Asunción

A walk down the Avenida

The song came to Derek Ferguson on a walk down Avenida Aviadores del Chaco, on the way to the Shopping del Sol. Ferguson is a permanent resident of Paraguay, keeps a home there, and goes back at least once a year. The band wrote “Asunción” while recording in the city, and the lyric is a map of it: the Palacio de López, La Cabrera, the Río Paraguay.

One line wants “to wash away my tie with the old world”. Ferguson explains:

There is so much hostility one feels in the air in the West nowadays. You just don't feel that down there.

Two meanings

The song ends with “Asunción finally coming home”, and the word has two meanings. It is the city where Ferguson has a Paraguayan home. It is also the ascension of the Virgin Mary, known in the Orthodox tradition as the Theotokos.

That feast has turned up at many points in Ferguson's life, culminating in baptism as an Orthodox Christian during its celebration, after several decades away from the church.

On the radio

Someone from Radio Nacional del Paraguay (920 AM / 95.1 FM in Asunción) got in touch on Instagram, liked the song and asked to play it. The band jumped at the chance.

The Spanish version

Niobe Rojas wrote the Spanish lyrics and Denisse Ferrara sang them, and “Asunción (Española)” became a bonus track on Intouríst. It came with an accent, as fans at Morri Rock Store, the shop behind the title of Morri's Rock Boutique, were quick to point out when Ferguson played it for them. They all went “sh sh sh sh sh”: the Paraguayan take on the Argentine accent.

I owe our Paraguayan fans an apology, as I'm told it is clear that Denisse is Argentinian. — Derek Ferguson