Here, I will translate poetry, music or articles in which words have a special meaning for me.
I will translate from Spanish to English and sometimes from English to Spanish.
Starting the year translating one of my favorite tracks from La Secta AllStar featuring Cultura Profetica <3 The year has begun and I'm pondering about all years passed, but like aged wine life can be sweet and sometimes very sour. We are still here and we have to keep going. To all my old warriors. Let's do this! I posted the video for sound quality but here is the link to the actual live performance.
Like wine, aged wine
I love you and leave you
Like a wave, like the wind
I’m precise in what I feel
And I ask nothing from the rain
Nothing else
But to shower me and let me drink
Like wine, aged wine
I’m your spell, I’m your mirror
Like a wave, ball of fire
I’m precise with my fire
And I ask nothing from life
Nothing else
But to let me in its womb mature
Slow like aged wine
You get old
I mature
Joy and pain, shame and passion
Aged wine
Heaven
is dancing Heaven is dancing Heaven is dancing With you girl
Heaven is dancing Heaven is dancing Heaven is dancing With you girl
Happy New Year 2021 😮 It has been 2 years since I've translated a song here. Let's say life is happening 😊 I decided it was time to pay respects to the time of my life when these lyrics will forever be engraved in my heart. Mostly pay my respects to Tito Rojas. He died of a heart attack on December 26th 2020. A whole generation of salsa lovers was in tears this past holiday season.
Tito Rojas, better known as "El Gallo Salsero" (Salsa's Rooster) was and will always be part of my childhood. Early 1990s in Panama and across Latin America, the genre of Salsa known as "Sensual Salsa" was taking off. Lyrics that... to be honest; an 8 year old should not be listening to 😂. Now, so many years later I still know every single lyric that hit our shores from Tito Rojas.
This song was written by Dario Gomez as per research. The song sounds completely different and I wouldn't have given it a chance if it wasn't in Salsa 😀 so kudos to Tito for doing the lyrics justice. The singers speaks of dying and what he doesn't want at his funeral when everyone is saying goodbye. Now that he is no longer in the physical world the words take a much deeper meaning. To Salsa!
Happy New Year 2019 to everyone!. I had some time and came in to do my the last translation in 2018. This song is a Top 10 Salsa Classic of all time for me. The trumpet solo by Willie Colon and the whole orchestra is a true representation of the life in Salsa. I know every sound on this track and you will always see me imitate the trumpet and drum sounds. They are so much fun for me and it takes me back home every time. Track was released when I was 10 years old and the translation doesn't do it justice. Poetry at its best! Wish you all a great 2019 and hope you find your idyll love with life!
The only thing that encourages my desires is to make you mine.
But the uncertainty i'm going through is destroying me.
Because the cruel snow from the years makes my body cold.
Some 5 plus years ago, a really good friend of mine "Boris" :-) Well he said to translate this song and it was the very first time I heard this track and fell in love with it. Fidel Nadal is a reggae singer from Argentina and I-Nesta is from my home country of Panama. This song means so much to me and my family. My brother specially; plays this song so many times per week, but it never gets old for him. Because what this song does to the spirit is priceless. I'm just trying to spread the vibes and elevate love. Enjoy it!
I-Nesta:
All my people with their hands in the air
All my people with their hands in the air
All my people with their hands in the air
All my people with their hands in the air
When you feel like your day is fuggy and there is no way out
Don’t stop searching for the happiness that Jah gives
If you feel like the moon is your loyal companion
And because you give it all, they didn’t know your worth
And nostalgia invades you and the nights become long
And your chest wants to explode And you don’t know if you should laugh or cry
Fidel:
This one is to get out of sadness
Don’t be bitter, we have to move the pieces right
The time has come to show your entirety
Don’t show laziness, you are royalty
Let’s go up, divine people
If you are too sad, come dance in my corner
And if you feel too much melancholy Because the love you had left you the other day
Use your humbleness, use your sincerity
And if the loves is true it will come back
And if it doesn’t return; that's better for you
I-Nesta tell them!
I-Nesta:
Leave behind all that is bad, because is natural law
That the sun will come out again; no one can avoid it
It will come out for you and also for me
It will come out for you and also for me
Maybe when you wake up everything will be different
And what made you sad yesterday won’t exist in your heart any more
And everything returns to its place
And the love that flew away
Inside another person will come back
Inside another person will come back
Fidel:
Take your impulse, take your trust
And before all don’t lose hope
Malaria is gone and bonanza is back
Show your essence if you have substance
Stand strong, get off your knees
The dream is over, the nightmare is over
True love, not like in chapels
It will make you feel a million wonders
You will see that you’ll stand up...uhum and you will stop crying..uhum
You won’t have time to regret what the the past wanted to take
It's true; the night brings in a new day
More love and more happiness
It’s not a whim or a fantasy
All is fixed as I said
I-Nesta:
All my people with their hands in the air
All my people with their hands in the air
All my people with their hands in the air
All my people with their hands in the air
Leave behind all that is bad, because is natural law
That the sun will come out again; no one can avoid it
Hello internet world! :-) It has been a while since I translated anything and I'm slowly getting back to it. This one became a favorite recently. I think the lyrics are powerful and inspiring. I really love Ruben Blades and I feel this won't be the first of the last song I translate of his. Salsa is life for me and Ruben has done it better than anyone. His lyrics have a mission and my love for it tells me I must share. So here I am :-) Hope you all enjoy it!
No one chooses their family or the race they are born in.
Nor to be rich, poor, good, bad, brave or a coward.
We are born out of a choice in which we were not consulted.
And no one can promise us results.
When we are born; we don’t even know our names.
Or what our path will be, nor what our future hides.
In between baptism and burial everyone makes their way.
And with their decisions, a destiny.
We are just another card in a game someone else has started.
And everyone will bet according to the hand they’ve inherited.
Life is a door where there is no entrance fee.
And the soul is the ticket that, while living, tares up when you pay.
And every step creates a foot print, and every foot print is history.
And every yesterday is a star in the sky of memory.
And the wave of time takes and brings our contradictions.
And between comebacks and goodbyes errors scar.
And each friend is the family we choose between strangers.
And between the wait and the meeting; one learns with the years
That only to our consciousness our spirit responds
And that one thing is to be a male and another to be a man.
No one chooses their family, or their race when they are born.
Nor to be good, bad, pretty, ugly, innocent or guilty.
From birth to death our whole life is a bet.
It depends on our will to find the answers
I Dream of a different world
Where our love never ends
Where never, never, discard another’s reason
Where we never forget to help out..who??
The ones that are staying behind
I Dream of a different world
Where our love never ends
The white bones of a dead man can be from any race.
If death doesn’t discriminate then life shouldn’t either.
I Dream of a different world
Where our love never dies
This truth is very simple, even a child knows it.
If in your life there was no rhythm, in your grave there will be no key.
The Mother of Salsa for me. Celia Cruz was just that. I felt her love and her warmth. Her happiness is still inside me and I can't help but shed a tear when I hear her songs in my car and remember that she is now gone. I never met her. I did go to some shows with my parents in Panama while I was young; but I don't care. I love her! :-) The lyrics of her songs teach and bring wisdom with them. It's one of my favorite recipes for Salsa.
I was going to translate another song of hers; but I came across this one and it's another favorite for me. Plus, it represents my current state. I get to laugh and cry; and my life goes on. Time doesn't wait for anyone or anything. Enjoy your life no matter what.
La la la la la la
La la la la la la
La La la la la la la
La la la la la la
La la la la la la la la la la la la la la
Azucar!
what is good today, might not be good tomorrow
There is where the value of moments are
There is where you find perfect moments
The opportunity comes, you will decide if you jump on her
Hold on tight and don't let go anymore
Laugh...Cry; for everyone gets its turn
Laugh...Cry; live your life and enjoy it all
La la la la la la
La la la la la la
La la la la la la la la la la la la la la
La la la la la la la
La la la la la la la
Everything is so relative
Is not that I remember, is just that I don't forget
That is what forgiveness is
To remember without pain
Hold on tight and don't let go anymore
Laugh...Cry; for everyone gets its turn
Laugh...Cry; live your life and enjoy it all
La la la la la la
La la la la la la
La la la la la la la
Azucar!!
La la la la la la la la la la la la la la
La la la la la la la
Laugh...Cry; live your life and enjoy it all
All of it
Laugh...Cry; because this litle black girl doesn't go out of style
La la la la la la
La la la la la la
La la la la la la la la la la la la la la
How flavorful it is
How flavorful it is
This here rhythm
Laugh...Cry; because this little black girl doesn't go out of style
