Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Flor de Retama



A mediados del año pasado, coincidiendo con una época y una circunstancia – el final de un verano – en que me encontraba particularmente antisocial, tuve que, por motivos de trabajo, realizar un viaje por varias ciudades del interior del país, la mayoría de las cuales no había pisado nunca.

Durante el primer tramo, entre los arenales de Ica, me dediqué, en parte debido a una pésima decisión culinaria (toda esa cháchara de que la verdadera comida se encuentra en los mercados es verdad si tu mercado está en Barcelona, no en Cañete), a observar las caras y los colores de las calles y del aire, con la, ya a estas alturas incurable, vana intención de sonsacarle al vacío el verdadero motivo del porqué somos así.

Luego volví a Lima, y sucedió lo de Bagua.

Tal vez haya sido la lectura de El hablador, con sus lunas y ranitas, y su fiesta del hablar tan ajena a mi mutismo, o las palabras de mi padre describiendo la respuesta del capitán a cargo del escuadrón que protegía las instalaciones de Petro-Perú, pero pocas veces he sentido una empatía tan profunda como la que sentí al imaginar a esos hombres (muchachos, casi niños) esperando, aferrados a un fusil que no pueden disparar, que una turba enfurecida (¿justamente? Es muy probable) los atrape, los sustraiga y los degolle, y abandone sus cuerpos en la selva.

Bajo ese estado de ánimo es que tuve que ir a Ayacucho. Viajar hacia la ciudad que fue epicentro de la violencia interna de la década de los ochenta, donde Sendero abría barrigas de mujeres embarazadas y las llenaba con mierda y volvía a coser, y el ejército podía decidir hasta que punto era necesario sumergirte en agua helada para convencerse que ser cholo y no hablar bien el español no es sinónimo de una mente subversiva (si es que consideraba tantos preliminares pertinentes), me tenía particularmente nervioso.

Me encontré una ciudad viva. Las noticias de Bagua y la anunciada huelga nacional en defensa de los nativos no afectaban para nada el ritmo de la ciudad: la gente llenaba los locales coloniales convertidos en tiendas modernas, imprimiendo en las viejas calles de Huamanga la vitalidad de aquellos que ya pasaron lo peor, y solo les queda vivir.

Sergio, mi guía en la ciudad, era prueba de ello. Mientras manejaba por la campiña ayacuchana, con los hermosos celestes del cielo serrano como telón, me contaba, con igual naturalidad, historias de vacas tragadas por el dios de una laguna, de ofrendas para no quedar encantados durante la siesta en la montaña, de las camionetas compradas por los narcos de la selva, de pueblos que poco a poco renacen cuando los desplazados vuelven de Lima, y de las veces que, en su pueblo, terrucos y sinchis se llevaron a algún paisano para siempre. Para Sergio la historia es lo que ha sido, y el presente es lo que es, y mientras pueda manejar su taxi y llevar comida a casa, todo está bien, la vida vale, el dolor pasó.

Pero el dolor, sin embargo, existió. Hablan de ello las canciones que escuchamos en el auto de Sergio. Huaynos ayacuchano cuya imaginería de cazadores y de muerte Sergio me traduce del quechua que su hijo tal vez ya no hable, o cuya rabia puedo sentir directamente en español.

El más hermoso de ellos es Flor de Retama.

Inspirada en los hecho ocurridos en Huanta en 1969, en el que veinte estudiantes y campesinos murieron durante la represión de una huelga a favor de la gratuidad de la enseñanza, Flor de Retama es el tipo de canción que trasciende el motivo real por el que fue compuesta, y pasa a representar, en el imaginario colectivo, algo más complejo, más abstracto.





Vengan todos a ver
ay, vamos a ver
en la plazuela de Huanta
amarillito, flor de retama
amarilllito, amarillando
flor de retama

Donde la sangre del pueblo
ay, se derrama
ahí mismito florece
amarillito, flor de retama
amarillito, amarillando
flor de retama.

Por cinco esquinas están
los sinchis entrando están
van a matar estudiantes
huantinos de corazón
amarillito, amarillando
flor de retama.
van a matar campesinos
huantinos de corazón
amarillito, amarillando
flor de retama.

La sangre del pueblo tiene
rico perfume
huele a jazmines, violetas
geranios y margaritas
a pólvora y dinamita.

Es el verso final, en la versión de Martina Portocarrero, el que consigue sintetizar todo el pathos de la canción. La idea, grotesca en sí misma, de poder disfrutar del olor que tiene la sangre empozada, comparándola con lo apacible de las flores, es rápidamente contrastada con la violencia de la pólvora, de la dinamita.

La estructura misma del huayno, hecho de marchas y contramarchas, de repeticiones y avances, ayuda a acrecentar el impacto. Pero son los carajos de Martina (el primero contenido, musitado entre dientes; el segundo desfogando toda la rabia e impotencia que siente) los que terminan de convertir la canción en algo más, en una muestra, en otra muestra, de cómo es el Arte lo único hermoso que puede salir de entre la mierda.

26 comments:

alvaro_crema said...

he shoots, he scores!

Gustavo said...

Me destruiste con el tema de la última estrofa de Flor de Retama. Fuerte imagen, fuerte contraste, fuerte realidad...

David said...

extrañaba un post tuyo, y creo q este es de los q mejor te salen

Amadeo said...

hermoso post, esteban. me dieron ganas de saber más de perú y su historia!

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