Credit: Nuestro Stories
If you are Latino and the song “Mi Burrito Sabanero” (My Little Donkey from Bethlehem) comes on the radio, no matter where you are, you know it’s Christmas.
So when it comes on the radio, you instinctively start singing. Why? Because Mi Burrito Sabanero is part of Latino DNA.
The song is about a little donkey making its way to Bethlehem on the night Jesus was born. It is the best Latino Christmas song by far. So many of us grew up with it and know it by heart. It starts playing before Christmas, especially on Noche Buena — our most important Christmas night.
After we have consumed copious amounts of Coquito, Lechon Asado, and Arroz con gandules, the first tuki, tuki, tuki rings out, and everyone joins in.
“Con mi burrito sabanero, voy camino de Belén
Con mi burrito sabanero, voy camino de Belén
Si me ven, si me ven
Voy camino de Belén
Si me ven, si me ven
Voy camino de Belén
El lucerito mañanero ilumina mi sendero
El lucerito mañanero ilumina mi sendero
Si me ven, si me ven
Voy camino de Belén
Si me ven, si me ven
Voy camino de Belén
Con mi cuatrico voy cantando, mi burrito va trotando
Con mi cuatrico voy cantando, mi burrito va trotando
Si me ven, si me ven
Voy camino de Belén
Si me ven, si me ven
Voy camino de Belén
Tuki tuki tuki tuki
Tuki tuki tuki ta
Apúrate, mi burrito
Que ya vamos a llegar.”
But where did the song — a Christmas villancico — come from?
Contrary to what one might think, “Mi burrito sabanero” is not an old song.
Venezuelan composer Hugo Blanco wrote it in 1975. Blanco was a beloved songwriter known as El Maestro. He wrote many pieces, including a famous bolero called “Moliendo Cafe.”
It was recorded in 1976 by a children’s group called La Rondallita. “Mi Burrito Sabanero” has simple and repetitive lyrics, like in most children’s songs.
Venezuelan singer Simón Díaz first sang the song, but Blanco believed it would sound better sung by children. So he got in touch with the Coro Infantil of Venezuela and his director Raúl Cabrera, who arranged the song for a children’s chorus. Thus La Rondallita was born.
The main singer of La Rondallita, Ricardo Cuenci, said that when they first recorded it (he was eight years old), he sang ‘el Burrito Tabanero’ because he couldn’t pronounce the s. The song started gaining traction first in Caracas and then internationally. And the rest, as they say, is history.
There is a sad part to this story. Cuenci never saw any money for giving a voice to the burrito.
Nevertheless, it is now a classic in most Latino households and sung by all generations. None other than Billboard magazine has included Mi Burrito Sabanero in its list of the 100 best Christmas songs of all time.
“Tuki tuki tuki tuki
Tuki tuki tuki tu
Apúrate mi burrito
Vamos a ver a Jesús.”
