Just Dance: Systema Solar and "Yo Voy Ganao"

Today has been one of those days. So sometimes, when the random tune comes up for your daily blog, you just go with it and it's exactly what you need. As I play this right now, I'm dancing in my seat and making an idiot of myself in front of my coworkers...but hey, they're used to it! The lyrics are included under the video, in case you want to dance and sing along wherever you are right now.

Yo Voy Ganao is by Systema Solar, a Colombian collective of DJs, MCs, producers and percussionists brought together in 2006 by a passion for Afro-Caribbean music. They weave together different genres such as champeta, cumbia, and other South American rhythms with rapid fire socially conscious lyrics delivered through some amazing MCs between brilliant electronics. As such, they've created their own style they call "berbenautika" inspired by pikos (sound systems) and verbena (festivals). Yo Voy Ganao is from their 2013 CD La Revancha del Burro.

You're Not the Boss of Me: Systema Solar and "Quien es el Patron?"

I've had bad and good bosses. Mostly good, but the bosses that I've had that are bad or at least had bad tempers usually came with the food industry. My first job in high school was at a restaurant in my home town. The owner was a guy who was jolly and boisterous at times, but could really start yelling at you, in your face type of yelling, at others. He could be generous, and he often was. But if you did something wrong or something he didn't like, you would want to be prepared for a lot of verbal abuse.

Years later, when I moved to a new city later in my life, I was working on a PhD and needed some work to contribute to our income as well as give me something to do outside of writing my dissertation. I took a job with a chef who was running a catering business. This guy was an awful person. He was insecure, he was a belittler and a yeller, verbally and mentally abusive, and he did other things that were less than ethical. I eventually quit, but not after reliving some PTSD from a dysfunctional childhood.

These two guys were obsessed with the question "Who is the Boss?" They wanted you to know that they were the boss. If you didn't give them enough obeisance, they were going to make you pay for it. In contrast, the people who have been the best bosses in my life were those who assumed that you knew their place, didn't feel insecure about their position, and used their positions to help you learn and to get ahead with your own goals. Luckily, I work for a couple of people like that now. Who is the boss? The best bosses are the ones who don't have to ask you that question.

Now, if you ask me who's the boss at home...that's another story. Megan, you're the boss!
Systema Solar asks that very question in our song for today. Made up of some of Colombia's most well-known DJs, MCs, producers and percussionists, Systema Solar is influenced by all things Afro-Caribbean. Their name is a reference to large sound system parties called pikos. In concert, they call their shows Berbenautika, and they dress like space voyagers while they play South American rhythms such as champeta and cumbia, among others, overlaid with hip hop and electronic beats. They revel in the music, adding socially conscious lyrics that they hope unites Colombia and the world through music. This song, Quien es El Patron? (Who is the Boss?) is from their 2010 eponymous debut CD.