in Miami

In an interview in Miami, where his tour started last week, Mr. Guerra, who is bearded and 6 foot 6, recounted explaining his songs to his English teacher in New York. “The song that most caught her attention was ‘Ojalá que Llueva Café,’ ” he said. “After I explained it to her, she said: ‘Americans have to hear this song. Sooner or later, they have to hear this song.’ She told me I had to find someone to translate it.”
Easier said than done. The gist of the first verse is this:
May it rain coffee in the countryside.
Let a downpour of cassava and tea fall.
From the skies a drizzle of white cheese,
And to the south a mountain of watercress and honey.
But setting the translation to music and performing it in English would be a bit like creating a Swahili version of “Born in the U.S.A.” That is most true in what Mr. Guerra calls his “social merengues,” many of which have become anthems in Latin America. Though they are about health care, poverty and immigration, with lyrics that have brought many to tears, they play the neat trick of also being danceable party songs.