Feeling and Thinking Eduardo Galeano in Songs

Sentipensando a Eduardo Galeano en Canciones

Can the indelible thoughts and feelings etched in one's mind after reading Eduardo Galeano be captured in a song? While some people write questions and observations on the margins of books, I write songs instead. I have no interest in retelling a story or sharing facts or ideas about anything that I have seen or read. It is not my vocation nor is it part of my tool set. Rather, I enjoy having an internal dialogue with a thoughtful piece of text. No, I have not gone mad as of yet. These conversations help me find a way of synthesizing what I should not forget. Can I minimize rhyming all my regrets? Despair impairs the soul so faith and hope is a better way to go.

What was the approach? First, I would read a text that agreed with me. Second, I scavenged for other sources that could bring clarity to any of my doubts and enrich the experience as I examined the text again. In the case of Eduardo Galeano's writings on Ota Benga, I was able to gain insight into the historical context of the story by way of Pamela Newkirk and her book Spectacle: The Astonishing Life of Ota Benga. Thirdly, I would let it all marinate and allow it time and space to come back to me. Could I put together what I remembered, understood, could applied, made sense of, judged, and valued to create something new?

How about the process? As I patiently waited and went about the business of repairing my gentle soul, a song by Violeta Parra, Silvio Rodríguez, Antonio Cabán Vale, Gloria Martin, Harry Belafonte, Victor Jara, Woody Guthrie, Toña la Negra, Ruben Blades, Chabuca Granda, Leon Gieco, Alí Primera, Billy Holiday, Caetano Veloso, Sonia Silvestre, Daniel Santos, Mercedes Sosa, Chico Buarque, La Lupe, Lilia Vera, Cheo Feliciano, The Weavers, Expresión Joven, Inti Illimani, Guadalupe Trigo, Ismael Rivera, Soledad Bravo, Luis Gabriel, Lyle Lovett, Grupo Convite, Jorge Drexler, Nanci Griffith, Pete "El Conde" Rodríguez, Alberto Cortez, Dion, Chavela Vargas, Pete Seeger, Danny Rivera, Ronnie Gilbert, Héctor Lavoe, Nina Simone, Pablo Milanés, Fefita la Grande, Phil Ochs, Alfredo Zitarrosa, Eugenia León, Gilberto Monroig, Odetta, León Gieco, Sabiá, Bill Withers, Piero, Stromae, Nanci Griffith, Joan Manuel Serrat, Joan Baez, Louis Armstrong, La Familia André, Sylvia Rexach, Tom Waits, Haciendo Punto en Otro Son, Ella Fitzgerald, Adrian Goizueta, Paul Robeson, Leonard Cohen, Tom Paxton, Holly Near, Atahualpa Yupanqui, Facundo Cabral, Gilberto Gil, Elizabeth Cotten, Carlos Mejía Godoy, Joaquin Sabina, Tania Libertad, Daniel Viglietti, Los Guaraguao, Patti Griffin, Roy Brown, Moliendo Vidrio, Victor Heredia, Lucesita Benítez, Aires Bucaneros, Michael Feinstein, Sara González, Amaury Pérez, Noel Nicola, Carlos Puebla, Lead Belly, Jackson Browne, Santiago Feliú, Gaby Moreno, Eladio Romero Santos, Donato Poveda, Bessie Smith, Carlos Varela, Luis Días, and countless others, would come to mind and inadvertently provide the framework of the song that I was to write. For instance, if a song by Violeta Parra wondered into my precious head, I would let it influence my musical choices. More concretely, the verse structure and chordal relationships in the song Albert Einstein surfaced after examining the folkloric elements of "Porque los pobres no tienen" by Violeta Parra. Although the final version of Albert Einstein abandons, for the most part, Violeta's musical chordal structure, it attempts to capture its emotional persuasive eloquence.

This was not a well thought-out plan but simply an exercise and a springboard for thinking through an idea. It was my way of finding meaning through action, reflection, and revision. Like Samuel Becket put it, "Try again. Fail again. Fail better." I did my best to avoid getting seasick in the process. The times are always turbulent for somebody. I lived in this emotional continent and wrote songs based on the feelings and thoughts that emerged out of all my internal conversations with a given piece of text. It took three years of writing and five years to convince me that I should stop. At first, the songs sat quietly in a box of dreams alongside other forgotten projects. Then slowly, the songs started to make their presence known by encouraging me to revise them and play them. I tenderly listened.

Eventually, I was obliged to share something that was never intended to be shared. It was my precious quiet thing. Some feelings and thoughts, however, are too strong to keep inside a box.

Songs

Send me a note if you would like to continue the conversation or share your thoughts on any of these songs: