"My home is a balcony over the sea. Here the sky is of a deep blue and at dusk the soul feels the yearn to fly over the cliffs and disappear beyond the horizon. I search in my guitar for the sounds that will take me back to my most intimate and personal space, music."
"Carmen and Pedro (her husband, well-known painter) have created in Tijarafe their secret garden, a place for calm and peacefulness, a niche where colours, verses and melodies arise in a natural, spontaneous way, as a logical consequence of the beauty that surrounds them..." wrote local Journalist Nomar Ojuaro.
She became interested in literature at school with the encouragement of her teachers. While studying teaching in La Laguna (Tenerife Island), she sang in a choir for the first time. She also became interested in painting, and took part in some exhibitions. Later she joined the choir Coral del Pino, a very gratifying and enriching experience for her. Afterwards, together with Miguel González, she formed the children's choir Coro de Voces Blancas de Tijarafe, continuing to direct it on her own. For several years they sang with the recognition and the support of the public and were able to share very interesting experiences in the different recitals and events both on and off the Island.
"Singing for me has always been as natural as breathing, it is an essential part of my personality. I always remember myself singing, since I was very young, always searching, finishing off, inventing melodies. I couldn't imagine my life without songs..."
In addition to her work with the choir, she became a member of the Tijarafe folk association Agrupación Folklórica de Tijarafe in which, besides being a soloist, she also played the guitar. This is the instrument that allowed her to introduce games and songs into the classroom. Her works for children are culminated in the album "Arco de Colores" done in collaboration with the musician from the Island of Palma, Jorge Guerra.
She believes - "To sing is to communicate, transcend, go beyond myself, to channel those subtle energies which envelop us and define a domain, a spiritual space."
In the eighties she performed as a singer-songwriter playing some concerts with Ricardo Cáceres. It was in 1990-91 that she found a line that fully harmonises with the way she understands music as a form of expression. This is possible thanks to the poet and musician of Galician origin from La Palma, Ramón Araújo, with whom she also shares a strong and long-lasting friendship. At that time Ramón Araújo composed a series of songs for a project called Vrandán, with clear ethno-folk tendencies and influences of Celtic music are notorious. For two years she was part of this group which she left when she felt it drifted towards other musical trends. She considers this experience key in the path that would lead her to become Ima Galguén.
"Ima Galguén is the artistic name I have adopted from the album "Regreso al Espíritu", an evocation of the magical beauty this island enthrals, a work Ramón Araújo and I began in the year 1995 and which was finished in August 1997. Anyone who roams the peaks, forests, ravines and volcanoes of La Palma will find there echoes of this work, for us a return to the origins and at the same time, an exploration of the mystical mystery the island emanates."
"When Ima Galguén steps onto the stage she transforms, her presence turns Angelic and Solemn, as if she were the legitimate heiress of those bards which in other times redeemed us from pain and, with their feeling and their voice, once more gave meaning to our lives." (Nomar Ojuaro)
She is preparing for the promotion of "Regreso al Espíritu", a second album Ramón and Ima are working on.
"I don't know where music will take me nor what new universes it may unveil to me. I only have the certainty and the desire, ever stronger, to follow in this path."
So far IMA GALGUÉN has been released in Taiwan, China & Hong Kong on WIND RECS., in Italy on ERGA and PUTUMAYO has included the track "La Zarza" in their Compilation "WOMEN OF SPIRIT" for the US.
La Zarza
Ima Galguen Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
el meandro y la espiral?
Ah…dime,¿quién fue?
¿Tal vez fue alguien
que se atrevió a mirar de frente el sol?
Ah… dime,¿quién fue?
Pide perdón el tiempo
por destruir la piedra.
aún es sagrada.
¿Con qué galaxias soñaba
quien dibujó la espiral?
Ah…dime,¿quién fue?
¿A qué dioses adoraba?
¿Qué sentía al amanecer?
Caminante que llegas
a visitar la Zarza,
una voz ancestral de dentro te llama.
¿Será el viento el que me trae
ecos lejanos de su voz?
Ah…¿Será su voz?
¿Tal vez si aprendo a escucharlo
pueda al fin saber quién soy?
Sólo la niebla sabe
quién esculpió la roca.
Hoy siento su presencia entre las sombras.
Pide perdón el tiempo
por destruir la piedra.
Aquí, en la Zarza, la vida
aún es sagrada.
The song La Zarza by Ima Galguen explores the mystery and wonder surrounding ancient rock formations, specifically the spiral designs etched onto them. The song opens with a series of rhetorical questions, asking who could have dared to directly gaze at the sun to create such intricate designs. The artist seems to marvel at the audacity and creativity of the unknown figures who created these designs. The lyrics also wonder about the spiritual or religious significance of the designs, asking which deities they were meant to pay homage to and what emotions they felt at dawn. The listener is then invited to visit the site and feel the presence of the past, especially when the fog descends and the shadows are long.
The song also touches on the theme of preservation of natural and cultural heritage, specifically the rocks which have been worn down over time. The lyrics note that time itself is apologetic for destroying the rocks, and that despite this decay, the lives formed around these natural phenomena remain significant and sacred. The song suggests the possibility of communication with the past and the land if we listen closely enough to echoes in the wind and let our inner voices guide us.
Overall, La Zarza is a beautiful and haunting song that channels the mystery and awe of ancient sites and explores themes of heritage, spirituality, and inter-generational connections.
Line by Line Meaning
¿Quién dibujó en la roca el meandro y la espiral?
Who was bold enough to draw the meander and the spiral on the rock?
Ah…dime,¿quién fue?
Oh, tell me, who was it?
¿Tal vez fue alguien que se atrevió a mirar de frente el sol?
Maybe it was someone who dared to look directly at the sun?
Ah… dime,¿quién fue?
Oh, tell me, who was it?
Pide perdón el tiempo por destruir la piedra.
Time begs for forgiveness for destroying the stone.
Aquí, en la Zarza, la vida aún es sagrada.
Here, in La Zarza, life is still sacred.
¿Con qué galaxias soñaba quien dibujó la espiral?
What galaxies did the person who drew the spiral dream of?
Ah…dime,¿quién fue?
Oh, tell me, who was it?
¿A qué dioses adoraba? ¿Qué sentía al amanecer?
Which gods did they worship? What did they feel at dawn?
Caminante que llegas a visitar la Zarza, una voz ancestral de dentro te llama.
Traveler who comes to visit La Zarza, an ancestral voice inside calls out to you.
¿Será el viento el que me trae ecos lejanos de su voz? Ah…¿Será su voz?
Could it be the wind that brings me distant echoes of their voice? Oh... is it their voice?
¿Tal vez si aprendo a escucharlo pueda al fin saber quién soy?
Maybe if I learn to listen, I can finally know who I am?
Sólo la niebla sabe quién esculpió la roca.
Only the fog knows who carved the rock.
Hoy siento su presencia entre las sombras.
Today I feel their presence among the shadows.
Pide perdón el tiempo por destruir la piedra.
Time begs for forgiveness for destroying the stone.
Aquí, en la Zarza, la vida aún es sagrada.
Here, in La Zarza, life is still sacred.
Contributed by Daniel Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@reynaldogarcia3232
La Zarza
(Ramón Araújo-Carmen Glz)
¿Quién dibujó en la roca
el meandro y la espiral?
Ah…dime,¿quién fue?
¿Tal vez fue alguien
que se atrevió a mirar de frente el sol?
Ah… dime,¿quién fue?
Pide perdón el tiempo
por destruir la piedra.
Aquí, en la Zarza, la vida
aún es sagrada.
¿Con qué galaxias soñaba
quien dibujó la espiral?
Ah…dime,¿quién fue?
¿A qué dioses adoraba?
¿Qué sentía al amanecer?
Caminante que llegas
a visitar la Zarza,
una voz ancestral de dentro te llama.
¿Será el viento el que me trae
ecos lejanos de su voz?
Ah…¿Será su voz?
¿Tal vez si aprendo a escucharlo
pueda al fin saber quién soy?
Sólo la niebla sabe
quién esculpió la roca.
Hoy siento su presencia entre las sombras.
Pide perdón el tiempo
por destruir la piedra.
Aquí, en la Zarza, la vida
aún es sagrada.
@aleksrako2302
This song deserves more views I have no idea what she is saying but she makes my soul fly.
@emmalotriet2904
Hauntingly beautiful.❤
@galerianupcial7488
hermosa voz llena de armonía y bello arreglo musical
@williwunder4486
What a wonderful voice !
@estrellaradha
No tengo palavras para describir la imensa alegria de poder escuchar su musica ...
@maralvarez2518
Maravillosa voz¡ dulce, angelical.
@anthonythomas7463
Beautiful! Beautiful! Beautiful!
@josecarlosaraujo1936
Verdadeiramente existem coisas que são difíceis de descrever. Ouvir esta canção é uma delas.
@info387
zo mooi, helder en claar!
@reynaldogarcia3232
La Zarza
(Ramón Araújo-Carmen Glz)
¿Quién dibujó en la roca
el meandro y la espiral?
Ah…dime,¿quién fue?
¿Tal vez fue alguien
que se atrevió a mirar de frente el sol?
Ah… dime,¿quién fue?
Pide perdón el tiempo
por destruir la piedra.
Aquí, en la Zarza, la vida
aún es sagrada.
¿Con qué galaxias soñaba
quien dibujó la espiral?
Ah…dime,¿quién fue?
¿A qué dioses adoraba?
¿Qué sentía al amanecer?
Caminante que llegas
a visitar la Zarza,
una voz ancestral de dentro te llama.
¿Será el viento el que me trae
ecos lejanos de su voz?
Ah…¿Será su voz?
¿Tal vez si aprendo a escucharlo
pueda al fin saber quién soy?
Sólo la niebla sabe
quién esculpió la roca.
Hoy siento su presencia entre las sombras.
Pide perdón el tiempo
por destruir la piedra.
Aquí, en la Zarza, la vida
aún es sagrada.