Guantanamera

For other uses, see Guantanamera (disambiguation).

"Guantanamera"
Song
Language	Spanish
Composer	Joseíto Fernández

"Guantanamera" (from Guantánamo [feminine], thus "woman from Guantánamo") is perhaps the best known Cuban song and that country's most noted patriotic song.

History

Music

The music for the song is sometimes attributed to José Fernández Diaz, known as Joseíto Fernández, who claimed to have written it at various dates (consensus puts 1929 as its year of origin), and who used it regularly in one of his radio programs. Some claim that the song's structure actually came from Herminio "El Diablo" García Wilson, who could be credited as a co-composer. García's heirs took the matter to court decades later but lost the case: the Supreme Court of Cuba credited Fernández as the sole composer of the music in 1993. Regardless of either claim, Fernández can safely be claimed as being the first public promoter of the song, through his radio programs.

Lyrics

Original lyrics and José Fernandez

Perhaps as written by José Fernández, the lyrics to the song relate to a woman from Guantánamo, with whom he had a romantic relationship, and who eventually left him. The alleged real story behind these lyrics (or at least one of many versions of the song's origin that Fernández suggested during his lifetime) is that she did not have a romantic interest in him, but merely a platonic one. If the details are to be believed, she had brought him a steak sandwich one day as a present to the radio station where he worked. He stared at some other woman (and attempted to flirt with her) while eating the sandwich, and his friend yanked it out of his hands in disgust, cursed him and left. He never saw her again. These words are rarely sung today.^{[citation needed]}

Another history behind the chorus and its lyrics ("Guantanamera … / Guajira Guantanamera …") is similar: García claimed he was at a street corner with a group of friends and made a courteous pass (a polite pick-up line, like "your mother made you good" or "you came from a star", piropo in Spanish) to a woman (who also happened to be from Guantánamo) who walked by the group. She answered back rather harshly, offended by the pass. Stunned, he could not take his mind off her reaction while his friends made fun of him; later that day, sitting at a piano with his friends near him, he wrote the song's main refrain.^{[citation needed]}

Adaptation from the Versos Sencillos by José Martí

The better known "official" lyrics are based on selections from the poetry collection Versos Sencillos (Simple Verses) by Cuban poet and independence hero José Martí, as adapted by Julián Orbón. Given Martí's significance to the Cuban people, the use of his poem in the song virtually elevated it to unofficial anthem status in the country. The four verses of the song were adapted from four stanzas of Versos sencillos, each from a different poem. They are presented here in the original Spanish (poem:stanza).

I:1	V:3	XXXIX:1	III:2
Yo soy un hombre sincero De donde crece la palma, Y antes de morirme quiero Echar mis versos del alma.	Mi verso es de un verde claro Y de un carmín encendido: Mi verso es un ciervo herido Que busca en el monte amparo.	Cultivo una rosa blanca En julio como enero, Para el amigo sincero Que me da su mano franca.	Con los pobres de la tierra Quiero yo mi suerte echar: El arroyo de la sierra Me complace más que el mar.

Use as social "newspaper"

Given the song's musical structure, which fits A-B-A-B (sometimes A-B-B-A) octosyllabic verses, "Guantanamera" lent itself from the beginning to impromptu verses, improvised on the spot, similar to what happens with the Mexican folk classic "La Bamba". Fernández's first use of the song was precisely this; he would comment on daily events on his radio program by adapting them to the song's melody, and then using the song as a show closer. Through this use, "Guantanamera" became a popular vehicle for romantic, patriotic, humorous, or social commentary lyrics, in Cuba and elsewhere in the Spanish speaking world.

Cover versions

Perez Prado Fugees Jimmy Buffett Buena Vista Social Club Gipsy Kings Marlon Wayans Pitbull Joan Baez The Brandos The Mavericks and Raul Malo Nini Camps Celia Cruz Betty Curtis in Italian Lucrecia and Andy Garcia

Joe Dassin in French Leon Gieco Gilda (On Un Sueño Hecho Realidad) Goombay Dance Band José Feliciano Julie Felix Jimmy Fontana in Italian Mary Hopkin in Welsh Julio Iglesias Los Lobos Trini Lopez Nana Mouskouri in English and French Tito Puente Los Reales del Paraguay Demis Roussos

Arturo Sandoval (In the movie For Love or Country) The Sandpipers Pete Seeger Die Toten Hosen Nanette Workman Phil Manzanera Robert Wyatt Banda Bassotti Dean Reed Muslim Magomayev Roland Alphonso Ska Version Wyclef Jean & The Refugee Camp Allstars (including cameos from Lauryn Hill and Celia Cruz)

External links

• Aspectos de La Guantanamera (in Spanish).
• José Martí's poem Versos Sencillos, from which the verses of Guantanamera were taken.