Nova Cançó

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With Nova Cançó [ nɔβə Kanso ] ( Catalan for 'New Song') or, more precisely with Nova Cançó Catalana (, New Catalan Song '), a socio-musical movement in Catalonia and the Catalan Countries (Catalonia, Valencia , Balearic Islands designated) which musically expressed the reawakening and strengthening of the Catalan self-esteem in the late phase of the Franco dictatorship from the mid-1950s. This movement continued Franquisma fundamental criticism with musical-artistic means Their aim was to expose the injustices and crimes of the system and to revive the Catalan language and culture in public spaces. Similar movements emerged later in the Basque Country ( Euskal Kantagintza Berria ) and in Galicia . Internationally known representatives of Nova Cançó Catalana are the groups Els Setze Jutges (The Sixteen Judges) and Els Esquirols (The Squirrels), as well as the songwriters Maria del Mar Bonet , Lluís Llach and Raimon .

The beginnings

The beginning of this movement dates back to 1956, when a group around Josep Bonet, Joan, Maurici and Lluís Serrahima, Miquel Porter and Jaume Armengol composed songs and chansons in Catalan for the first time under the Franco dictatorship Performed. In 1959 the article "Ens calen cançóns d'ara!" (German: We need songs from today!) By Lluís Serrahima authors and singers, who founded the group Els Setze Jutges in 1961 . From 1962 the Edigsa label brought out the first records with chansons by the new Catalan songwriters. From 1962 a differentiation process began among the participating artists. Some founded groups, others took the path of songwriter, songwriter or even that of pop singer. The professional singer Salomé (Maria Rosa Marco i Poquet ) and the Valencian innovator Raimon (Raimon Pelegero i Sanchis ) received a first prize at the fifth Mediterranean song festival in 1963.

The international breakthrough

Despite all the repression on the part of the regime, the Nova Cançó Catalana gained more and more influence and following due to its increasing professionalism and the associated presence on radio and television, as well as the medium of the record. With the titles "Se'n va anar" (He went away), "Diguem No" (let's say no) and "D'un temps, d'un país" (About a time and about a country) Raimon filled it in 1969 Paris Olympics . Lluís Llach became internationally known with his songs "El Bandoler" (The Robber) and " L'Estaca " (The Stake). In 1968 Maria del Mar Bonet brought the people with her title: Què volen aquesta gent? (Text: Lluís Serrahima; Dt .: What do these people want?) To shudder. Spanish-speaking songwriters such as the Aragonese José Antonio Labordeta and Paco Ibáñez also joined the movement artistically. The development culminated at the Sis hores de Canet (English: The Six Hours of Canet) in 1977, when many of the songwriters present and all visitors publicly sang the still forbidden version of Els Segadors , the Catalan national anthem, for the first time. With this, the Nova Cançó Catalana had achieved its main socio-political goal.

Meaning and classification

With Pete Seeger , Georges Brassens , Georges Moustaki and Joan Baez , Nova Cançó Catalana shares the socio-ethical component of their songs and ballads. What is specific about the Catalan ballad singers and poets, however, is their awareness of having created a substantially new form of expression of a Catalan identity in addition to the (Catalan) folk song. To a certain extent, the songwriters had Lluís Serrahima s demand : "We need songs from today!" Redeemed. They gave concerts with the awareness of creating a new collective identity according to ethical standards, overcoming the current political and social grievances and thus contributing to the further development of Catalonia and thus also of Spain as a whole. Examples of this awareness are Lluís Llach , Raimon , Quico Pi de la Serra or Ovidi Montllor . As indicated, the movement was not limited to chansons and ballads in the Catalan language. Joan Manuel Serrat and Guillermina Motta interpreted poems by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán in Spanish. The Serrat "case" also shows that singing such socially and regime-critical songs in Spanish was perceived as treason by both the Catalan and Spanish sides. Serrat then built up an artistic career in South America (especially in Mexico and Argentina ). The maturity and independence of Nova Cançó was most clearly expressed in the quiet, unspectacular self-dissolution of Setze Jutges . The social, artistic and also economic dynamism that this movement had generated led the former members of the group on different artistic paths.

The embedding of Nova Cançó in Catalan, Spanish and world history

As a socio-ethical, musical movement, the Nova Cançó Catalana was influenced by various political and social movements. For its part, it influenced the most diverse political and social movements in Catalonia, the Iberian Peninsula, and indeed all over the world. This being embedded in Catalan, Spanish and world politics will be shown here on the basis of each individual year from 1965 to 1982. Reference is made to the accompanying material of the CD series "La nova CANÇÓ", which the Catalan magazine "AVUI" published in 2007. For each year, important events for Nova Cançó Catalana are briefly outlined.

The year 1965

Les floristes de la Rambla is one of the first compositions from the circle of Els Setze Jutges . With the flower sellers on the Rambla in Barcelona, ​​the lyricist and composer Miquel Porter wanted to give an example of the everyday life of the Catalans in the 1960s, clearly distinguishing them from the commercial music of the radio stations: “They (the flower sellers) sell the flowers to tourists. They sell you to lovers. They sell flowers for the celebrations of the rich and the poor and also for the dead. "

The year 1966

Raimon's joint appearance with Bob Dylan and Joan Baez on June 7, 1966 at the Olympia in Paris opened the international music stage not only to him, but to the whole of Nova Canço . His chanson “Diguem No” (English: let's say no) achieved cult status: “We saw that the law is fear for everyone. We have seen the blood that only makes more blood. That is the law of the world. - no! I say no! Let's say no! We are out of this world! ”(Raimon (text and music): Diguem no, excerpt from the chanson in German translation).

The year 1967

On March 22, 1967, Lluís Llach completed his debut at a music festival in Terrassa as the sixteenth member of the group Els Setze Jutges . His first chanson Que feliç era mare based on a poem by his brother Josep Maria Llach , which he wrote as a thank you to his mother for a carefree childhood in Verges in the 1950s, without ever thinking that his brother Lluís had this in his first chanson would set to music.

The year 1968

Narcís Llansa was on his mother's side the grandfather of Ponç Feliu , a very close childhood friend of Lluís Llach . In one summer of the early 1960s, the adolescent Lluís Llach met this Narcís Llansa , an old, Catalan republican by profession hairdresser in Besalú . He told Lluís stories from his youth when they were fishing in Verges am Ter . Lluís was fascinated by this old, combative man. In his 1968 song Estaca , Llach transformed this Narcís Llansa into Grandpa Siset . The paradel song against all oppression and against all oppressors has been translated into numerous languages ​​around the world and was therefore not only a response to the Francoist regime , but also to the violent end of the Prague Spring in the same year, yes, it represents a timeless response to everyone Dictators and violent regimes of this world.

The year 1969

Raimon shone internationally, including on a concert tour in Germany, with the song Veles e vents (Eng .: sails and winds) based on a poem by the most important Catalan poet of the 15th century Ausiàs March  : “Sails and winds have fulfilled many wishes. They often paved uncertain paths through the sea. ... “On January 17th, 1969, about a thousand students gathered in the University of Barcelona. A small violent group threw furniture and a bust of Franco from the rectorate out onto the street. In Madrid, students set up roadblocks. On January 20, the student Enrique Ruano was killed after being questioned by the police when he fell from the sixth floor of a police building. The police qualified this as a suicide. Four days later, the Spanish government declared a state of emergency nationwide for the first time. “Sails and winches fulfilled many wishes. They often paved uncertain paths through the sea. ... "

The year 1970

From November 6th to 26th, 1970 Lluís Llach took part with other chansonniers at a festival in Varadero , Cuba. Another Catalan, who called himself De Raymond , huddled on stage in front of Llach, extolling the virtues and excellence of the Franco regime. When Llach took the stage, he apologized to the audience and openly criticized the Spanish government's fascism. After his return from Cuba, Llach gave a concert in December 1970 at the Teatro Español de Madrid . In the first row sat several later Democratic Ministers of the PSOE and the UCD , who chanted “ETA, sí. Yankees, no. "After this performance, the Spanish government imposed a four-year performance ban on Llach with the somewhat curious reasoning," Llach lobbies the audience with his gaze ". Llach then decided to go into exile in Paris . From 1971, Raimon was also given a comprehensive performance ban.

The year 1974

1974 was a year of hope for Nova Cançó Catalana. The Carnation Revolution in Portugal in April 1974, the execution of student Salvador Puig Antich by the Frankist regime, the resignation of Richard Nixon and a 5-0 win for FC Barcelona against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid marked an unforgettable year. All these events inspired songs such as “Abril” by Maria del Mar Bonet , “Abril 1974” by Lluís Llach and “A Margalida” by Joan Isaac and “Botifarra de pagès” (peasant sausage) by the group La Trinca . There is a political and a football-oriented text for the latter song. The football-oriented version refers to the legendary 5-0 victory of FC Barcelona at Real Madrid on February 17, 1974 as well as other successes and the 75th anniversary of the club. Johan Cruyff , who decided to play for FC Barcelona in 1973, is celebrated in the chorus . Such banal-looking descriptions have to be seen against the background that FC Barcelona has always functionally assumed the role of a Catalan national football team. The great Catalan writer Manuel Vázquez Montalbán commented on this great victory for Barcelona: "1-0 for Barcelona, ​​2-0 for Catalonia, 3-0 for Sant Jordi, 4-0 for democracy, 5-0 against Madrid. That day Millions in the country felt it was the decline of the fascist dictatorship. " Joan Isaac dedicated his song "A Margalida" to the friend of Salvador Puig Antich, who was murdered by the Frankists, and wished her all the strength in the world to be able to cope with what she had experienced. Joan Isaac was friends with the sister of the murdered Carme Puig Antich even at this time and had thus experienced the disaster in the very tightest family environment.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ The execution of the student and anarchist Salvador Puig Antich in 1974 should be mentioned here as an example
  2. ↑ The "Teatre Viu" was a modern traveling and experimental theater, which under Ricard Salvat and Miquel Porter put on performances all over Catalonia.
  3. ↑ Lluís Serrahima: Ens calen cançóns d'ara !, Dt .: We need songs from today !; published in the magazine "Germinabit"
  4. ↑ The Sis hores de Canet are an annual folk and chanson festival in Canet near Barcelona.
  5. ↑ AVUI: La nova CANÇÓ 1965 - 1982, Direcció: Joan Carles Doval, Texts: Joaquim Vilarnau
  6. ^ Miquel Porter (text and music): Les floristes de la Rambla, Second Strofe
  7. ↑ Lluís Lach: "Que feliç era mara" (text: Josep Maria Llach, music: Lluís Llach)
  8. ↑ "Siset" is the Catalan nickname for Narcís
  9. ↑ Ausiàs March: Veles e Vents: "Veles e vents han mos desigs complir, faent camins dubtosos per la mar ..."
  10. ↑ Manuel Vászquez Montalbán: Welcome to the Club, in: Merian, 1992, 3, p. 87 f.

literature

  1. Jordi Garcia: La Nova Cançó, in: Història - Política, Societat i Cultura dels Països Catalans, volum 11, De la dictadura a la democràcia 1960 - 1980, p. 246 f, Barcelona (Enciclopèdia Catalana) 1998, ISBN 84-7739-989-1 (for volume 11), ISBN 84-412-2483-8 (for the complete work)
  2. Joan Carles Doval (Direcció); Joaquim Vilarnau (Text): La nova CANÇÓ 1965 - 1982 (18 CDs with extensive accompanying material; the series was available in 2007 as a supplement to the Sunday edition of the Catalan magazine AVUI.), Avui, Barcelona 2007 (Note: The missing CDs / volumes are added after publication.)
    1. 1965, ISBN 978-84-96767-66-9
    2. 1966, ISBN 978-84-96767-67-6
    3. 1967, ISBN 978-84-96767-68-3
    4. 1968, ISBN 978-84-96767-65-2
    5. 1969, ISBN 978-84-96767-69-0
    6. 1970, ISBN 978-84-96767-70-6
    7. 1971, ISBN 978-84-96767-71-3
    8. 1972, ISBN 978-84-96767-72-0
    9. 1973, ISBN 978-84-96767-73-7
    10. 1974: ISBN 978-84-96767-60-7
    11. 1975, ISBN 978-84-96767-74-4
    12. 1976, ISBN 978-84-96767-75-1
    13. 1977, ISBN 978-84-96767-76-8
    14. 1978, ISBN 978-84-96767-77-5
    15. 1979, ISBN 978-84-96767-78-2
    16. 1980, ISBN 978-84-96767-79-9