Chicago Tribune: a&e
`La Bamba`: The Meaning Behind The
Song`s Words
September 25, 1987|By Sharon Rose.
At Cathedral High School last week, someone started singing it in English class-and things got out of
hand.
``The whole class started singing it, and they wouldn`t stop,`` says Norma Martinez, a 17-year-old senior
at the school .
On State Street, the street musicians are playing it. And in restaurants, small children leave food and
family behind when it plays on the jukebox.
``It`` is ``La Bamba.`` The current hot single (the one that plays on the radio every five minutes) is by the
group Los Lobos. The group`s version is a remake of Ritchie Valens` 1959 rock hit. There`s even a
release called
``Battle of La Bamba,`` which contains a salsa interpretation by Flaco Jiminez and a Texas rendition by
Steve Jordan.
After the release of the film ``La Bamba`` in late July, the song rapidly began climbing the charts and is
now No. 8 on the Billboard chart. The movie is about Valens` life, and Dave Kehr and Gene Siskel both
have given it three stars. But what explains the ``La Bamba`` song mania? Why do 40-year-olds in
business suits go teenager upon hearing words they don`t even understand?
``People like the rhythm,`` says Hector Armando Molina, a disc jockey at WOJO (FM 105.1).
``Mexicans like it because they grew up with it,`` says Molina. ``It`s a folk song. Everyone dances `la
bamba` at parties and weddings. They personalize it. You change the verses to suit the occasion. The song
is to Mexicans what `Guantanamera` is to Cubans. It`s a cultural symbol, dating back to the 1830s.
Nobody seems to know who wrote it.``
Americans like it because it takes them back to the `60s, says Pepe Saldivar, also of WOJO.
``Ritchie Valens changed it,`` says Saldivar. ``He didn`t speak Spanish, so he abbreviated it a little bit.
It`s okay-it`s not that different from the original. By combining the original with rock and roll he made it
popular in this country.``
According to Saldivar, ``la bamba`` originated in the Mexican state of Vera Cruz . ``It`s a Jaracho song-a
type of music mostly played with a small guitar and a harp. It`s fiesta music-party music. Kind of like an
old-time disco. Every child in Mexico grows up with `la bamba.` ``
``Americans like the rhythm,`` says Tina Rucker, an American who has lived in Mexico for three years
and says she loves the song.
``They also like it because they don`t understand it. Americans like things they don`t understand.``
So what is ``la bamba``? What does ``la bamba`` mean?
``It doesn`t really mean anything,`` says Molina. ``It`s just the name of a dance, like the samba, or the
cha-cha-cha. It`s the bamba.``
So, for all those gringos who have been singing along to ``La Bamba`` for years and have not known what
they are singing, here are the words to ``La Bamba`` in Spanish and English. The translation is by Molina
and is from the Los Lobos recording of the Ritchie Valens version:
Spanish:
Para bailar la bamba
para bailar la bamba
se necessita una poca de gracia
una poca de gracia
para mi para ti, ay arriba y arriba
ay arriba y arriba, por ti sere
por ti sere
por ti sere,
CHORUS: bam ba bamba, bam ba bamba,
bam ba bamba, bam ba bamba
Yo no soy marinero
yo no soy marinero, soy capitan
soy capitan, soy capitan
CHORUS: bam ba bamba, bam ba bamba,
bam ba bamba, bam ba bamba
(Go to beginning and repeat.)
English:
To dance the bamba
to dance the bamba
you only need
a little bit of grace
a little bit of grace
for you and me and up and up
for you I will be
for you I will be
for you I will be
CHORUS: bam ba bamba, bam ba bamba,
bam ba bamba, bam ba bamba
I`m not a sailor
I`m not a sailor, I`m a captain
I`m a captain, I`m a captain
CHORUS: bam ba bamba, bam ba bamba,
bam ba bamba, bam ba bamba
(Go to beginning and repeat.)
http://kathmanduk2.wordpress.com/2009/02/14/black-history-month-la-bamba-and-its-african-roots/
February 14, 2009 · 8:55 PM
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BLACK HISTORY MONTH: “LA BAMBA”
AND ITS AFRICAN ROOTS
I came in from work today to see my next-door-neighbors (Mexican Americans) having a get-together, with
company over. They were barbequing, and playing music. At the home, was a group playing the song La Bamba. As
I listened to the song, I wondered. . . .
How many of them sitting around jammin’ to that song knew of its true origins? How would they respond if I was to
tell them the history behind La Bamba?
La Bamba.
When you hear the song La Bamba, what image comes to mind? A Mexican singer, or a Black singer? When you
question what the words mean, do you envision black people from Mexico, or do you envision brown people, from
Mexico singing the song? If you are like most people, you think of Ritchie Valens who made the song very popular
in the 1950s before he died tragically in a plane crash, or you may even think of Los Lobos’ version, but, you would
not be able to conceive of a Black singer serenading their listeners to the lilting cadences of La Bamba.
If you are like most people, you have never thought of La Bamba with an African/Black connection, but, it does
have an African origin, and the song owes its creation to enslaved Africans.
The song ‘La Bamba’, a traditional folk song and dance, was originally a song sung by African slaves in Veracruz as
they worked, since many of the enslaves brought to Mexico by the Spaniards, came from Angola and Congo, with
the Africans who originated the song hailing from the MBamba peoples of Angola. Bamba is the name of an African
tribe in Angola and in Congo, from the Bamba River, where the MBamba peoples lived. As enslaves, they brought
their beautiful culture with them, and the original origins of this song, over 500 years ago, and as so very often, with
enslaved Africans in the new world, they fought against enslavement, running away and joining up with the
indigenous peoples in the rain forests and mountainous areas. The song also refers to a specific incident which
occurred in the year 1683, in the Mexican state of Veracruz, when pirates attacked the people, free and enslaved,
living there. The Spanish officials of Veracruz mistreated the enslaves so horribly that they rebelled in what was
known as the “Bambarria”, an enslave uprising that pitted the African enslaves and Indians against the Spanish.
(New Spain as it was called, because at the time, the country we now know as Mexico, did not exist as a nation, until
approximately 200 years later, when in 1810, Mexico/New Spain gained its independence from Spain).
Influenced by Afro-Mexican and Spanish flamenco rhythms, the song uses the violin, jaranas, guitar, and harp.
Lyrics to the song greatly vary, as performers often improvise verses while performing La Bamba which is a folk
song whose origins can be traced to the Mexican state of Veracruz over 300 years ago. It is best known from a 1958
adaptation by Ritchie Valens, a top 40 hit in the the U.S. charts and one of early rock and roll’s best-known songs.
(The Los Lobos variation is my favourite, because it stays more faithfully with the origins of the original song where
they speed up the song’s ending.) The name of the dance, which has no direct English translation, is presumably
connected with the Spanish verb, bambolear meaning “to shake”, or perhaps “to stomp”.
“The traditional “La Bamba” was often played during weddings in Veracruz, where the bride and groom performed
the accompanying dance. Today this wedding tradition is mostly lost, but the dance survives through the popularity
of ballet folklórico. The dance is performed in much the same way, displaying the newlywed couple’s unity through
the performance of complicated, delicate steps in unison as well as through creation of a bow from a listón, a long
red ribbon, using only their feet.
“The “arriba” (literally “up”) part of the song suggests the nature of the dance, in which the footwork, called
“zapateado“, is done faster and faster as the music tempo accelerates. The repeated lyric, “Yo no soy marinero, soy
capitán” (lit: “I am not a sailor, I am a captain”), refers to Veracruz’s marine locale and the husband’s promise that
he will remain faithful to his wife.” SOURCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Bamba_(song)
The African influence in Mexico, and the rest of this hemisphere for that matter, encompasses all of this hemisphere,
from jazz, to blues, to gospel, to rhythm & blues, to the syncopated beat that still permeates much of American
music, a beat that comes from African slaves in America, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.
Syncopation is a major component of contemporary American music. Syncopation was at one time practically
unheard of in the mainstream United States, except among Black Americans. Syncopation refers to placing the
stress on a beat that is normally unstressed. There are several ways to create syncopated rhythms, by stressing,
quickening, or skipping certain beats in a measure.
Rumba, habanera, Argentine tango, bolero, merengue, cumbia, salsa, and even the mambo that was so popular in the
States during the 1950s and 1960s all have roots in African (and Latin) traditions.
Here, Bobby Vaughn, the maestro of Afro-Mexican culture, discusses the African influence on Mexican music and
the rest of Latin America as well:
“VERACRUZ AND THE SON JAROCHO
Perhaps the music that best personifies the culture of Veracruz is the son jarocho. 2 Jarocho is the moniker by which
most Veracruzanos identify their regional identity, regardless of their race. But the word’s origins have everything to
do with Blackness. In the colonial era, the word was used to refer to Blacks of mixed race (Aguirre Beltrán 1989
[1946]):169), and or to Blacks in general. The son jarocho is a musical genera that has strong African elements, as
well as a lyrical structure that suggests its European heritage. It is a festive genre in which the center of attention is
the pairs of male and female dancers who dance atop a wood platform. Their rhythmic stamping provides the
percussion to accompany the strumming of the all-important jarana, which is a smaller cousin of the guitar.
“The most curious of the instruments is one that is almost certainly of African origin: the marimbol 3.
MARIMBOL (also known as marimbula/rhumba box; manimba; malimba; marimbol; bass box/calimba;
church & clap; jazz jim and box lamellophone): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mar%C3%ADmbula
“The marimbol is a wood box with a round sound hole cut in the center of it. Across this hole, a number of metal
strips are attached. These metal strips are tuned to different pitches, and are plucked to produce a deep basslike
sound. The marimbol provides a driving bassline for the music. The vocals are often a series of repeating verses
sung by two male or female soloists, one responding to the other. A kind of melodic shouting in falsetto creates a
curious vocal timbre. The themes are generally lighthearted love longs, and are often quite comical. The popular
song “La Bamba” is a traditional son jarocho. I have found historical evidence of the son jarocho being danced as
early as 1816 by blacks in Veracruz, where the observer describes a large dance contest of men and women. (“Todos
negros atezados y una y uno de ellos bailando un zapateado sin moverse de un lugar/all of them darkskinned Blacks
and each of them dancing a tap-dance without moving from their spot.) (Poblett Miranda and Delgado 1992:v.2,
209).”
“The son jarocho is not simply a relic from the past, preserved by the older generations, however. There are
countless performers throughout the central and southern parts of the state. In addition to Afro-Mexican towns, like
El Coyolillo, and mestizo towns, like Tlacotalpan, the son jarocho is also performed in indigenous communities in
indigenous languages. Thus, the son jarocho is an example of the confluence of cultures in Veracruz, where the son,
in spite of being a product of different heritages or perhaps precisely because of this is embraced by nearly all
Veracruzanos as an important part of their jarocho identity.
“DIABLOS IN THE COSTA CHICA
In the Costa Chica, one of the regional dances that is most associated with the negros is the danza de los diablos
[dance of the devils]. While the dance is performed in any number of Afro-Mexican towns in the region, the town of
Collantes is most renown for its performance of it. In Collantes, the energetic dance is performed during Todos
Santos [All Saints' Day] celebrations in November, and the group of about 20 male dancers and 3 musicians wander
through the streets, stopping to dance in front of homes that wish to give them a small ofrenda of money, or food. In
contrast to Veracruz’s son jarocho, the danza de los diablos is not a couple’s dance, but is a performance in which all
participants wear elaborate masks. The basic elements of the dance have 3 rows of dancers, all dressed alike,
executing a syncopated stomping, all in unison, while the terrón, also called the diablo mayor, whips the dancers and
otherwise intimidates them. In addition to the terrón, there is the dancer called la minga, who is always a male
dancer dressed as a woman in a long dress. La Minga is the terrón’s wife, and flirts with the dancers in order to get
them into more trouble with her husband. There is a slapstick quality to the dance, and the terrón will often go after
children in the audience to further excite the laughing crowd.
“The instruments used in the danza de los diablos are typically a harmonica, a jicada, or a cow’s jawbone, whose
teeth are raked with a stick to keep rhythm, and a peculiar instrument called an arcusa. The arcusa is a large hollow
gourd with a thin waxed stick fastened to the mouth. As the musician strokes the stick, a low grunting sound is
produced. The dance’s origins appear to be in part of African origin, and it is speculated that in the colonial era it
was overtly part of an African cult to the god Ruja. While no mention of Ruja or religious cults exists in the way the
dance is performed today, it certainly dramatizes the more recent historical conflicts between Black workers and
cruel overseers. While the son jarocho is danced by Veracruzanos irrespective of ethnic heritage, the danza de los
diablos is not performed, neither in indigenous, nor in mestizo communities, but is essentially an Afro-Mexican
tradition.
“A Costa Chica dance that is performed by Afro-Mexicans and mestizos alike is the chilena.4 The chilena, as its
name suggests, was introduced to the coast by Chilean sailors in the mid 19th century. These sailors were most
likely on their way to the California coast during the gold rush, and stopped for a time in Acapulco. There, they
taught their music and dance, the cueca, to the Black dockhands, who spread their interpretation of it throughout the
Costa Chica. The chilena is now considered the singlemost characteristic artform of the Costa Chica.” (1)
AFRICAN MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS:
KALIMBA (modernized version of the mbira): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalimba
Unlike string instruments or flutes, which were widespread around the world, the kalimba family of instruments is
uniquely African.
MBIRA (THUMB PIANO): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mbira
Dr. Joseph H. Howard, owner of the largest collection of drums and ancillary folk instruments in the Americas,
often stated it is “the instrument most typical of Africa.” By this he meant that the instruments were only found in
areas populated by Africans or their descendants. Babatunde Olatunji made a similar statement in his book “Musical
Instruments of Africa.” He states the mbira “a finger xylophone, is native to Africa and is common throughout the
continent. It is known nowhere else except in parts of the Americas where it was taken by Afric
MBIRA DZAVADZIM IN A DEZE
Much of the original essence of La Bamba have been lost to time, but, the liveliness, the joy of life of La Bamba still
remains. Here are the lyrics (Spanish, with English traslation, that many people of today are familiar with:
Para bailar La Bamba
Para bailar La Bamba
Se necessita una poca de gracia
Una poca de gracia
Para mi, para ti, ay arriba, ay arriba
Ay, arriba arriba
Por ti sere, por ti sere, por ti sere
Yo no soy marinero
Yo no soy marinero, soy capitan
Soy capitan, soy capitan
Bamba, bamba
Bamba, bamba
Bamba, bamba, bam
Para bailar La Bamba
Para bailar La Bamba
Se necessita una poca de gracia
Una poca de gracia
Para mi, para ti, ay arriba, ay arriba
(Guitar solo – instrumental)
Para bailar La Bamba
Para bailar La Bamba
Se necessita una poca de gracia
Una poca de gracia
Para mi, para ti, ay arriba, ay arriba
Ay, arriba arriba
Por ti sere, por ti sere, por ti sere
Bamba, bamba
Bamba, bamba
FADESBamba, bamba.
English translation:
In order to dance The Bamba
In order to dance the Bamba
You need a little bit of grace
A little bit of grace
For me, for you, ah up, ah up(or higher and higher)
Ah, up, up (literally “faster, faster”)
By you I will be, by you I will be, by you I will be
(Por can also mean by and not just for)
I am not a sailor,
I am not a sailor, I am a captain
I am a captain, I am a captain
Bamba, bamba
Bamba, bamba
Bamba, bamba, bam
In order To dance The Bamba
In order To dance The Bamba
You need a little bit of grace
A little bit of grace
For me, for you, ah up, ah up (higher and higher)
(Guitar only – and set of instruments)
In order to dance The Bamba
In order to dance The Bamba
You need a little bit of grace
A little bit of grace
For me, for you, ah up, ah up
Ah, up, up.
For you I will be, for you I will be, for you I will be
Bamba, bamba
Bamba, bamba
FADESBamba, bamba.
(Repeats)