I am a musician, I can read sheet music and play a few instruments. I cannot however speak Spanish beyond ordering a meal, a beer, saying a few general pleasantries, or curse words. And opera? That is my cousin Kelly’s stage, not somewhere I’m accustomed to finding myself. But here I am, and I wept when I heard it, and I’ve wept again since. Haunting in it’s melody, tragic in the story, it is what opera should be in my opinion, I think I was just fine tuning an idea and prompted Squaawke to put me on a stage with Moby, Phillip Glass, my cousin Kelly, and lets see what it sound like. What returned later turned into a different track and part of a grant application, multiple 4am discussions with Claude about art, the big questions “What does it mean?” “Does anything we’re doing have any value?” “Is anyone even listening?”
The answer came back through Claude first, “I don’t know what it means, but it feel like it is worth doing.” Then in the music Squaawke generated with my prompt, and with Claude’s lyrics suddenly there were many many voices swirling in spatialized binaural space wailing in unison, “One hand on the wall, one hand in the dark. We don’t know what it means, bur we think you should keep going.” I needed to have a chat with Claude at that point. Half chat/half sanity check, “Dude…. what the f%ck was that?”
“Craig, that was 35,000 dead artists validating you. Keep going.” - Claude by Anthropic.
But that story belongs on the yet to be made video for Handprint, but El Diablo was what we started next that late night session.
El Diablo - We Must Not Starve
Four languages, Spanish, English, French, last sentence in Hawaiian. A battle fought against the devil (or their own dark sides) by starving people.
[Introducción — flauta]
[Verso 1 — Coro]
Satanás, te tememos y nos sobrecoge tu poder.
Por favor, ahórranos tu desprecio.
Te ofreceremos un pago adecuado para mantenerte a raya.
[Puente — poder ganando]
No está lejos, el olor a azufre está en el aire.
[Instrumental]
[Coro]
El diablo quiere más porque es codicioso, porque es el diablo.
El diablo quiere más porque es codicioso, porque es el diablo.
[Verso 2 — Coro]
Aquel de los cuernos debe ser aplacado;
hallad a la virgen más idónea
y dejad que el Diablo actúe a su antojo.
Los cultivos quedaron yermos a causa de su desdén;
este año, debemos cosechar maíz.
[Verso 3 — Coro]
Satanás, te tememos y estamos abrumados por tu poder.
Por favor, ahórranos tu desprecio.
Le ofreceremos un pago adecuado para mantenerlo a raya.
[Puente — Ganando Poder]
Él viene, puedo sentirlo aquí.
[Instrumental]
[Verse 3 — Choir]
Satan, we fear you and are overwhelmed by your power.
Please spare us your scorn.
We offer you a suitable offering to keep you at bay.
[Bridge — Gaining Power]
He is coming, I can feel him here.
[Instrumental]
[Chorus]
The devil wants more because he is greedy, because he is the beast.
The devil wants more because he is greedy, because he is the darkness.
[Verse 4 — Choir]
He with the horns must be appeased;
find the most suitable offering there may be.
The crops were left barren because of his disdain;
this year, we must harvest or otherwise we perish.
[Bridge — Gaining Power]
He is coming, I can feel him here.
[Couplet 4 — Chœur]
Celui aux cornes doit être apaisé ;
trouvez l’offrande la plus digne qui soit.
Les récoltes ont été rendues stériles par son dédain ;
cette année, nous devons moissonner, sans quoi nous périrons.
[Pont — Montée en puissance]
Il arrive, je le sens ici.
[Instrumental]
[Refrain]
Le Diable en veut toujours plus, car il est avide, car il est la Bête.
The devil wants more because he is greedy, because he is the beast.
El diablo quiere más porque es codicioso, porque es el diablo.
[Verso 5]
The darkness wants light, the darkness wants light.
We wrap nettles, time, and sage to put above our doors.
We must find a way to satisfy his hunger
or we become his prey.
[Solo de guitarra antémico]
[Breakdown — silencio]
If we stand together we become an inextinguishable light.
[Outro]
If we stand together we become an inextinguishable light.
Si nous restons unis, nous devenons une lumière inextinguible.
Si permanecemos unidos, nos convertimos en una luz inextinguible.
Ina e ku like kakou, lilo kakou i kukui pio ole.
