Queja indiana
Queja indiana (Indian Complaint) is the title of a tango written by Juan Miguel Velich. The music was composed by Juan Carlos Rodríguez.
Lyrics writer(s):
The poet is witness to an indian’s lament over a sorrow of love.
Contents
Recordings
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Lyrics
¡Ay, ay, ay!…
En la noche se oía,
en la lejanía,
ayes de dolor…
¡Ay, ay, ay!…
El eco repetía
la queja sombría
de un fatal amor.
En la paz nocturnal, silente,
en que el campo parece tumba,
el lamento tenue retumba
sin cesar, muy tristón, hiriente.
Luego un búho, de cuando en cuando
lanza su tétrico graznido,
que al oírse deja oprimido
de pesares el corazón.
¡Ay, ay, ay!...
¡Ay, ay, ay!...
Aquella almita en pena
los aires ahí llena
con su evocación.
¡Ay, ay, ay!...
¡Ay, ay, ay!...
En la noche serena,
parece una quena
su lamentación.
En la arista del monte, un día,
sobre unas matas, estirado,
al pobre indio lo han hallado
que lloraba en su agonía.
Por sus males le preguntaron
y al hablar, tristemente dijo:
“Ella se fue llevando a mi hijo...
¡Por mi cacique moriré!”
Oh, oh, oh!...
At night, in the distance,
a painful moaning
was heard...
Oh, oh, oh!...
The echo repeated
the gloomy complaint
of a fatal love.
In the nocturnal peace, silent,
where the countryside resembles a grave,
the faint lament resounds
ceaslessly, very sad, hurtful.
Then an owl, every now and then,
throws its dismal caw
that when heard opresses
the heart with grief.
Oh, oh, oh!...
Oh, oh, oh!...
That lost soul
fills the air
with its evocation.
Oh, oh, oh!...
Oh, oh, oh!...
In the serene night,
his lamentation
sounds like a quena[1].
On a mount’s top, one day,
streched on some shrubs,
the poor indian was found
crying in his agony.
They asked him about his misfortunes
and when speaking, he sadly said:
’She left taking away my child...
I will die by my chief’s hands!’
References
- ↑ Quena:flute originary of the Andean area of South America (Bolivia, Ecuador, Perú, Chile and Argentina).
- ↑ The native inhabitants of the ’New Continent’ were wrongly called ’indians’ by the explorers, who thought they had arrived in the Indies. The use of this inaccurate denomination persists even nowadays.