“Baracunatana” is one of those songs where, for at least 25% of the lyrics, I either don’t know what they mean or I have no clue what they’re saying so I just make something up. But it’s catchy!

I googled the song in prep to draft this blog post and realized the song has a much richer background than I thought. It was composed by Colombian musician Leonidas Plaza and made popular by Lisandro Meza (an icon of Colombian music) in the 80s. Then, Aterciopelados recorded it in the 90s in more of a rock style.

So what does baracunatana mean? It’s not a real word. Turns out, the Colombian Caribbean has its own form of pig latin. Actually, across the Spanish speaking world, there are many versions of “pig latin” called “jerigonza.” (And of course I am just learning about this now). In the Bolívar region of Colombia, where Cartagena is located, merchants used jerigonza to communicate amongst themselves without potential buyers understanding what they meant.

In the Colombian Caribbean’s version of jerigonza, syllables like “cunico” or “cuneco” are inserted into words. The root word of baracunatana is “barata” (meaning “cheap”/”cheapskate”), and then extra syllables were inserted around the word. Leonidas Plaza got the inspiration for “Baracunatana” from a beautiful woman who lived in Cartagena. She flirted with all of the men in her neighborhood, but never became serious with any of them. Instead, each night, a doctor would come by to pick her up on his motorcycle for a Jada Pinkett Smith-style “entanglement.” Leonidas used the term “baracunatana” instead of referring to this woman as “barata” directly. (Me: is she cheap because she would only pay attention to a doctor? Is she cheap in a “talk is cheap” way because she would flirt with other men? Both? This is still above my head.)

Mi Diccionario Entry: Retrechera(o). This word describes someone as charmingly evasive or unreliable, crafty, unpredictable. Like when Aterciopelados sing “por eso tú eres garulla, retrechera, abeja, bergaja, fulera, guaricha, baracunatana, cucharamí.”