# Sensemaya (Silvestre Revueltas)



## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

I present here this master piece called Sensemaya or how to kill a snake, a poem by the Cuban Nicolás Guillén. The music by Silvestre Revueltas, a great Mexican composer is programmatic in the sense that it follows the poem verse by verse...Listen to the music carefully:






Now

read the poem. Culebra is not exactly a snake, rather a snake without poison.

Sensemaya 
canto para matar una culebra 
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombé! 
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombé! 
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombé! 
La culebra tiene los ojos de vidrio; 
la culebra viene y se enreda en un palo; 
con sus ojos de vidrio, en un palo; 
con sus ojos do vidrio. 
La culebra camina sin patas,; 
la culebra se esconde en la yerba; 
caminando se esconde en la yerba, 
caminando sin patas. 
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombe! 
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombé! 
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombé! 
Tú le das con el hacha, y se muere: 
¡dale ya! 
¡No le des con el pie, que te muerde, 
no le des con el pie, que se va! 
Sensemayá, la culebra, 
sensemayá, 
Sensemayá, con sus ojos, 
sensemaya. 
Sensemayá, con su lengua, 
sensemayá. 
Sensemayá, con su boca, 
sensemaya . . . 
¡La culebra muerta no puede comer; 
la culebra muerta no puede silbar;, 
no puede caminar, 
no puede correr! 
¡La culebra muerta no puede mirar; 
la culebra muerta no puede beber; 
no puede respirar, 
no puede morder! 
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombé! 
Sensemayá, la culebra . . . 
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombé! 
Sensemayá, no se mueve . . . 
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombé! 
Sensemayá, Za culebra . . . 
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombé! 
¡Sensemayá, se murió! by Nicolás Guillén John A Crow, John T. Reed, John E. Englekirk, lrving A. Leonard, An Anthology of Spanish-American Literature. New York: Meridith Corp., 1968. Sensemaya

======================== In English ========================
(Chant to kill a snake) 
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombé! 
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombé! 
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombé! 
The snake has eyes of glass;, 
The snake coils on a stick;, 
With his eyes of glass on a stick, 
With his eyes of glass. 
The snake can move without feet; 
The snake can hide in the grass; 
Crawling he hides in the grass, 
Moving without feet. 
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombe.! 
Hit him with an ax and he dies; 
Hit him! Go on, hit him! 
Don't hit him with your foot or he'll bite;, 
Don't hit him with your foot, or he'll get away. 
Sensemayá, the snake, 
sensemayá. 
Sensemayá, with his eyes, 
sensemayá. 
Sensemayá, with his tongue, 
sensemayá. 
Sensemayá, with his mouth, 
sensemayá. 
The dead snake cannot eat; 
the dead snake cannot hiss; 
he cannot move, 
he cannot run! 
The dead snake cannot look;, 
the dead snake cannot drink,; 
he cannot breathe, 
he cannot bite. 
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombé! 
Sensemayá, the snake . . . 
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombé! 
Sensemayá, does not move . . . 
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombé! 
Sensemayá, the snake . . . 
¡Mayombe-bombe-mayombé! 
Sensemayá, he died! 
===========================================
Now read out loud the poem in Spanish (if possible) and put the music again...It is magic!

Enjoy!

Best regards.

Martin


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

*Sensemaya and the rite of spring*

They are very similar, both are wild!

You can have more Revueltas, he's great...La noche de los Mayas....






You can have a honest revueltas at Naxos...

http://www.amazon.com/Revueltas-Orc...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1294366480&sr=1-1

Best

Martin


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