QUESETESCAPA aka 90's Spanish Bands

So people have asked me about my username and I haven't had time to upload pictures from Halloween or the blessing event I figure I will fill today's post with boring info about why I went with quesetescapa. Some of you know the gist but here is the full historia:

While serving a mission in the Canary Islands I did make a sincere effort to give up worldly music but the natural inclination to love all that has rhythm could not prevent me from falling in love with the contemporary music in my surroundings. Stores or buses playing it overhead, etc. Walking in the plaza or down the boardwalk while making street contacts, the back of my mind was recording anything that caught my attention and I would write down a target lyric in my little notebook and chased the title or band name down from some of the young members or investigators we taught (don't judge--you know the mission handbook instructs you to build on common beliefs).

So... having said that, the music I bought when I came home (where or where was Itunes in 1997? I paid WAY too much money for some of that Spanish import stuff) came down to three basic bands:

1. Rosana (highly recommend and she is actually from one of the Islas)
2. Amistades Peligrosas
3. Ella Baila Sola

If you are going to ask why Maná is not in my list my response is that I already had some Maná and I went to Europe, not Latin America.

So Ella Baila Sola wrote this controversial song about police brutality in Spain. The original lyrics in Spanish are below for those who care.

So the song is about an immigrant black man (presumably from Africa as are most immigrants in Spain) who is being chased by the police because he sells tobacco in the metro. The phrase "que se te escapa" loosely translated means "that escapes you" the black man.

I recognize that I am not black, nor a man, nor have I ever been chased by the authorities. However I like the feel of this song because I believe in music as a way of expressing political ideas. I also like the creative use of the language- more on this below because most people don't care about the Spanish stuff- and I like the song itself because it has a cool little ritmo. So... when the day is done, the name quesetescapa means "that she escapes you."

Note on creative use of Spanish below with VERY loose English translation according to my own unprofessional opinion:


Que se te escapa el negro que se te escapa That the black man escapes you
Como sudas corriendo sudor de caza How you sweat, running, the sweat of a hunt
Vende rubio en el metro oh que gran falta He sells Rubio in the metro- oh what a big problem (total loose translation)
El tabaco es veneno droga que mata. Tobacco is a poisonous drug that kills (Rubio is the brand and there is a play on the words since Rubio also means blonde/fair complexion) Also they are being kind of ironic here about the fact that tobacco is poisonous since tons of people smoke, especially the policia.

Vende rubio un moreno o que guasa He sells Rubio the dark one (again the play of the blonde vs. dark) and it has been a lot of years but guasa refers, again, to how bad it is that he sells tobacco)
Dale porra a ese perro dale en la cara Hit the dog with your stick, hit him in the face (sorry about the violence)
Y el brazo que retuerzo como resbala His arm that twists, oh how it slips
Me parece de acero y de mermelada Its seems like cement and jam (okay sounds weird but again, the arm thing, like he is just out of your reach, all slippery like but tough)

Pero que pienso tu pega y calla. But what do I think? You hit and he will shut up (I think this refers to the dialogue between the cops)
No mires el fuego de su mirada Don't look in the fire of his glance/look
Podra ser tu nieto pero es tu rata He could be your grandson but he is your rat
Con la que haces el juego que a ti te mandan With whom you play the games that to you is given
Que risa y que choteo nunca se falla. What a laugh and a joke, never fails

Le dejas varios metros para que vaya el negrito You leave several feet so that the black man can run
Extranjero salta que salta Foreigner jumps, he jumps
Hacia tu companero que arriba guarda Towards your companion who is guarding above
Con su porra y su cabreo para dar caña With his porra (this is a play on words because the word is used as profanity in modern day but it also means a weapon that used to be used to beat revolutionaries) to "give cane" or beat someone

REPEAT
Pero que pienso tu pega y calla.
But what do I think? You hit and he will shut up (I think this refers to the dialogue between the cops)
No mires el fuego de su mirada Don't look in the fire of his glance/look
Podra ser tu nieto pero es tu rata He could be your grandson but he is your rat
Con la que haces el juego que a ti te mandan With whom you play the games that to you is given

Pareja de europeos crisol de Espana. Pair of Europeans (euphemism for cops), crucible of Spain.


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Ahí está.