45 Cerebros y 1 Corázon: The Taboo of the Spanish Civil War

Started by Shiranu, July 08, 2018, 11:21:47 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Shiranu

I t
I think there are some very important lessons and some very important warnings the Spanish Civil War can teach us; while it was a different time and a different culture, it still shows just how easy it is for a country to fall into a dictatorship; Spain was a collapsing empire that went from the top of the world to a dictatorship in, relatively, a very short period of time, and there are certainly parallels between the Spanish Empire and our own American one as well... we are no longer the most powerful nation in the world, and much of the plagues of Spain following Franco's dictatorship we face ourselves; massive economic inequality, incredibly strong divide between a moderate central-left and a radical right, extremely diverse cultural groups (I don't believe calling someone American really says much; a Deep South and A New Yorker, a Californian and a Midwestian, all of these are extremely diverse cultures with massively different political, social, and economic views of the world), a military and police force that is both corrupt and does not put the good of the people first.


it's one of those things where it feels absolutely insane to believe America could fall into dictatorship, but it's mostly because we ignore the history of other moderate countries and pretend we are special. Spain was the United States of it's time; look at them now, or just 40 years ago. Portugal the same. Turkey (the Ottoman Empire), the German Reich... it does not take much for empires to fall.


QuoteCatalonia, a culturally distinct and politically embattled region of northeast Spain, has held on to its distinct culture through centuries as it has struggled to redefine its relationship with the rest of the country.
These deep questions of identity and allegiance are heard in the music of modern Catalan folk duo Maria Arnal and Marcel Bagés. Drawing on traditional folk songs and archival field recordings, Maria i Marcel's debut album 45 Cerebros y 1 Corázon, revisits painful memories of the Spanish Civil War.

The album's title refers to a 2017 archaeological discovery in Burgos, Spain: 45 brains and one heart, naturally preserved in a mass grave of people killed by dictator General Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War of 1936 to 1939.
The saponified organs made headlines in Spain, where many mass graves from the Civil War are prohibited from exhumation as a condition of the country's amnesty law known as the "pact of forgetting." But when Arnal read the news of the discovery, she knew she had to immortalize it in song.


...


Maria Arnal: Our social democracy in Spain lacks many social democratic values, really, and it's because it was built on this metaphor, on the reality of the 45 brains and heart. This was our critical way of expressing our feelings towards our present through our music.
We chose to have this title for the album in order to [obligate people] and somehow, put light on this very real taboo. It is a taboo because it really needed to be a taboo otherwise we would have to look for responsibilities and [those] responsibilities are on many people still alive with a lot of power.


...


And, of course, it's a polemic topic but still, you have these contradictions in the history of Spain. Like [poet] Federico García Lorca, for example, [who] is this famous all over, he is in one of these graves. He was killed by the fascists and at the same time, he has never been found and has never been searched for
.
Marcel Bagés: Because the Spanish government never wants to fix it.

This album brings light, particularly for people outside of Spain, a reality that is almost universally overlooked: The current Spanish government's legitimacy is based on the work of dictators like Franco who overthrew a moderate, leftist democracy... and that most of the aristocracy and wealthy of modern Spain became so because of their support of the right-wing dictatorship of Franco.

It was only 40 years ago that Spain was still a dictatorship, and following Franco's death the generally conservative politicians of Spain have prohibited the crimes of Franco's regime from being exposed and refuses to punish the people who committed them. Often it's the people who expose these crimes, such as Baltazar Garzon who is facing 20 years suspension for telling the Spanish government that crimes against humanity shouldn't have a statute of limitation, that face the wrath of the Government.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngrpnmBJWBs
"A little science distances you from God, but a lot of science brings you nearer to Him." - Louis Pasteur

Baruch

A fascinating period, largely uncovered in English language films ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKB-Suz_2DQ

Is the classic ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqYiSlkvRuw

Is an imaginative if tragic romp into the pagan past thru the modern events.

Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Cavebear

Quote from: Shiranu on July 08, 2018, 11:21:47 PM
I think there are some very important lessons and some very important warnings the Spanish Civil War can teach us; while it was a different time and a different culture, it still shows just how easy it is for a country to fall into a dictatorship; Spain was a collapsing empire that went from the top of the world to a dictatorship in, relatively, a very short period of time, and there are certainly parallels between the Spanish Empire and our own American one as well... we are no longer the most powerful nation in the world, and much of the plagues of Spain following Franco's dictatorship we face ourselves; massive economic inequality, incredibly strong divide between a moderate central-left and a radical right, extremely diverse cultural groups (I don't believe calling someone American really says much; a Deep South and A New Yorker, a Californian and a Midwestian, all of these are extremely diverse cultures with massively different political, social, and economic views of the world), a military and police force that is both corrupt and does not put the good of the people first.


it's one of those things where it feels absolutely insane to believe America could fall into dictatorship, but it's mostly because we ignore the history of other moderate countries and pretend we are special. Spain was the United States of it's time; look at them now, or just 40 years ago. Portugal the same. Turkey (the Ottoman Empire), the German Reich... it does not take much for empires to fall.


This album brings light, particularly for people outside of Spain, a reality that is almost universally overlooked: The current Spanish government's legitimacy is based on the work of dictators like Franco who overthrew a moderate, leftist democracy... and that most of the aristocracy and wealthy of modern Spain became so because of their support of the right-wing dictatorship of Franco.

It was only 40 years ago that Spain was still a dictatorship, and following Franco's death the generally conservative politicians of Spain have prohibited the crimes of Franco's regime from being exposed and refuses to punish the people who committed them. Often it's the people who expose these crimes, such as Baltazar Garzon who is facing 20 years suspension for telling the Spanish government that crimes against humanity shouldn't have a statute of limitation, that face the wrath of the Government.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngrpnmBJWBs

All democracies are in danger of failing at any time.  The price of maintaining a democracy is eternal vigilance.  We failed in 2016.  We need to recover...
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!

Shiranu

Quote from: Baruch on July 09, 2018, 12:06:26 AM
A fascinating period, largely uncovered in English language films ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKB-Suz_2DQ

Is the classic ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqYiSlkvRuw

Is an imaginative if tragic romp into the pagan past thru the modern events.



I cant begin to express how much I love Pan's Labyrinth. Brings me to tears every time I watch it.
"A little science distances you from God, but a lot of science brings you nearer to Him." - Louis Pasteur

Baruch

Quote from: Shiranu on July 09, 2018, 04:23:12 AM
I cant begin to express how much I love Pan's Labyrinth. Brings me to tears every time I watch it.

It should make you cry ... it is very very sad.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Cavebear

Quote from: Shiranu on July 09, 2018, 04:23:12 AM
I cant begin to express how much I love Pan's Labyrinth. Brings me to tears every time I watch it.

I'll be looking for THAT one on cable.  I may be completely wrong, but it strikes me as an adult hard version of Alice In Wonderland.  Just a thought in ignorance...
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!

Baruch

Quote from: Cavebear on July 09, 2018, 03:04:49 PM
I'll be looking for THAT one on cable.  I may be completely wrong, but it strikes me as an adult hard version of Alice In Wonderland.  Just a thought in ignorance...

If you don't think Pan's Labyrinth isn't one of the saddest stories, you have no heart.  I don't consider Alice In Wonderland to be sad at all.  Unless you feel sorry for the Mad Hatter.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Cavebear

I recall reading descriptions of most of the characters in Alice In Wonderland once.  The White Rabbit was the tempter, the Doormouse was the church (a churchmouse?), the tweedledums were the local politicians, and the Hatter was "mad" because the hattery business at the time used mercury in some part of of the process which wrecked their minds.
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!

Baruch

Quote from: Cavebear on July 13, 2018, 03:17:58 AM
I recall reading descriptions of most of the characters in Alice In Wonderland once.  The White Rabbit was the tempter, the Doormouse was the church (a churchmouse?), the tweedledums were the local politicians, and the Hatter was "mad" because the hattery business at the time used mercury in some part of of the process which wrecked their minds.

OH time to be Cavebear-like .. we already knew that!
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Cavebear

Quote from: Baruch on July 13, 2018, 07:28:48 AM
OH time to be Cavebear-like .. we already knew that!

Oh, you really thought the Rabbit was a "tempter"?  I just threw that in to catch you being a smart-ass...
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!

Baruch

Quote from: Cavebear on July 13, 2018, 07:42:21 AM
Oh, you really thought the Rabbit was a "tempter"?  I just threw that in to catch you being a smart-ass...

Nothing worse that a smart-ass ... other than an actual smart person.  But I don't need to Poindexter all over y'all ...
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Cavebear

Quote from: Baruch on July 13, 2018, 12:47:37 PM
Nothing worse that a smart-ass ... other than an actual smart person.  But I don't need to Poindexter all over y'all ...

You are not worth my effort...  So I'll give little. 
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!

Baruch

Quote from: Cavebear on July 13, 2018, 12:55:01 PM
You are not worth my effort...  So I'll give little.

Someone once said ... you have little to give.  But I don't measure people like that.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.