Time to recognize: La Misma Canción, by Ozomatli (track 12 off their self-titled debut studio album from June 16, 1998). Ozomatli is a long-standing L.A.-based band
that creates music described by The Vogue as “a notorious
urban-Latino-and-beyond collision of hip hop and salsa, dancehall and
cumbia, samba and funk, merengue and comparsa, East LA R&B and New
Orleans second line, Jamaican ragga and Indian ragga— has long followed a
key mantra: it will take you around the world by taking you around
L.A.”
When asked for the background of the song, Raul Pacheco of Ozomatli replied via email, “This song is a simple acknowledgement and reminder of our basic and sometimes overlooked connection to the earth. It is a shout claiming we are all from the same source, and therefore much more connected to each other than different. It is a call to walk and act with that connection in our consciousness.
The chorus is a question and also an acknowledgement of how our political systems often divide us or choose profit over people and the land we live on and
share. That reality is sobering, but it is still worth reminding
ourselves of our basic shared connection.”
The Second Line Social Aid and Pleasure Society Brass Band is careful to make their very best attempt at the Spanish lyrics (pasted below with English translation of
first verse underneath), which are a bit fast for most of us to
pronounce! But we try.
Mi madre, mi padre también son de la tierra (tierra)
[My mother, and also my father, are from the earth]
y todos que estamos de aquí también somos de la tierra (tierra)
[and all of us who are also here are from the earth]
todo juntos también somos de la tierra (tierra)
[everyone together here is from the earth]
y todos que no son de aquí también somos de la tierra (tierra)
[all who are not from here are also from the earth]
y por que hay políticos que me recuerden a la tierra? (por que?)
[and why aren’t there politicians who remind me of the earth?] [why?]
porque es la misma canción, misma canción de mi vida
[because it’s the same song, same song of my life]
con mi tequila y limón yo canto