Specifically, it is Las Ketchup and it is a trio of very pretty girls from the province of Andalucia named Pilar, Lola and Lucia. They are collectively known as Las Ketchup because their father is a famous flamenco guitarist called Tomate, which must be tomato in Spanish. So the children of Tomate are Las Ketchup. But that word presents another problem. Is it ketchup or catsup? Come to think of it, what makes ketchup different from tomato sauce? They both come from tomatoes so why is one ketchup and the other plain sauce? I do not have the answers. All I know is that I have always preferred the original Del Monte blend I grew up with and that we are ending the year 2002 with the music of Las Ketchup.
The song titled The Ketchup Song (Asereje) is catchy and made for party fun. It is certainly the most-heard tune of the Christmas season and everybody does or attempts to do the dance step it comes with. Unlike that other Spanish dance tune which spawned its own dance craze, The Macarena, Asereje still has to make it in the US charts but it is doing very well in Europe including the UK, the Latin American countries and the Philippines.
The lyrics of Asereje is in English and Spanish. It initially comes across as merely prate and the chorus definitely is but it actually tells the story of Diego, a hip party dude who likes to rap and is the king of the dance floor. Given all the attention the song is getting I thought it would help readers of this piece to better understand what the song is saying if I can provide a copy of the lyrics. So here goes:
Friday night it’s party time feeling ready looking fine
Viene Diego rumbeando with the magic in his eyes
Checking every girl in sight grooving like he does the mambo
He’s the man alli en la disco, feeling sexy, feeling hotter
He’s the king bailando et ritmo ragatanga
And the DJ that he knows well, on the spot always around twelve
Plays the mix that Diego mezela con la salsa y la baila
And he dance y la canta
Asejere ja de je de jebe tu de jebere seibiunouva
Majavi an de bugui an de buididipi
Asereje ja de je de jebe tu de jebere seibiunouva
Majavi an de bugui an de buididipi
Many think its brujeria how he comes and disappears
Every move will hypnotize you some will call it chuleria
Others say that it’s the real rastafari afrogitano
Repeat the first part and then go back to the chorus. In fact you can do the sequence of the lyrics any which way you want. You can even make up your own. Truth to tell, I will not be the least bit surprised to hear that there is already a Filipino version of the song in the making. You can do anything you want with it as long as you get back to that asereje part and those lyrics that drone, irritate, infect and which seem to defy translation.
Only time will tell if Asereje will turn out to be the Macarena of the new millennium. But no matter what happens, Las Ketchup certainly helped liven out the local party scene these past weeks. Only time too will tell if Pilar, Lola and Lucia will turn out to be the Spanish Spice Girls. I actually thought of calling them the Spanish Destiny’s Child because they are a trio but given their kind of music. Spice Girls makes for closer comparison.
And so again, Asereje…"