November 2020 - Huayno Del Why Not?

In September 2020 I did a second online course offered by Academia Oralitura called Analisys y Creacion de Canciones facilitated by Nano Stern. It was a wonderful trip through Nano's mental model of songwriting and again had participants from all over the world. There were several songwriting exercises we had to do and I started to write some lyrics based on a quirk I had registered at some point, namely that "huayno" sounds a lot like a Spanish speaker saying "why not?" (even the inflections are similar). I note, by the way, that I was not the first person in the world to notice this and, in fact, when I shared these lyrics with my fellow students, one of them mentioned that she had been part of an andino band in Venice in the 90s that had written and recorded an instrumental huayno called "Wayno't".

The lyrics are anchored in this question, why not? In particular, I was thinking about dispossession of first peoples around the world and how many countries (including Australia) have failed to move beyond mere recognition of indigenous peoples towards models of sovereignty and reparations (relevant to the descendants of slaves as well). It was especially grating at the time given we were living through the greatest ever peacetime mobilisation of government resources to manage a global pandemic which only proved that, with will and purpose, nothing is impossible - it made the question ring in my ears: if we can shut down whole cities, pay people to stay home for their own and their community's safety, develop and distribute an effective vaccine in months, why can't we correct the wrongs of colonialism? For a tiny fraction of the cost and inconvenience we bore in the global pandemic, we could put things right with the original inhabitants of lands claimed by invaders in less enlightened times.

Musically I was very inspired by an analysis Nano did of a couple of huaynos in the course: Aca Seca Trio's "Clavelito Blanco" and Nano's own "Carnavalito Del Ciempies". He emphasised not only the incredible layering of parts within a simple rhythmic cushioning of the 4/4 huayno, but also talked about the strong baroque influence in Andean music which formed out of the mix of indigenous rhythms, sounds and instruments with the Spanish chamber music of the time of colonisation of South America (16th century). And so the introduction to the song is a form of baroque guitar piece which transitions into an intense zampoña melody that seeks to capture the raw energy of this style of Andean music. As is often the case, I wrote the melody without thinking too much about its playability and ended up with something that is right on the edge of the powers of my amazing bandmates who took what sounded like an impossible part and made it sound beautiful!

Este es el huayno del “why not?”

Esta pregunta tengo yo

Dices no es posible el cambio

Pero quedas mudo al “¿por qué no?”

Por qué no insistir que el poder

Repare delitos de ayer

Lo que fue robado, devolver

Y lo mal hecho, deshacer

Este es el huayno del “why not?” . .

Por qué no borrar el pecado original

En que se roba tierra ancestral

Y se quiebra el nexo custodial

Pa’ crear bienes hechos de un mal

Este es el huayno del “why not?” . .

La necesidad es revelatoria

“Imposible” relegada a la historia

Vamos, a trabajar con sudor y a

Romper la certeza ilusoria

Este es el huayno del “why not?” . .

Translation

This is the “why not?” huayno

That's the question I have for you

You say change isn't possible

But you're struck dumb when asked "why not?"

Why not insist that Power

Repair the crimes of yesterday,

Return that which was stolen

And undo our misdeeds

This is the “why not?” huayno . .

Why not erase the original sin

In which ancestral lands are taken

And custodial connections are broken

To create "goods" from bad

This is the “why not?” huayno . .

Necessity has proved revealing

“Impossible” can be relegated to history

Let's go, let's raise a sweat working

To break down illusory certainties

This is the “why not?” huayno . .