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Guantanamera Revisited


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Old 26-02-2015, 21:10
goldberry1
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I just love this song which is interesting and has had many many different arrangements through the years. When I have time I'll tell you its story and translate some of the lyrics but for now here are three different versions. Such an uplifting song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci_2ETb3Gj4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRTC3cfWfGk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLLRNfnPi0w
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Old 27-02-2015, 21:45
peter_s
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I like this version by Celia Cruz with The Fania All Stars, recorded in 1974 in Kinshasa Zaire (i'm not too keen on the violin solo though):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W777MIR8-ko
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Old 01-03-2015, 14:13
goldberry1
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I like this version by Celia Cruz with The Fania All Stars, recorded in 1974 in Kinshasa Zaire (i'm not too keen on the violin solo though):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W777MIR8-ko
Ah - I hadn't heard this version - I like this too!

As well as differing arrangements there are often different verses and verse order is changed - the song is made for improvisation.

Some of the verses were taken from the poet and political activist Jose Marti. It became a nationalistic song and a protest/revolutionary one.

Here is the earliest I can find - get past the odd modern beginning first! :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfNj-oBOyRY


This is my possibly dodgy translation of often the first verse usually heard (but not in the link above) -


Guantanamera means female from Guantanamo, Cuba. Guajira means country or peasant girl.

Yo soy un hombre sincero
I am a truthful/honest/sincere man
De donde crece la palma
From the land of the palms / or from where grows the palm (ie Cuba)
The two lines above repeat then:
Y antes de morirme quiero
Before dying I want to
Echar mis versos del alma
Share/pour out/relate poems/verses of my soul

More verse translation follows when I have time
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Old 01-03-2015, 15:08
goldberry1
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The chorus then

Cultivo una rosa blanca
I grow a white rose
En julio como en enero
In July just as in January
The two lines repeat then
Para el amigo sincero
For the honest friend
que me da su mano franca
Who gives me his open hand

CHORUS

Mi verso es de un verde claro
My verse/poem is of light green
Y de un carmin encendido
And of flaming crimson
The two lines repeat then
Mi verso es un ciervo herido
My verse/poem is like a wounded deer
Que busca en el monte amparo
Seeking refuge in the forest

CHORUS

and there's more....
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Old 01-03-2015, 15:20
goldberry1
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Con los pobres de la tierra
With the poor people of the earth
Quiero yo mi suerte echar
I want to share/tell my fate
The two lines repeat then
El arroyo de la sierra
The stream of the mountain
Me complace mas que el mar
Pleases me more than the sea


CHORUS

Y para el cruel que me arranca

And for the cruel one who tears out
El corazon con que vivo
The heart by which I live/my living heart
The lines repeat then
Cardo ni ortiga cultivo
Thistle nor nettle do I grow
Cultivo la rosa blanca
I grow the white rose

(Alfonso X sings oruga in my first post instead of ortiga - a caterpillar - at the end he says 'love')

CHORUS

There are other verses too
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Old 01-03-2015, 23:44
goldberry1
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I like this version by Celia Cruz with The Fania All Stars, recorded in 1974 in Kinshasa Zaire (i'm not too keen on the violin solo though):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W777MIR8-ko

I see what you mean about the violin solo at the end - I have no idea what they were trying to do but it spoilt the performance which had been very good until then
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Old 02-03-2015, 10:17
goldberry1
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Here's a link with more information about the song



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guantanamera
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