Home » Shop » Choral Music » Silencio (T,satb)

Description

Text and Translation

Silencio,

que todo el mundo se calle,

que sólo se oiga en el aire

el sonido de mi voz.

Silencio,

mientras afinan los cueros,

el aire se va tiñendo

al ritmo de mi color.

Porque yo tengo

en la sangre fibra buena

y hasta la luna es morena

cuando no la mira el sol.

Porque yo tengo sabor

y soy moreno,

por eso pido silencio

que el candombe comenzó.

Se balancea furioso el tambor mayor,

la luna se sandunguea

al son del borocotó.

Se prende fuego la pollera de mi negra

y es un encanto como mueve las caderas.

Silence,

let everyone be quiet,

let it be heard in the air

the sound of my voice.

Silence,

while they refine the leathers

the air is getting colored

to the rhythm of my color

Because I have

good fiber in the blood

and even the moon is dark

when the sun doesn’t look at it.

Because I have flavor,

I am dark,

that’s why I ask for silence

that candombe began.

The drum major swings furiously,

the moon moves his hips

to the sound of the borocotó.

My black girl’s skirt catches fire, and

It’s charming how she moves her hips.

Cultural Context

Candombe is a rhythm from Africa that has been an important part of Uruguayan culture for more than two

centuries. Uruguay, with a population of approximately 3.2 million, is a small country located in South

America, bordering its two large neighbors Brazil (162 million) to the east and Argentina (34 million)

to the west. An import to Uruguay through the slave trade, candombe beats in the streets, corridors, and

carnivals of this charming little country.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the population of Africans in Montevideo exceeded 50% of the

population. The majority (≈70%) of this population has its roots in the equitorial Bantu regions of Central

and Eastern Africa with the remaining minority comprised of people from Western Africa: Guinea,

Senegal, Gambia, Sierra Leone, and the Gold Coast (modern day Ghana). Candombe is a surviving cultural

element of the Bantu heritage brought into the Río de la Plata, though the term is now a generalization for all African dances.