Guantanamera sung by Pete Seeger - to celebrate the beginning of a new friendship with Cuba

Last edited Wed Dec 17, 2014, 03:39 PM - Edit history (1)

"Yo soy un hombre sincero" I am a sincere man!

"De donde crece las palmas" From where the palm trees grow

Edit to add one of the best contemporary Cuban bands - this song was played after Raul Castro's speech today on Cuban TV:

"Guantanamera" (Spanish: "from Guantánamo, feminine", thus "she from Guantánamo&quot is perhaps the best known Cuban song and that country's most noted patriotic song. In 1966, a version by American vocal group The Sandpipers, based on an arrangement by Pete Seeger, became an international hit.

A Sincere Man Am I (Verse I)
A sincere man am I
From the land where palm trees grow,
And I want before I die
My soul's verses to bestow.

I'm a traveller to all parts,
And a newcomer to none:
I am art among the arts,
With the mountains I am one.

I know how to name and class
All the strange flowers that grow;
I know every blade of grass,
Fatal lie and sublime woe.

I have seen through dead of night
Upon my head softly fall,
Rays formed of the purest light
From beauty celestial.

I have seen wings that were surging
From beautiful women's shoulders,
And seen butterflies emerging
From the refuse heap that moulders.



Poesía de José Martí
Versos Sencillos-1891

I-YO SOY UN HOMBRE SINCERO...

Yo soy un hombre sincero
De donde crece la palma,
Y antes de morirme quiero
Echar mis versos del alma.

Yo vengo de todas partes,
Y hacia todas partes voy:
Arte soy entre las artes,
En los montes, monte soy.

Yo sé los nombres extraños
De las yerbas y las flores,
Y de mortales engaños,
Y de sublimes dolores.

Yo he visto en la noche oscura
Llover sobre mi cabeza
Los rayos de lumbre pura
De la divina belleza.

Alas nacer vi en los hombros
De las mujeres hermosas:
Y salir de los escombros,
Volando las mariposas.

Sandpipers version: