"GRACIAS A LA VIDA" A LOVELY POEM AND SONG BY VIOLETA PARRA

WELCOME TO THIS POST!

SOME LOVELY FLOWER FOR MY READERS.

In Memory of Violeta Parra, an extraordinary Chilean artist.

 Click to enlarge

Source: Pixabay, Public Domain

Chileans are well known for their creativity. They are prolific at creating poetry and music that becomes popular, as well as developing the visual arts. 

Among all these artists, the Parra Family is justly famous. This large family has provided the arts with some internationally famous names, such as Nicanor Parra, known as the “anti-poet” and Violeta Parra, the musician and artist extraordinaire.

Violeta composed the well known song Gracias a la Vida, with its beautiful lyrics and a rather plaintive melody. 

It has been recorded by other well known figures, such as Joan Baez and Mercedes Sosa and in general is popular throughout Latin America.

The lyrics are ambiguous. They can be interpreted as a romantic tribute to life in general. However, many think Violeta intended it as a sort of suicide note. 

She shot herself soon after she finished composing it. She died in 1967.

MY FREE TRANSLATION OF THE LYRICS.

 THANK YOU, LIFE -  by VIOLETA PARRA

Thank you, Life, for giving me so much

You gave me two eyes and when I open them

I can distinguish between black and white

And the starry background of the sky above

And in the multitudes, the man I love.

Thank you, Life, for giving me so much

You gave me my hearing with all its power

To record, night and day, crickets and canaries

Hammers, turbines, barks, rain showers

And the tender voice of my beloved.

Thank you, Life, for giving me so much

You gave me sounds and the alphabet

And with it the words that I think and declaim

Mother, friend, brother and light illuminating

The route of the soul of the person I love.

Thank you, Life, for giving me so much

You gave me the steps of my tired feet

With them I walked through cities and puddles,

Beaches and deserts, mountains and plains

And your house, your street and your yard.

Thank you, Life, for giving me so much

You gave me my heart that pounds in its frame

When I see the fruits of the human brain,

When I see the good so distant from the wicked,

When I look into the depths of your bright eyes.

Thank you, Life, for giving me so much

You gave me laughter and you gave weeping,

So I can distinguish happiness from grief

The two substances that give shape to my song

And your song which is also the same song

And everyone’s song that is also my own song

Thank you, Life, for giving me so much.

THE ORIGINAL VERSION OF THIS SONG INTERPRETED BY VIOLETA PARRA

FINAL THOUGHTS

I hope you have enjoyed this post. The content was chosen with admiration and love for an extraordinary artist who still provides us with the pleasure of enjoying her creative work and great sensitivity.

VIOLETA!

Click to enlarge

 Source: Pixabay, Public Domain

SPANISH VERSION 

(This Blog is Bilingual)

GRACIAS A LA VIDA – de VIOLETA PARRA, CHILE

Gracias a la vida que me ha dado tanto

Me dio dos luceros que cuando los abro

Perfecto distingo lo negro del blanco

Y en el alto cielo su fondo estrellado

Y en las multitudes el hombre que yo amo.

Gracias a la vida, que me hadado tanto

Me ha dado el oído que en todo su ancho

Graba noche y día grillos y canarios,

Martillos, turbinas, ladridos, chubascos,

Y la voz tan tierna de mi bien amado.

Gracias a la vida que me hadado tanto

Me hadado el sonido y el abecedario

Con él las palabras que pienso y declaro

Madre amigo hermano y luz alumbrando,

La ruta del alma del que estoy amando.

Gracias a la vida que me ha dado tanto

Me ha dado la marcha de mis pies cansados

Con ellos anduve ciudades y charcos,

Playas y desiertos montañas y llanos

Y la casa tuya, tu calle y tu patio.

Gracias la a vida que me ha dado tanto

Me dio el corazón que agita su marco

Cuando miro el fruto del cerebro humano,

Cuando miro el bueno tan lejos del malo,

Cuando miro el fondo de tus ojos claros.

Gracias a la vida que me ha dado tanto

Me hadado la risa y me ha dado el llanto,

Así yo distingo dicha de quebranto

Los dos materiales que forman mi canto

Y el canto de ustedes que es el mismo canto

Y el canto de todos que es mi propio canto.

Gracias a la vida que me ha dado tanto.

PALABRAS FINALES

Espero les haya gustado este post. El tema fue escogido con sentimientos de admiración y amor por una artista extraordinaria que en el presente nos sigue regalando la felicidad de poder disfrutar de su creación artística y gran emotividad.

More about similar topics in a future post.   Más sobre temas similares en un próximo post.

How is your level of comprehension?    ¿Cómo está su nivel de comprensión?

© 2013  jveronr  (Joan Robertson)

I will be very happy to receive your comments! Just click the word “comments” lower down.

THE BALLAD OF MANUEL RODRIGUEZ: A POEM AND A SONG FOR A CHILEAN PATRIOT

WELCOME TO THIS POST!

RED AND WHITE ROSES FOR THE ROMANTIC HERO

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Source: Pixabay, Public Domain

WHO WAS MANUEL RODRIGUEZ?

This famous historical figure was a well educated Chilean, a lawyer, who became an inspired and expert guerrilla fighter, spy and tactician during the wars for Chilean Independence. 

He held several important civilian and military positions in the initial years of the Chilean efforts to break from the dominance of Spain.

The Independence Wars were spread over a relatively long period, from 1810 to 1818 and fluctuated from success to utter defeat and then at last success. 

The final effort was brought off by a joint army of Chileans and Argentineans that crossed over the Andes Mountains from Argentina through several of the known passes and then defeated the Spaniards in the important Battle of Chacabuco. 

While the “Liberating Army” was training and organizing the final campaigns, Manuel Rodriguez was charged with gathering information in Chile and spreading as much confusion as possible amongst the Spanish forces.

This he did admirable, by forming a band of irregulars with which he attacked various enemy outposts and in general created havoc through short and violent surprise attacks.

He was an expert at disguising himself; he could be a priest, a drunk, a laborer, a gentleman, as best suited his needs at that moment. 

There is a well known anecdote according to which he dressed as a laborer, and as he wanted a close-up impression of the Spanish Governor, he came up to the official coach and helped this man by holding the door open for him. 

Manuel received a coin for his servility and the Governor never knew that the most searched for enemy of Spain in Chile was standing right beside him. 

Unfortunately, there were various factions amongst the patriots and they were constantly falling out with each other. 

Manuel Rodriguez was deemed to be too fond of taking risks and some considered him an outright danger to the cause of independence. In addition he was far too popular with the “people”, far more so than with the richer classes. The common folk adored him, and would support him unconditionally.

In the end, as Chile struggled to find its way as a new born nation, he fell out of favor with the new ruling class, and the Governor General, Bernardo O’Higgins, ordered him to be confined under the military.

On May 25^th, 1818, he was removed from his place of imprisonment under strong guard with the idea of transferring him to Valparaiso.

He was escorted by a Company of patriot soldiers belonging to one of the Chilean Army Battalions, the Cazadores de Los Andes.

On the evening of the 26^th of May, 1818, as they made camp by a small stream near Til Til, Manuel Rodriguez was shot in the back and his body was thrown into a ditch and abandoned.

Some laborers found him, recognized him and secretly moved his body to a small chapel in Til Til, where the priest helped them to bury him under the altar.

A LIKENESS OF THE YOUNG WARRIOR

 Click to enlarge

Source: Anon. Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

PABLO NERUDA AND THE PATRIOTIC BALLADS OF HIS CANTO GENERAL

This famous Chilean poet, a Nobel Prize winner (1971), wrote a magnificent epic poem in honor of Spanish America.  He called it Canto General which translated as “General Song”

There is a section in it dedicated to the heroes of Chile’s independence, and it includes his famous Ballad of Manuel Rodriguez.

This poem starts off with some incomplete sentences, portraying the idea that Manuel's underground work for the liberation of Chile was organized through whispers and rumors, with very little definite information (it could be him… it might or might not be him…)

Another verse includes various place names. These represent the different localities where his irregulars were sighted, in their efforts to confuse the Spanish forces. 

If you searched for them on a map of central Chile, you would observe that there is no consistent pattern, and that they spread both north and south of Santiago, the capital.

And finally, the poem closes with his traitorous death.

The Canto General was published in Mexico in 1950.

A MONUMENT IN HONOR OF THE PATRIOT 

Click to enlarge

Source: Richard Espinoza, CC BY SA 3.0. Wikimedia Commons 

THE MUSIC FOR THE BALLAD OF MANUEL RODRIGUEZ

Some of Pablo Neruda’s poems were set to music by Vicente Bianchi, a well-known Chilean composer. 

The original singers were Silvia Infantas and the Baqueanos, directed by Vicente Bianchi, the composer.

I was fortunate enough to find a Vintage Version on YouTube, which is included at the end of this post.

LYRICS FOR TONADAS DE MANUEL RODRIGUEZ, MY FREE TRANSLATION

Ballad of Manuel Rodriguez

VERSE

Lady they say that somewhere,

My mother they say, they said,

The water and the wind say

They saw the warrior.

LIFE

It might be a bishop,

It might be and it might not be,

It could be just the wind

Blowing over the snow:

Over the snow, yes indeed,

Mother don’t look,

There he gallops,

Manuel Rodriguez.

The warrior is coming,

Down by the stream.

VERSE

Out of Melipilla,

Galloping through Talagante,

Crossing through San Fernando,

Meeting the dawn in Pomaire.

PASSION

Going through Rancagua,

And San Rosendo,

Through Cauquenes, and Chena,

And Nacimiento:

Through Nacimiento, yes,

Coming from Chiñigùe,

He comes from everywhere

Manuel Rodriguez.

Give him this flower,

Let’s join him.

VERSE

Let the guitars be silent,

The Nation is in mourning.

The earth darkens.

They killed the warrior.

DEATH

They killed him at Til Til

The murderers,

His back is bleeding

By the road:

Yes, by the road,

Who would have believed it,

He was our blood,

And our happiness.

The earth is crying,

Let’s be silent.

THE ORIGINAL SPANISH VERSION

(This Blog is Bilingual)

 TONADAS DE MANUEL RODRIGUEZ

 

VERSO

Señora dicen que donde,

Mi madre dicen, dijeron,

El agua y el viento dicen

Que vieron al guerrillero.

VIDA.

Puede ser un obispo,

Puede y no puede,

Puede ser sólo el viento

Sobre la nieve:

Sobre la nieve, sí,

Madre no mires,

Que viene galopando

Manuel Rodríguez.

Ya viene el guerrillero

Por el estero.

VERSO

Saliendo de Melipilla,

Corriendo por Talagante,

Cruzando por San Fernando,

Amaneciendo en Pomaire.

PASION

Pasando por Rancagua,

Por San Rosendo,

Por Cauquenes, por Chena,

Por Nacimiento:

Por Nacimiento, sí,

Desde Chiñigûe,

Por todas partes viene

Manuel Rodríguez.

Pásale este clavel,

Vamos con él.

VERSO

Que se apaguen las guitarras,

Que la Patria está de duelo.

Nuestra tierra se oscurece.

Mataron al guerrillero.

MUERTE

En Til Tl lo mataron

Los asesinos,

Su espalda está sangrando

Sobre el camino:

Sobre el camino, sí,

Quien lo diría,

El, que era nuestra sangre,

Nuestra alegría.

La tierra está llorando.

Vamos callando.

THE MUSIC COMPOSED BY VICENTE BIANCHI

Singers: Silvia Infantas and the Baqueanos

FINAL WORDS

Pablo Neruda’s great epic poem, the Canto General, includes on overview in verse of Chilean history. It is like a painting in words that describes the principal periods through which the Chilean Nation was formed.

I plan to include some more sections of this masterpiece in future posts.

I hope you enjoyed this one, and I’ll see you soon.

© 2013  jveronr  (Joan Robertson)

I will be very happy to receive your comments! Just click the word “comments” lower down.