Friday, August 21, 2015

El Condor Passa - the outcry of subjugated humanity

El Condor Passa --
By Daniel Robles &made famous by Simon&Garfunkel. Here on my rudimentary Peruvian Pipes, I examine once again some of the musical discoveries of that great singer/songwriter from Latin America. But instead of the singer saying he'd rather be a hammer than a nail, in the real song it's a native miner crying out to the condor, the huge bird that only appears when something has passed away, to remove him from the horror of the oppression of the foreign bosses and take him back to the mountains. It has a lot in common with songs such as "The Bonny, Bonny banks o' Loch Loman" and "The Green, Green Grass of Home" in that only when they passed away would they be able to return home far from the oppressor. A prisoner of labor, a prisoner of war, and a prisoner of death row. All share the common irony.

El Condor Passa - Cover by Paul Hall on Pan Pipes

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