Monday, 24 October 2011 14:56
Jugando con Candela by Adalberto Alvarez.
I don't know if this happens to you, but what I remember most from popular Cuban music is their chorus. Not seldom it's the only thing I actually achieve to learn about a song.
I think that to us Cubans they stick so much because of their essence, their various interpretations, their ambiguity, their ingenuity, their power of summarizing…because of various reasons.
Don't you remember the one that says "Cuida'o con el perro que muerde calla'o" ("Beware of the dog that bites the horse")? A song from the crude repertoire from "El Guayabero". Or the truly anthological and suggestive chorus by the "Trio Matamoros": "La mujer de Antonio camina así" ("Antonio's wife walks like this").
Many are related to the perpetual subject of the Cubans: sex, and everything related to it. I can recall various with this profile, for example the very illustrating "A Juana no le gusta que le monten la guagua por detrás" ("Juana doesn't like it when they ride her from behind") ; or the one that sang the "National Septet": "Suavecito es como me gusta más" ("Softly I like it most"), or the less allegorical ones "Si me pides el pesca’o te lo doy" ("If you ask me for the fish I give it to you")… "Dale dos, dos caramelos, dale dos, a ella le gusta" ("Come on, two, two candies, come on, two, she likes it"). And what do the most suggestive ones say: "Ponme la mano aquí, Macorina, ponme la mano, aquí" ("Put your hand here, Macorina, put your hand here"), and the one which asks: "Que tu quieres que te den" ("What would you like that they do to you")?
Even the mournful idea has inspired the chorus of our composers: "No la llores, no la llores, que fue la gran bandolera, enterrador no la llores" ("Don't cry about her, don't cry about her, she was a big bandit, don't cry about her gravedigger"). And of course religiousness can't be missed, so I would like to end this here with the classic by Adalberto Álvarez which stated (and the one I have subscribed to): "Voy a pedir pa' ti, lo mismo que tú pa' mi" ("I will ask for the same for you as you have asked for me").
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