El Ventajao
Los Manseros Santiagueños
The Cunning One
The night fell
over the quebracho forest
and a cry remained
in the sandy area,
of absence and pain
for the cunning one.
They called him The Cunning One
in the Sumampa region,
for being cunning in love
and he went to the mountains.
His footprints were erased
by the dusty road.
The voice of the Salamanca,
the spirit of the folk songs,
entered his soul
at carnival time.
And he embraced the mountain
in his solitude.
The moon descended
to the carob grove,
his drum beat,
screaming the devil,
the night prayed
for The Cunning One.
They buried folk songs
with the thump-thump of the drums,
the shadow of a man from Santiago
to never return again.
And in the salt flat,
his tears dried.
On the edge of the mountain,
the sound of a guitar,
hidden and lonely,
The Cunning One appears.
The chacarera is calling him.
