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ALLA BAJA JESUCRISTO [Villancico Perúano]
By CORO INFANTIL MERCEDARIO
Allá baja Jesucristo, con sus rayos de cristal
Allá baja Jesucristo, con sus rayos de cristal
[There descends Jesus Christ, with His bright light]
Alumbrando el universo, el universo, con sus rayos de cristal
Alumbrando el universo, el universo, con sus rayos de cristal
[Illuminating the universe, the universe, with His bright light]
Alegría, alegría, por el día de Navidad,
Alegría, alegría.
[Joy, joy, for Christmas Day,
Joy, joy!]
De aquel tronco nace la rama, de la rama nace la flor
De aquel tronco nace la rama, de la rama nace la flor
De la flor nace María y de María el Redentor
De la flor nace María y de María el Redentor
[From that trunk the branch is born,
From the branch is born the flower
From the flower Mary is born and
From Mary the Redeemer.]
Alegría, alegría, por el día de Navidad
Alegría, alegría.
Allá baja Jesucristo, con sus rayos de cristal
Allá baja Jesucristo, con sus rayos de cristal
Alumbrando el universo, el universo, con sus rayos de cristal
Alumbrando el universo, el universo, con sus rayos de cristal
Alegría, alegría, por el día de Navidad,
Alegría, alegría.
De aquel tronco nace la rama, de la rama nace la flor
De aquel tronco nace la rama, de la rama nace la flor
De la flor nace María y de María el Redentor
De la flor nace María y de María el Redentor
Alegría, alegría, por el día de Navidad,
Alegría, alegría.
Alegría, alegría, por el día de Navidad,
Alegría, alegría.
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, CORO INFANTIL MERCEDARIO! I became aware of the indigenous input into Hispanic Christmas music when quite by accident I listened to Andean villancicos. Many years ago a friend had brought me from Venezuela, a cassette of Spanish Christmas songs copied from an obviously old, scratched LP. We had both assumed that the songs were Venezuelan in origin and I remember dropping it into the player and beginning to listen. Something in that music grabbed me. This was not the Venezuelan music that I had become accustomed to. Yes, there was the first obvious clue in the use of distinctive instruments which I learned later were unique to the Andean regions - the charango, tambor and the quena (flute) but it was that minor, mind bending twist in the singing that made me sit right up and listen. I remember asking everyone who I could coax into listening... "Do you hear it? Listen, listen! What is that style? Isn't it beautiful. This is so beautiful."
All I could guess was that it had to be an Amerindian influence. Since I had/have no connections with music experts, I have never been able to discuss this with anyone who has studied Amerindian music but if there is anyone reading this who can throw some academic light on what my intuition told me, I'd be so grateful. I began thinking thereafter about the structure of our local parang bands and the style of singing, the way in which there was traditionally a lead singer with a chorus of female singers who, especially in the traditional, country bands tended to have a very nasal, often morose style of singing. It didn't help matters that persons with Western influenced ears made unflattering comparisons between the singers' often high-pitched, almost monotonic responses and the wailing of mosquitoes. Thanks to the voices recorded on that cassette that reached out to me, stirring memories which had not been created in this life, I began to listen to our singers more carefully, asking myself if what I was hearing was the survival of an Amerindian style of choral singing. I have always been quite excited by the prospect since I am always on the lookout for signs of their lasting influence on our culture.
My people, where are you? Where are you? I look for you everywhere but you are too much like me and I too much like you, hiding in plain sight on the wind, dans le sang qui coule dans nos veines, sending secret messages to each other behind the laughter of El Guanaguanare.
This was first our country. Is this knowledge then our confidence? Is it the quiet conviction that we do not need to state the obvious? Our apparent "absence" is our everlasting unspoken presence? Our "silence" is our perfect acceptance? Our "poverty" is our total ownership? Is it that our standing back makes a place for the inclusion of all others?
AHAKUTUWATIWA, ALËLEKATIWA, AKUYAWATIWA!
"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
