This song is my earliest lesson on the universality of music: I was in elementary when I first heard it played by my elders totally ignorant of its lyrics and meaning except that the melody is so lovely, so moving. The music had stayed on with me since then and how glad to finally have it as our Sunday Music after mentioning Che Guevarra in my homily (https://lordmychef.wordpress.com/2018/10/20/jesus-is-a-radical/).
“Guantanamera” as a song was first recorded and popularized in 1929 by Cuban singer Joseito Fernandez. Its lyrics were based on the poem by Cuban poet Jose Marti that eventually became a patriotic song in Cuba. In 1963, the late American folk singer and social activist Pete Seeger recorded it during the Cuban Missile Crisis, eventually becoming a staple in the protest and peace movements of that time into the early ‘70’s. The song speaks well about the radical kind of love and service Jesus asks us in today’s gospel. It is actually the heartaches of a “truthful man” in Guantanamo, Cuba who was deeply hurt at how powerful and rich countries have destroyed his lovely native land. But despite these, he still offered peace and goodwill, a “white rose”.
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