Meaning of aca?ahuate

[NCScott]

I like to translate songs to help me learn more Spanish, and can't find any information on this word- aca?ahuate. It is from the song Ahi Hombe by Raulin Rodruiguez. My wife lived in Santo Domingo for most of her life and said that she had never heard it, but Raulin is from Monticristi and it may be a common word in the northern part of the island.
Thanks in advance

 

[Marianopolita]

Ca?ahuate-

First of all the word is 'cañahuate' and it's a tree. That song is called Ay Hombe by Raulin R and starts off with opening lyrics that refer to it- 'mi hermoso cañahuate que ha florecido'...


Here is the definition from the dictionary:

cañahuate-

1. m. Árbol de Colombia, especie de guayaco.

(www.rae.es)


-LDG.

 

[Musicqueen]

Lesley is totally correct...it's a tree...actually it's a beautiful tree...

But...originally the song is a 'vallenato' from Colombia...(thus the tree mention)...Raulín just made an even better version when he made it into a 'bachata'...as least I like it better!

And I believe the song is actually called "Mi hermoso Cañahuate"...but since it repeats the phrase "Ay, hombe..." people have adopted that as the name...

MQ

 

[Marianopolita]

Thanks MQ-

Like many bachatas they are vallenato remakes which take away from the originality but in many cases the renditions are melodic and the lyrics unchanged. You are right the original song title is 'Mi hermoso cañahuate' and Raulin changed it to Ay hombe.

I often get into heated discussions with my friends about vallenato vs. bachata and the copying of songs but my theory is if the new rendition is equal or better than the original no sense getting upset about it because this happens in music in all genres.

Vallenato in general has beautiful lyrics. To the OP if you like song lyrics for language learning vallenato is excellent and there are some nice groups out there. For example Los Chiches Vallenatos, Luis Mateus y La Nueva Generación del Vallenato, El Binomio de Oro just to name a few. You would enjoy it.


-LDG.