#masspromise

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Another cute song, brought to you by the Taj Majals at B-SAFE 2014! De Colores celebrates the beauty of colors in springtime: the colors worn by the countryside, the beautiful little birds outside, and the shining rainbow, all of which we love very much! Nobody seemed to mind to sing about springtime, even in the muggy mid-July summer heat here in Boston.

De Colores is known today as one of the most famous song in the worldwide Spanish-speaking folk song canon. The lyrics and melody have interesting origins that remain somewhat mysterious, as is certainly typical of most folk songs. The melody is thought to have originated in Spain and been brought over to the Americas in the 16th century during colonization. Different fragments of verses that are still sung today have sprung up throughout the last 200 years. The song has also served as a peace protest song, has been adopted by many religions and spiritual groups to celebrate the diversity of creation, and is considered the unofficial anthem of the Farm Worker Movement. 

For a handful of our young people, this song is an old favorite - for most of the others, this song marked their first time learning a song in a different language. Of course, not all of our little rockstars speak Spanish, so I expected it to be a big challenge for all of our groups to learn this song and memorize the words. However, many youngsters practiced some stellar teamwork skills to help the others learn the lyrics and the melody, and to support each other as they learned. I was so glad to capture one of our B-SAFE groups, the Taj Mahals, singing this song after only practicing it for two lessons! Very proud.

Best wishes,