Sin Condición Alguna
Charlie Aponte · 2015 · written by Rafi Monclova, from the album Una Nueva Historia
A love he has to keep hidden, and a man who asks for nothing back: name the day and the hour, and he'll be there. El Gran Combo's voice goes solo.
The story
1.In the shadows
It's a secret love: they only meet in hiding. And she's the one who decides when. He sets no terms of his own; whenever she sends for him, he'll be there.
2.No conditions
In the chorus he offers himself completely, asking nothing back and afraid of nothing. What he wants is their two lives joined, body and soul, however crazy that is.
3.Free to fly
And he won't try to hold on to her. She's free to go her own way; he only hopes it leads back to him.
4.Just say when
In the montuno the coro keeps repeating his promise, while he asks her to make up her mind and tell him how she feels.
Key phrases
- “sin condición alguna”Without any condition at allThe title and the whole promise of the song. Alguna after the noun makes it stronger: not “without a condition” but “without a single one”.
- “sin condición, temor ni nada”Without condition, fear or anythingThe chorus piles it up: no terms, no fear, nothing held back. Temor is a softer, more formal word for fear than miedo.
- “cuando me lo pidas”Whenever you ask meThe coro's answer in the montuno. Pidas is the subjunctive of pedir, “to ask”: not a date he knows, but whenever she decides.
Context
Charlie Aponte, born in Caguas, Puerto Rico, in 1951, sang with El Gran Combo for 41 years: he joined in 1973, replacing Pellín Rodríguez, and left in 2014. His voice is on decades of the band's hits.
Right after he left, the producer Sergio George signed him to his label, Top Stop Music. Una Nueva Historia (2015), “a new story”, was his first solo album, and its title says exactly that. Its first single was the party song “Para Festejar”, but this love song became one of his most-played recordings.
It was written by Rafi Monclova, a Puerto Rican singer-songwriter born in Bayamón in 1942.
On the dance floor
Salsa romántica: a smooth, steady groove made for close, connected partnering rather than tricks.
The verses tell the story; then the coro takes over with “cuando me lo pidas” and Aponte answers it with lines of his own. That's where the song lifts, and the time for your bigger patterns.
This is our own retelling of the song, not its lyrics or a translation of them: the few short phrases quoted are there to explain what they mean. The song belongs to its writer, Rafi Monclova.