Cuando Canto (Ozomatli, 2004)
This song has been a source of inspiration lately. I had the pleasure of seeing these guys a few weeks ago at the Highline Ballroom, and I got to shake @ulisesbella’s hand and to tell him how listening to @ozomatli always makes me feel so proud to be a kid from East LA.
Cuando canto mi canción
Quiero inspirar mi gente con una solución
Cuando despierto en la mañana
Se que tengo el poder para una día triunfar
Cuando me acuesto en la noche
Puedo mirar estrellas que me den esperanza
Cuando sueño en la madrugada
Ojala que mi trabajo no es temporada
Cuando demuestro
Mi corazón con mis acciones
Puedes entender
Que no soy hombre perfecto no soy
Pero trato mucho
Trato decidir lo más mejor
Para el mundo
Y lo pongo en una cancion
Cuando canto mi canción
Quiero inspirar mi gente con una solución
Cuando sueño en la madrugada
Ojala que mi trabajo no es temporada
The lyrics, translate roughly (because of my pocho spanish) as:
When I sing out my song
I want to inspire my people with a solution
When I arise in the morning
I know I have the power for a day triumphal
When I lie me down at night
I see shining stars that give me hope
When I dream of the dawn
I hope that all my work isn’t only a season
When I prove
My heart in my actions
You can understand
I am no perfect man
Yet I try hard to choose
Try to choose what is best
For all the world
And I bring to my song
When I sing out my song
I want to inspire my people with a solution
When I dream of the dawn
I hope that all my work isn’t only a season
Also at that show were some activists demonstrating on behalf of the 43 normalistas — students at the Escuela Normal Rural de Ayotzinapa (a rural college that trains the children of poor families in the mountains of Guerrero
to be primary school teachers) who were kidnapped by local police, and handed over to a gang to be murdered. The students were kidnapped after protesting discriminatory school hiring and funding practices that disadvantaged the poor rural (read: indio) children of Mexico.
Here’s hoping that their work isn’t only for a season as well…