Nicaragüense Güegüense

Carlos Mejía Godoy y Los de Palacagüina

CARLOS MEJÍA GODOY Y LOS DE PALACAGÜINA - NICARAGÜENSE GÜEGÜENSE [NICARAGUA, 2003]

“Soy Nicaragüense, Güegüense por gracia de Dios, quiero que este grito clarito truene en mi nación, este orgullo nadie me lo va a quitar, soy dueño del Coco y del Río San Juan.”

This is a fun song about how cool it is to be Nicaraguan. In addition to it being El Salvador’s independence day, today also marks the rest of Central America’s declaration of independence (except Belize and Panama) and I figured I should show the other countries love too. Carlos Mejia Godoy, the older of the renowned Mejia Godoy brothers, is the country’s most recognized folk musician, having written and recorded hundreds of songs celebrating Nicaragua and its people. During the 70s and 80s he gave his work a particularly revolutionary character, using his fame to promote the armed struggle of the Sandinista National Liberation Front and, after the FSLN’s 1979 victory, working as Vice Minister of Culture under Maryknoll priest and poet Fr. Ernesto Cardenal. In other words, he’s a badass and deserves your attention.

I can’t find the lyrics for this one and since Nicaraguans like to make up words (generally with a lot of umlauts [ü]) I am not even going to try and transcribe them. Still, I think you can have some fun dancing around your room with this. As is typical in traditional Nicaraguan music, there is a lot of emphasis on the marimba and the accordion, though the marimba only pops up on this one during the hook. Notice also that while the first verse of the song is played in duple meter (like a polka: oom-PA, oom-PA), the hook changes the rhythm entirely to a triple (like a waltz: OOM-pa-pa, OOM-pa-pa), then returning to duple at the start of the second verse.

You can hear references to the country’s history and geography as well; Mejia Godoy refers to Diriangén, an indigenous folk hero, and the Rio Coco and Rio San Juan, two rivers in the north and southern borders of the country, respectively.

ENJOY!

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La Tumba del Guerrillero

Carlos Mejía Godoy

Que me cuentan, seguidores? Today we’re back for song of the day with a great track by Nicaraguan musical legend Carlos Mejia Godoy, called “La Tumba del Guerrillero” [The Guerrilla’s Grave]. Somehow, I’ve had this on my computer for months and just heard it for the first time today. Anyway, it’s an awesome song and I hope you enjoy it. If you want to check out past episodes of this segment, click here.

At this point, you may be asking yourself who this Carlos Mejia Godoy character is. Well, perhaps I should tell you. He is probably the most well-known figure in Nicaraguan folk music, and his songs were very strongly associated with the Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional political movement. Many of his albums from the 1970s celebrated the Sandinista Army’s exploits against the national army of dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle, as well as the campesino way of life common to areas under Sandinista control.

It is difficult to tell how much the Revolution owes to the songs of Carlos Mejia Godoy, which were able to organize a collective sentiment among the people, extracting the themes and chords from our deepest roots and preparing this sentiment for the struggle. -Sergio Ramirez Mercado

Mejia Godoy continued to be instrumental to the Revolution even after its victory in 1979, by helping to build enthusiasm for mass campaigns, such as the National Literacy Crusade. While he later distanced himself from the degeneration of the FSLN, he has continued to uphold the intent and goals of the ‘79 Revolution, singing his songs of the era to this day. In 2006 he ran for Vice President with Edmundo Jarquin on the MRS (Sandinista Renovation Movement) ticket, though they didn’t fare too well, gaining only 6.29%. Daniel Ortega’s FSLN, which won 37.99%, emerged victorious and occupied the presidency for the first time since 1990.

Fun fact: Carlos Mejia Godoy’s son, Camilo Mejia, is a well known former US soldier and conscientious objector to the Iraq War.

This particular song isn’t incredibly characteristic of most Nicaraguan nueva cancion, which often features more accordion and marimba (the latter highlighting the African influence on Nicaraguan sound), so it’s difficult to point out any particular national features. If you’d like a better idea of the instrumentation used for this song, here is a video of the live version from a concert at Casa de los Mejia Godoy where you can see what is in use.

“La Tumba del Guerrillero” is a hymn dedicated to martyrs of the Sandinista revolution, who had died in battle and had their graves hidden from their families and friends by the government. As always, the lyrics are provided in English and Spanish for your convenience. Enjoy!

SPANISH:

La tumba del guerrillero
dónde, dónde, dónde está
su madre está preguntando
nadie le responderá
la tumba del guerrillero
dónde, dónde, dónde está
el pueblo está preguntando
algún día lo sabrá.

Guerrillero, vos surgis en ríos
montes y praderas
en el viento que mece el chinchorro
del hijo del Juan
en las manos humildes y toscas
de la vivandera
en la Milpa donde el campesino
busca y busca el pan.
Como dijo el poeta trapense
de Solentiname
no quisieron decirnos el sitio
donde te encontrás
y por eso tu tumba es todito
nuestro territorio
en cada palmo de mi Nicaragua
ahí vos estás.

CORO

Guerrillero, vos nacés de nuevo
en la carabina
en los bronquios de Pedro el minero
que en Siuna murió
en los ojos de los miserables que en Acahualinca
aún espera sedientos
la aurora de la rendición.
Como dijo el poeta trapense
de Solentiname
no quisieron decirnos el sitio
donde te encontrás
y por eso tu tumba es todito
nuestro territorio
en cada palmo de mi Nicaragua
ahí vos estás.

CORO

ENGLISH:

The grave of the guerrilla,
where, where, where is it?
His mother is asking,
nobody responds to her
The grave of the guerrilla,
where, where where is it?
The people are asking,
One day they will know.

Guerrilla, you arise in rivers,
mountains and prairies
In the wind that rocks the hammock
of Juan’s son
In the humble and rough hands
of the sutler*
In the cornfield where the peasant
is looking for food
As was said by the Trappist poet
of Solentiname,
they did not want to tell us the place
where you are to be found
Which is why your grave
is our entire country,
in every inch of my Nicaragua,
there you are

CHORUS

Guerrilla, you are reborn
in our rifles,
in the lungs of Pedro the miner
who died in Siuna
In the eyes of the miserable ones,
that in Acahualinca remain thirsty,
waiting for the dawn of surrender
As was said by the Trappist poet
of Solentiname,
they did not want to tell us the place
where you are to be found
Which is why the grave
is our entire country;
in every inch of my Nicaragua,
there you are

CHORUS

*A sutler (in Spanish, vivandera) is, apparently, somebody who provides provisions to soldiers in battle.

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