My favourite Spanish song of 2011: Fernando Alfaro's "Camisa hawaiana de fuerza"
My first exposure to my favourite song of 2011 was quite memorable, at least for me. On July 2nd of 2011 I had the great pleasure (and honour) of playing guitar with one of the greatest singer-songwriters of the Spanish indie generation,
Fernando Alfaro. He played at the birthday party of Víctor, a friend of mine, and after Alfaro's acoustic set when he played songs from his then last album including "
Camisa hawaiana de fuerza" ("
Hawaiian straitjacket") a group of friends (Víctor on bass, Eli on drums and me on guitar) joined him on the stage to play five of his songs. The experience was so positive that on the following day I wrote a glowing biographical sketch on the Old Acclaimed Music Forum. You can read it the complete "article"
here but I'm going to try to summarize it now.
Fernando Alfaro has been a key artist in the transition period between the 80s "movida" and the 90s Spanish indie scene. From Albacete, a provincial city far from the hip scenes of the big cities, he created a very personal lyrical universe and a distinctive music style. His lyrics range from the most disturbing and insane to the most delicate, often in the same verse. And his trademark sound is based on his whispered voice rising from a wall of guitars.
He fronted the band
Surfin' Bichos (Surfin' Bugs) from 1988 to 1994, probably the biggest non-US/UK influence of the Spanish indie generation. Their first two albums,
"La luz en tus entrañas" ("The Light on Your Entrails," 1989) and
"Fotógrafo del cielo" ("Photographer of Heaven," 1991), had already all the twisted elements of Alfaro's universe but can be seen today as the appetizers for their masterpiece,
"Hermanos carnales" ("Carnal Brothers," 1992), the #19 Spanish album of all-time according to Rockdelux. Intended as a double album about the twins of the Cronenberg movie "Dead Ringer," with each album devoted to every twin, finally it was released as a single album with a story of incest tying some songs. Songs like
"Mis huesos son para ti" ("My Bones Are for You") showed the disturbing side of the band while others (
"Abrazo en un terremoto," "Embrace in an Earthquake") showed the delicate one. The most similar to a hit single that Alfaro had in his whole career was
"Fuerte!" ("Strong!"). At the time they became almost popular, they even opened for Nirvana on their Spanish 1992 shows.
Surfin' Bichos disbanded after their fourth album,
"El amigo de las tormentas" ("The Friend of the Storms," 1994), with the band splitting in two,
Mercromina (Mercurochrome), fronted by Joaquín Pascual, a band that released five outstanding albums (with songs as gorgeous as
"En un mundo tan pequeño", "In a World so Small") and
Chucho (Mutt) fronted by Alfaro. Chucho went on to release four albums almost as critically acclaimed and fascinating as the Surfin' Bichos ones. After deepening into his rarified universe with their debut
"78" (1997) then it came a breath of fresh air. After the birth of the first daughter, Fernando released
"Tejido de felicidad" ("Tissue of Happiness," 1999), an emotional rollercoaster from happiness to despair. A highly acclaimed album (#89 Spanish album of all-time according to Rockdelux), a beautiful cover art and some of the more optimstic songs of Alfaro, exemplified by the song
"Magic."
After two other great albums Alfaro disbanded again his second band to pursue a solo career. The first album under his own name was
"La vida es extraña y rara" ("Life Is Strange and Weird," 2011) and and was released shortly before that birthday party. I listened for the first time the songs from the album on stripped acoustic versions that night and the song that mostly caught my attention was "
Camisa hawaiana de fuerza" (I'm not exaggerating, you can check it out in the review I wrote the next day after just one listen). The song, brilliantly produced by Raül Refree, had all the characteristic traits of Alfaro style. Brilliant songwriting including clever wordplay comparing love and madness, but I'm afraid my translation of the lyrics doesn't make justice to the original and most of the idioms got lost in translation. Even the wordplay of the title is lost, in Spanish the "straitjackets" used with violent madmen are called "camisas de fuerza" (literally "shirts of force") and Fernando Alfaro gave a touch of humour having a "Hawaiian shirt of force," among cult references related to madness and isolation like the Escher staircase or the island of Elba. Musically we can find his trademark mix of sweetness (with even some bossa nova flavours) and aggressiveness with the occasional burst of electricity.
Back to that summer night, the last song we played was
"Fuerte!" and I've tried to do my best with the guitar solo (something not too easy because in the original there are two simultaneous guitar solos). When we finished he smiled at me and said only two words, "¡muy bien!" ("very well!"), that coming from his mouth sounded to me better than the most laudatory speech I could have imagined.
CAMISA HAWAIANA DE FUERZA
Songwriter and performer:
FERNANDO ALFARO
First release: 2011 (
"La vida es extraña y rara" album)
Length: 4'40"
Cada loco con su tema
y cada loco en su isla de Elba.
Camisa hawaiana de fuerza,
así podré disimular,
porque es bastante larga
y así por fuera tapa
todo este amor que te puedo dar.
Camisa hawaiana de fuerza,
la fuerza que nos va a arrasar,
porque estas flores raras
de su estampado estampan
toda la locura que te puedo dar.
Y es que me vuelves
loco de atar.
Si tu amor me hace libre,
¿por qué no puedo irme?
Ni medio metro me puedo alejar.
Cuando por la calle andas revientan las fachadas
y se van derruyendo viviendas y comercios.
Subía de dos en dos los escalones de tu corazón,
si era una escalera de Escher me daba igual.
Le ha crecido el pelo
y la barba sin afeitar,
se ha dejado barriga
y su amiga la botella de tequila
y su isla lo arrullarán.
Camisa hawaiana de fuerza,
la fuerza de un amor total.
Camisa hawaiana para el fin de semana
o para el fin del mundo que será.
Camisa hawaiana de fuerza,
mi encadenada libertad.
Si tu amor me hace libre,
¿por qué no puedo irme?
Ni medio metro me puedo alejar.
Fin de semana como un fin del mundo,
fue una locura total
con catástrofes y tal,
sálvese cada cual.
Fin de semana como un fin del mundo,
fin de semana como un fin del mundo,
fin de semana como un fin del mundo.
HAWAIIAN STRAITJACKET
Every madman with his axe to grind
and every madman on his island of Elba.
Hawaiian straitjacket,
so I'll be able to disguise it,
because it is quite long
and so on the outside it covers
all this love I can give you.
Hawaiian straitjacket,
the force that will sweep us away,
because these rare flowers
of its print stamp
all the madness I can give you.
Cause you drive me
raving mad.
If your love sets me free,
why can't I leave?
I can't even go half a metre away.
When you walk down the street, the facades are blown off
and houses and stores collapse.
I climbed up the steps of your heart two by two,
if it was an Escher staircase I didn't care.
His hair has grown
and an unshaven beard,
he's grown a belly
and his friend the bottle of tequila
and his island will lull him to sleep.
Hawaiian straitjacket,
the strength of a total love.
Hawaiian shirt for the weekend
or for the end of the world to come.
Hawaiian straitjacket,
my chained freedom.
If your love sets me free,
why can't I leave?
I can't even go half a metre away.
Weekend like the end of the world,
it was total madness
with catastrophes and such,
every man for himself.
Weekend like the end of the world,
weekend like the end of the world,
weekend like the end of the world.
You Tube link
Fernando Alfaro was born and lives in Albacete, Castilla-La Mancha.
The rest of the Spanish Top 5 of 2011:
2. LA CASA AZUL "
Los chicos hoy saltarán a la pista": The boys will jump today to the dance floor / and they'll take it by storm because they're not afraid to scream anymore.
3. KASE.O JAZZ MAGNETISM "
Boogaloo A.K.A. Tarántula": My great pain: I saw you fly, I saw myself laugh / and bipolar, I saw me cry.
4. ANTÓNIA FONT "
Calgary 88": Before going on stage you said: "Will you marry me?" / I answered: "Today we will get married if we win the gold medal."
5. EL COLUMPIO ASESINO "
Toro": Neither brave nor unaware / it is the mark on our forehead.