WANDERLUST AND SPARKLES: Songs For The Road #1

There will always be certain songs you identify with, or come to associate with, a certain place at a certain time in your life; for good reason, or for no reason at all.

Here's a small list of songs I've come to associate with places I've been to:

Madrid, Spain, 2007: No Voy A Cambiar by Malú; Dulce Locura by La Oreja De Van Gogh

We walked into a Ben & Jerry's somewhere in the heart of Madrid and I remember saying a cheery Hola! I think No Voy A Cambiar was playing then, and Dulce Locura came on the soundsystem after that. I asked the lady to write down the names of both songs while I munched on some chocolate ice-cream.

Sarajevo to Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2009: Right Now (Na Na Na) by Akon.

We woke at the ungodly hour of I think 6:00am, intending to catch the 7:00am train from Sarajevo to Mostar, only to run into some miscommunication with our taxi driver who drove us to a deserted bus station far, far out of town instead of the train station. It was a mad dash to catch our train and we really had to make a run for it with our bags and made it, just barely. And then it was a sleepy, scenic journey to Mostar, when suddenly A and I wondered out loud who was listening to Right Now (Na Na Na) ON LOOP through his headphones. All this time we'd thought it was K, only to realise the source of our oh-my-god-he's-listening-to-it-again?! was actually D.

Climbing Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, 2010: Till I Collapse by Eminem

I like to think this song helped me reach the summit at 5,895m. I had been reserving my ipod for the summit push, and when that finally came at 1130pm on a cold, wintry January night this song really helped keep me awake and stay focussed as we walked through the night in pitch darkness. I do think it's one of Eminem's best songs, and it has consistently remained as one of my favourite workout/post-workout tracks ever since. Both the original and the remix (feat. Tupac, 50-Cent and Nate Dogg) are good!

Petén, Guatemala to Caye Caulker, Belize, 2010: Chiquitita by ABBA; Rice & Beans by Bella Carib
The very next day after Tikal, we were making our way from Petén to the Guatemala-Belize border when Chiquitita came on the radio. Very 80s, but very good because it fit the mood perfectly. I knew it was an ABBA track but wasn't sure which song it was, so I had to take down the lyrics on my phone (didn't have Shazam then!).

We were walking around on the oh-so-tiny island of Caye Caulker and I told S and Y that I wanted to pop by the music store. So in we went, and we started listening to random Belizean reggae when we heard Rice and Beans - this song did it for me, and I got the CD for I think USD25. It's obscure enough that I couldn't find a link to it on Youtube...

*rice and beans nice*rice and beans nice*rice and beans nice*gimme more gimme more*

Bolivia, 2011: Cuando Floresca el Chuño by K'ala Marka

Bolivian music may come as a bit of a shock when you first listen to it, and it does take some getting used to. You hear the same few K'ala Marka and Llajtaymanta songs again and again when travelling throughout the country because they're that popular. I was walking around in the Witches' Market in La Paz when I decided to try looking for some traditional music. The CDs being sold were rather expensive at around USD20-25, and trying to communicate exactly what I was looking for in broken Spanish didn't prove particularly helpful, but I chanced upon this lady who brought me to a store inside a building where they had all these pirated CDs and I could listen to the songs for as long as I wanted. At around USD10 bucks a pop, they weren't exactly cheap, but I was so happy I'd found what I wanted that I didn't bother bargaining too much.

Cuando Floresca el Chuño is my favourite K'ala Marka song. There're 3 languages combined into this one song: Spanish, Quechua and Aymara; the part that goes "jumampi, nyamampi" is Quechua, and "k'awan nok'awan" is Aymara, but both mean the same thing: "without you". Also, both languages are indigenous to Bolivia.