Everybody loves Madonna, don't they? Also called the "Queen of Pop", she became a show business icon during the two last decades of the 20th century. Even though she's not on the top of the best-selling singers' list currently, it's hard to not keep in mind her former renown, as well as her hits.
Speaking of her most popular songs, a few days ago I turned on the radio and La Isla Bonita was playing. I started to sing along when suddenly I realized that there was a substantial mistake in the lyrics. (Once that track was released in 1987, I took thirty years to notice the error. What a moron!).
She sings:
"And when the samba played
The sun would set so high
Ring through my ears and sting my eyes
Your Spanish lullaby"
Ring through my ears and sting my eyes
Your Spanish lullaby"
Wait a second... What? The whole tune has nothing to do with samba! We can hear Cuban drums and something like Caribbean tones, a Spanish acoustic guitar... However, the famous Brazilian beat is not on the menu. So why the hell did Madonna come up with the word samba?
My guess: Many Americans (even nowadays) think that cha-cha, mambo, rumba, samba and other Latin rhythms are the same stuff; Latin America, in their opinion, has indistinguishable cultural traits from country to country - thus, who would care about the difference between salsa and merengue, or between cumbia and conga?
Well, I care.
As a Latin American (as a Brazilian, to be more specific), I'm able to say: La Isla Bonita, despite its enchantment, is not samba at all!
