I DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH MORE I CAN TAKE

BOGOTA- A new beat is mugging the nation’s eardrums. They are Calle 13 from Puerto Rico. Their work is described as a fusion of hip hop, rap and reggaeton. What could be more agreeable?



They have just released a new track of absolutely the maximum facetiousness. [See above.] Every coffee shop, bar, car radio and supermarket is currently playing it, and if I’m exposed to much more I might just have a fit and bite someone. This, however, is possibly marginally worse. I haven’t heard a song this witless and infuriating since Twisting by the Pool by Dire Straits. And yet, short of moving to a cave in Scotland, it is inescapable.

I’ll never forget the summer of 96. The European Championships were on, and everyone was singing Football’s Coming Home, and a song about who ate all the pies. They eventually succeeded in driving me out of England. I emigrated a few weeks later, and took an oath never to return, except at the head of a conquering army to put those dunderheads to the sword.

Despising, for you, the city, thus I turn my back:
There is a world elsewhere.