Tania Lyrics in English by Ana Tijoux
Copales are pieces of copal, a fragrant tree resin traditionally burned as incense in ceremonies across Mexico and Latin America. In the song, lighting candles and copales creates a tender ritual of remembrance, making this a culturally rich and memorable word.
Ana Tijoux sings Tania to someone who has died, and she talks to her directly the whole way through: "Todo lo que no te dije / Yo lo guardo y acá vive" (Everything I did not tell you / I keep it, and it lives here). The comfort comes in "No, ma, pero acá siempre tú estás" (No more, but you are always here), where ma is sung as a clipped más, and "Y aquí nadie te olvida" (And here nobody forgets you).
The verses are full of the fight before the end. "En hospitales tú luchaste" (In hospitals you fought), and she calls her "campeona de tu propio combate" (champion of your own fight). There is a lovely line about breathing too: "Hiciste del oxígeno bocanada de aire" (You turned oxygen into a mouthful of air), which sounds like a hospital oxygen mask turned into something hopeful. Then comes the honest bit: "Nunca se está listo para despedirse así" (You are never ready to say goodbye like this).
The chorus moves to the sea at night, where "estrellita' de sal" (little stars of salt) come to let her know she is near. Notice the dropped "s" in estrellita' and prendemo': that is how Chileans actually talk. The later verse turns the grief into a party: lighting velitas y copales (little candles and copal incense, a resin burned in ceremonies), planting sunflowers in her name, and heading to la Tirana, a famous religious dance festival in the north of Chile, "con el alma pegada a la pampa" (with our soul stuck to the pampa, the desert plain). The French lines "On te sent ici" (We feel you here) are echoed straight away in Spanish, "Te sentimos acá", so you get the same promise twice: she is still felt, sung and danced to.
