'MUIXERANGA', 'BELLA CIAO' & 'GRÂNDOLA VILA MORENA'

Folk Rebel Music

Today, The Grandma has been talking with The Watsons about songs and revolutions. Music is a great expression of soul and feelings. Freedom is the most important of them. Too many songwriters have been prosecuted by dictatorships along our History, especially folk musicians.

Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted orally, music with unknown composers, or music performed by custom over a long period of time.

Songs have become hymns against tyrannies, absolutisms and dictatorships. The Grandma wants to commemorate April, 25, an important date in Valencian Country, Italy and Portugal talking about three songs that have become hymns, La Muixeranga, Bella Ciao and Grândola, Vila Morena.

More information: Sonicbids

The Day of April 25, commemorates in the Valencian Country the defeat of the Battle of Almansa on April 25, 1707, and is considered a day of commemoration of lost liberties.

Officially, this day is celebrated as the day of the Valencian Parliament.

Within the framework of the War of the Spanish Succession, the defeat of Almansa meant the end of the defeat of the Austrian side, including the Maulets and this will lead to Castile occupying the Kingdom of Valencia by right of conquest, and so he lost all his jurisdiction granted until then and the New Plant Decrees are imposed on it.

During the War of the Spanish Succession where the Bourbons (Philip V) and the Austrians (with Archduke Charles) fought throughout Europe for the crown of Spain, where it acquired the character of a civil war, as supporters of both candidates they were distributed by all the territory, concentrating the Philip's supporters in the part of Corona of Castile (Castile, Andalusia and the northwest of the peninsula), and Charles's supporters in Corona de Aragon (Kingdom of Aragon, Principality of Catalonia, Kingdom of Valencia and Kingdom of Mallorca).

With the victory of Philip V, a uniform political system was implemented in almost all its domains, which from that moment included, in addition to the Crown of Castile, that of Aragon. The noble privileges, the local courts and the institutions of self-government previously respected by the House of Austria were repealed in all the kingdoms declared Austrian (Menorca, then under English rule, temporarily escaped). For this reason, on April 25, the consequent abolition of Valencian institutions and civil liberties is also remembered.

The Battle of Almansa marked an important point in history. Later events such as the burning of the city of Xàtiva and the subsequent change of name to that of San Felipe, further distanced the people from the territories of the Crown of Aragon of the Bourbons and their supporters with struggles in cities such as Alcoi, Dènia and Alacant. 

Tabalet (drum) and dolçaina (Valencian shawn)

The Muixeranga is a traditional song from the Valencian Country by an unknown author performed with tabalet (a drum) and dolçaina (Valencian shawm). It accompanies the muixeranga and is used in the ascents and figures of this dance.

The music of the Muixeranga is vindicated as the anthem of the Valencian Country and even as the anthem of the Catalan Countries.

The Muixeranga is the collective name given to the performance of ancient street dances and human pyramids or castells, originating in the ancient Kingdom of Valencia, currently Valencian Country, which are still preserved in the town of Algemesí and certain other Valencian towns.

The Muixeranga is much more than an artistic acrobatic dance. It is a collection of ancient human choreographies of enormous plasticity illustrating various figures and shapes.

UNESCO has recognized the ritual, festive and community participation dimension as part of the intangible heritage of humanity.

There are several theories on the origin of muixeranga, especially in relation to its name. The first theory advocates that the word comes from the Arabic word mochain, meaning mask. A second theory links it with ancient processions held on the streets to commemorate some special event.

Even though the tradition in the Iberian Peninsula may date back to the 13th century, the first written record of the muixeranga in Algemesí can be traced to the first third of the 18th century. However, its constant, strong presence suggests a much older origin.

The dance is accompanied by the music of tabalet (a drum) and dolçaina (valencian shawm), with a very old characteristic tune, of unknown author.

Some people striving for the recovery of the Valencian culture and its language, such as Joan Fuster, have suggested the music of the Muixeranga as an anthem for the Valencian Country.

More information: Spanish Wars

No tinc altra autoritat que aquesta:

la d'haver-me apassionat, fins a l'obsessió,

per la vida i el destí del meu poble.

Potser és l'única passió noble que reconec en mi.

I have no other authority than this:

to have been passionate, to the point of obsession,

about the life and destiny of my people.

Perhaps it is the only noble passion I recognize in myself.

 Nosaltres els Valencians, Joan Fuster

Festa della Liberazione (Italy's Liberation Day), also known as the Anniversario della Liberazione d'Italia, Anniversario della Resistenza is a national Italian holiday commemorating the end of Nazi occupation during World War II and the victory of the Resistance in Italy.

The date was chosen by convention, as it was the day of the year 1945 when the National Liberation Committee of Upper Italy (CLNAI) officially proclaimed the insurgency in a radio announcement, propounding the seizure of power by the CLNAI and proclaiming the death sentence for all fascist leaders, including Benito Mussolini, who was shot three days later.

Bella Ciao, Goodbye beautiful is an Italian protest folk song that originated in the hardships of the mondina women, the paddy field workers in the late 19th century who sang it to protest against harsh working conditions in the paddy fields of North Italy.

The song was modified and adopted as an anthem of the anti-fascist resistance by the Italian partisans between 1943 and 1945 during the Italian Resistance, the resistance of Italian partisans against the Nazi German forces occupying Italy, during the Italian Civil War, and the Italian partisan struggle against the fascist Italian Social Republic and its Nazi German allies.

April 25, 1945. The victory of the Resistance, Italy

Versions of Bella Ciao are sung worldwide as an anti-fascist hymn of freedom and resistance.

Bella Ciao was originally sung as Alla mattina appena alzata by seasonal workers of paddy fields of rice, especially in Italy's Po Valley from the late 19th century to the first half of the 20th century with different lyrics.

They worked at monda (weeding) the rice fields in northern Italy, to help the healthy growth of young rice plants. It took place during the flooding of the fields, from the end of April to the beginning of June every year, during which the delicate shoots needed to be protected, during the first stages of their development, from temperature differences between the day and the night. It consisted of two phases: transplanting the plants and pruning the weeds.

Monda was an extremely tiring task, carried out mostly by women known as mondinas, from the poorest social classes. They would spend their workdays with their bare feet in water up to their knees, and their back bent for many hours.

The atrocious working conditions, long hours and very low pay led to constant dissatisfaction and led, at times, to rebellious movements and riots in the early years of the twentieth century.

The struggles against the supervising padroni was even harder, with plenty of clandestine workers ready to compromise even further the already low wages just to get work. Besides Bella Ciao, similar songs by the mondina women included Sciur padrun da li beli braghi bianchi and Se otto ore vi sembran poche.

Other similar versions of the antecedents of Bella Ciao appeared over the years, indicating that Alla mattina appena alzata must have been composed in the latter half of the 19th century. The earliest written version is dated 1906 and comes from near Vercelli, Piedmont.

Bella Ciao was revived by the anti-fascist resistance movement in Italy between 1943 and 1945, with modified lyrics. The author of the lyrics is unknown.

In 2015, the song was banned in some municipalities of Northern Italy, ruled by the right-wing League.

More information: The Local

Una mattina mi son alzato,
o bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao!
Una mattina mi son alzato
e ho trovato l'invasor.
 

One morning I awakened,
oh bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao!
One morning I awakened
And I found the invader.
 

Popular Italian Song

In Portugal, April 25 is known as Dia da Liberdade Portuguese. It is celebrated the beginning of the Carnation Revolution that ended with the regime of António de Oliveira Salazar in 1974.

Two songs had an important role in this revolution. E Depois do Adeus, a song that participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 1974 and was used as the passcode at the beginning of the coup which toppled Portugal's dictatorship, and Grândola, Vila Morena, the song that was broadcast on the Portuguese radio station Rádio Renascença as a signal to start the revolution that overthrew the authoritarian Portuguese government.

The Carnation Revolution, in Portuguese Revolução dos Cravos, also known as the 25 April was initially a 25 April 1974 military coup in Lisbon which overthrew the authoritarian Estado Novo regime of António de Oliveira Salazar.

Paulo de Carvalho (15 May 1947) is a Portuguese singer. Carvalho participated in the Festival RTP da Canção and Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 and 1977.

It was his song, the Portuguese entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, E Depois do Adeus, which was used as the passcode at the beginning of the coup which toppled Portugal's dictatorship in what has become known as the Carnation Revolution, giving Carvalho a permanent place in his country's history.

Paulo de Carvalho

Carvalho began professionally associating himself with Fado, deferring to Portugal's traditional music as globalization came to be seen as a threat to his homeland's cultural heritage.

E Depois do Adeus, And After The Farewell is a song recorded by Portuguese singer Paulo de Carvalho. The song was written by José Calvário and José Niza.

It is best known as the Portuguese entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 1974, held in Brighton, after winning Festival da Canção 1974.

The song's airing on April 24th, 1974 at 10:55 p.m. on Emissores Associados de Lisboa Radio Station, was one of the two secret signals which alerted the rebel captains and soldiers to begin the Carnation Revolution.

The song is a ballad, with Paulo de Carvalho taking the role of a man who is faced with the end of a relationship. He tells his lover how he feels, likening her to a flower that I picked, implying that the relationship was of a comparatively short duration. He also comments on the nature of love itself, singing that it is winning and losing.

The song was performed sixteenth on the night, following Switzerland's Piera Martell with Mein Ruf nach dir and preceding Italy's Gigliola Cinquetti with Sì. At the close of voting, it had received 3 points, placing 14th in a field of 17.

Despite the modest showing in Brighton at the Contest itself, the song achieved considerable fame as one of the two signals to launch the Carnation Revolution in Portugal against the Estado Novo regime of Marcelo Caetano -the other being the folk song Grândola Vila Morena by Zeca Afonso, which was the signal for the coup leaders to announce that they had taken control of strategic parts of the country.

It was broadcast at 22.55 on 24 April 1974 by Emissores Associados de Lisboa.

More information: All About Portugal

 Quis saber quem sou,
O que faço aqui
Quem me abandonou,
De quem me esqueci
Perguntei por mim.

I wanted to know who I was,

What I’m doing here
Who has abandoned me,

Whom I forgot
I asked myself.

Paulo de Carvalho

Dia da Liberdade, Freedom Day (25 April) is a national holiday, with state-sponsored and spontaneous commemorations of the civil liberties and political freedoms achieved after the revolution. It commemorates the 25 April 1974 coup and Portugal's first free elections on that date the following year.

The revolution began as a coup organised by the Armed Forces Movement, composed of military officers who opposed the regime, but it was soon coupled with an unanticipated, popular civil resistance campaign. The revolution led to the fall of the Estado Novo, terminated the Portuguese Colonial War, and started a revolutionary process that would result in a democratic Portugal.

Its name arose from the fact that almost no shots were fired, and Celeste Caeiro offered carnations to the soldiers when the population took to the streets to celebrate the end of the dictatorship; other demonstrators followed suit, and carnations were placed in the muzzles of guns and on the soldiers' uniforms.

José Afonso

Grândola, Vila Morena is a Portuguese song by Zeca Afonso, that tells of the fraternity among the people of Grândola, a town in the Alentejo region of Portugal. The song's title may be translated, Grândola, Swarthy Town. Each quatrain in the song is followed by a quatrain that repeats the same lines in reverse order. While Salazar's Estado Novo regime banned a number of Zeca Afonso's songs from being played or broadcast, as they were considered to be associated with Communism, Grandola, Vila Morena was not one of these.

José Manuel Cerqueira Afonso dos Santos, known as José Afonso or Zeca Afonso (2 August 1929-23 February 1987) is among the most influential folk and political musicians in Portuguese history. He became an icon in Portugal due to the role of his music in the resistance against the dictatorial regime of Oliveira Salazar. He is still widely listened to, not only in Portugal, but also abroad.

At a concert in Lisbon on the 24 March 1974 Zeca Afonso played this song, the audience joined in enthusiastically, uniting the crowd as one. For this reason, on 25 April 1974, at 12:20AM the song was broadcast on the Portuguese radio station Rádio Renascença as a signal to start the revolution that overthrew the authoritarian government of Marcello Caetano; it thus became commonly associated with the Carnation Revolution and the beginning of democratic rule in Portugal.

It was the second signal to start the coup, the first being E Depois do Adeus, And after the farewell, the Portuguese entry in the Eurovision Song Contest of 1974, performed in Portuguese by Paulo de Carvalho.

More information: The Cultural Trip

Grândola Vila morena
Terra da fraternidade
O povo é quem mais ordena
Dentro de ti ó Cidade.

Grândola, brown town
Land of fraternity
It's the people who lead
Inside you, oh city

Jose Afonso