Time is flying by now that classes have started and I sort of know where to go. Today´s class was very interesting. Pedro told us about the song Guantanamera.

Originally, it was a programme on the radio about the tabloid news, like murders, bloody fights etc. Actors would sing out these stories in verse, and the refrain would be, ´Guantanamera, guajira, guantanamera´.

In the 60ies, an American called Pete Segal, spelling?, figured out that a poem by José Marti, Cuba´s national hero, political figure but also prolific writer, could be sung by the same tune, and he recorded it, making it a huge hit.

This is how it goes, in an approximate translation,

I´m an honest man
From where the palms grow
and before I die I would like to
pour out my soul in this verse

My poem is of a bright green
and of a fiery red
My poem is a wounded deer
that looks for safety in the woods

With the poor of the world
I place my fate
The source of the mountain river
pleases me more than the sea