By Alliance Communications Coordinator Amy Durr
Through serene melodies, El Paraíso (Paradise), by Nación Ekeko (Ekeko Nation) with Julieta Venegas, invites us to reconnect with nature and appreciate the fragile beauty of our planet. The connection with the planet and concern for the environment have long resonated through the diverse and dynamic music of Latino and Latin American artists, according to the Latin Times, and so this song feels especially relevant during National Hispanic Heritage Month. “The video shows the reality of different communities in Latin America that live in harmony with nature and the contrast with current mining and forestry exploitation,” Nación Ekeko tells Indie Rocks!
“The message is simple, conscious and profound: ‘You can be in paradise and not realize it in time.’ Ambition and limitless consumption continue to distance us from our own essence and damage the nature of which we are a part,” shares Nación Ekeko’s Diego Pérez, an Argentine composer and producer known for his fusion of Andean, Latin and African sounds.
Diego Pérez continues, “After a year of [a] global pandemic in which it seemed that the indiscriminate exploitation of nature had been halted or reduced, in reality extractive policies multiplied and large forest areas of our Mother Earth were looted and burned. This showed that if we want a paradigm shift, we have to be direct and active architects of this change,” Indie Rocks! concludes.
El Paraíso by Nación Ekeko with Julieta Venegas
I celebrate my destiny to feel how I feelCelebro mi destino de sentir como siento To live as I live, to die as I dieDe vivir como vivo, de morir como muero And because I celebrate it and I am, at last, the nothingness of the shadow of a verseY porque lo celebro y soy, al fin, la nada de la sombra de un verso I say it, thank you very muchLo digo, muchas gracias You can live in paradisePodés vivir en el paraíso You could be in paradisePodés estar en el paraíso And not realize, and not realizeY no darte cuenta, y no darte cuenta And not realizing it in timeY no darte cuenta a tiempo The moon is reflected in your eyesLa luna se refleja en tus ojos Your eyes are reflected in the riverTus ojos se reflejan en el río It seems that it is not late (it seems that it is not late)Parece que no es tarde (parece que no es tarde) If the fire goes out in the dewSi el fuego se apaga en el rocío The moon is reflected in your eyesLa luna se refleja en tus ojos Your eyes are reflected in the riverTus ojos se reflejan en el río It seems that it is not late (it seems that it is not late)Parece que no es tarde (parece que no es tarde) If the fire goes out in the dewSi el fuego se apaga en el rocío You can live in paradisePodés vivir en el paraíso You could be in paradisePodés estar en el paraíso And not realize, and not realizeY no darte cuenta, y no darte cuenta And not realizing it in timeY no darte cuenta a tiempo The river bed cannot be containedNo se puede contener el cauce del río Nor avoid rain, heat and dewNi evitar la lluvia, el calor y el rocío You can’t contain what growsNo se puede contener lo que crece Neither the moon nor the earth, because it does not belong to usNi la luna, ni la tierra, porque no nos pertenece You can live in paradisePodés vivir en el paraíso You could be in paradisePodés estar en el paraíso You can live in paradisePodés vivir en el paraíso You could be in paradisePodés estar en el paraíso