Dos Mundos Raices: Ana y Jaime ~ Colombian Protest Pop
**Special guest post by EL MACHETERO**
Ana y Jaime eran un duo Colombiano (based out of Bogota) que sacaron unos temas impresionantes durante los años tumultosos de el fin de los 1960s. Their 1968 sole full length LP, “Dire A Mi Gente” (released on the small and long-defunct Discos Orbes label) is a feast of hauntingly powerful late 60s protest pop/nueva cancion/musica folklorica psicodelica greatly emphasizing the distinctly Andino aspect of Colombia’s cultural/regional make-up, with chilling dual vocal harmonies, fuzzy guitars, Rhodes pianos and creepy B-3 organs complementing the tense folky vibe found throughout.
Con líricas que demuestran un nivel profundo de sofisticación politica y consciencia social, for some, it may be hard to believe that the sister/brother duo surnamed Gonzalez were only 15 and 17 years old when they penned most of the powerful lyrics about solidarity, unity, resistance and loyalty to one’s fellow oppressed human beings. They were just as young when they orchestrated and arranged the unique, lush and rootsy harmonies which are to be found on every single one of the 13 songs to be found on the collection “Es Largo El Camino” which was graciously re-issued on CD and vinyl recently by the Medellin-based El Disco Es Cultura label.
They are best known for recording a Spanish language version of Terry Jack’s hit Seasons in the Sun (called Estaciones En El Sol), Jeanette’s Soy Rebelde (called Tienda El Tiempo), and Francis Lai’s Love Story (called Historia De Amor).
The short liner notes found on the back cover of their original album truly say it all: “We’re 15 and 17, we have many new songs, sometimes painful, but always full of optimism. And to the skeptic, to the indifferent, to the buffoon or to the enemy, we also have a sentence that was born with a great German poet–’He who laughs has not yet received the terrible news.’”