This is a Venezuelan merengue in 5-8 by Adelys Freites. Here is an English translation of the lyric:

Last night the moon was reflected
above the mirror of the lagoon
and it reminded me of a dream
that I carried in my heart.

(Repeat)… that I carried in my heart like no other.

which the fruit of the lime
nailed into my heart
and left me with without dream,
without love, and without fortune.

Underneath the lime tree in flower
I can’t forget your “I love you, my love”
though I should forget you
because now the flowering has passed

and the fruit is falling,
acid, the juice of the lime,
drop by drop it is falling
and boiling in my heart.

Last night while the green flash passed
it painted in the blue of the sky
with the color of my heart
a picture of illusion.

(Repeat)…a picture of illusion and longing.

Acid is the taste
like the nectar of love
that is hidden in the flower
of a lime tree in season.

With Felipe Gomez, guitar

Acidito

This is a classic instrumental pasillo by Gerardo Guevara from Ecuador with words added by singer Maria Tejada. Here is an English translation:

The faithful legend tells
that there is no way to understand
the reason for your being.
You continue alone
with a cricket in the pocket
of your happiness.

Now the mockingbirds
pick apart your hat
 — poor scarecrow! 
At night the owls
wrinkle your blouse
— what a calamity!

Although the carpenter bird
thinks about fixing
your two plow legs,
you know well that you won’t go walking
though prairie or city.
Your body is stuck there.

But your heart,
thirsty for love,
prefers to dream.
In the April afternoons
of sun and heat,
you like to sleep.

And in the early morning
of albazos and tonadas
you await your love: the dawn, and her song.

With Felipe Gomez, guitar

El Espantapajaros

This is a haunting bolero by Chico Novarro from Argentina. Here is an English translation:

Here, no more!
end my road,
here, no more!
and I will rest.
Here, no more!
I don’t hope for anything.
It’s too late
to love again.

My youth vanished
following a dream.
You said goodbye
and I let you leave.
I didn’t weep,
I didn’t cry out your name:
I said goodbye
and was able to smile.

Welded to the tower of my pride
I didn’t want you to see my pain.
Today on my knees, I beg you uselessly
the miracle of seeing you return.

Here, no more!
I am a tower in ruins,
I’ve seen my vanity overthrown.
Here, no more!
I don’t hope for anything.
It’s too late
to love again.

With Felipe Gomez, guitar

La Torre

One of the most beautiful pasillos ever written, by Arturo Borja and Miguel Angel Casares. Here is an English translation:

For me, your memory
is today like the shadow
of the phantasm to whom we say
the name of the beloved.

I was good with you.
Your disdain doesn’t surprise me
there’s nothing you owe me
and I don’t reproach you for anything.

I was good with you
like a flower, that one day
from the garden in which I only
dreamed, you tore me.

I gave you all the perfume
of my melancholy,
and like someone not doing anything bad,
you left me.

I don’t reproach you for anything,
or at the most, for my sadness,
this enormous sadness
that robs me of my life,

it turns me into a poor
dying person who prays
to the Virgin, begging her
to cure my wound.

With Felipe Gomez, guitar

Para Mi Tu Recuerdo

This is a classic yaraví by Ebli Chávez from Ecuador. Here is an English translation:

With my own hand I lit
this fire in which I blaze and burn.
I concocted the poison
with what death gave me.
I concocted the poison
with what death gave me.

I don’t accuse or condemn anyone
I myself lit the volcano.
I fed with haste
this fire in which I blaze and burn.
I fed with haste
this fire in which I blaze and burn.

If you hear the bell tolling a death,
don’t ask who died:
so far from your side,
who could it be if not me?
So far from your side,
who could it be if not me?

With Felipe Gomez (guitar)

Veneno de Amor

This is a version of the classic bambuco "Cuatro Preguntas" as a Venezuelan merengue in 5-8.  I thought of this one day when I was practicing the melody just clapping my hands for the beat. It's beautiful as a bambuco of course but works well as a merengue too.

With Rafael Manriquez (guitar), Jeremy Allen (bass), and Zack Pitt-Smith (woodwinds)

Cuatro Preguntas en 5

One of the most perfect pasillos ever, so beautiful.

With Rafael Manriquez (guitar), Jeremy Allen (bass), and Zack Pitt-Smith (woodwinds)

Un Triste Despertar

Please forgive me: I changed a few of the words of the classic danza "Negrita" in order to give it a new meaning. I hope you like it this way too. 

With Rafael Manriquez (guitar), Jeremy Allen (bass), and Zack Pitt-Smith (woodwinds)

Amigo (Negrita)

All my life my dreams have been filled with water, swift-moving rivers, huge waves overwhelming the road, strong currents carrying me out to sea. This song juxtaposes those dreams against a life where the power of water is conspicuously absent. 

Making music with me are Felipe Gomez on his handmade 8-string guitar and Zack Pitt-Smith on clarinet.

At Night I Dream of Water

I wrote the lyric to this song in April 2017, but it just keeps getting more and more painfully true. It asks:

"There is so much happening in the world right now that it can make you want to hide somewhere safe. But is anywhere really safe when everywhere is at risk?"

With a little distance, I'm beginning to hear echoes of other songs, such as Jean Ritchie's "The Cool Of The Day", and just about anything by Malvina Reynolds.

Making haunting music with me are Felipe Gomez on his handmade 8-string guitar and Zack Pitt-Smith on flute. And once again, the brilliant engineering and mixing of Mr. Musiquito Jeremy Allen.

I'm In My House

This song came to me in 2017 while I was swimming in the Atlantic Ocean. I'd like to dedicate it to one of my teachers, Rhiannon, who embodies its message more than anyone I know. 

As a young adult in my teens and twenties I wrote many poems and songs -- and good ones -- but then I stopped, stopped listening to them, stopped believing they were there. Only this year, in my late 40s, have I suddenly started writing again. I sing this song for everyone who has mourned their creative self, or who has doubted if they have something to contribute to the world.

Bringing the song to life with me are Felipe Gomez on his handmade 8-string guitar and Yehudit Lieberman on viola.

We Are Full of Songs

With jazz guitarist Felipe Gomez, Mark Baum sings classic South American songs in an intimate and contemporary way. With each song, Mark tells a compelling story while Felipe improvises to keep things fresh. We'd love to hear from you!

Mark Baum Music

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