Well, HOLA! I'm sorry for the lapse in posting, I have been working on a "1 Year" post that will be coming soon. I'm currently in Lima helping with the new Business group's training, and staying with my wonderful UVA friend Ruthie. I am having an absolutely FABULOUS time being here in the drastically different world of Lima, but at the same time it makes me miss "home," or basically all the tings that characterize Peru outside of Lima. They can be two completely different worlds. So, here's a fun little post, about one of my favorite songs. First, a little background:
On the coast, the most popular kind of music for a family party is cumbia. Check out the "My Site and Work" tab to see some cumbia videos. In the sierra (Andes), the most popular kind of party music is called huayno. The following is a huayno song, obviously popular in the highlands, but also used as the late night song in Monsefú.
The lyrics insinuate the rivalry/tension between coast and highlands. Because the highlands are generally poorer, a lot of people come from the mountains to the coast to find work, and are looked down upon sometimes, basically like domestic immigrants. The word serrano means a highland person and cholo means (very loosely) "Indian." Both words can be used in a pejorative way by people on the coast or in Lima, referring to those that they consider lowly or uncultured... but cholo can also be used on a coast as a term of endearment, like "sweetie."
With that in mind, check out this serrano-pride song about a well-known highland town called Bambamarca. It's so fun. But I must point out, that the scenes in this video are not from the north or Bambamarca, but such are the ironies of Peruvian music videos.
If you're reading this post through email, you may not be able to see the video until you click a hyperlink to visit my blog website.
LYRICS
They tell me that I'm serrano
Serrano from Bambamarca.
Yes, I am serrano
with high honor, gentlemen!
Yes I am serrano
I'll show you my proof.
My land is generous
my land is productive.
Where there are always barley, corn, and wheat
This is my town
My town of Bambamarca
My town of Bambamarca
On the day that I marry
it has to be in Bambamarca.
She'll have to be a pretty woman
who has a lot of money
and who is from Bambamarca.
Beautiful, my Bambamarca
beautiful, her panorama
Beautiful valley Yaucano
and her river Maytabamba
They tell me that I'm serrano
A little serrano who's very loved
I don't deny my origins
I am a cholo from Bambamarca
We are from Bambamarca in our hearts!!
Good morning how are you?
ReplyDeleteMy name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because trough them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately it’s impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this I would ask you one small favor:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Peru? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Peru in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Calle Valencia,39
28903 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely
Emilio Fernandez