They Dance Alone
They Dance Alone (Cueca Solo) is a protest song against the crime of forcible disappearances of people of the British musician Sting wrote the first time in 1987 on the album ... Nothing Like the Sun was released. The lyrics of the song are metaphors that refer to grieving Chilean women ("arpilleristas") who dance the cueca , the Chilean national dance , alone with the photos of their "missing" husbands and sons in their hands. Sting describes his song as a symbolic gesture of protest against the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet , during whose regime thousands of people were murdered or disappeared without a trace between 1973 and 1990, the so-called " Desaparecidos ". The song was written in an English (with a few spoken Spanish lines) and a Spanish version called "Ellas Danzan Solas", which was also released on the EP Nada como el sol. During the recording, Sting was assisted by Mark Knopfler (on guitar) and Rubén Blades (backing vocals and guitar).
The most notable live versions of “They Dance Alone” were at the following concerts: on June 11, 1988 at the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute Concert , on October 15, 1988 at a concert for Amnesty International in Buenos Aires with Peter Gabriel and the Madres de Plaza de Mayo and finally on October 13, 1990 at the “From Chile ... An Embrace To Hope Concert” in Santiago de Chile . In addition to performances by artists such as Jackson Browne , Wynton Marsalis , Sinéad O'Connor , Peter Gabriel and the New Kids on the Block , there was an appearance by 20 Chilean women who came on stage with photographs of their missing husbands and sons, and together with Sting after "They Dance Alone" danced.
In 2001 Sting received the Gabriela Mistral Prize for Culture for this song .
Cover versions
“They Dance Alone” has been covered several times in English, Spanish or as an instrumental version. The best-known versions include: José Feliciano and the Vienna Symphonic Orchestra Project (instrumental version) (1987) from the album Jose Feliciano and Vienna Symphony Orchestra , Singer Pur (2012) from the album Singer Pur sings Sting (acappella), Richie Havens (1994) from Album Cuts to the Chase , Bob Belden Ensemble (instrumental version) (1989) from the album Straight to My Heart: The Music of Sting , Mark Hall from the album Acoustic Moods of Sting , the London Symphony Orchestra (1994) from the album Performs the Music of Sting , Lynn McDonald (2007) from the album It's High Time , Holly Near & Mercedes Sosa (English and Spanish version) (1990) from the album Singer in the Storm , Mariano Yanani (2005) from the album Babies go Sting and Joan Baez (Spanish version) (1989) from the album Diamonds & Rust in the Bullring .
Charts
| Charts | Top ranking | Weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Chart placements | ||
 Germany (GfK)
|
66 (3 weeks) | 3 |
 United Kingdom (OCC)
|
94 (1 week) | 1 |
literature
- Sting: Lyrics by Sting . The Dial Press. 2007. ISBN 978-0-385-33987-2
- Marjorie Agosín: Tapestries of hope, threads of love: the arpillera movement in Chile . Rowman & Littlefield, 2007. ISBN 978-0-7425-4003-3
- Billboard review for From A Hug To A Hope concert in Santiago de Chile ( online )