Duo Guardabarranco: CORAZON DE NINO

Salvador and Katia Cardenal made a memorable anthology of music as Duo Guardabarranco. Their music carried messages of social justice, the environment, spirituality, love and solidarity. The identity of Nicaragua can be read in their music, a country punished by oppression and violence, full of nature, and love for one's fellow man. Among their songs was a tribute to their uncle Juan, who inspired them to immortalize his Heart of a Child.

Here is the song, with its lyrics in Spanish below. Click on song title for video!

Corazón de Niño

Juan decía que tenia un plan
de viejo ir a vivir al mar,
pero nunca fue viejo,
porque el mar vino a traerlo.
Y en las costas de San Juan del Sur,
pintando esta Juan de la Cruz,
un cielo para los que amó
y un ángel cruza el tragaluz
y me besa un labio herido.
Hoy Reymundo y todo el mundo
vamos a ir a ver el cine de los cielos,
hoy sabremos el teléfono de Dios
esta desocupado, esta desocupado.
Juan contanos como hacer
para tener amor y corazón de niño,
Juan sabremos el teléfono de Dios,
el corazón lo sabe, el corazón de niño
el corazón de niño.
Ser un ave del amanecer,
cantando de amor y placer
al ver la madrugada
y sumarse a la batalla
de la luz contra la oscuridad,
del bosque contra la ciudad,
del arte por la libertad
del hombre que nació a vivir
y morir en paz con todos.

Heart of a Child

Juan would say he had a plan
To go to live at the sea when old,
But he was never old
Because the sea came to take him.
And on the shore of San Juan del Sur,
Was painting Juan de la Cruz
Skies for those he loved
An angel enters through the window
And kisses my wounded lips
Now the whole world
Goes to see the cinema in the skies,
Now we know God's telephone
Is waiting for us, is waiting for us to call.
Juan, tell us how to act
To have love and the heart of a child.
To be a bird of the dawn,
Singing of love and joy
To see the sun rise
And join the battle of light against darkness,
Of forest against city,
Of art for the freedom
Of man who was born to live
And die at peace with everyone.

Yo soy de un pueblo sencillo: Luis Enrique Mejia Godoy

Luis Enrique Mejia Godoy composed this tribute to the people of Nicaragua. Born in Somoto and always composing and singing folk music, he brought to Nicaragua an important contribution to the Nueva Cancion movement, in which testimonial music set to accessible, simple musical styles told the stories of the humility and suffering of the people of Nicaragua, in a way which honors and dignifies them. In this song, the mystical connection of corn, the ancestral food of the indigenous people, becomes a source of sustenance and a symbol of resistance to the aggressions of the US government against a people struggling to determine their own destiny. Nicaraguan music has taken a grand direction through his contributions in songs such as this one, which carried the sentiments of suffering and resistance for a generation of people during the Nicaraguan Revolution.

Yo Soy de un Pueblo Sencillo

I am from a small people

little like a sparrow.

With half a century of dreams,

of shame and of courage.

I am from a simple people,

Like the name "Juan",

Like the love I give you,

Like the love you give me.

I'm from a people born

Of rifle and song.

Who, from so much suffering

Have so much to teach.

Brother of so many people

That they have tried to separate.

Because they know that we are small,

But together, we are a volcano.

I am from a people of poets,

Whose verses were written

On walls and on doors

With blood, rage and love.

I am from a proud people

Of a thousand lost battles

I am from a victorious people

Whose wounds still ache.

I am from a recent people,

Whose pain is ancient

Illiterate and now

Half a century in rebellion.

I am from the people that a child

From Niquinohomo dreamt;

I am the people of Sandino

and of Benjamin Zeledon.

I am from a simple people

Fraternal and friendly

Who plants and defends

Its revolution.

Yo soy de un pueblo pequeño

Pequeño como un gorrión

Con medio siglo de sueños

De vergüenza y de valor

Yo soy de un pueblo sencillo

Como la palabra Juan

Como el amor que te entrego

Como el amor que me dan

Yo soy de un pueblo nacido

entre fusil y cantar

Que de tanto haber sufrido

tiene mucho que enseñar

Hermano de tantos pueblos

Que han querido separar

Por que saben que aun pequeños

Juntos somos un volcán

Por que saben que aun pequeños

Juntos somos un volcán

Yo soy de un pueblo que es poeta

Y sus versos escribió

En los muros y en las puertas

Con sangre rabia y amor

Yo soy de un pueblo orgulloso

Con mil batallas perdidas

Soy de un pueblo victorioso

que aun le duelen las heridas.

Yo soy de un pueblo nacido

entre fusil y cantar

Que de tanto haber sufrido

tiene mucho que enseñar

Hermano de tantos pueblos

Que han querido separar

Por que saben que aun pequeños

Juntos somos un volcán

Por que saben que aun pequeños

Juntos somos un volcán

Yo soy de un pueblo reciente

Pero antiguo su dolor

Analfabeta vigente

Medio siglo en rebelión

Yo soy el pueblo que un niño

En Niquinohomo soñó

Soy del pueblo de Sandino

Y Benjamín Zeledón

Yo soy de un pueblo sencillo

Fraterno y amigo

Que siembra y defiende

Su revolución.

Guerrero del Amor: Duo Guardabarranco

Rosey Soley composed a poem dedicated to her lover, fallen in the terrible conflict between Nicaraguans. Salvador Cardenal set the words to music, and here it is presented by Salvador and Katia, as Duo Guardabarranco. This song embodied the spirit of a generation dedicated to give their lives for the Revolution. Thank you, Rosey, Katia, and Salvador, for leaving us this beautiful homage to love and conflict in Nicaragua. The role of testimonial music in the Nicaraguan Revolution was tremendous, as can be imagined by the imagery and words of this song.

Guerrero del Amor

Warrior of Love (Rosey Soley and Salvador Cardenal)

I’ll trade you a song for the courage of your young combatant hands,

Welded to the metal with which you will save us.

I’ll trade this love of life and its promises

For the cold of your feet in the swamps,

Making fear and homesickness burn you.

Anonymous author of the dawn,

Silent deer in the mountain,

Warrior of love;

Son of these times, windmill,

Manchild born in the jungle

To go until the end, to the victory

I’ll trade you those 20 years, duplicated

Because of this necessary war,

For the silvery flower of hope

Te cambio una canción por el coraje
de tus jovenes manos combatientes,
fundidas al metal con que nos salvas.

Te cambio este amar la vida y sus promesas
por el frio de tus pies entre los suampos;
fraguando que se te quema el miedo y la nostalgia.

Autor anónimo de la alborada,
venado silencioso en la montaña,
guerrero del amor
hijo de este tiempo, remolino
hombre niño parido pues en plena selva
para llegar al fin a la victoria para llegar al fin.

Te cambio esos 20 años duplicados
a causa de esta guerra necesaria,
por la carnosa flor de la esperanza.

Autor anónimo de la alborada,
venado silencioso en la montaña;
guerrero del amor,
hijo de este tiempo, remolino
hombre niño parido pues en plena selva
para llegar al fin a la victoria para llegar al fin.

Autor anónimo de la alborada,
venado silencioso en la montaña;
guerrero del amor,
hijo de este tiempo, remolino
hombre niño parido pues en plena selva
para llegar al fin a la victoria para llegar al fin.
(Canción Dedicada a "Sandino" General de Hombres Libres 1983)

Misa Campesina Nicaraguense

The Nicaraguan Peasant Mass "Misa Campesina Nicaraguense" was composed in a collaboration principally by Carlos Mejia Godoy, inspired by Ernesto Cardenal. This mass expresses the struggles of the poor in the context of liberation theology. This mass follows the liturgical tradition, and incorporates Nicaraguan folk music motifs. The Misa Campesina Nicaraguense was banned from use in church, but it can still be heard in performances in Batahola neighborhood of Managua.

"Porque sos el Dios obrero, el Cristo trabajador"

I believe in you, comrade,

Christ the man, Christ the worker,

victor over death.

With your great sacrifice

you made new people

for liberation.

You are risen

in every arm outstretched

to defend the people

against the exploitation of rulers;

you are alive and present in the hut,

in the factory, in the school.

I believe in your ceaseless struggle,

I believe in your resurrection.

Click on song title for video:
Canto de Entrada (Carlos Mejia Godoy)
Kirye (Ana Belen)
Credo (Nana Moskouri and Mercedes Sosa)
Ofertorio (Elsa Baeza)
Canto de Meditacion (Carlos Mejia Godoy, El Guadalupano y los de Palacaguina)
Santo (Miguel Bose)
Miskita Lawana (Jorge Vasquez)
Vamos a la Milpa (Carlos Mejia Godoy)
Canto de Despedida (Miguel Bose and Ana Belen)

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