Daddies Don't Cry: Ballad of Tra' - Tapa dura

This is a writing for men, those who value the influence of a father on the character development of his children and teens who choose to runaway. The poetry is the result of a daughter running away from home. National statistics show that as many as 70 % of current and former inmates sited a broken or nonexistent relationship with their father as the major negative aspect of their lives. The author travels a gamut of emotions in an effort to recapture and redefine himself as a father and man. In the writings it is obvious that he feels separated from himself. Anyone who loses a child can relate to such a feeling. He speaks and also listens to the daughter. He believes if he becomes the cosmopolitan parent he will gain her. His emotions jog the distance from anger to sadness to hate to self-blame to temporary insanity. The book is organized in six musical sessions. In the first the daughter speaks in an authentic voice of adolescence. The father then responds with tender words that he believes will remind her of the value their friendship. Afterwards, the father and mother express their deepest fears as they relate nightly their concern for the daughter. Session four sounds like a series of songs of hat. Fortunately the father, who sings lead, completes the performance quickly. Session five finds the father not as agitated. He sings tunes that he hopes his daughter will listen to one day. The final session may be the best writing of the sessions. The father leaps through several genres of musical style in a last effort to reach his daughter. Individually these are mere contemporary lyrics. Collectively they are more because they offer a fresh, unique and believable expression of emotions. Any musically-centered person i.e. musician, performer would do well visit this concert.