Despite this, the origins of El Cóndor Pasa are anything but European. The Peruvian zarzuela itself isn’t rooted within an Andean tradition, but rather in the European tradition. The play was performed hundreds of times throughout the 20th century. Who composed El Cóndor Pasa?ĭaniel Alomía Robles composed the song as an orchestral play known as zarzuela. The song is so popular in Peru that most consider it to be the country’s unofficial second national anthem. It’s a song that you’ll hear inside of restaurants and cafes, in the streets, and on the radio. ☑ Free Newsletter: Sign up for the email newsletter and get extra learning content.If you’ve been to Peru for any length of time, chances are that you’ve heard many versions of El Cóndor Pasa. ☑ Spread the word: Share the podcast with family and friends! You just learned a great song and can listen over and over to improve your English.īefore you go. Thanks for listening and I'll see you in the next explanation. You'll find the contact form, decades albums, and more at. I also offer conversational lessons to anyone interested in talking about a song and improving their spoken English. Each explanation has extra pronunciation practice and a full PDF transcript, so you never miss a word. If you like learning English with songs, I have a whole album of explanations for 70s songs as well as the other decades available at. Okay! Now's the time for you to listen to El Condor Pasa (If I Could). You can hear this song playing all throughout that movie. While this song had a lot of success in 1970 when it was released, it has had a sort of revival due to the movie Wild. It also expresses this primal and deep desire to live lives that are not only meaningful but also beautiful. Taking all the lyrics together, I think it's partly a critique of our society, pointing out how many of us have lost our way and gotten distracted in life. He wants to be in touch with nature, in touch with the universe and life. What else would he really like? He would like to be a forest rather than a street. This would be the opposite of what he wants for his life. That man gives the world a sad sound, the saddest sound. The person who doesn't have this life is like that man who gets tied up to the ground. He wants the freedom to be here and to leave. The hammer is symbolic of being involved in many different pursuits and also being the one causing the action, making the changes.Īnd just like the swan, he wants his life to be beautiful. ![]() ![]() He can fly fast and high above everything else, unlike the snail which is stuck on the ground, moving slowly. He's saying, if I could, I would rather have a life of change, of evolution, of growth. He doesn't want to be tied to one place and to not have the freedom to move around and make changes in his life. It seems to me that there are a few things that the writer, Paul Simon, is really valuing. I'd rather feel the earth beneath my feet In all of the verses of the song we hear the phrase "I'd rather." For example, in the first line it says: It's like saying, if I had the capacity to do this then I would. "If I could" means if I were capable, if it were possible for me. The phrase, "if I could." expresses possibility. One of the lines that you hear very often in the song is "If I could.", which is often used as another title for this song. However, the lyrics were written by Paul Simon. The title of the song is in Spanish because the music was written by Daniel Alomía Robles in 1913 and he was a Peruvian. A condor is a very large type of bird which is commonly seen in the Andes region of South America. My name is Ki and today I'm going to explain the song El Condor Pasa by Simon & Garfunkel.Įl Condor Pasa is a Spanish title which means the condor passes, or even, the condor flies by.
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