My translation of lyrics are at the end of this post

I have Comcast Digital Cable and with that comes Video On Demand. A friend of mine was fiddling with it and found some music videos that I didn't even know existed. While we were scrolling through, we found some great little winners: the Cro-Mags live at CBGB, Pennywise, live Sublime (RIP Brad) and this funny little Sri Lankan thug rapper girl, M.I.A. But I peeped that Mana was on the list and waited until my friends were leaving to queue it up.

Mana's Amar es Combatir album is phenomenal and I should talk about that soon, but the video I watched was for one of the singles off that album, "Bendita Tu Luz," which translated means "Blessed Be Your Light." Lyrically, it reminds me of Lenny and I, meeting at a time when it was perfect for us.

But the video made me homesick. Juan Luis Guerra does guest vocals on this track--his music reminds me of being at my grandmother's parties up in the mountains of Puerto Rico. Oddly enough, I attended a training recently where the presenter played an album of his during lunch and it made me think of those parties and my grandfather (who is now bed-ridden with Alzheimer's) dancing slow with my grandmother, whose face was always blissful in his embrace (that's how I remember it).

So watching this video Saturday night brought that up, but also had images that reminded me of a time when I didn't even know what 40 degree weather felt like, let also temperatures below freezing. The bits of sun and beach, the old Spanish architecture, the hats they wear, the delicious hollow tap of bongos--I mean, it was like I had forgotten what that was like and this video smashed down all my little walls.

Clearly, I love this song, but this video really brings to the forefront that traditional feel to the music and lyrics. It's not a spectacular video--no nifty effects, no real mindbending "plot"--but to a displaced island girl, it is perfectly romantic, both in story and backdrop. It is a memory floating up and reminding me that I really do need to buy a plane ticket home--the island, she calls to me through this.


Bendita Tu Luz
From Mana's Amar es Combatir
Translation

Bendito el lugar y el motivo de estar ahi
Blessed be the place and the motive to be there
Bendita la coincidencia
Blessed be the coincidence
Bendito el reloj que nos puso punctual ahi
Blessed be the clock that put us punctually there
Bendita sea tu presencia
Blessed be your presence

Bendito Dios por encontrarnos en el camino
Blessed be to God for finding each other on the path
Y de quitarme esta soledad de mi destino
And for taking away this solitude from my destiny

Bendita la luz
Blessed be the light
Bendita la luz de tu mirada
Blessed be the light of your gaze
Bendita la luz
Blessed be the light
Bendita la luz de tu mirada
Blessed be the light of your gaze
Desde el alma
From the soul

Benditos ojos que me esquivaban
Blessed be those eyes that avoided me
simulaban desde que me ignoraban
They simulated that they ignored me
Y de repente sostienes la mirada
All of a sudden you hold the gaze
Bendito Dios por encontrarnos en el camino
Blessed be to God for finding each other on the path
Y de quitarme esta soledad de mi destino
And for taking away this solitude from my destiny

Bendita la luz
Blessed be the light
Bendita la luz de tu mirada
Blessed be the light of your gaze
Bendita la luz
Blessed be the light
Bendita la luz de tu mirada
Blessed be the light of your gaze

Gloria divina de esta suerte de buen tino
Glory divine of this stoke of good luck
Y de encontrarte justo ahi en medio del camino
And of finding you right there in the middle of the path
Gloria al cielo de encontrarte ahora llevarte mi soledad
Glory to heaven for finding you now to take my solitude
Y coincidir en mi destino en el mismo destino
And coincide with my destiny in the same destiny

Bendita la luz
Blessed be the light
Bendita la luz de tu mirada
Blessed be the light of your gaze
Bendita la luz
Blessed be the light
Bendita la luz de tu mirada
Blessed be the light of your gaze
Bendita mirada
Blessed gaze
Bendita mirada desde el alma
Blessed gaze from the soul

Tu mirada
Your gaze
Bendita bendita bendita mirada
Blessed, blessed, blessed gaze
Bendita tu alma y bendita tu luz
Blessed be your soul and blessed be your light
Tu mirada
Your gaze

Digo es tan bendita tu luz, amor, amor,
I say so blessed be your light, my love, my love
Bendito el reloj y bendito el lugar,
Blessed be the clock and blessed be the place
Benditos tus besos cerquita del mar,
Blessed be your kisses near to the sea
Y tu mirada, amor, amor,
And your gaze, my love, my love
Que bendita tú mirada, tu mirada, amor
How blessed be your gaze, your gaze, my love.