Yesterday's pick was Cuban played by Africans, today's is an even richer blend with artists from Morocco, Hungary, Mexico, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Senegal, Egypt, India, USA, France and Serbia. Playing For Change's Song Around The World project brings together parts recorded across the globe, with a message of collaboration and seeking a better world. Clandestino is written by the French-born Spanish singer Manu Chao from his 1998 debut album of the same name. That album contains many political soundbites quoted from the Zapatista Liberation Army icon Subcomandante Marcos, and this song focuses on how many immigrants into Europe are forced into the continent but are classified as illegal (clandestino).
Some Playing For Change collaborations err towards slightly contrived, cheesy populism, but this is a genuinely interesting musical 2014 blend with array of unusual combinations, led off by Casablanca's oud player Said Chraib, and joined variously an international array of musicians, the singing led by Argentinians and Mexicans, and with gypsy violins by the Mendelssohn Chamber Players of Budapest among others. The blend is a folk, samba, reggae, gypsy, African mixture, far richer than the original.
Solo voy con mi pena
Sola va mi condena
Correr es mi destino
Para burlar la ley
Perdido en el corazón
De la grande Babylon
Me dicen el clandestino
Por no llevar papel
Pa' una ciudad del norte
Yo me fui a trabajar
Mi vida la dejé
Entre Ceuta y Gibraltar
Soy una raya en el mar
Fantasma en la ciudad
Mi vida va prohibida
Dice la autoridad
Solo voy con mi pena
Sola va mi condena
Correr es mi destino
Por no llevar papel
Perdido en el corazón
De la grande Babylon
Me dicen el clandestino
Yo soy el quiebra ley
Mano Negra clandestina
Peruano clandestino
Africano clandestino
Marijuana ilegal
Solo voy con mi pena
Sola va mi condena
Correr es mi destino
Para burlar la ley
Perdido en el corazón
De la grande Babylon
Me dicen el clandestino
por no llevar papel
Argelino, clandestino
Nigeriano clandestino
Boliviano clandestino
mano negra illegal
I come only with my punishment
There comes only my conviction
Running is my fate
In order to deceive the law
Lost in the heart
Of the great Babylon
They call me the Clandestine
Because I don't carry any identity papers
To a northern city
I went for work
I left my life behind
Between Ceuta and Gibraltar
I'm a just a rake on the sea
A ghost in the city
My life is prohibited
Says the authority
I come only with my punishment
There comes only my conviction
Running is my fate
Because I don't carry any identity papers
Lost in the heart
Of the great Babylon
They call me the Clandestine
I'm the sellout of law
Clandestine Black Hand
Peruvian Clandestine
African Clandestine
Marijuana illegal
I come only with my punishment
There comes only my conviction
Running is my fate
In order to deceive the law
Lost in the heart
Of the great Babylon
They call me the Clandestine
Because I don't carry any identity papers
Algerian Clandestine
Nigerian Clandestine
Bolivian Clandestine
Black Hand illegal.
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