"La Granja" is the No. 1 hit song in Mexico right now. It's a new breed of song -- a narcocorrido, but in code, so radio stations that won't play overt and obvious (and highly popular and beloved) drug gang ballads can't find a clear reason to censor or ban "La Granga."The lyrics and story roughly reflect George Orwell's novel "Animal Farm." "La Granja" was released as a video cartoon of the story; the cartoon will help tell the story and the meaning.
The female dog, la perra, is Mexico's hugely profitable and increasingly murderous illegal drug industry -- chiefly cocaine, heroin and marijuana. Nearly all of it is smuggled into the United States, where the demand and the money are.
Drug-gang violence, both in Mexico and in near-border USA cities like Phoenix, Arizona, are at a historic high. Since former Presidente Vincente Fox began a crackdown on drug gangs and their corrupt government and law-enforcement partners in 2006, about 13,000 people have been murdered in drug-related violence, according to the newspaper USA Today.
The English translation may be very iffy; if you can do better, por favor give it a whack, and mil gracias from Vleeptron.
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La Granja (The Farm)
from the album La Granja (2009)
by Los Tigres Del Norte
Si la perra esta amarrada
Aunque ladre todo el día
No la deben de soltar
Mi abuelito me decía
Que podrían arrepentirse
Los que no la conocían
Por el zorro lo supimos
Que llego a romper los platos
Y la cuerda de la perra
La mordió por un buen rato
Y yo creo que se soltó
Para armar un gran relajo
Los puerquitos le ayudaron
Se alimentan de la granja
Diario quieren más maíz
Y se pierden las ganancias
Y el granjero que trabaja
Ya no les tiene confianza
Se cayó un gavilán
Los pollitos comentaron
Que si se cayó solito
O los vientos lo tumbaron
Todos mis animalitos
Por el ruido se espantaron
El conejo esta muriendo
Dentro y fuera de la jaula
Y a diario hay mucho muerto
A lo largo de la granja
Porque ya no hay sembradíos
Como ayer con tanta alfalfa
En la orilla de la granja
Un gran cerco les pusieron
Para que sigan jalando
Y no se vaya el granjero
Porque la perra no muerde
Aunque el no este de acuerdo
Hoy tenemos día con día
Mucha inseguridad
Porque se soltó la perra
Todo lo vino a regar
Entre todos los granjeros
La tenemos que amarrar
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The Farm
If the dog is stingy
even if she barks all day long
they don't have to let her loose
my grandfather used to tell me
that those who didn't know her
could regret it
[the fox refers to former Mexican Presidente Vincente Fox.]
thanks to the fox we came to know
that it started to break the plates
I think the dog bit at her rope for a long time
and finally broke free
and then she really made a mess
the pigs helped her
they feed themselves
thanks to the farm
every day they want more corn
and they lose profits
and the farmer who works there
isn't so confident about them
[The next stanza refers to the mysterious crash of a Learjet carrying Mexico's Interior minister on 4 November 2008.]
a sparrowhawk fell to the ground
the chicks discussed that
whether he fell on his own
or it was the wind that knocked him
the noise scared all my animals
the rabbit is going to die
in and out of the cage
and every day a lot of them die
all over the farm
because the field isn't sown anymore
as it was yesterday with a lot of alfalfa
they laid siege to
the borders of the farm
so that they continue to work
and the farmer doesn't go away
because the dog doesn't bite
even if he disagrees
today we're so insecure day by day
because the dog broke free
everybody knows it now
all we farmers have to tie her up.
2 comments:
I think that the narcocoridos is a very sticky rhythm , so I think that the Tigres del Norte can say in their songs some of the problems with the grud industry.
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