ARGENTINA'S FAMOUS ZAMBA - DE MI ESPERANZA

INTRODUCING ARGENTINA’S PAMPA.

Source: NordNordWest, CC BY SA 3.0. Wikimedia Commons

Argentina is that really big country that shares the Southern Cone of South America with Chile.

 

Whereas Chile faces the Pacific Ocean, Argentina looks towards the Atlantic. 

The geography of the country is varied, but what jumps to the mind’s eye when mentioning “Argentina”, is the enormous expanse of what is known as the “Pampa” - miles and miles of apparently empty countryside.

MILES AND MILES OF  "PAMPA"

Source: Arianza1, CC BY SA 3.0. Wkimedia Commons

The main figure of the Pampa is the “Gaucho”, riding his horse from homestead to homestead.

 PAINTING OF A GAUCHO

Source: August Loh (1842 - 1920), Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

The musical production is very rich in melody and in poetry, and several internationally famous folklore songs have come out of this enormous area.

The most well-known of these is “Zamba, de mi esperanza”

This post is about that particular song and the interpreter that made it famous the world over – Jorge Cafrune

INTRODUCING JORGE CAFRUNE

This folklorist was born in the area of Jujuy to a family of Syrian Lebanese origin. While he was in high school, he began to study the guitar, and became a very proficient player. He recorded his first album in 1957. 

Cafrune was a familiar figure in the Pampa outback, riding from settlement to settlement on horseback, with his guitar slung over his shoulder.

THE MAJESTY OF THE PAMPA: EL TRONADOR

Source: Isha, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

ZAMBA – DE MI ESPERANZA.

The lyrics were written in the 1950s by Luis Profili, from the town of Mendoza at the foothills of the Andes. They are very lovely, full of symbolism, but rather difficult to translate!

Jorge Cafrune made the song his own, adding his personal introduction, which is plucked on the guitar with great virtuosity. The rhythm is that of the Zamba, not to be confused with the Brazilian samba!

MY FREE TRANSLATION OF THE LYRICS.

...You dawned like a longing...

Source: Morning Glory, Pixabsay, Public Domain

Zamba, from my hopes

You dawned like a longing.

Dream, dream from the soul

That sometimes dies without flowering.

Dream, dream from the soul

That sometimes dies without flowering

Zamba, I sing of you

Because your song spills love,

A tender touch of your kerchief

Wraps round my heart

A tender touch of your kerchief

Wraps round my heart

CHORUS

Star, you who looked down

And heard my pain,

Star, allow me to sing

And love as I do now.

Star, allow me to sing

And love as I do now.

END OF CHORUS

Time that goes by,

Like life, never returns.

Time is slaying me

But your love will ever be, will ever be

Time is slaying me

But your love will ever be, will ever be

Sunk on the horizon

I am dust carried by the wind.

Zamba, never leave me,

Without your song I can’t live anymore

Zamba, never leave me,

Without your song I can’t live anymore

CHORUS (REPEAT)

This then, is my version of the lyrics in English. Now for the Spanish version!

ZAMBA, DE MI ESPERANZA

Zamba, de mi esperanza

Amanecida como un querer

Sueño, sueño del alma

Que a veces muere sin florecer

Sueño, sueño del alma

Que a veces muere sin florecer

Zamba, a ti te canto

Porque tu canto derrama amor

Caricia, de tu pañuelo

Que va envolviendo mi corazón

Caricia, de tu pañuelo

Que va envolviendo mi corazón

CORO

Estrella, tú que miraste,

Tú que escuchaste mi padecer

Estrella, deja que cante

Deja que quiera como yo sé

Estrella, deja que cante

Deja que quiera como yo sé

FIN CORO

El tiempo, que va pasando

Como la vida no vuelve más

El tiempo, me va matando

Y tu cariño será, será

El tiempo, me va matando

Y tu cariño será, será

Hundido, en horizonte

Soy polvareda que al viento va

Zamba, ya no me dejes

Yo sin tu canto no vivo más

Zamba, ya no me dejes

Yo sin tu canto no vivo más

CORO (REPETIR)

...Sunk on the horizon... 

 Source: Dantemojarrita, CC BY SA 3.0. Wikimedia Commons

LAST WORDS.

This beautiful melody with its lovely lyrics seems to have ended in tragedy for Jorge Cafrune. The terrible military dictatorship that governed in Argentina during the 1970s found this song offensive because it mentioned the concept of “hope”, so they banned it.

Cafrune sang it anyway in a festival, because the hundreds of people present wanted to hear it. A few weeks later, he was run over by a truck whose driver was never identified. There is some evidence that this was an assassination ordered by the military, in order to dissuade other artists freely singing their tunes, which could be subversive.

To my mind, he was killed just because those in power knew they could do this and get away with it. Unhappily, this has been very common during dictatorships such as this one.

ZAMBA, DE MI ESPERANZA is still considered to be the most famous of the folklore tunes to come out of Argentina’s Pampa.

Jorge Cafrune - ZAMBA DE MI ESPERANZA

 

Source: YouTube

See you on the next post!

© 2013  joanveronica  (Joan Robertson)

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