Sashily Kling

Sung : "Bamboleiro, bamboleira

Porque mi vida yo la aprendido a vivir así

Bamboleiro, bamboleira

Porque mi vida yo la aprendido a vivir así" - Julio Iglesias

 

There's a sound in my Puertorican-ese that has no lyrics

a drumbeat so deep it shattered my tattered Taíno expectations

tambores in hand never dropped the beat

breaking the sixth string on my grandfather's cuatro

scratching the güiro against mocha skins

trying to find the tune that would not mark us as other

 

my family history is littered

with the broken necks of requintos y palitos 

the instruments of Taíno's lost culture

Juan Ponce de Leon brought the church

it's hierarchy and exclusion created discontent

we bowed our heads to christian chants and ate our daily bread

as priests tried to tame the wildness in our heritage

our barilles and maracas the only rebellion we were allowed

 

Our culture in shock of new waves

as danzas gave way to jazz babies

because Spain made a back alley deal with Uncle Sam

and we were filled with disharmonic views

as jibaro music invades American homes

 

you see, my Latin roots come prepackaged for consumption

this American bomba y plena

is a hollowness that speaks of culture decapitated

like the three legged chicken on my uncle's farm

we never questioned the extra meat - it's sweet cloying taste

still triggers nightmares playing against soundtracks of bombs and slurs

a slow bolero biding it's time

as we try to decipher what it means to be Taíno.