Que Hay de Malo (What’s Wrong) inaugurates the ‘Q’ songs in the Music Library Project. Hurray!
However it will be short-lived (aww) since just 4 songs exist starting with ‘Q’. Funnily enough, two of them are by Puerto Rican Salsa artist Jerry Rivera starting with today’s featured track.
When I came to Colombia back in 2009, I remember taking an instant liking to Jerry Rivera. Even when I hear his music now; if not on my music player then on Colombian radio, I feel so nostalgic because they are some of the first songs I remember enjoying and are emblematic of the allure of Latin Festivity. What I think distinguishes Jerry’s ‘Salsa Rosa’ music from your pro typical Salsa (‘real’ salsa) are his infectious melodies that remain with you long after hearing and warrant reengaging, at least for me. Most ‘Salsa’ music to my ears, like ‘Vallenato‘ music sounds the same, but there are some exceptions including today’s featured track Que Hay de Malo (What’s Wrong) and another by Jerry presented here in June 2023 – Me Estoy Enloqueciendo Por Ti (‘I’m Going Crazy For You‘).
Que Hay de Malo is Salsa romántica which garnered notoriety in the mid-1980s. It is softer and more delicate Salsa which raise emotions of romance and sex. So, it is a mix between ballada style and slower tempo orchestral music that is adorned with sensual, sexual, flirtatious and romantic lyrics.
Critics of salsa romántica called it a “commercialized, watered-down” form of Latin pop in which formulaic, sentimental love ballads were simply put to an Afro-Cuban beat—leaving no room for classic salsa’s brilliant musical improvisation, or for classic salsa lyrics that tell stories of daily life or provide social and political commentary.
Que Hay de Malo is about a boy who is in love with a girl, but his father doesn’t approve of him and wants her to forget about him. However, he can’t help her feelings and wonders what’s wrong with loving someone and wanting to be with them. He asks why it is bad to dream, laugh and love, and why it is bad to be young and alive. The boy begs her partner not to forget him and questions why her father thinks he’s not good enough for her.
A loose English translation of the first stanzas of Que Hay de Malo follows:
Your father, as usual, has taken to making you forget me.
He says I am not good for you.
He has forbidden you to mention my name
Even if you suffer everything you suffer, when you move away from me he is happy
[Pre-Chorus]
What’s wrong with loving you the way I love you?
Give yourself a flower and live for you
Comfort your soul if it seeks comfort in me?
What’s wrong with loving you like I love you?
Walk hand in hand or die for you
Take refuge in a world of love invented by me?
Could it be that he never fell in love
That at my age he never had a love?
[Chorus]
What’s wrong with dreaming, what’s wrong with laughing?
What’s wrong with being young and living?
What’s wrong with loving, what’s wrong with feeling?
What’s wrong with singing just for yourself?
What’s wrong with loving you like I love you?
What’s wrong with being young, singing and living, love? (Read the remainder here)
Que Hay de Malo is the second song and lead single from Jerry Rivera’s fourth studio album Cara de Niño (Baby Face). The album was nominated at the 37th Grammy Awards for Best Tropical Latin Album. Que Hay de Malo, became Rivera’s first single to reach on the top ten peaking at number-four.
Reference:
1. Jerry Rivera – Wikipedia
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
Observation Blogger 
Leave a comment