Carlos Lage

Beloved Black Tomasa:

The reason for my letter is to let you know that our relationship has come to an end.

I don't want you to think that I don't love you anymore, it's just that time goes by and I don't feel the same for you anymore. I remember when I discovered you, the deep satisfaction I felt when I heard your harmonious melody and your contagious rhythm. It was your first words that let me know how much love I felt for you when I sang "Estoy tan enamora'o de la Negra Tomasa". I felt so identified. Your father Don Rodriguez Fife - may he be glorified - knew very well what he was doing when he brought you into this world.

And as it usually happens in these cases, it was love at first sight. Since then began a beautiful romance that took us to town parties, weddings, baptisms, communions, birthdays and a long etcetera. I couldn't have been happier.

Such was your acceptance that you were even present on the menu of a luxurious hotel, under the name "Sopa La Negra Tomasa", in tribute to all those musicians who had to make soup with you for years in so many restaurants and bars around the world to win the bread, which, incidentally, was included with the soup as a symbol of sacrifice. 

There were so many adventures we lived together on white summer nights, when I proudly sang to the four winds my love for you. That's why I know that when you are not at home I will be sad, because I have lived the joy of your love. bilongoI don't know how you threw me out, but I must admit that you did throw me out. I know, besides, that nobody like you has cooked coffee for me and in few places have I eaten something as good as what you cook for me. But I don't know what is happening to me lately, the truth is that even though I still like your bilongo I no longer feel the same way about your kikiribú. Besides, I don't know why I feel that your love is not exclusively for me. Is it true that you are on the lips of many people out there? Even foreigners? I hear so many things about you that sometimes I don't know what to think. That's why I have decided to erase you from my repertoire forever. I will never sing to you again, ohhh, beloved Negra Tomasa. I wish you to find happiness in other hands and another voice. 

Yours always from silence, 

Carlitos Lage