The Christmas bug has been biting for a few months now. I don't think that I ever mentioned that I used to be a guitarist in a parang band and even though I no longer play, by the time June rolls around I am in parang mode. I start listening to the music, I remember the band members crammed into vehicle convoys, the camaraderie tangible through even the squabbles. I feel the night air as we unload instruments, I hear the sounds of instruments being tuned and synced. I nurse my bruised fingers and aching wrist but I forget everything once the music starts. I am in heaven. The audiences are a blur when I play. For me there is only the band and the music. I have to mingle with the people while other bands are playing to get a sense of the crowd's mood. I still dream about my band which no longer exists. I imagine the practice sessions, I imagine introducing new songs and instruments. In my dreams I invite performers from Latin America to join us for the season. We exchange music and are both left richer... Dreams are cheap, replete with success and easy on the muscles.
For the next week or so, I will be posting Villancicos, including songs with children's voices in mind. It has been my hope for the longest while to see the creation of a children's chorus which focuses on the Indigenous/Hispanic roots of Trinidad and Tobago and the often neglected historical ties - geographical, genetic, cultural and developmental with the South American continent.
Our children should not be denied the part of their heritage which is firmly tied to the magnificent continent to the south and as they learn first of all about their own country, they should be guided to make the connections with their more immediate and real cultural roots. Many of our ancestors were of Indigenous and Hispanic origin. Some of them literally walked over from Venezuela when the land bridge was exposed by lower sea levels. Others came by canoe and are they are still coming today. I visited Venezuela only once in my life and as I mentioned in an earlier post, I felt that it was a homecoming. My Iberian ancestry could have played a part in my response to the language and the familiar faces but in my heart I felt that it was the indigenous connection that was calling to me.
I am increasingly disturbed by our tendency to stare longingly northwards, mesmerized by what exactly, I don't know. It is an exercise in futility, if not insanity, to look for ourselves in the faces and cultures of people who did not contribute at such fundamental levels to who we are today. It is my hope that if Trinidadians and Tobagonians choose to leave our shores to travel for pleasure and business, that more and more of them will recognise that visas to the countries of that "other" America to the South will open doors to excellent tourist experiences, excellent educational institutions, high quality medical services, abundant trade opportunities and of course the personal ties which will naturally follow.
But for most of us descendants and other preservers of the culture, it is the season of Christmas that unwraps one of the most treasured souvenirs of our Indigenous/Hispanic roots - the parranda or parang. However, even as we faithfully pay homage to this persisting connection, I am dismayed to find the usual stereotyping in the music that is used mostly to give a Hispanic twist to the usual odes to excess. Even if we'd rather not admit it, Hispanic women are linked more often with the exotic "hotness" which unfortunately our brothels are also happy to peddle. Combine that with the language difference and you can just imagine that some must experience great difficulty appreciating that there are serious messages, especially the religious, in many of the songs classed loosely under the term "parang".
Sharlene Flores of San Jose De Flores expressed this disrespect/ignorance in her song "Spanish Confusion" when she described an audience member who was convinced [or preferred to think] that the Spanish lyrics of her song could all be translated into banal demands for alcohol, food and sexual satisfaction. Below are some excerpts from their song:
Uploaded by TrinidadAndTobago101
SPANISH CONFUSION [1991]
By Flores San Jose
Flores De San Jose sang in Talparo
Briefly, I come to tell you about the show
You know that is the birth of our Saviour
So everything was happy and in order
Everybody was enjoying themselves
You could see they put their worries upon a shelf
There was this gentleman standing by the bar
And taking note of every word I utter
When I finish sing, he come on the stage
And this is what he had written on that page:
Gimme rum, gimme whiskey, gimme something to eat
Then sing a parang song let me move my feet
All the time you twisting your tongue to sing
I coulda tell you that's what you was saying.
[Gimme] Rum in Spanish is babash [Gimme]
[Gimme] Whiskey is wine [Gimme]
If you give me salt prunes then I'll love you all the time
[Canta] Come on baby, do it. [Canta] You do it so sweet [Canta]
I'll translate for you any Spanish word you speak.
[Ey] ey [ey] ey [ey] ey...
"El angel Gabriel," on this I sang
He turn and say, "Of course, I will be your man!"
"Anuncio a Maria" was the next line
He went down on his knees and ask me to wine
I stand up there in shock, couldn't understand
Why people think is joke when we sing parang
This is not the first time it happen to we
For the reason of Christmas, we just let it be....
A lady shout," Look man, just get off the stage!"
"Look what she sang is what I have on this page."
Gimme rum, gimme whiskey, gimme something to eat
Then sing a parang song let me move my feet
All the time you twisting your tongue to sing
I coulda tell you that's what you was saying.
[Gimme] Rum in Spanish is babash [Gimme]
[Gimme] Whiskey is wine [Gimme]
If you give me salt prunes then I'll love you all the time
[Canta] Come on baby, do it. [Canta] You do it so sweet [Canta]
I'll translate for you any Spanish word you speak.
[Ey] ey [ey] ey [ey] ey...
People in the party, they like this thing
I wonder if they know what was happening
Maybe they think we don't know what we singing?
For the story of Christmas comes in paranging
This is the best festival in the land
But good things, people will never understand
So when you see this Yuletide time come around
Remember the real reason to sing your song
I told the crowd the Spanish to sing along
He turn and tell me, "I couldna been that wrong."
Gimme rum, gimme whiskey, gimme something to eat
Then sing a parang song let me move my feet
All the time you twisting your tongue to sing
I coulda tell you that's what you was saying.
[Gimme] Rum in Spanish is babash [Gimme]
[Gimme] Whiskey is wine [Gimme]
If you give me salt prunes then I'll love you all the time
[Canta] Come on baby, do it. [Canta] You do it so sweet [Canta]
I'll translate for you any Spanish word you speak.
[Ey] ey [ey] ey [ey] ey...
No matter what they say, no matter what they do [Ey!]
You know that this time is true [Ey!]
You know why we sing this song
So we want you to sing along
It's the only time of year [Ey!] that life really feels so fair [Ey!]
It brings back a memory of how life really used to be.
Gimme rum, gimme whiskey, gimme something to eat
Then sing a parang song let me move my feet
All the time you twisting your tongue to sing
I coulda tell you that's what you was saying.
Gimme, gimme!
Gimme, gimme!
Interesting articles about T&T parang music:
Magical music on de hill. Sweet parang adds Christmas cheer. By Radhica Sookraj. Trinidad and Tobago Guardian | 23 Dec 2009
VIVA PARANG. By Tracy Assing Caribbean Beat | Issue No. 82 - November/December 2006
Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance!
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A Note From The Gull
Thank you, Sharlene. You are a true, true Trinitaria, crossing over to bring your own unique spice and talent to the parang. I have always been a great respecter of your spirit, your voice and the huge contribution that you have made to our culture.
"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.
Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.
Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare
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