La Guitarra

Good morning! I’m a day late on this, but here is the image for day five of #InktoberLatinxColectivo2020 challenge. Today’s prompt is GUITARRA/GUITAR #LatinxInk20

Today’s image is dedicated to Venezuelan singer and songwriter, Alí Primera. Why? Because in the early 1980s, in the midst of the civil war, he gave to us Salvadorans one of the most beautiful poems/songs of resistance and resilience: El Sombrero Azul. I know that for most Salvis today, the version they know best is the cumbia version done by Salsa Clave, but El Sombrero Azul is first and foremost a protest song. As an example, this is stanza from the original:

Al verde que yo le canto
Es el color de tus maizales
No al verde de las boinas
De matanzas tropicales
Las que fueron al Vietnam
A quemar los arrozales
Y andan por estas tierras
Como andar por sus corrales

The Salsa Clave version changed these lyrics and removed any political critique of U.S. imperialism:

Al verde que yo le canto
Es el color de tus maizales
Y al verde de los cerros
Y las playas tropicales
De La Paz al Guascorán
Mi país está muy triste
Pero El Salvador resiste
A cualquier adversidad

Personally, I’m down for anti-imperialist cumbias! So why not change the lyrics back?