La Música

As in almost every culture, music is important to Galicians, and they enjoy many different kinds.  For example, yesterday in a café I heard 70's and 80's rock in English, including a song by Pink Floyd.

On Sunday evening, I went with Sra. Quintans, our other exchange host Sra. Dopico, Sra. Gasser, and some other friends to a municipal band performance.  Like Naperville, Santiago has a band that performs series of concerts for the community to enjoy.  This one was in a church of a convent, with the theme of Holy Week, and the musicians wore formal dress, like tuxedos.  I was sitting in the front row at the concert, and it would have been considered rude for me to take photographs, but here is a video of the band performing in a plaza next to the Cathedral:  Banda Municipal de Santiago

However, the most interesting musical experience I have had so far was attending a concert by Joan Baez on Saturday night.  Of Mexican and Scottish/English heritage, Joan Baez, is an American folk singer who became popular in the 1960's and 70's.  She is known for performing at Woodstock and helping to launch Bob Dylan's career.  More importantly, she has been a social and human rights activist for many issues ranging from protesting the war in Vietnam to singing "We Shall Overcome" during Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 march on Washington D.C.

My colleagues here in Santiago told me that Baez is important to Galicians for several reasons.  First, for those who were teenagers like you in the 60's and 70's, she was a singer of their youth.  She sings in both English and Spanish, and most Galicians have a long tradition of folk songs and stories.  But the most important thing is that Baez's lyrics and activism struck a chord with Spaniard's deep-seated discontent during the repressive dictatorship of Francisco Franco (Spanish IV students -- more to come!)

During the concert in Santiago, Baez sang folk songs from the U.S., a song in Arabic (Spanish IV students -- do you know what the connection is?), and a song with lyrics from Galician poetess and folk heroine Rosalía de Castro, for whom our exchange partner school is named.

Here are a couple of sites for more information about Joan Baez and her music:  joanbaez.com  lastfm