Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post showcases two videos of the song "Yo Soy" ("It's Me") by the Colombian Band Bomba Estéreo .
Information about Bomba Estéreo is included in this post along with Spanish lyrics and English translation of that song.
The Addendum to this post showcases "Be You y Vota", a 2016 Vote Democratic political ad targeted to Latinos that features Bomba Estéreo's song "Yo Soy". The Addendum also showcases a video about the Latina girl who is featured in the official video for "Soy Yo" and the "Be You And Vote" video.
The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Bomba Estéreo for their musical legacy. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publishers of these video on YouTube.
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INFORMATION ABOUT BOMBA ESTEREO
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bomba_Est%C3%A9reo
"Bomba Estéreo is a Colombian band founded in the capital, Bogotá, in 2005[1] by Simón Mejía. Their music has been described as "electro vacilón" (a term dismissed by the band[2]), "electro tropical"[3] or "psychedelic cumbia".[4] According to Mejía, the band's name (which translates into English as "stereo bomb") is a Colombian term for "a really cool, awesome, bad ass party".[5]....
Simón Mejía was selected as one of the three finalists for the 2010–11 Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative to spend a year working with Brian Eno,[12] eventually losing out to Australian composer Ben Frost.[13] He also travelled with London-based filmmaker Santiago Posada to the Colombian town of San Basilio de Palenque, where the two men spent three months in 2011 recording the music of the local Afro-Colombian community for a music and DVD box set – the town became known in the 17th century as the site of the first free slave community in Colombia, and has retained much of its African-originated language, culture and music.[14][15]
2011–present: Elegancia Tropical and Amanecer
Bomba Estéreo performed at the South by Southwest and Roskilde festivals in 2009, and in 2010 undertook a world tour that visited 32 cities as well as the Bumbershoot festival and Bonnaroo Music Festival.[12] In 2011 they performed at the Coachella Festival and Austin City Limits Music Festival in the US, as well as Lollapalooza Chile and the Vive Latino festival in Mexico City, one of the major worldwide festivals for "rock en español".[9][16]
The band's third full-length album, Elegancia Tropical, was released in 2012 on Polen Records in Colombia and on Soundway Records worldwide. The album was engineered and mixed by producer Joel Hamilton.[17] To promote the record the band undertook a tour of Colombia, followed by Mexico and the US throughout 2012 and 2013. Band members have said they miss suero while on tour away from Colombia.[7] Their fourth full-length album, Amanecer, was released on June 2, 2015, on Sony Music. One song, "Soy Yo", was selected for the soundtrack of FIFA 16.[18] The music video for Soy Yo, released in September 2016, featured the debut of Sarai Gonzalez as a nerdy-looking Latina girl with a spunky personality standing up to bullies on the "mean streets" of Brooklyn, New York.[19][20] The video received over 6.5 million views as of early November 2016.[19]
The album "Amanecer" was placed 50th in Rolling Stone's list of the 50 best albums of 2015.[21]
Origin Bogotá, Colombia
Genres Electro, Cumbia, Alternative dance
Years active 2005–present
Labels Sony Music US Latin"
-snip-
In the context of this band's name, I believe that the meaning given for the word "bomba" largely comes from the African American Vernacular English term "the bomb" meaning "something or someone that is very hot, i.e. very good".
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LYRICS: YO SOY (Spanish)
(Bomba Estéreo)
Yo caí me pare camine me subí
Me fui contra la corriente y también me perdí
Fracase, me encontré lo viví y aprendí
Cuando más te pegas fuerte más profundo es el beat
Sigo bailando y escribiendo mis letras
Sigo cantando con las puertas abiertas
Atravesando todas estas tierras y no hay
Que viajar tanto pa encontrar la respuesta
Y no te preocupes si no te aprueban cuando te critiquen tu solo di
Soy yo
Soy yo soy soy soy
Soy yo
Sigo caminando y sigo riendo
Hago lo que quiero y muero en el intento
A nadie le importa lo que estoy haciendo
Lo único que importa es lo que esta por dentro
A mi me gusta estar en la arena
Bañarme en el mar sin razón sin problema
Estar sentada sin hacer nada mirando de lejos y estar relajada
Y no te preocupes si no te aprueban cuando te critiquen tu solo di
Soy yo
Soy yo soy soy soy
Soy yo yo yo yo
Soy así soy así
Relaja
Y tu ni me conoces a mi
Bien relaja
Soy así soy así
Relaja
Y tu ni me conoces a mi
Bien relaja
You know what I mean
Y no te preocupes si no te aprueban cuando te critiquen tu solo di
Soy yo
Soy yo soy soy soy
Soy yo yo yo yo
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxWxXncl53U, posted by Super Sketchy, November 2016
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LYRICS: I'M ME (English translation; also given as "It's Me")
(Bomba Estéreo)
I fell down, stood up, rose up
I went against the stream and I got lost
I failed, I found myself, I lived it and I learnt
When you fall harder, the deeper the beat
I keep dancing and writing my lyrics.
I keep singing with the doors open
Going through all these lands and not have to travel so far to find the answer
And don't you worry if they don't approve, when they criticize you just say
It's me
It's me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me
I keep on walking, keep on laughing
I do whatever I want and die trying
Nobody cares what I'm doing, the only thing that matters is what's on the inside
I like to be on the sand, bathing out in the sea without reason, without problem
Sitting down doing nothing, looking far away, and be relaxed
And don't you worry if they don't approve, when they criticize you just say
It's me, it's me, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's
It's me me me me me me me me
I'm like this
Relaxed
and you don't even know me
So relaxed
I'm like this
Relaxed
and you don't even know me
You know what I mean
You know what I mean
Relaxed
So relaxed
Relaxed
So relaxed
And don't you worry if they don't approve, when they criticize you just say
It's me
It's me me me me me me me me
Yes, I am
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxWxXncl53U, posted by Spex Modz1, September 2016
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SHOWCASE VIDEOS
Example #1: Bomba Estereo - Soy yo (Fifa16 Soundtrack) - Sala Caracol (live) [HD]
Sala Caracol, Published on Jun 13, 2015
Concierto de Bomba Estereo en la Sala Caracol, Madrid, España, presentando su nuevo album, amanecer, en este vídeo interpretan la canción Soy yo.
-snip-
Google translate from Spanish to English: Bomba Estereo concert in Sala Caracol, Madrid, Spain, presenting his new album, Dawn, in this video interprets the song's [It's] me.
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Example #2: Bomba Estéreo - Soy Yo (Official Video)
BombaEstereoVEVO. Published on Sep 7, 2016
-snip-
Here's a comment from that video's discussion thread:
100% beast mode boss, October 2016
"Soy yo is its me and the song is saying dont care what others think you are you"
-snip-
This video is praised for its an anti-bullying theme.
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ADDENDUM
Example #1: Be You y Vota (Be You And Vote)
PFAWdotorg, Published on Oct 28, 2016
In her now-famous style and inspired by Bomba Estereo’s ‘Soy Yo’ music video, Sarai rejects Donald Trump’s hate by bringing everyone she knows to the polls to go vote. Speaking to Latino and bilingual audiences, the video “Be You y Vota” is part of People For the American Way’s Latinos Vote! campaign. People For the American Way (PFAW) is a progressive advocacy organization founded to fight right-wing extremism and defend constitutional values including free expression, religious liberty, equal justice under the law, and the right to meaningfully participate in our democracy. PFAW’s Latinos Vote! program works to expose and counter anti-immigrant, anti-Latino rhetoric from Republican and far-right candidates, leaders, and elected officials.
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Example #2: Meet the Little Latina Girl Behind Bomba Estéreo's Viral Music Video
POPSUGAR Entertainment, Published on Sep 16, 2016
11-year-old Sarai Gonzalez can teach us all a thing or two about how to twirl on your haters with style.
-snip-
Here are two comments from this video's discussion thread:
MikeSnipz, October 2016
"I didnt understand how this music video was an anti bullying video it didnt really show anything about bullying all she did was go up to random people and just doing something random"
**
Reply
Bayron Rivera, 2016
"Shows people who get bullied that its ok to be themselves. You not always have to be literal about a message specially in videos. There are many interpretations. In this one we can see the disapproval in the peoples faces when they are staring at her and she gives zero F^&%$ and just does her stuff, yeah it doesn't show her being bullied but that's only because she doens't care enough to what people have to say.."
-snip-
This comment is given as it was written in that discussion thread.
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Visitor comments are welcome.
I think the hairstyle that the Latina girl has in the official video for Bomba Estereo's "Soy Yo" serves as a marker of how the two other girls in that video saw her as "different".
ReplyDeleteIn that video Sarai wore part of her hair in multiple braids with beads at the end. But the fact that one part of her hair was braided and beaded and the other part wasn't could also have served as a marker for a person who is uniquely herself since with regard to her hair, she "does her own thing' and "marches to a different drummer".
That said, since at least the 1980s, braided hairstyles that include wearing beads (or cowrie shells) is an African/African Diaspora hairstyle adornment that has become quite common in the United States particularly for Black little girls. But recall that Stevie Wonder also used to wear multiple braids that had beads at the end.
While some Black girls (and some Black women and some Latina females?, and some females of other races?) still rock numerous braided hairstyles and locs (dreadlocks) in which its optional to add beads/cowrie shells, it's rare nowadays to see males decorating their braided hair or locs with beads or cowrie shells.