I'm not from here nor from there - Facundo

Growing up I went through the normal confusion of a teenager about self-identification and expression. Music did a lot for me, and I had very specific taste for a few genres. I first got into Grunge, and listened to Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, and so on. I also liked hard rock from Metallica and the like. And then I got into Trova, a form of self-expression with very deep messages about life. At this point I was still confused, but at least I was aware of it and that was satisfying, if you can understand.

Facundo Cabral was one of those "trovadores" I deeply respected, even when I didn't always agree with his views. I listened to him saying things like

"I am my own inventor because that is the task with which God has trusted me. God, or the Devil because they are the same thing. The Devil is a pseudonym that God uses when he has to create something of morally doubtful character, in order to not tarnish his good name, he uses the pseudonym."

"The poor man that walks through this borrowed life without a song, in addition to being poor is a ghost, and in addition to being a ghost, is nothing."

"You are not depressed. You are distracted."

I saw him on a presentation at the Melico Salzar Theater in Costa Rica about 8 years ago. There he was, wearing blue jeans, a brown jacket, sunglasses, his Spanish guitar, gray curly hair, beard and mustache, seating on a red chair, glass of wine on a small table to his right, his cane on the left side. He traveled across Latin America and the whole word. One of his messages and commentaries was about why being a singer is good news, because it also means one less soldier.

On July 9, 2011 Facundo Cabral was assassinated in Guatemala City. In a few occasions when talking about his grandma's birthday he said "God decides when we leave this world up the age of 100. Any time after that is entirely up to each of us".  I guess the Devil, as per Facundo's interpretation, made his choice on that morning.

Facundo was a man who spoke of peace, of the ironies and satisfactions in life, of God's tendencies to confuse us, of the importance to stop feeling self-pity and instead become creators as it was intended for us in first place.

"Llorar por la muerte es faltarle el respeto a la vida"

-Crying because of death is to be disrespectful to life

"Fuera de la felicidad son todos pretextos, tenemos que ser felices"

-Aside from happiness everything else is merely excuses, we ought to be happy

I like those who stay silent, and I like those who sing

So much I have walked with me, I like what happens to me

Things like this happen to me, even if it is not important to talk about all the things that happen to me with everyone else

Because one doesn't live alone, and what happens to one happens to the world - reason and cause

Because everything is perfect, and perfect is God who moves a star when picking a flower

Because, if there is one, there are two

I learned of the Devil the night I said not to the hungry man, and that night I also realized that the Devil is God's son

I walked alone in life, with a sound, dominant and modestly cantor without intention to teach

Because if the world is round, I don't know what is next

Walk and walk, always walking for the sake of walking

I didn't come to teach the world, just to play

I don't want to judge men, I want to tell to men

My condition is life, and my road to sing, to sing and to tell about life

It is my way of life

One day I arrived in Tandil, and met an old men

And his lack of intelligence led him to be seen as a wise man

One night I asked the old man about Jesus, and right there and then I met him... when he gave me a mirror

I dance with my own song, not with the one someone plays for me

I am not freedom, but the one who provokes it

If I already know the road, why walk on the side road

If I like freedom, why be a slave

To chose, I always chose, more than for myself for my brother

And if I had chosen to be Eagle it was for love to the Worm

I prefer to go by foot and not with a borrowed horse

Someone looking for an apple always goes on the side

The one who carries the least always arrives first

The day I die there won't be need to use a scale

Because to morn a cantor, with a Milonga is more than enough

I face the enemy, turn my back on the good comments

Because to accept a sweet compliment is to accept being dominated

Man caresses the horse..... to ride it

Forgive me if I crossed the line and too moral

No one can give advise, there is no man who is that old

I carry the sun on my back and the world turns yellow

I like to walk, but I don't follow a road because what is certain lacks of mystery

I like to go far away during the summer, and come back to my mom's during the winter

And to see the dogs that never forgot about me, and the horses, and my brother's hugs

I like it, I like it, I like it

I like the sun, Alicia, and doves

A good cigar, a spanish guitar

Jumping walls, and opening windows

And when a woman cries 

I like wine as much as flowers

And rabbits, but not tractors

Homemade bread and Dolores' voice

And the sea wetting my feet

I'm not from here, I'm not from there

I have no age, nor future

And being happy is my color of identity.

I like to always be lying on the sand

Or chasing Manuela on a bicycle

Or all the time to see the stars with Maria in the hayfield

I'm not from here, I'm not from there

I have no age, nor future

And being happy is my color of identity