El Cóndor Pasa (song)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"Another important landmark in the growth of the world music genre, and one which is often overlooked, came in 1970 with the popular Simon & Garfunkel single "El Cóndor Pasa", taken from their multi-platinum selling Bridge Over Troubled Waters LP. The theme was endlessly copied and used all over the world, for instance in parody about downed F117a plane El kondor pada, and many other. Like Harrison's use of sitar, Paul Simon's use of Andean folk instruments (including the pan flute) was a pop music "first". His evocative English-language adaptation of a traditional 18th century Peruvian folk melody by Jorge Michelberg gave many listeners their first taste of the flavour of Peruvian folk music, and when the song was released as a single it became a hit in many countries, earning a Top Twenty placing (#18) on the American charts." --Sholem Stein |
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El Cóndor Pasa is a song from the zarzuela El Cóndor Pasa by the Peruvian composer Daniel Alomía Robles written in 1913 and based on traditional Andean folk tunes.
It is possibly the best-known Peruvian song worldwide due to a cover version by Simon and Garfunkel in 1970 on their Bridge Over Troubled Water album, which is called El Condor Pasa (If I Could). Paul Simon used only the melody and wrote entirely new, unrelated lyrics. Later that year, Perry Como released a cover of Simon's English version on his album It's Impossible, while Julie Felix took advantage of Simon and Garfunkel's decision not to release their version as a UK single, and had a UK Top 20 hit with it. Simon & Garfunkel did release their version as a single in the U.S. and it reached # 18 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart in the fall of 1970.
