The night of Santiago
That wasn’t what I heard
For the sake of conversation
I took her at her word
The lights went out behind us
The fireflies undressed
The broken sidewalk ended
I touched her sleeping breasts
They opened to me urgently
Like lilies from the dead
Behind a fine embroidery
Her nipples rose like bread
Then I took of my necktie
And she took of her dress
My belt and pistol set aside
We tore away the rest
The night of Santiago
And I was passing through
So I took her to the river
As any man would do
Her thighs they slipped away from me
Like schools of startled fish
Though I’ve forgotten half my life
I still remember this
Now, as a man I won’t repeat
The things she said aloud
Except for this, my lips are sealed forever
And for now
And soon there’s sand in every kiss
And soon the dawn is ready
And soon the night surrenders
To a daffodil machete
I gave her something pretty
And I waited till she laughed
I wasn’t born a gypsy
To make a women sad
The night of Santiago
And I was passing through
So I took her to the river
As any man would do
The night of Santiago
And I was passing through
So I took her to the river
As any man would do
I didn’t fall in love of course
It’s never up to you
But she was walking back and forth
And I was passing through
When I took her to the river
In her virginal apparel
When I took her to the river
On that night of Santiago
And yes she lied about it all
Her children and her husband
You were born to judge the world
Forgive me but I wasn’t
The night of Santiago
And I was passing through
So I took her to the river
As any man would do
Homenaje a Federico García Lorca
El trovador cubano Silvio Rodríguez abrió el 1 de septiembre en el Gran Teatre del Liceu de Barcelona su nueva gira por el Estado español con un concierto de 22 canciones que fue creciendo paulatinamente hasta desembocar en una sucesión final de clásicos. A punto de cumplir 80 años, Rodríguez mostró una voz sólida, mantuvo la habitual sobriedad de sus conciertos, dejando que fueran las canciones y la poesía las que expresaran aquello que apenas necesitó explicar con palabras.
Las plataformas digitales democratizaron el acceso a la música y multiplicaron las posibilidades de publicación para miles de artistas. Sin embargo, dos décadas después de su irrupción, el mercado parece avanzar hacia una dirección inesperada: los éxitos son cada vez más locales, los algoritmos refuerzan las fronteras culturales y, salvo los artistas mainstream, resulta cada vez más difícil descubrir en nuestros escenarios a músicos procedentes de otros países, especialmente cuando deben cruzar un océano.