Yucatecan bombas: from the tenderest to the spiciest

The bomba is the spark of the Yucatecan party: a short verse shouted mid-dance to flirt, tease or court. Here is a selection, from the most innocent to the spiciest.

The verses below are kept in Spanish — that’s how they live and rhyme. A short gloss in English follows each one.

If you go to a vaquería or a village dance, at some point the music stops, someone shouts “¡Bomba!” and delivers four lines. The crowd answers and the music starts again. It’s oral tradition: bombas are inherited, adapted, and everyone has their own.

How a bomba is built

They’re almost always four eight-syllable lines that rhyme (the second with the fourth). They play on double meanings, the name of a town or a Maya word. The joke is in the punchline: the first two lines set up, the last two land.

For the full background, read Maya Yucatecan bombas and the origin of Yucatecan bombas.

For the whole family

Bomba, bomba, la cazuela, / arriba del comal; / el que no diga su bomba / se queda sin bailar.

“Bomba, bomba, the pot on top of the griddle; whoever doesn’t say their bomba doesn’t get to dance.”

Quisiera ser mariposa / y volar de flor en flor, / pero mejor soy abeja / y me quedo con tu amor.

“I’d like to be a butterfly and fly from flower to flower, but better to be a bee and keep your love.”

Dicen que el amor no existe / y que nadie lo ha probado, / pero yo probé el tuyo / y salí bien enamorado.

“They say love doesn’t exist and no one has tasted it, but I tasted yours and came out truly in love.”

With cheek

Naranjita, naranjita, / partida por la mitad, / cásate conmigo, niña, / y verás qué felicidad.

“Little orange cut in half — marry me, girl, and you’ll see what happiness is.”

Si tu madre no me quiere / por pobre y sin condición, / dile que el dinero es humo / y se lo lleva el ciclón.

“If your mother won’t have me for being poor and of no standing, tell her money is smoke and the hurricane carries it off.”

For adults (the racy ones)

Late in the night come the bombas with heavier double meanings. They’re part of the tradition and said with humour, never with malice.

Tú te llamas Concepción / y yo me llamo Tomás; / tú concibes y yo tomo, / ¿qué pareja quieres más?

A pun on the names: “Concepción” (also “to conceive”) and “Tomás” (also “I take/ drink”) — “you conceive and I take; what better couple could you want?”

Where to really hear them

• At the Santa Lucía Serenade on Thursdays and the Monday vaquería in front of the City Hall.
• At the village patron-saint festivals (Tekit, Maní, Espita), where the bomba is still alive and unscripted.
• At Carnival — Carnival in Mérida— and the Yucatán and Its Customs festival.

And to keep going with local speech, continue with the Yucatecan dictionary.