Inshallah is the Arabic expression for hope.  In Spanish it is ojalá, and in Portuguese, oxalá.  Six centuries ago, the Christian west and Muslim east lived in harmony on the Iberian peninsula.  Both shared the same language of hope.

Lyrics
Daybreak peers through ash
Child roams through debris
Your god saw the flash
Mine won’t set me free

Would I could not smell
We both know these fumes
Your clothes reek of hell
My soul builds its tomb

Still we tell our children
There will come a time
To play free without fear

Here, this ray of sunlight
Here, this act of grace
We come here in peace

Ojalá, Inshallah, Oxalá

Music & lyrics: Chris Curtis
Vocals: Chris Curtis & Michael Sellers
Musical arrangement, engineering & production: Sergio Aguilar
Guitars: Sergio Aguilar; Chris Curtis
Drums: Rodrigo Uribe
Album Cover photo: Image by Peter H from Pixabay
Cover design: Michael Sellers & Chris Curtis

Inshallah

A vocal/acoustic painting of different kinds of love.

Lyrics:
Golden sheets of sunset sky
For all it’s worth, I don’t know why
Life unfolds before our eyes
When we blink it just flies by

Children laugh through scattered teeth
Mama’s glad she’s off her feet

I am weak where you are strong
Hold me close, and prove me wrong
When we dance, you take me in
Show me where no one has been

A crooked smile, a crinkled eye
A bold intent yet slightly shy
My breath is caught just when you sigh
I am revealed in the sunset sky

Right here, right now I love you
I don’t know what to compare it to
Nothing I know feels so true
I don’t tell my heart what to do

I don’t know where it went wrong
Don’t despair, it won’t take long
Look at them, they’re fresh and new
They will love, just as we do

A crooked smile, a crinkled eye
A bold intent yet slightly shy
My breath is caught just when you sigh
I am revealed in the sunset sky

Credits:
Music and lyrics: Chris Curtis
Vocals & acoustic guitar: Chris Curtis 
Electric guitar & bass: Sergio Aguilar
Editing & production: Sergio Aguilar
Drums: Rodrigo Uribe
Album Cover photos: Images by kordula vahle from Pixabay, and by Chris Curtis
Cover design: Michael Sellers & Chris Curtis

Sunset Sky

Güero generally means light colored, and in this context it refers to an old white-haired man.  

Music, lyrics, & vocals: Chris Curtis
Background vocals: Michael Sellers
Guitar, bass, & keyboards: Sergio Aguilar
Keyboards: Dave Prouty
Drums: Rodrigo Uribe
Production, Mixing, & Mastering: Sergio Aguilar
Cover Photo: Chris Curtis
Cover Photo design: Michael Sellers

El Güero

For generations of Ukrainians, invaders have coveted the Donbas and failed to keep it.  The protagonist here is a teenager, fully aware of lost youth and clear as to his cause.  
Music and lyrics by Chris Curtis
Vocals and instruments:  Chris Curtis
Production:  Chris Curtis
Cover design:  Michael Sellers

We heard them coming; it was just before dawn
We sent them running; it didn’t take long

I saw those soldiers charge through that field
My great grandpa knows how this feels 

	Yeah, this is the same land we defended back then
	Yeah, the steppes of Donbas will be freed again

Blood, smoke, and iron share the same smell
We just get used to the fragrance of hell

My sister’s been blind since she was 13
Those F-16’s are her Dancing Queens

	Yeah, we’re not playing no video game
	Yeah, grab some ammo and tell me your name

		Then you’ll see what we say
		We’ll have peace one fine day

Back in the woods where grandpapa died
Is a rusted old Panzer with some bones inside

I killed my first soldier only last Tuesday
They cross that border we make them pay

	Yeah, see the world through my gun scope	
	Yeah, check it out, it’s our best hope

DONBAS

HAPLESSLY ROMANTIC  

	Somewhere in a bucket of miscues
	He found parts of his heart
	He thought it’s something he might use
	Why not, it’s a place to start

	He knew he had to let go
	Liquor and anger had stolen his days
	She hoped he wanted to know
	But wondered if he still prays

		Haplessly romantic, he was Spartan of phrase
		His timing was frantic, he was lost in a haze
		The space between the two of them could drive them apart
		At the rate they’re going, they might make it an art

	Downstairs in the basement of lifetimes
	He kept what he can’t reveal
	Upstairs in the kitchen of sunshine
	She knew what glances to steal
 
	They shop for joy for their children
	As hate grows like mold in the damp
	She has the will of a pilgrim
	His mind contracts like a cramp 
  
		I don’t need a legacy, I just want you
		Got no time for fantasy when truth will do
		What we do from here is up to just us two
		I don’t try to love you, it’s just what I do

				Our time has come, children have gone
				We’ll get there if we don’t take too long

		I don’t do bad things to appear a good person
		Being a soldier is no excuse
		I don’t preach salvation hoping things worsen
		No one ever outruns the hounds they let loose

Music and Lyrics by Chris Curtis
Vocals by Chris Curtis
Guitar and bass by Sergio Aguilar
Drums by Rodrigo Uribe
Produced by Sergio Aguilar
Cover design by Michael Sellers
Photo by Blake Wheeler on Unsplash
Recorded at 423 Studios, Merida, Yucatan

Haplessly Romantic

Vocals, guitars, accordion, drums, bass:  Chris Curtis
Producer:  Chris Curtis
Cover:  Michael Sellers, photo by Sergej Tschernjawski, Unsplash

We have separate saviors
We live worlds apart
I will forgive all your failures
If you'll forgive me mine
And grant peace to our hearts

My children ask me
Was it always this way
Will they outlast me
It hurts more than I can say

Some of my friends are dying to blame you
They think it pardons their crime
They are desperate for something to cling to
I think they're frozen in time

Did you lose someone close to you 
Like I did this time
I'll pray for your country, if you will pray for mine

I don't know why I worry about you
Why should I even care
I'm gonna try bleeding without you
Pretend that you're not there

But I can't help feeling close to you
Like I did last time
I'll pray for your country, if you will pray for mine


If You Will Pray For Mine

Composer, guitarist, singer stranded on a beach in Yucatan, Mexico.  Gigged in bands as a drummer since I was a kid in Thailand, Brazil, and the US, and indelibly influenced by all of these places.  No claims to fame beyond shoulder rubbing with the renowned on rare occasions.  I am blessed with collaborators like English singer/songwriter Michael Sellers and producer Sergio Aguilar, plus a roster of other dazzling musicians in Mérida.  So I ain't done yet.

Chris Curtis

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