Victor Jara : Manifiesto (lyrics & translation)

Yo no canto por cantar

ni por tener buena voz,

canto porque la guitarra

tiene sentido y razón.

Tiene corazón de tierra

y alas de palomita.

Es como el agua bendita,

santigua glorias y penas.

Aquí se encajó mi canto

como dijera Violeta;

guitarra trabajadora

con olor a primavera,

Que no es guitarra de ricos,

ni cosa que se parezca,

mi canto es de los andamios

para alcanzar las estrellas.

Que el canto tiene sentido

cuando palpita en las venas

del que morirá cantando

las verdades verdaderas.

No las lisonjas fugaces

ni las famas extranjeras,

sino el canto de una lonja

hasta el fondo de la tierra.

Ahí donde llega todo

y donde todo comienza,

canto que a sido valiente

siempre será canción nueva.

English Translation

Manifesto

I don’t sing only for the sake of singing

Or because I have a good voice

I sing because the guitar

Has sense and reason

It has a heart of earth

And pigeon wings

It is like blessed water

Sanctifies glories and sorrows

Here my song stays

As Violeta had said

A worker’s guitar

With spring smell

It is not a rich man’s guitar

Or anything similar

My song belongs to the scaffolds

So to reach the stars

Because song has meaning

When it runs through the veins

Of someone who will die singing

The truthful truths

Not temporary praises

Or foreign fames

But the singing of a skylark

Until the bottom of the earth

There where everything ends

And begins

Song that has been brave

Will always be a new song.

by : Gerardo Maureira

Ginger Drinks

Here is what I did this morning : I drank the lesser galangal jamu (jamu kencur) and I saw ginger, so I thought why not make a drink out of it to wash down the garlicky after taste from the jamu. 

How to make : as simple as this :prepare a thumb size ginger (grated it), boil it in 4 cups of water (800 ml - 1 litre ), add Organic Palm Sugar sufficiently (Gula Aren) (If dont have it,brown sugar or caster sugar is fine).Let it boilfor 10-15 minutes. Filter out the residue from the ginger.Serve it warm...:)

It`s up to you really,on how big the size of your ginger, how much water or sugar,it`s your own taste. I used organic Palm sugar,since my sister in law brought it from her Kampung (hometown), her parents made everything basically homemade. We have a lots of stock of Palm Sugar (and I`m so grateful for it :) why not make the use of it <3

It`s really easy and cheap, if I bought this from jamu vendor, she`ll charge me 2000 rupiah/cup (it`s really cheap, yes! 25 cents), but if you made this yourself, it will save you more, with 1 usd, you can make 1 litre out of it. Gee, this drinks even taste better than coffee or tea,why put caffeine in cold rainy or wintery days? why not ginger up you life and detoxify caffeine from your body? hihihi just saying...dont hate me caffeine lovers :)