscapes,
With your lemon-green landscapes,
With your guava pink that I use for
love,
A yellowish red from the pitaya flower,
The blue of the gulf, and passionate
red.
To see you again,
To see you again,
To see you again,
To see you again,
Coffee with bread,
Coffee with bread.
To see you again,
To see you again,
My Veracruz homeland, I want to see
you.
To see you again,
To see you again,
My Veracruz homeland,
I want to love you.

13- Hasta La Raiz (To the Root)
I keep crossing rivers, walking jungles, loving the sun.
Every day I keep taking out thorns from the depths of my heart.
At night, I keep lighting dreams to clean
With the sacred smoke every memory, every memory.
When I write your name on the white sand with a blue background,
When I look at the sky with the cruel shape of a grey cloud,
One afternoon I will climb a high hill, look at the past,
You will know that I have not forgotten you, forgotten you,
I carry you inside to the root,
And no matter how much it grows, you will be here
Although I may hide behind the mountain, and find a field full of cane,
There will be no way, my moonbeam, you will leave me, you will leave me.
I think that every instant survived while walking,
And each second of uncertainty, each moment of not knowing,
Are the key to this weaving I carry under my skin.
This is how I protect you. This is how I carry you inside me.

14- La Maza (The Mace)
If I didn’t believe in the madness
Of the mockingbird’s song,
If I didn’t believe that in the
mountain
Bird song and fear lie hidden,
If I didn’t believe in scales
In the reason of balance,
If I didn’t believe in delirium,
If I didn’t believe in hope,
If I didn’t believe in what I procure,
If I didn’t believe in my path,
If I didn’t believe in my sound,
If I didn’t believe in my silence.
What would be the point,
What would be the point of a mace
without a quarry.
A jumble made of cords and
tendons,
A mishmash of flesh and wood,
An instrument with no more
splendor
Little lights mounted on a stage.
What would be the point, my love,
what would be the point,
What would be the point of a mace
without a quarry.
A frontman for the traitor of
applause,
A server of the past in a new cup,
A maker of eternal gods in decline,
Joy boiled with rags and sequins.
What would be the point, my love,
what would be the point,
What would be the point of a mace
without a quarry.
If I didn’t believe in what is tough,
If I didn’t believe in desire,
If I didn’t believe in what I believe,
If I didn’t believe in something pure,
If I didn’t believe in every wound,
If I didn’t believe in the one that
stays,
If I didn’t believe in what is hidden
behind
Becoming a brother to life,
If I didn’t believe in those who listen
to me,
If I didn’t believe in what hurts,
If I didn’t believe in what’s left,
If I didn’t believe in what struggles.

15- El Cuarto de Tula (Tula’s Room)
In La Cachimba neighborhood a commotion has formed
In La Cachimba neighborhood a commotion has formed
There went the firemen with their bells, their sirens
There went the firemen with their bells, their sirens
Oh mother! What went down?
Oh mother! What went down?
Tula’s room, was caught by the fire
She fell asleep and didn’t blow the candle out
Tula’s room, was caught by the fire
She fell asleep and didn’t blow the candle out.