Puerto Rican Public Service Ad: "Dar la teta es dar vida"

[TinkerBellesMum]

Lovely ad from Puerto Rico. Sorry if this has been posted before.

"Dar la teta es dar vida" means to give the breast is to give life.

[MrsThierryHenry]

That's really lovely! Another thing I loved about the ad is that none of the the women or children look like models but they are still all so beautiful. Ahhhh. Heart-warming stuff.

[charchargabor]

I love that video, and so does DD. I play it to her when she's ratty and it calms her down straight away. I even learn the words so I could sing it to her when I didn't have the computer

[MrsThierryHenry]

Charchar, don't be ! I want to learn it too! I was going to google the first line and see if I could find it!

[MrsThierryHenry]

Found it! here

(strange lyrics in places, but still sweet!)

[SuperBunny]

Lovely

Thank you for posting

[TinkerBellesMum]

MrsTH, do you understand the lyrics then?

[MrsThierryHenry]

Um...yes, mostly. It's all about the mother saying she will provide her child with everything he needs, and she's exhorting her son to sleep. Some of the lyrics are odd and I don't want to translate them as I don't understand the culture they've come from so I wouldn't want to misinterpret the song.

The other thing is that the note under the lyrics say that the authors recognise theirs is not the original version.

[foxytocin]

Duerme, duerme negrito,
sleep, sleep little black boy - negrito/a is a term of endearment in Latin America. I still get called Negra in my family.
que tu mama está en el campo, negrito...
your mum is in the country, negrito..

Duerme, duerme negrito,
que tu mama está en el campo, negrito...*

Te va a traer codornices para ti,
She will bring quail for you
te va a traer rica fruta para ti,
she will bring delicious fruit for you
te va a traer carne de cerdo para ti.
she will bring pork for you
te va a traer muchas cosas para ti.
she will bring lots of things for you
Y si negro no se duerme,
If you don't sleep
viene diablo blanco
the white devil (like bogeyman) comes
y ¡zas! le come la patita,
and zaz, he will eat your little foot.
¡chacapumba, chacapún?!

Duerme, duerme negrito,
que tu mama está en el campo, negrito...

Trabajando, working
trabajando duramente, trabajando sí,
working hard, working yes
trabajando y no le pagan, trabajando sí,
woking and they don't pay her, working yes
trabajando y va tosiendo, trabajando sí,
working and she is coughing...
trabajando y va de luto, trabajando sí,
working and she is wearning mourning clothes
pa'l negrito chiquitito, trabajando sí,
for the small 'negrito' yes she is working
pa'l negrito chiquitito, trabajando sí,
no le pagan sí, va tosiendo sí
va de luto sí, duramente sí.

Duerme, duerme negrito,
que tu mama está en el campo, negrito...

This is the original version, the version on dar la teta sometimes substitutes 'mobila' for 'negrito'.

(Versión de Atahualpa Yupanqui, registrada en París en 1969, que recogen distintos intérpretes, y no es la original)

Daniel Viglietti y Mercedes Sosa, que levanta la versión de aquél, dicen ?mobila?, en lugar de ?negrito?.
Los otros intérpretes le hacen modificaciones mínimas, no significativas.

[jafina]

oh that's so lovely..............!!!!

[TinkerBellesMum]

That's lovely, thanks for the translation.

[MrsThierryHenry]

Foxy, gracias para tu traduccion (thanks for your translation!). You did a much better job than I could have!

[TheNinkynork]

"and zaz, he will eat your little foot"

DS likes to put his foot up when feeding so that I can nibble his toes.

I suppose you only get this sort of BF experience with older babies and how lovely that it's cross-cultural / universal

[MrsThierryHenry]

Um...ninky, I'm not sure that line in the song is quite so cuddly as your interpretation - I think the bogeyman would probably not be after a loving nibble!

[TheNinkynork]

Oh dear - I'd sort of imagined the mothers doing that, "grrrr... monster is coming to eat your toes all up!" thing to make the babies giggle.

Ah well, I'd had some wine. I did leave out the bit I was going to post about the quail though; "not a puree in sight! The song is practically a BLW anthem!"