We've done a lot of songs about love. Here is one for subversion.
A lot of people in the US aren't familiar with Cuban songwriter, singer, and guitarist Carlos Puebla, whose most famous song "Hasta Siempre, Comandante" is well known in other parts of the planet and has been covered many times. His songs are very traditional, melodic, poetic, humorous, and sweet, but also sometimes bitingly political (for example check out "La OEA Es Cosa De Risa", which literally has singers laughing, in harmony, at the Organization of American States).
This week we chose one of his least political songs, "Traigo de Cuba un Cantar", which is loosely translated as "I'm offering a song about Cuba", and whose lyrics are really just about having strong emotions while singing about Cuba. In the US, which has for decades vilified the Cuban regime and instituted harsh and punishing sanctions that have impoverished the people, any song with positive thoughts about Cuba is subversive.
Original song by Carlos Puebla y Sus Tradicionales, sometime in the 1960's.
Cover version arranged by Jim Ingalls and Sonali Kolhatkar. Recorded July 25, 2021.
19 сен 2024
