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TRAVELING \ TRAVELING
Chap. IX - The anthem. Spain-France. Quarter-finals of Euro 2012. The anthems. The French players, in a close-up of the steady-cam sing the Marseillaise. ‘Raises its bloody banneeeeer’... ‘those ferocious soldiers, they are coming to cut the throat of your sooooooons”, “to aaaaaarms”, “let an impure blood water our furrows”... Scary, eh? Good thing that Sergio Ramos, in high school, studied English. Then the Spanish anthem sounds. Concentration and sealed lips. The eleven, mute. It is not rebellion neither ignorance. The reason is that the anthem has no lyrics. Even the Italians have lyrics, and rather dramatic, by the way! (‘We are ready to die/ we are ready to die.’) In Spain we could not agree even with the lyrics of our anthem. And now it's too late. Galicia itself has a real anthem with lyrics, an exalted anthem and AGAINST someone, as the good anthems. The lyrics are a poem by Edward Pondal entitled "Os Pinos”. Pondal was obsessed with Galicia’s Celtic past and created a mixture of an idyllic postcard, romantic lyric and defense of rebellion that works splendidly well. The Galician anthem is written in Italian octaves (which is not very Galician), with short verses easy to sing, but with epic highs typical of the genre that need a good voice. The music was composed by Pascual Veiga, an essential composer in the revival of Galician culture after its dark ages. The sad thing is that he never got to hear it in all its glory. The first time the anthem was played was at the Teatro Tacon in Havana, in 1907, a year after his death. As with the flag and the emblem, it was the Galician emigration that promoted the song and made it plausible. And applaudable. The first stanza describes the green coast, the moonlight, and introduces the main characters of the issue: the pines. The purring pines. And the poet asks: what do the
pines say? What does the rumor of the cups say? And the trees begin to talk as if it were the Lord of the Rings. And what they say is that Galicia has to get its act together and liven up. And no forgetting neither forgiving the humiliations and the insults of the past. After that, the pines gain in confidence and it is time to settle accounts. Two sides. On the one side, the good and generous, those who understand. On the other, the 'ignorant, fierce and hard, stupid and dark' who do not get it. The culprits. The others. Galicia is not named. It is called ‘Home of Breogan’, a Celtic king that appears in the Irish Book of Conquests. No blood. The Galician anthem looks more like the German (‘flourish in this fortune's blessing, flourish, German fatherland!’) than to La Marseillaise. But it has the ability to move people, which is the least an anthem must provide. It is an awakening poem. The anthem asks Galicia to stretch itself, because it is backward. And invites it to make its dreams true. But it is not a superficial speech. It is a lament and a yelp. It’s a song of redemption. As Bob Marley’s songs. Banned by the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera and confined to popular song during the Franco regime, the Statute of Autonomy of 1981 made it official. Exciting and matriotic. Violent and epic. It is an angry anthem that if done today, would not be approved. It was designed in an era where we were not so politically correct. The ignorant and dark still do not understand. The current Prime Minister has stated publicly that knowing the anthem ‘cares nobody’. What does matter is that for 100 years the anthem expresses powerful emotions and speaks of ideals, aspirations, and recipes for the future. And puts a date. "Os tempos son chegados". It’s the time.
\ por IVÁN MATO - Ivanmato.wordpress.com
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