Jarabe De Palo – Song of the Day
By Rafiki
HAVANA TIMES – Today’s featured band is Jarabe De Palo from Spain with a video clip of the song “La Flaca”, title track of their first of many albums (1996).
Havana Times Song of the Day features artists mostly, but not only, born in Latin America and the Caribbean. Additionally, artists influenced by Latin American rhythms/sounds and/or are of Latin American heritage but born elsewhere. Jazz is another feature of our posts.
To listen to Songs of the Day from past days click here.
I remember buying this album in 1998 from a record of the month club. I had picked it out, sight unseen. I was a local Caucasian college student at the Ohio State University. In 1998, I had little exposure to non-English lyrics/music from around the world. I had been listening to shortwave radio for years and definitely liked music from abroad. I listened to the La Flaca CD over and over. Many years later in 2006 I was on a business trip to Ciudad Oregon Mexico. My hosts took me to an Obregon Yaquis baseball game. Over the loud speaker they kept playing clips from La Flaca. It took a few times for me to remember the actual song. With a few more beers, I began singing the lyrics when another clip was played. My hosts were in such amazement that I knew the song, artist, and album. They also began to sing along! It is a wonderful memory of worldly strangers sharing a love for an band from Spain. Even now I stream that album from time to time cherishing that memory. I wish all the citizens of the US would be humble enough to have such interactions with foreigners domestically and abroad. But with our current leadership, that may be a fleeting wish.