A las barricadas
A las barricadas ( Spanish for on the barricades ) is one of the most famous songs of the Spanish anarchists from the time of the civil war . Written in 1933, it is still the anthem of the anarcho-syndicalist union CNT ( Confederación Nacional del Trabajo ), to which the text alludes, and one of the most famous workers' songs in Spain.
history
The melody of A las barricadas is based on the famous Polish workers' song Warschawjanka by Wacław Święcicki . In the wake of the demonstrations in Warsaw on March 2, 1885, the song became a nationally known anthem of the Polish struggle for independence against the Russian occupation. In the anarchist movement of Spain , it was popularized by a publication in the newspaper of the Federación Anarquista Ibérica (FAI) Tierra y Libertad in 1933. In addition to the scores for mixed choirs by Ángel Miret and an adaptation of the text into Spanish by Valeriano Orobón Fernández , the newspaper article also included the genesis of the new version. According to this, the Wuppertal anarcho-syndicalist Alfred Schulte, a member of the Syndicalist-Anarchist Youth of Germany (SAJD) sang the song in the bathtub during a trip to Spain. Orobón, the CNT's media and culture officer, who happened to be present, knew the melody and, together with his wife Hilde, adapted the text to suit the situation in Spain.
In the course of the Spanish Civil War, A las barricadas - as a replacement for the traditional anarchist hymn Hijos del pueblo - soon became the popular, universally accepted recognition song of the anarcho-syndicalist movement. The first recording was recorded in 1936. The interpreter was the well-known Catalan folk choir Orfeó Català under the direction of Francesc Pujols . Because of its popularity, the CNT eventually declared it their official union anthem. As one of the best-known songs of the Spanish anarcho-syndicalists, it also survived the years of the Franco dictatorship . For the centennial of the CNT in 2009, a mixed choir from the University of Music Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga in Bilbao , supported by an orchestral combo, performed the piece again under the direction of Luís Antonio Gamarra. Back of the recording, which was explicitly designed as a dedication: the traditional hymn Hijos del pueblo.
Interpretations and adaptations
As a historical battle song, A las barricadas is known far beyond the anarchist movement in Spain. It is distributed both via internal media (in Germany, for example, the black and red songbook) and via various music compilations on the Spanish Civil War. In the cultural-historical follow-up of the various camps involved, it is also occasionally made an issue. In 2014, for example, in the anarcho-syndicalistic periodical Direct Action , the author Gaston Kirsche criticized the one-sided compilation of a CD box focused on songs by the International Brigades , which - according to Kirsche - largely ignores the libertarian movement's contribution to the Spanish Civil War. Martin Baxmeyer formulated a similar tenor criticism in the magazine Graswurzelrevolution .
The CNT battle song from the 1996 film Libertarias was taken up in a historical context . Libertarias used the historical anarchist anthem not only as the title track. In addition to the film intro - which, in addition to an instrumentalized form of the piece, offers historical recordings of the crackdown on the coup in Barcelona in July 1936 as well as introductory text information - other film scenes also use the song as a theme: for example, the opening scene in which an improvised street band plays A las barricadas , while anarcho-syndicalist militias prepare to march on the Aragon front. Regardless of the film, Ana Belén , one of the leading actresses, played a Bossa Nova- style version of the song with her husband Víctor Manuel .
In the meantime, the versions of the piece available on phonograms are likely to be in the hundreds. The iTunes Music Store lists several dozen of different artists. In particular, anti-fascist and / or anarchist-oriented punk and folk-punk formations took up the piece repeatedly. Examples: the French alternative rock band Les Amis d'ta femme , the group El Comunero , which consists of members of Les Hurlements d'Léo , or the punk combo Los Muertos de Cristo from Seville . A version in modern chanson and vaudeville style comes from the French singer Christiane Courvoisier , and an experimental version from the music project 100flowers, backed by electronic music .
song lyrics
|
Negras tormentas agitan los aires El bien más preciado Alza la bandera revolucionaria ¡A las Barricadas! ¡A las Barricadas! |
Black storms pervade the skies The most valuable asset Raise the revolutionary flag
That On the barricades! On the barricades! |
The third stanza is sometimes changed to “Alza la bandera revolucionaria, que del triunfo sin cesar nos lleva en pos” ( hoist the revolutionary flag whose eternal triumph makes us go on ).
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Ulrich Klan, Dieter Nelles: There is still a flame alive. Rhenish anarcho-syndicalists 1919-1945. Nevertheless-Verlag, Grafenau-Döffingen 1990, ISBN 978-3922209720 , page 256.
- ↑ Announcement, video clip of the recording and text of the updated version of the song on the weblog of the CNT / Section Avila (Span.) , Accessed on January 25, 2015
- ^ The black and red song booklet , PDF document with around 100 song texts; accessed on January 27, 2015
- ↑ ¡A las barricadas! Songs of the Spanish Civil War , Gaston Cherry, Direct Action, issue 224/225, September / October 2014
- ↑ A Box of the Comintern , Martin Baxmeyer, Graswurzelrevolution, October 12, 2014; Online at: linksnet.de
- ↑ As of January 27, 2015