They say when the guns roar the muses are silent.
Not true.
We were treated to two original compositions lately, in Papiamento, by two different, both iconic, musical giants, and while they are perhaps not their best work, we totally appreciate their quest for perfection.
Jeon, Nunca Mas
In this romantic cantica, and nicely produced music video, Jeon presents himself as a love-struck man, heartbroken over the arrest and imprisonment of his object of infatuation, a pretty, blondish Latina. I assume she is Latina, we never hear her speak. Shoot me if I am wrong.
He will never see her again. Only a tiny gold cross charm remains around his neck.
At this point, I am a bit lost. Is she an illegal, picked up by the Police to be deported, or is she a criminal as the ankle shackles, the prison cell cot, and the uniformed guards indicate?
The answer matters. If she is an undocumented visitor, the song then becomes a protest, a social and political statement about love requiring no documentations.
If she is a criminal, and indeed at a certain video scene Jeon is interrogated by the Police and claims all memories of her are erased – then what is such a good boy doing with such a bad girl??
I followed the posts under the YouTube video. Most viewers are also perplexed by the bedoeling of the song, thought they find it beautiful.
Jeon features himself in a more-laid-back version of a John Travolta white suit, with a fat gold rope chain and a shimmering Rolex befitting a world-famous rap/reggaeton artist, then he morphs into the judge, dropping the gavel on a sentence. In some other parts he is the playful, a juvenile lover who adores his gorgeous, video-playing diva.
To confuse me further, there are two small crying baby-girls outside the court room scene – you know with the judge and the gavel – the kids representing the diva’s other life.
After having written all that I asked Maria: Maria, is she a criminal or an illegal? Neither, said Maria, it is just a metaphor of how things can go south in a jiffy. Things turn on a dime.
Did I detect some sampling from Elvis, Fallin’ In Love, in the intro? But that might just be my oriental imagination.
A reoccurring image, that of Dutch monarch in his sable trimmed cape, keeps floating in the background.
Released by Biggie Boy productions, his own company and Arvani Music, his international brand