Cuban identity as expressed through contemporary Cuban music.
"What eternity is to time, the Aleph is to space. In eternity, all time - past, present and future - coexist simultaneously. In the Aleph, the sum total of the spatial universe is to be found in a tiny shining sphere." Jorge Luis Borges
"Nosotros maximos dirigentes de la agrupación Porno Para Ricardo queremos hacer saber que dicha banda esta a favor de lo que nos de la gana (preferentemente a favor de nosotros mismos) no pretende ser un grupo nacionalista, mas bien cubano y esto solo porque le toco geográficamente,"
[“We top leaders of the band Porno Para Ricardo want to make known that this band is in favour of doing whatever its members please to do (preferably in our own favour), that this band doesn’t attempt to be a nationalist one, only a Cuban one and even that just due to geographical casualty.”] Gorki Águila, Porno Para Ricardo?xml:namespace>
Monday, 5 December 2011
Decadencia – Escuadrón Patriota: A Translation
[I couldn't find a translation of the song 'Decadencia' by Escadrón Patriota, so I provide one here. The song itself, released in 2009 has become something of a sensation, confirming Escuadrón's position as a contemporary cultural comentator within Cuba, and bestowing upon him the governmental pressure such a epithet entails. An illumination interview with Escuadrón can be found here:]
Es como si estuviéramos congelados en el tiempo
Parece como si no nos interesara nada
La esperanza de nuestro pueblo, Eskuadrón
Yo creo que el pueblo necesita de este mensaje
Con mucho amor para todos mis hermanos, Prófugo Ciao- Yo
It’s like being frozen in time
Like if nothing ever mattered to us
The hope of our people, Eskuadrón
I believe that the people need this message
With much love for all my brothers, Prófugo, Ciao, Yo Voy por mi gusto cuando la necesidad me abraza
Entre una decadencia que el sistema disfraza
Mi verbo toma forma y a la poesía se engancha
Fluye mi espíritu, inmortalizo mis palabras
De nuevo me transformo en la voz de una gran masa
Acéfala, vacía que en silencio se desplaza
Se cansaron de llorar y ahora le sangra el alma
Mientras se preguntan ¿Quién controla su esperanza?
Y se retuercen porque les duele, la herida sangra, y creen que mueren
Quieren gritar su dolor pero no pueden
Porque el terror impuesto le arrancan lo poco que tienen
Piden justicia y eso no se logra ver
¿Por qué reprimen al que libre quiere ser?
Desde sus despachos la realidad no la pueden oler
La tristeza de este país no la van a comprender
Como no comprende mi gente como solucionar
Trabajas sudan entero y no te puedes liberar
Entregas todo y a cambio nada, esclavitud total
Así te controlan, yo lo llamo conspiración letal
El mensaje se funde con los segundos, crece mi fe
Inventan leyes abusivas, te tienen a su merced
Nuestras opiniones no se escuchan olvidando que las revoluciones son para el pueblo,
No para el que esta en el poder
Y la decadencia estremece la conciencia
y la mente no despiertan y todo todo lo aceptan
La gente no cree y no ve, arrastrados por la inercia
Prefieren soportarlo todo antes de romper la cuerda
I go well aware when necessity embraces me
Surrounded by decadence which the system disguises
My verb takes shape and hooks up with poetry
My spirit flows, I immortalise my words
Again I become the voice of a great mass
Leaderless, empty, moving in silence
Tired of crying, their souls now bleed
Wondering who controls their hope
And they twist ‘cause they hurt, the wound bleeds, they feel they’re dying
They want to scream their pain, but they can’t
Because the imposed terror’s got a grab on whatever little they have left
They claim justice but it doesn’t come through
Why oppressing that who wants to be free?
They can’t smell reality from their offices
The sadness of this country, they can’t understand
Just like my people cannot understand
You work, you sweat your body weight and you can’t free yourself
You give everything in exchange for nothing, total slavery
This way they control you, I call it lethal conspiracy
The message blends with the seconds, my faith grows
They invent abusive laws, they have you at their mercy
Our opinions are not heard, forgetting that revolutions are for the people
Not for those in power
And decadence shakes off conscience
And the minds do not wake up, they accept everything
People don’t believe and don’t see, dragged down by inertia
They prefer to put up with anything than to break the rope
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