Artist:
Los Lobos / Alfonso Tafoya / Children's Choir, Santa Isabel School, East L.A.

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Cover design, graphics: Domingo. Click for pop-up.

Mexicanos and Chicanos have embraced this song as a spiritual anthem unifying their voices in protest, prayer, and celebration. Possibly the best known song of the farm workers' movement, De Colores has been sung at UFW events since the inception of the union. Depicting vivid pastoral imagery, the song resonated with farm workers for its cultural and religious meaning and with the public as it reflected the nonviolent organizing strategies of the union. At times sung with solemnity, this interpretation is colored by the influence of Veracruz-style jarocho music on the popular Los Lobos del Este de Los Angeles, in their early years, with a chorus of East Los Angeles children taking us through a sprited singalong.

De Colores

De colores, de colores se visten los campos en la primavera.
De colores, de colores son los pajaritos que vienen de afuera.
De colores, de colores es el arco iris que vemos lucir.
Y por eso los grandes amores de muchos colores me gustan a mi.
Y por eso los grandes amores de muchos colores me gustan a mi.

Canta el gallo, canta el gallo con el quiri quiri quiri quiri quiri.
La gallina, la gallina con el cara cara cara cara cara.
Los pollitos, los pojitos con el pio pio pio pio pi.
Y por eso los grandes amores de muchos colores me gustan a mi.
Y por eso los grandes amores de muchos colores me gustan a mi.

Personnel: Alfonso Tafoya, narration; chidren's choir Santa Isabel School, East L.A., vocals; David Hidalgo, guitar; Conrad Lozano, guitar; Louie Pérez, guitar; César Rosas, guitar; Francisco González, guitar; Steve Katz, Ellis Sorkin, Ed Thacker, engineering; Art Brambila, producer.

Liner notes: Smithsonian Folkways: Songs of the Chicano Movement

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