U RAJ NIJE PIVO - In heaven there is no beer

"When German immigrants of the 19th century, settled in the Rio Grande Valley they found ground that was fertile for both crops and culture. Their beautiful button accordions would seed a new Conjunto, (combination) music along Mexico’s northern border." That's what Flaco Jimenez' promoters want you to hear. According to them.  Flaco's father was the father of "conjunto."

Others want to tell you that conjunto was the product of German settlers in the mid 1800s in central Texas and their Mexican neighbors. Ok, there is a bit of truth to both stories, but neither is the whole story.

Let's take a look Princ Carskog od Hrvatska in 1863.


Who?


Car.


Yes. That's what I said: Car.


The Car.

Nooooooooooooooooo not a car, The Car. Not something with 4 wheels. Not with a K sound but a C sound, like ts on english, ok? Sigh. How do I tell you who this man is? Croatia has become a country like America where the car has become the Car. Ohhhhhhh, and people say Teksikanski talk funny? Ha! Car, like the Russian царь, only on croatian. Princ carskog od Hrvatska. The Prince Imperial of Croatia. Ferdinand Maksimilijan Josip. His brother Franjo Josip was the actual Car. Later on, their nephew Franjo Ferdinand met with some mischief in Sarajevo which created a bit of a stir in Europe.

Princ Carskog od Hrvatska Maksimilijan

On English then and his full title "By the grace of God, etc. etc. His Imperial and Royal Highness Ferdinand Maksimilijan Josip, Prince Imperial and Archduke of Austria, Prince Royal of Hungary and Croatia, and Bohemia, Galicia, Lodomeria, Cracow, and ... "

And its in those three dots following that last "and" that Maksimilijan the Princ Carskog od Hrvatska plays a role in the history of music. In 1854, at age twenty-two. Maksimilijan became commander in chief of the Austrian navy. And so now you are looking at the map and you are trying to tell me that Austria doesn't have any sea ports so how could it have a navy? Austria doesn't, that's right, but Croatia does, and remember his title - Princ Carskog od Hrvatska? He built the naval port at Pula in Istria, Croatia. Under his administration, in 1859 the SMS Novara became the first Austrian warship to circumnavigate the globe, with him aboard.

In 1857 he added Viceroy of the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia to his list of titles. In July that year he married the beautiful Princess Marie Charlotte Amélie Augustine Victoire Clémentine Léopoldine of Belgium, a first cousin to both Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Great Britain. Maximilijan was too progressive for his older brother's taste and so he was dismissed as Viceroy of Lombardy-Venetia where upon the Lombards and the Venetians pretty much told the Empire to take a flying leap. Maksimilijan and Charlotte retired for a while to Grad Miramar near Trst in modern day Slovenia.

Grad Miramar

The Mexican aristocracy approached Maksimilijan with an offer to become Emperor of Mexico. Mmm hmmm, that's the three dots up there. Mexico. No one told Maksimilian however that he had given up all his rights in Europe to accept this offer until he was under way on the SMS Novara escorted by the Austrian SMS Bellona and the French Themis. Away from land Maksimilijan was informed that he had a one way ticket to America. From the time he landed in Vera Cruz until the Mexican Empire came to a violent close Maksimilijan was in deep difficulty.

The histories want to tell you that Napoleon withdrew his troops from Mexico. Apparently its inconceivable to historians that a statesman would ever just abandon his forces. The forces Napoleon brought to Mexico were mostly Austrian, and yes, Napoleon abandoned them here. The fact that Felix Salm-Salm led a charge of Hussars to shield Maksmilijan in the last moments of the Empire attest to my story.  The fact that there were Hussars there for him to lead attests to my story.

These Hussars weren't Mexican - yet. Juarez was not inclined to be overly vindictive. As Juarez put it, he had smashed the head of the snake, he was not interested in the men who had come with him. These men were Austrians, yes? So everyone nowadays knows that means people of some kind of German background, yes? No! These were soldiers of the Princ Carskog od Hrvatska who got his soldiers where the Austrian Empire always got its soldiers - from among the Croatians.

These soldiers, like Maksimilijan had come to America with a one way ticket.  Prince Salm-Salm had money and influence and he could return to Europe.  He did return in  time to die in the war of 1870.  The average soldier had no way home. None.  All they had was their lives, and their harmonika, and their tubas, and their trumpets and their music. Their music, which they played, and which became popular among the Mexicans. Their music which was copied and adapted and re adapted. Their music became Ranchero. Their music became Conjunto. Their music became Tejano and which lives side by side with Teksikanski music to this day.  Their music testifies to the existence of these men though no monument or nor a single line in a college history book anywhere admits they ever lived. The music of the Balkans in America testifies to them.

Or at least, some of the rest of  the story - oh yes, there's more!  Zivio Princ Carskog od Hrvatska i Meksiko!!!

Lets listen to Flaco Jimenez, he does a really good job with "U RAJ NIJE PIVO."  Did I mention that Maximilijan's wife Charlotte  was from Belgium?  The Ex-Empress Carlota of Mexico, the Ex-Archduchess of Austria, retired to her estates in Belgium where she enjoyed a reputation for eccentricity.  During World War One the forces of the German Empire surrounded her estate but she was so well loved throughout the world that not a single soldier dared set foot on her property or disturb her in any way.  

U RAJ NIJE PIVO was  a popular song in Croatia about five hundred years ago or so.  Flaco Jimenez sings it in Spanish and in English.  Let's listen in as Flaco sings part of this song in Flemish in honor of the beloved Empress Carlotta. 

The Tekst:
En el cielo no hay cerveza que beber
por eso ando tomando noche y dia
porque ya cuando se me llegue el dia
en el mundo sequiera la ferrusquilla

In heaven there is no beer
That's why we drink it here
And when we're gone from here
All my friends will be drinking all the beer

In de hemel daar is geen bier
Daarom drinken wij het hier
Als wij zijn heengegaan
Drinken al onze verienden al het bier

En el cielo no hay cerveza que beber
por eso ando tomando noche y dia
porque ya cuando se me llegue el dia
en el mundo sequiera la ferrusquilla

In heaven there is no beer
That's why we drink it here
And when we're gone from here
All my friends will be drinking all the beer

do sljedeći put, blagoslov - until next time, blessings,

Canovals a.k.a. Slavonac