#Lluís Llach

[yourdailyqueer]

Lluís Llach

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Gay

DOB: 7 May 1948

Ethnicity: White - Catalan

Nationality: Spanish

Occupation: Singer, songwriter, writer, politician (ERC, Independent), activist

[useless-catalanfacts]

the guy I'm dating recently discovered he really loves it when I recite things in his ear. do you have any gay love poetry in Catalan for me to try with him?

Lluís Llach!!! He's a singer-songwriter, but I don't doubt at all to also call him a poet. His lyrics are absolutely beautiful. It's no wonder that he's the most iconic Catalan singer of all times.

My favourite love songs by him are "Núvol blanc" (seriously this song is so beautiful and gentle 🥹), "Onades" and "Al teatre". His most famous love song is "Amor particular", and also "Criatura dolcíssima" but this one is a musical adaptation of the poem by Joan Fuster so maybe doesn't quite count but it was written as music by Lluís Llach and is beautiful. Also "Som tu i jo", "Alè", "Només per a tu", "Un no sé què", "Tendresa", "Torna aviat", "Véns", and "Veritat i mentida".

I doubted about including "Que tinguem sort" because he's dubious in the song about being together or potentially being left (each stanza is "if you say goodbye...", "if you say you want me...", and "If you come with me..." but it goes to more certainty) but wishing the best for the other person in any case. It's one of Lluís Llach's most famous songs and I couldn't not include it in the post.

You can find all the lyrics on Google. I don't know if someone has posted English translations though.

I must say, since Catalan is gendered differently than English, talking about someone else is often gender-neutral so most of his songs are gender-neutral (only in "Veritat i mentida" we can see explicitly it's about a man because of the use of adjectives). But Lluís Llach is gay so even if we can't tell the gender of the loved person by the lyrics, that counts.

If you're looking for written poems, there's very famous lesbian poetesses but historically I don't know gay poets who have written about it. For contemporary poetry, you can check the entries to the festival Qlit (Festival de Literatura Queer) organized by the Associació d'Escriptors en Llengua Catalana or the book Amors sense casa. Poesia LGBTQ catalana which was published in 2018 by Angle Editorial.

As always, I leave the comments section open to anyone who wants to add.

[des-paroles]

Pour oh-saturn-oh : lluís llach, l'estaca, chant révolutionnaire catalan

[elisabethlesourdfan]

A1: Irene [Lluís Llach] 0:00 A2: Despertar [Lluís Llach] 2:35 B1: Res No Ha Acabat [Lluís Llach] 5:39 B2: Temps I Temps [Lluís Llach, Josep Maria Andreu] 7:53

(via (8) Lluís Llach - Irene - EP 1969 - YouTube)

[dummerjan]

Shuffle your favorite playlist and post the first five songs that come up!

tagged by the lovely @die-schwanenkoenigin - thank you <333

1. ДДТ - Когда ты была здесь (DDT)

2. (Aviv Geffen) אביב גפן והתעויוט - אחכה

3. Tegan and Sara - Living Room

4. Herman van Veen - Für Marie Louise

5. Lluís Llach - Que tinguem sort

[guillemelgat]

Hey hello I made a thing! As perhaps a few of you know, I have spent the last half a year being completely unhinged about Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin books, and I’ve always been particularly interested in the character Stephen Maturin and his relationship to Catalonia. I saw that there was a lack of stuff about this part of his identity, and, being me, I felt the need to fill it in the only way I could: compiling music and yelling about it for thirty pages. Hence this playlist.

You really don’t need to know anything about these books to listen to this playlist. You also don’t need to know anything about Catalan (I hope). Catalonia and the Catalan Countries in general (including Valencia, the Balearic Islands, and parts of southern France, Aragon, and Sardinia) have a really interesting musical and literary tradition, and I wanted to make that more accessible, so I put together a few songs I liked, translated them, and wrote a bit about each of their significance, including the most important cultural tidbits I could. Some things don’t translate super well, and I hope my Catalan followers will forgive me for trying to adapt them more for English-speaking audiences than perhaps would be preferable; I usually don’t choose to do that, but in this case I wanted to open the door, and not to intimidate people.

Now that that’s out of the way, here is a link to the PDF of the liner notes (graphic design is my passion, as they say): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MUpRM84W8aypznEIrt0eA1jG5OxaRZvz/view?usp=sharing

Under the cut I’ve included the ephimera and unnecessary commentary that you know and love, feel free to read or ignore it as you will

These roughly follow the order of the songs and are varying levels of seriousness

If you like "Sant Joan, feu-lo ben gran" then I'd highly recommend listening to the whole Tornaveus album. I almost included the “Stabat Mater de Sudanell” and the “Goigs de Sant Julià de Lòria”, which are both from western Catalonia, and they also have more cançons de pandero, in perhaps a slightly more traditional style. A lot of the other songs have interesting cultural commentary in them, especially on feminist topics, and they’re very well-researched because literally one of the members of the group is basically the ethnomusicologist of Catalan music at the moment. Anyways, if people would like the liner notes perhaps next time I’m home I’ll scan them, they’re in Catalan and English and very well-written. Also note the legendary Lluís Llach song which has been turned into a polyphonic piece lol (and I did not include the “Goigs de la Nostra Senyora de la Llibertat” but tbh that might have been a mistake on my part) (Blorbo side note that I think this fits Stephen’s childhood very well which is mostly why I chose it)

“L’Hereu Riera” is one of my favorite Catalan folk songs I love it so much and if you want to hear the Catalan version (as opposed to the Valencian one included here) and see the dance and also see a cobla, I am including a link to this version by Germà Negre which is tragically not on Spotify. I chose the Valencian one because (1) Al Tall and (2) I think it fits The Blorbo better (specifically I was thinking of his fiancée who dies before Book One who idk if anyone ever remembers shdjfhskf). That being said, Stephen would probably know the Catalan one (and almost certainly not the Valencian one). Also, on a memey-er note, Hereu Riera bisexual king and literal icon <3 love how he has to remind his girlfriend on her deathbed that actually he'd technically be interested in both her sisters AND her brothers if he wasn't so into her that he never wanted to marry anyone else

I literally did put in Roger Mas just so there would be at least one person with a Lleidan accent, #diversity win

Many points about the “Cançó de pandero de l’Urgell” and “Jo no canto per la veu” so here we go:

I put these two songs in mostly because I got very obsessed with the cançó de pandero from Alcarràs (which is a great movie that came out last year about a farming family in a village near Lleida that is winning all the awards atm). Anyways, since Carla Simón has been too busy winning things to put up the gotdam soundtrack, I did a bit of digging and it turns out that it was written for the movie?? By her brother??? It's excellent and very anticapitalist and you can listen to it here and see the trailer for Alcarràs all in one! (Includes English subtitles)

The original “Canto per un amic meu que per mi daria la vida” is probably from a Valencian cant de batre, although I could not get any confirmation on that. But regardless everyone should listen to Pep Botifarra's version of it, which I would literally marry if it had a physical form it’s so so good. (I posted it here back in ye olden days but it's been long enough I think I can post it again)

Valencian music side note because I can’t stop myself: the second pair of verses in the "Cançó de pandero de l'Urgell" (starting with “vos esteu ben acotxada…”) are sung by Miquel Gil, who is a very famous Valencian traditional singer, anyways you should listen to this version of him singing “Del Sud” by Obrint Pas (you want to go down a Valencian music rabbit hole so so bad)

I firmly believe that Stephen would canonically be obsessed with Ausiàs March, and the fact that he has not yet recited any of his poems is Patrick O’Brian’s biggest failing in my eyes. Anyways I have more thoughts but I’m saving them for other posts shdfjsd

If you read this before listening to the playlist please just listen to "El testament d'Amèlia" and follow along with the lyrics in real time before reading the blurb, it's such a good experience to let that song hit you as it comes. I won't say more than that but you'll get it when you get it. (Also obligatory listen to Marala they're so good <3)

From the Càntut album, I also quite like the songs "El pomeró" and "El divino vull cantar", and Càntut in general is an incredible resource, it's a database of folk song field recordings from northeastern Catalonia.

Brief pause to scream about the fact that Maria Arnal and Marcel Bagés WERE ON NPR??? AND NO ONE TOLD ME???? Anyways link in the sources section, also they're great and you should listen to their whole discography

As the #1 Roba Estesa stan blog on Tumblr, listen to Roba Estesa. And Ebri Knight. And El Diluvi.

I chose this version of "La presó de Lleida" because I like it but here's a more traditional one sung by Joan Manel Serrat, another Catalan legend. Here's another one in Catalan rumba style with Sílvia Pérez Cruz singing, the sound is a bit wonky but it's also one of my favorites. The Valencian version of this song is called "La presó de Tibi" and El Diluvi have done a very explicitly anti-monarchical rendition of it (the Balearic one is "La presó de Nàpols").

I'm sorry for never putting the Sílvia Pérez Cruz version of "Corrandes d'exili" but if you want it here it is. Also note that the statue of the Virgin in the poem is a reference to the Virgin of Montserrat, it literally all goes back to her shfjkshdf (also apologies for being very bad at Christianity and Catholicism, if I mistranslated things let me know)

HOO BOY SARDANA TIME

Okay so I have a whole essay to deliver on this that I've been holding inside for the past like two months or so, I apologize in advance for my excessive pedantry on the topic.

In Master and Commander, Stephen delivers this speech:

"‘Then I must tell you that on Sunday mornings it is the custom, in that country, for people of all ages and conditions to dance, on coming out of church: so I was dancing with Ramon Mateu i Cadafalch in the square before the cathedral church of Tarragona, where I had gone to hear the Palestrina Missa Brevis. The dance is a particular dance, a round called the sardana.’"

I hate to be a hater but it is very, very unlikely that anyone would have been dancing a sardana as far south as Tarragona in this time period. The sardana as the symbol of equality and brotherhood emerged in the Renaixença and would not yet have been a thing; Stephen could well have heard sardanas in Ullastret, but they would have been a more typical folk dance, and not anything like the way they're described in the book. It's very ironic, then, that they've become THE Catalan music style for Aubreyad readers, but hopefully this playlist can change that a bit :)

(also sorry for being a sardana-hater on main, someone bring me to dance a sardana and maybe I'll feel better)

Songs that didn't make the cut: La cançó del lladre, Rossinyol que vas a França, La balanguera, La gavina - I'm always happy for more recs!

Originally, this list was also going to include songs in Irish; I quickly realized that I was in over my head with that one, but the working list of songs is here (may be subject to changes so save songs elsewhere if you like them!). Also I would add "Fé Bhláth" by Imelda May and Kíla if it was on Spotify but alas it is not; and "Amhrán na Leabhar" which I have not had time to add but was kindly recommended by someone. I'd love it if someone was interested in actually doing a proper playlist for Irish though—it's a gap in my knowledge that I'd love to start filling.

Aaaaaaand that's a wrap. I hope. Final comment to say thank you to everyone who voted in the cover image poll, turns out you all won :) (Pirineus did win and take the cover of the liner notes though)

[kiki-de-la-petite-flaque]

Para que yo pudiera amarte los españoles tuvieron que conquistar América y mis abuelos huir de Génova en un barco de carga. Para que yo pudiera amarte Marx tuvo que escribir El capital y Neruda la Oda a Leningrado. Para que yo pudiera amarte en España hubo una guerra civil y Lorca murió asesinado después de haber viajado a Nueva York. Para que yo pudiera amarte Virginia Woolf tuvo que escribir Orlando y Charles Darwin viajar al Río de la Plata. Para que yo pudiera amarte Catulo se enamoró de Lesbia y Romeo, de Julieta, Ingrid Bergman filmó Stromboli y Pasolini, Los cien días de Saló. Para que yo pudiera amarte, Lluís Llach tuvo que cantar El segadors Y Milva, los poemas de Bertolt Brecht. Para que yo pudiera amarte alguien tuvo que plantar un cerezo en la tapia de tu casa y Garibaldi pelear en Montevideo. Para que yo pudiera amarte las crisálidas se hicieron mariposas y los generales tomaron el poder. Para que yo pudiera amarte tuve que huir en barco de la ciudad donde nací y tú combatir a Franco. Para que nos amáramos, al fin, ocurrieron todas las cosas de este mundo y desde que no nos amamos sólo existe un gran desorden.

Cristina Peri Rossi, Historia de un amor

[adiosalasrosas]

"Para que yo pudiera amarte

los españoles tuvieron que conquistar América

y mis abuelos

huir de Génova en un barco de carga.

Para que yo pudiera amarte

Marx tuvo que escribir El capital

y Neruda la Oda a Leningrado.

Para que yo pudiera amarte

en España hubo una guerra civil

y Lorca murió asesinado

después de haber viajado a Nueva York.

Para que yo pudiera amarte

Virginia Woolf tuvo que escribir Orlando

y Charles Darwin

viajar al Río de la Plata.

Para que yo pudiera amarte

Catulo se enamoró de Lesbia

y Romeo, de Julieta,

Ingrid Bergman filmó Stromboli

y Pasolini, Los cien días de Saló.

Para que yo pudiera amarte,

Lluís Llach tuvo que cantar El segadors

Y Milva, los poemas de Bertolt Brecht.

Para que yo pudiera amarte

alguien tuvo que plantar un cerezo

en la tapia de tu casa

y Garibaldi pelear en Montevideo.

Para que yo pudiera amarte

las crisálidas se hicieron mariposas

y los generales tomaron el poder.

Para que yo pudiera amarte

tuve que huir en barco de la ciudad donde nací

y tú combatir a Franco.

Para que nos amáramos, al fin,

ocurrieron todas las cosas de este mundo

y desde que no nos amamos

sólo existe un gran desorden".

—Cristina Peri Rossi, Historia de un amor

[alesrosalexs-world]

Historia de un amor

Para que yo pudiera amarte

los españoles tuvieron que conquistar América

y mis abuelos

huir de Génova en un barco de carga.

Para que yo pudiera amarte

Marx tuvo que escribir El Capital

y Neruda, la Oda a Leningrado.

Para que yo pudiera amarte

en España hubo una guerra civil

y Lorca murió asesinado

después de haber viajado a Nueva York.

Para que yo pudiera amarte

Virginia Woolf tuvo que escribir Orlando

y Charles Darwin

viajar al Río de la Plata.

Para que yo pudiera amarte

Catulo se enamoró de Lesbia

y Romeo, de Julieta

Ingrid Bergman filmó Stromboli

y Pasolini, los Cien Días de Saló.

Lluís Llach tuvo que cantar Els Segadors

y Milva, los poemas de Bertolt Brecht.

Para que yo pudiera amarte

alguien tuvo que plantar un cerezo

en la tapia de tu casa

y Garibaldi pelear en Montevideo.

Para que yo pudiera amarte

y los generales tomaron el poder.

Para que yo pudiera amarte

y tú resistir a Franco.

Para que nos amáramos, al fin,

ocurrieron todas las cosas de este mundo

y desde que no nos amamos

solo existe un gran desorden.

[freedom-for-catalonia]

El vídeo de Lluís Llach, president de l'ANC, contra la investidura d'Illa

[radio-tvmickyandoniesigloxx]

#cumpledeldía

[useless-catalanfacts]

hi! i was wondering, do u happen to have any catalan songs that were used/trace back to franco's dictatorship and/or the civil war?

merci :)

Yes, there are many songs that were sung in the Civil War (1936-1939) and are still known nowadays, and even more from the dictatorship (1939-1978). Many of the classics are from that period, from the movement known as the "nova cançó" (1960s-1970s).

You won't find any recorded music before the 1960s, since Catalan was strictly prohibited and harshly persecuted before that. Only after the 1960s, speaking (and recording) the persecuted languages was allowed only in a few settings, and under strict vigilance (in concerts you could only sing but not speak, if you spoke it had to be in Spanish, and there had to be armed Spanish police to make sure the songs in Catalan weren't too inciting, etc etc etc) and of course all songs had to pass censorship (before being recorded but also before a concert they had to revise the setlist and all its lyrics). The singer-songwriters I mention in this post all suffered different amounts of persecution, arrest, being banned, etc for their music.

Songs in Catalan from the Civil War:

Some of them were created there and others were adapted from existing songs.

A long time ago I posted one of them:

This song was sung in the Worker's Front with the International Brigadiers, for this reason it has stanzas in different languages (Catalan, Spanish, English, French, etc).

This song seems to be an adaptation of the song Einheitsfront, originally in German, composed by the Austrian composer Hanns Eisler based on a poem by Bertolt Brecht.

Another song that many primary sources and witnesses remember is El cant del poble (The People's Song), composed in 1931.

And of course, the anarchists sang their own anthem ¡A las barricadas!. This song exists in Catalan as well, but is most famous in Spanish. This is the Catalan lyrics for it, as arranged in 1936 by Josep Mas i Gomeri.

Another one is the Internationale (international anthem of communism, which has been translated to lots of languages). This is the version in Catalan. The other song that identified communists in the war was Bandiera rossa, sung in Italian.

You can find many of the songs in Spanish that were sung by antifascists during the Civil War in the album "¡No pasarán! Canciones de guerra contra el fascismo" by Pi de la Serra and Carme Canela.

Accounts of the time also say that soldiers simply sang traditional folk songs, which makes sense considering those are the songs everyone knew. For Catalan soldiers, they mention L'hereu Riera, La filla del marxant and Muntanyes del Canigó.

Dictatorship

And for the dictatorship... That's most of the famous Catalan songs. All the classics of the Nova Cançó, like the Setze Jutges. I've translated some of them before, too:

Què volen aquesta gent? (1968) by Maria del Mar Bonet, about the real case of a student who was chased by the police for his political implication.

L'estaca (1968) by Lluís Llach, which is the most well-known anthem of fight against Francoism.

And many other songs by Lluís Llach, for example La gallineta (1973):

And Abril 74 (1975), about the Carnation Revolution:

And many, many, many others. Lluís Llach is THE most iconic Catalan singer of all times.

And of course, also Ovidi Montllor! With songs like La fera ferotge (1968):

Or the beautiful Homenatge a Teresa (1974):

Or Tot explota pel cap o per la pota (1974):

And Raimon, with songs like Al vent (1964):

Jo vinc d'un silenci (1977): (I should translate this one soon)

And I've also translated Al meu país la pluja, though it's from 1984, already after the dictatorship ended.

And this one is at the border, still during the dictatorship but right at its end after Franco's death, but I don't want to leave out the Si els fills de puta volessin no veuríem mai (1977) el sol by Quico Pi de la Serra. A song about fascists and the oppressor class that translates to "if the bastards wanted, we'd never see the sun": (another one that I should translate soon)

[miss-potter-book]

"Para que yo pudiera amarte

los españoles tuvieron que conquistar América

y mis abuelos

huir de Génova en un barco de carga.

Para que yo pudiera amarte

Marx tuvo que escribir El capital

y Neruda la Oda a Leningrado.

Para que yo pudiera amarte

en España hubo una guerra civil

y Lorca murió asesinado

después de haber viajado a Nueva York.

Para que yo pudiera amarte

Virginia Woolf tuvo que escribir Orlando

y Charles Darwin

viajar al Río de la Plata.

Para que yo pudiera amarte

Catulo se enamoró de Lesbia

y Romeo, de Julieta,

Ingrid Bergman filmó Stromboli

y Pasolini, Los cien días de Saló.

Para que yo pudiera amarte,

Lluís Llach tuvo que cantar El segadors

Y Milva, los poemas de Bertolt Brecht.

Para que yo pudiera amarte

alguien tuvo que plantar un cerezo

en la tapia de tu casa

y Garibaldi pelear en Montevideo.

Para que yo pudiera amarte

las crisálidas se hicieron mariposas

y los generales tomaron el poder.

Para que yo pudiera amarte

tuve que huir en barco de la ciudad donde nací

y tú combatir a Franco.

Para que nos am��ramos, al fin,

ocurrieron todas las cosas de este mundo

y desde que no nos amamos

sólo existe un gran desorden".

Cristina Peri Rossi, Historia de un amor

[thessencemusicplace]

"Que tinguem sort" en directo del cantante catalán Lluís Llach. Cada vez que interpreta es un himno al catalanismo y a sus orígenes. Nacido en Girona, siempre fue un defensor de la lengua catalana que transmitió los sentimientos más humanos con sus canciones. En este tema habla de una despedida en la que desea la suerte para ambas partes.

[jaumesclub]

⏰#UnHome10 #449 Felicitem Lluís LLACH! i altres notícies trepidants!!!

[ferrolano-blog]

Me parece excesiva la condena a la presidenta de Junts y expresidenta del Parlamento catalán, Laura Borràs, a pasar cuatro años en la cárcel... pienso en las otras prisioneras, las que tendrán que convivir con Borràs en la cárcel y me parece que esto pueda infligirles un excesivo castigo suplementario... Compartir con una persona desbordada y excesiva como Borràs un mundo pequeño, que se reduce a celda, corredores, comedor y patio es demasiado duro... Pienso que en castigo a sus delitos se la podría condenar a ser declarada hija adoptiva de Ana Obregón. Un castigo sin duda severo, pero, en fin... Cuatro años de convivencia de Ana y Laura allí les daría a las dos una buena lección de vida... además, si recuerdan, en la serie 'Ana y los siete', Ana enviaba un mensaje (quiero siete hijos)... Uno acaba de comprarlo en Miami. El segundo sería Laura. Con ella podría ir su fiel escudero Dalmases, pues siempre va tras sus pasos. Como cuarta hija podría ir Clara Ponsatí, que está muy desafiante y enfadosa. Como quinto hijo adoptivo, apuesto por el abogado Gonzalo Boye. Como sexto hijo, Ferran Mascarell... y como séptimo hijo adoptivo, que elija la misma Ana entre Lluís Llach y el futbolista Piqué. No es que hayan cometido ningún delito punible, pero es que no me caen muy bien (Ignacio Vidal-Folch)