Estimada Gente Guagüera, 

Donald Trump talks a lot about “Bad Hombres”, defining latino masculinity to elicit fear and build his power. 

How can Latino men and boys choose to publicly and positively define ourselves? How do women and girls want to see masculinities actualized in our social world? Are there elements of latin@ traditions of machismo and marianismo that we can cherish, celebrate and reform to serve an agenda of gender equality? 

 I think we need an ongoing public dialogue about these and other related questions. ¡Caballeros! is my part contribution to that conversation.

Come join the conversation this weekend when “¡Caballeros!”, my Bomba/dance/hiphop exploration of latino masculinities, featuring Wilson La Antigua of Bombayo, will presented by Annabella Gonzalez Dance Theater at Manhattan Movement & Arts Center as a part of a diverse program called “Sorpresas”:

 248 W 60th St, Friday April 5th 8pm, Saturday April 6th two shows: 3pm and 8pm 
After the Saturday 3pm show, Wilson and I will participate in a talkback conversation about ¡Caballeros!, facilitated by Jinah Parker asking: What do we want from masculinity? 

Here’s a trailer for ¡Caballeros!: youtube.com/watch?v=NsfWszUoigw 
 

I’m also performing in 3 of Annabella’s whimsical, passionate and lovely dances. 

Tickets: manhattanmovement.com/calendar or at the door $25 adult, $15 student/dancer. 

Solidarity, 
 

Marcos

Dear Guaguer@s,

In Journey Back to Grace: Songs of Love and Loss, I invite you on a raw, vulnerable, personal journey. It’s a journey through stages of grief at the loss of my life commitment. It’s a journey back to hope. Journey Back to Grace gives you an idea of what Marcos and la Guagua songs are at their heart: active dialectics of the voice and the drum, of feeling and thought, the personal and the universal. La Guagua invites you to dance. La Guagua seeks to uplift us. La Guagua means to move you. The journey was performed and recorded with help from Ardashir Ethan Lea, in the gracious, acoustically gorgeous sanctuary of TLC of NYC.

Paz,

Marcos

Copy ready link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZW0-w9TQ34&list=PLlsqKxJPGOvOBh-7MjrFdot99nlFLzp_v

The Lyrics:

I-               I Can’t Believe It 
                        by Marcos de Jesús Wille, copyright 2015 

There are many things that I have doubted.
You were one thing that I was sure of. 
I took a long time before I asked you, 
And you said yes…but now I’ve lost you. (beat drops)    

I can’t believe it. 
I can’t believe it. 
I can’t believe it. 
I can’t believe it. 

I can’t believe it. 
I can’t believe it. 
I can’t believe it. 
I can’t believe from the 

Crazy girl who cried when I said I wanted space. 
The ambitious woman who said it was time we got a place. 
My beautiful bride. 
My joy and my pride. 
The strong help I trusted to always be by my side. 

I can’t believe it. 
I can’t believe it. 
I can’t believe it. 
I can’t believe it. 

I can’t believe it. 
I can’t believe it. 
I can’t believe it. 
But, I guess I’ve got to 

Believe it the dream is over now. It’s time to wake up 
And forget a strangely beautiful dream like I do most every morning. 

I can’t believe it. 
8X 

I thought we had everything. 
Why’d she leave…Why’d she leave…Why’d she leave…
It?                        fine    SDD        SDG

 

II-                    Involucrado con los Muertos 
                        by Marcos de Jesús Wille, copyright 2015 
Es que ella es 
Tan involucrada con los muertos 
         
        She´s so, She’s so involved with the dead. 

Tan involucrada con los muertos 
            etc 
        Torn between joy, love, and dread 
        She see´s a world on fire. 
        Maybe all great storytellers are prophets and liars! 
        Y me deja pensando. 
         
        Que lo que le pasa a mi 

No se le pasa a nadie 

        Un matrimonio tan feliz 
        etc 
        Que termina asi 
        Ay, ay, ay de mi 
        Lo que tengo que sentir 
        Y sobrevivir 

        Pero la pérdida pasa a todos 
        Aunque no tengo idea ni modo 
        Aguantar lo 
        y lo cierto 

Es que ella es 
Tan involucrada con los muertos 
        There’s nothing to be done         
Tan involucrada con los muertos 
        Somos Calaveras de veras, so let’s try to have some fun. 
        etc 
        Asi Abuela lo vio 
        Por esa nena me muero, but what a lovely way to go. 

        Y me dejado a mi 
    Involucrado con los muertos, muerto 
    Involucrado con lo muerto, eh! 
    2x o mas con soloista ad lib 

        Pero la pérdida toca a todos 
        Aunque no tengo idea ni modo 
        Aguantar lo 
        Y lo cierto 
        Es que lo nuestro 
        Ya ha muerto. 
        

         Y viviremos 
        Juntos y involucrados con lo muertos. 
                    fine 
                    SDG    SDD

III-                   Now and Forever 
                            by Marcos de Jesús, copyright 2015 

    Hmmn… 
    OO… 
Hashtag keep the Faith 
Fail. 
Mis padres, abuelos and now my 
Divorce. 
No fault keep it out the courts. 
But, why do we join, construct, define, 
Is it just the build up for inevitable decline? 

So a man shall leave his mother, 
A woman leave her home, 
So what?! 
So they go to the county, the church, throw a party, then die alone? 
She was beautiful, haunted, divine. 
But I couldn’t save her, beautiful savior. 
Was she ever really mine. 

    Hmmn… 
    OO… 
    Now and Forever 
Now? 
Now what?! 
Forever? 
Forever’s what I thought, 

I started already. 
¿Y como era pa’ mi abuelita? 
Matrimonio terminado 
Porque le vio como negrita, 
La suegra, 
Mi bisabuela. 

Y que de mi Abuelo 
la trato de defender 
Sus promesas mantener 
Pero que feliz mi bisabuela 
Cuando salió su nieto, 
Tan lindo y tan rubio, 
Lo queria comer crudo. 
Te revelo el asunto: 
Tres generaciones 
de fracaso aqui estamos frente de Dios 
Desnudos! 

Hmmn… 
    OO… 
    Now and Forever 
Now? 
Now what?! 
Forever? 
Forever’s what I thought, 

My parents were waiting before they got divorced. 
Long suffering, 
There were no unforced errors, 
The game was over 
Then the war came 
Then the news dropped 
And we’d never be the same, 
Family failed 
No money, matrimony unsuccessful 
Was there anything to life besides more or less stressful 
Now and forever will I ever find mine 
Jesus lover of my soul 
I think I’m running out of time! 

I did say I do 
‘Cause I thought I wanted to- 
     
    Now and Forever 
    More 
    Be thine! 
        SDG SDD 
                        Fine

 

IV-                        Canto de Lo Que Muera 
                                    por Marcos de Jesús, copyright 2014 

Fueron a la playa 
A nadar con la familia 
Y perder lo que se asuma 
En la arena y la espuma. 

Y nos fuimos al desierto 
A desear lo que no es cierto, 
Naufragar entre nopales, 
“California uber alles”. 

Y yo soy un vagabundo 
Y eres tu, el mar profundo 
Y yo vivo en tu playa 
y me caricia todos tus aires. 

Estos aires agradables, 
Y turbulentes huracanes, 
Que viven de tu calor 
Y mueren en tu ausencia, 
Como 
Yo… 

Canto de lo que muera 3x 
Como Yo… 

    Canto de lo que muera 
    Como yo. 
    Canto. Canto 
    2x 

Fueron a la playa 
A nadar con la familia 
Y perder lo que se asuma 
En la arena y la espuma. 

    Canto de lo que muera 
    Como yo. 
    Canto. Canto 
    2x 

Soy un vagabundo 
Y eres tu, el mar profundo 
Y yo vivo en tu playa 
y me caricia todos tus aires. 

    Canto de lo que muera 
    Como yo. 
    Canto. Canto 
    2x 

    Como yo, como yo 
    Canto de lo que muera 
    Que muera como yo 
    Como yo 
    Canto de lo que muera 
    Canto, Canto 

¡De lo que muera como yo! 
     
    ¡Canto! 

Canto, canto de lo que muera! 

    ¡Canto! 
     
    ad lib etc 
    ultima vez 
    ¡Canto! 

De lo que muera como yo… 

Fueron a la playa 
A nadar con la familia 
Y perder… 
                            Fine 
                        SDD    SDG

This Sunday at 4pm I'll be contributing to a couple of songs, including a live version of Actuality. The concert featuring the organ playing of Vicar Barbara "the Funky Organist" Otto as a fundraiser for Trinity's Summer Day Camp which provides meaningful fun for kids and summer jobs for youth, in a constructive Christian setting. Familia, let's fight darkness with light.

Trinity Lutheran Church in Manhattan
164 W 100th Street
Sunday June 21st 4pm

Donations to benefit Trinity's Summer Day Camp

Thanks to everyone who helped make the Code Switching album release concert a beautiful celebration of diverse community and powerful music.

Now you can get Code Switching at cdbaby.com/cd/marcoslaguagua

$11 on compact disc, $9.50 digital download

And you can see songs from the album performed live this Thursday December 4th, at Bronx Community College (BXCC) 12-2pm. I am honored to be the featured artist at the BXCC Writing Center Poet's Cafe, Sage Hall Room 100. The event is free and YOU are invited! Bring poetry or music to share or just come to listen. Take the 4 train to Burnside Avenue walk west up Burnside to University Ave, turn right to the campus gate. From the University Ave entrance walk up the main path at BXCC till you pass Meister Hall, Turn left, continue to Sage Hall. Plan on bringing ID to show the guard at the campus gate.

Marcos & la Guagua comes to life when my songs reach the hearts and body/minds that they were meant for. La Guagua means to move you. If you like what we're doing, please share it with someone else you think might be blessed by it. I'm always happy to hear from you too.

Thanks for your support. 

Thanks for listening,

Marcos

Beloved Community,

Friday November 21st, 7pm
Marcos & la Guagua presents: 
Code Switching
Album release concert
Trinity Lutheran Church 164 W 100th Street, Manhattan

I will be performing songs from my debut album Code Switching, in a beautiful space that has helped me find my voice. Everything sounds better with the gracious acoustics of the sanctuary of TLCofNYC. I invite you to be a part of our journey. La Guagua means to move you.

Check out a video of a recent show to have an idea of what we'll have to share with you.

 

MarcosandlaGuagua.com/video

 

More details soon.

 

Thanks for Listening,

 

Marcos