Questions about 2 foreign language Rock 'n Roll hits.

Factual Questions
1

I was given a Rock 'n Roll trivia game recently Thanks guys! and these two songs were mentioned.

First: Soul Makossa by Manu DiBango. What language is this song? What is he saying? (I may have asked this before here, but I never got an answer).

Second: La Guantanemera by Joseito Fernandez. This song is in Spanish. I know because I can kinda speak a strange form of Spanish (Nuevo Rican Spanglish) and most of this song makes sense to me. Except for the chorus. When I was younger I thought the words were “Aguanta la mela, Juanita” and always wondered what a 'mela" was and why was Juanita holding it. The words, I believe, are “guantaramera guajira”. What does this mean?

2

Here’s the original folk song Guantanamera, with a translation.

Because of the Batista rightist dictatorship in teh 1950s, the song became identified with the leftist agitation against it and was adopted by Castro’s revolutionary forces. But it has a history dating well before that.

3

The song is based on a poem by José Martí. Here is a page (in Spanish) with the poem and more information about José Martí and his work.

4

But what what do the words guantaramera guajira mean in English?

[siz=1]What about Soul Makossa?[/size]

5

"Guantanamera means a girl from Guantanamo. Guantanamo, where the U.S. has maintained a naval base for over a hundred years, is a constant sore point in U.S.-Cuban relations, with or without Castro.

“Guajira is a colloquial term used in Cuba for a country girl.”

http://www.platiquemos-letstalk.com/Monthly%20Features/canciondelmes/guantanamera.htm

As a college freshman, I went to Cuba with a group of professors and students. Upon “deplaning” at (appropriately enough) Havana’s Jose Marti Airport, we were greeted by the song. One of my “fellow travelers” misheard “Guantanamera” as “One-Ton Tomato”, much to everyone else’s amusement.

I couldn’t find any translations of lyrics, but it appears that the backup vocals are sung in French (the official language of Cameroon, Dibango’s homeland):

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000501LY/ref=m_art_li_1//103-0800874-9214245?v=glance

6

There actually IS a paradoy of Guantanamera called “One Ton Tomato”. It’s about a one ton tomato.

7

Douala.

Some of the vocals are in French. I’ll have to listen again, haven’t heard this in years.