In 1985 at age 13 when her parents separated, Lhasa, her mother and her sisters settled in San Francisco where Lhasa started singing in a Greek cafe. She included Spanish language lessons in her high school studies. After viewing a documentary about Billie Holiday, Lhasa determined that she, too, would make a career in singing. In 1991 she traveled to Montreal to visit her sisters who were students at l'École nationale de cirque, the National Circus School of Canada, and she decided to make Montreal her home. Steeped in a Francophone culture for the first time, she sang for five years in bars, collaborating with rock guitarist Yves Desrosiers. In 1992, Denis Wolff, general manager of the independent Canadian record company, Audiogram, saw Lhasa performing, her head shaved, in front of a tiny nightclub audience. He was struck with "her personality, her charisma and her voice" – he soon signed her to the label. With Desrosiers she developed the material that eventually became her first album.
Born in Big Indian, New York, she grew up in the United States and Mexico, and moved to Montreal, Canada when she was twenty years old. After the success of her 1998 album La Llorona, which mixes everything from traditional Mexican music to klezmer to alternative rock, she moved to France. Her album The Living Road was released in 2003. In 2005 she won the “Americas” category in the Awards for World Music. She released her third and last album, Lhasa in 2009.
Lhasa de Sela died of breast cancer in Montréal, Québec, on 1st January 2010.
Desdeñosa
Lhasa de Sela Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Yo comprendo que amar es una pena
Y que una pena de amor, es infinito
Y no necesito amar, tengo vergüenza
De volver a querer lo que he querido
Toda repetición es una ofensa
Y toda su expresión es un olvido
Desdeñosa, semejante a los dioses
Yo seguiré luchando por mi suerte
Sin escuchar las espantadas voces
De los envenenados por la muerte
No necesito amar, absurdo fuera
Repetir el sermón de la montaña
Por eso he de llevar hasta que muera
Todo el odio inmortal que me acompaña
Aunque mi vida esté de sombras llena
No necesito amar, no necesito
Yo comprendo que amar es una pena
Y que una pena de amor es infinito
Y no necesito amar, tengo vergüenza
De volver a querer lo que he querido
Toda repetición es una ofensa
Y toda su expresión es un olvido
Desdeñosa, semejante a los dioses
Yo seguiré luchando por mi suerte
Sin escuchar las espantadas voces
De los envenenados por la muerte
No necesito amar, absurdo fuera
Repetir el sermón de la montaña
Por eso he de llevar hasta que muera
Todo el odio inmortal que me acompaña
The lyrics of Lhasa de Sela's song Desdenosa express a strong resistance to love and a sense of shame around it. The singer contends that love is a burden and that any expression of it is an offense and a forgetful act. She asserts her determination to fight for her own luck, ignoring the voices of the poisoned by death. She states that it is absurd to repeat the sermon of the mountain, suggesting that it is pointless to preach about the virtues of love.
The song's title "Desdenosa" is a feminine word in Spanish that means disdainful or scornful. This adds to the sense of rejection expressed in the lyrics. The song's melody is in a minor key and is sung in a slow and mournful tone, emphasizing the melancholy and gloominess of the lyrics. It feels like the singer is in a state of emotional pain and that love is something that she would rather not deal with.
The song can be interpreted as a commentary on the cyclical nature of love and its tendency to end in disappointment, pain, and loss. The lyrics suggest that the singer has experienced such pain and is unwilling to go through it again. Overall, the song conveys a sense of despair and disillusionment with love, presenting a melancholy and contemplative piece of music.
Line by Line Meaning
No necesito amar, no necesito
I don't need to love, I don't need it
Yo comprendo que amar es una pena
I understand that to love is to suffer
Y que una pena de amor, es infinito
And that the suffering of love is endless
Y no necesito amar, tengo vergüenza
And I don't need to love, I'm ashamed
De volver a querer lo que he querido
To want what I've wanted before is shameful
Toda repetición es una ofensa
All repetition is an offense
Y toda su expresión es un olvido
And all its expression is forgotten
Desdeñosa, semejante a los dioses
Disdainful, like the gods
Yo seguiré luchando por mi suerte
I will continue fighting for my luck
Sin escuchar las espantadas voces
Without listening to the scary voices
De los envenenados por la muerte
Of those poisoned by death
No necesito amar, absurdo fuera
I don't need to love, it would be absurd
Repetir el sermón de la montaña
To repeat the sermon on the mount
Por eso he de llevar hasta que muera
That's why I must carry until I die
Todo el odio inmortal que me acompaña
All the immortal hatred that accompanies me
Aunque mi vida esté de sombras llena
Even though my life is full of shadows
Writer(s): Lhasa Desela, Yves Desrosiers, Lhasa de Sela Copyright: Editorial Avenue
Contributed by Violet S. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
MABEL RAMIREZ
Apenas descubri a esta voz tan sublime, desgraciadamente despues de su muerte pero aun asi sigue encantando a una persona mas en este con su voz
Hale Sastre
Ahora puedes compartirla y ella siempre seguirá viva :)
Antonio Castaldo Panico
sin duda un trabajo excelente profundo abismal compartido buscado empatico grave..
un artista a 360 grados
un regalo para todos nosotros que hemos vividos lo mismo.
sin medida enorme lhasa.
Michaël Brausewetter
Superbe chanson !!
tumbesrio1
Vals peruano bellamente interpretado
Nayeli Arcos
@Soledad Peñaloza graciass <3
Soledad Peñaloza
@Nayeli Arcos Se llama "Desdén" puedes escuchar la versión de Chavela Vargas (que quizás es en la que se inspiró Lhasa) o la de Julio Jaramillo o Los Dávalos. Saludos :)
Nayeli Arcos
:o tiene el mismo nombre el vals ? y quien lo interpreta ?
Вадим
01.01.2010