Sant Jordi 2010

After my birthday on April 18th a very special day comes: Sant Jordi on April 23rd. For me one of the most beautiful celebrations we have in Catalonia. This Sant Jordi was half rainy, but this did not stop people going out and lingering on the streets, buying books and roses for friends, family and lovers.

Last year's St. Jordi I talked about the legend behind the day and how the day is celebrated (with some pictures). This year I will add some more pictures of roses, books which filled up the stalls and people crowding the streets of Barcelona, enjoying the day.

Roses

Llibres (books)

Gent (people)

Well-known personalities sign their book
(eg, second row left, Quim Monzó, and third row right, the famous cook Carme Ruscalleda)

If you ever happen to be in Catalonia for Sant Jordi, don't miss it, enjoy it! :)

Xavi and I with the traditional St. Jordi's gifts, a book and a rose

The great football classic

As I became a fan of football last year, missing the great classic Madrid-Barça today would be sacrilege.

So just before the match begins at 22:00 h, here I leave you Barça's hymn (karaoke version for you to sing).

Go Barça!

Tot el camp, és un clam som la gent blaugrana Tan se val d'on venim si del sud o del nord Ara estem d'acord, estem d'acord Una bandera ens agermana Blaugrana al vent Un crit valent Tenim un nom, el sap tothom Barça, Barça, Barça Jugadors, seguidors, tots units fem força Són molt anys plens d'afanys Són molts gols que hem cridat I s'ha demostrat, s'ha demostrat que mai ningúno ens podrà tòrcer. Blaugrana al vent un crit valent Tenim un nom, el sap tothom Barça, Barça, Barça!

The whole stadium, loud cheers We’re the blue and maroon supporters It matters not where we hail from Whether it's the south or the north Now we all agree, we all agree, One flag unites us in brotherhood. Blue and maroon blowing in the wind One valiant cry We’ve got a name everyone knows: Barça, Barça, Barça! Players, supporters United we are strong. We’ve achieved much over the years, We’ve shouted many goals And we have shown, we have shown, That no one can ever break us. Blue and maroon blowing in the wind One valiant cry We’ve got a name everyone knows: Barça, Barça, Barça!

Ten o'clock...FOOTBALL TIME!!!

Barça, Estrella Damm, Catalonia or everything? - Explanation

A few weeks ago I left some pending questions and explanation about a current beer ad which I posted precisely because it is, for me, much more than a mere beer ad. Let's look at the questions more deeply.

- What do you think of the ad?
Like MaryMoon and Isabel, I like the ad. I think that it is the job of good publicists and really creative. And the more I watch the ad, the more I see that it has multiple techniques that I could not appreciate at first sight and that make me think that it is not such a simple and ordinary ad.

Pretty interesting I found the comparison Derek makes. As he says, American beer ads seem to have a very particular structure and particular targets is a format we rarely see. Of course, there have been ads in this mood, like Budweiser ads during late nineties or early two thousand. But still, Budweiser is not an Spanish/Catalan beer and most time they had no spoken words or they were subtitled (the videos Derek linked on the comments made me think of them).

With this, I am not saying that Spanish/Catalan beer ads do not have an structure or a target. Indeed they have, but it is not the same as American beer ads. When I watch a Spanish beer ad, I do not feel it is targeted at 21-30, I rather feel anyone in the age of doing so can enjoy it. And more that being funny, I think they try to be original and ever-lasting, giving beer moderate consumption a high status. I wouldn't say something reserved to intellectuals though, I am more inclined to think that they try to appeal everyone. And this is the case of this particular ad.

I think it is targeted as everyone on legal age, using Barça to do so. The link appears so simple to me: lots of people like Barça, lots of people will like this beer. Barça is something great (the best team in the world!), this beer sponsors Barça, this beer MUST be great. I could go even further to give the nationalist sense I find in the ad, but this is answered in other questions and the link then can be easily established ;).

- Do you think it is a good beer ad?
Here I find divided opinions.

Well, I think it is a good ad and very original in its construction. It does mention the brand "Estrella Damm" but it gives more weight to Barça images and the poem, which I think is a good technique. You get the idea of the ad uniqueness (nothing of the kind before) and you can establish a connection with the brand it announces. Strictly, the product appears in the end, but the imprint of the ad is so deep that it makes you remember which brand did it and what it announced. This is, mostly, what Isabel pointed out.

I do not know if it is a good beer ad, though. Because...what is a good beer ad?

Other campaigns by "Estrella Damm" have been equally good and successful, like last summer ad with the song "Summercat" by the Swedish group Billie Vision & The Dancers, filmed in the Balearic Island of Formentera. The ad is the videoclip by this group and it incorporates images of Estrella Damm bottles. I recommend you watch it.

This summer ad used a complete new ad formula and it was successful. The ad I posted follows the same style and has been equally successful. So then...it must be a good beer ad...I think...

- Do you think it tells something to the (Catalan) audience?
Indeed. The poem tells people (Catalans) can achieve their goals, that nothing is impossible. I do not remember the Generalitat's campaign MaryMoon mentions, but I do see the positive turn the ad gives it.

- Does it tell something more to you, rather than just advertising beer?
It does tell something more if you can give it a context which allows interpretation.

- Do you like the ad text?
I agree to all of you. It is a nice lyric poem, craftily built. And combining it with music gives it a nice rhythm.
Isabel said that she liked he different accent it showcases. Well, she's come to my favourite subject :D and I feel the need to comment something about it.

The poem showcases differents accents but not dialectal accents. The general dialect is spoken standard Catalan. Most of the actors in the ad are professional actors or TV presenters and they speak in a quite neutral accent. Well, with the exception of the two cookers, which have the characteristic accent of Barcelona.

Probably, what Isabel noticed is the accents of non-Catalan people speaking Catalan, namely the young man working with wood and the boy in the skateboard. The young man is probably from Northern Europe (his way of pronouncing "r", his blue eyes and fair hair make me think it) and the boy is South-American (I would even venture Argentinian...)

- Do you think it is a nationalist ad?
There is a very good point that Anna made. She mentions that these ad might use football to convey national feelings. Indeed Catalans, may easily interpret it as such, but it is not the typical "we're good and the others aren't"; to use Isabel words, it tries to raise the spirits of Catalans. It is very easy to understand the poem as somehow nationalist and it make sense in a nationalistic frame.

On the other side, it could also make sense in a non-nationalist context (and hence, the "could be" in MaryMoon's comment. However, I am inclined to think the ad is indeed nationalist, and what is more, it represents, for me, an "inclusive" nationalism: some of the speakers are Catalan well-known actors or TV presenters and an also some non-Catalan people appear. Besides, there are all those images of Pep Guardiola and Barça players. The ad uses all this to convery that Catalans not only accept plurality, but also integrates it in the culture. And there is the music, which integrates more instruments every time and become more joyful. The feeling you have when you finish the ad is: Wow, WE are great! But you do NOT feel that others are not great as well.

Maybe I wouldn't agree with Isabel when she mentions that it can imply that independence can be reached, as I think the ad does not go so far and deep, as I said before I think it is not a separatist ad (note that I make a difference here between nationalism and separatism/independentism). But her interpretation makes perfect sense.

- Do you think it seems to mix things up?
No discussion on that ;). It mixes things up: football, beer, Catalan pride in its people and nation. And it does so in a positive way. And what is more: it has been craftily manipulated to seem "natural". Here I have a negative criticism on the ad: it can seem to build on the tendency to mix everything up. In Catalonia, as I said many other times, everything can have a sociopolitical turn. Look for example, at the insight MaryMoon does about Joan Laporta, current Barça president, who, taking advantage of Barça's achievements and position, has launched an independentist political campaign. I might agree to some ideas Laporta may have, but I do not approve his way of speaking them by mixing football and politics. Talking about it requires another post!

Well, I think this is it. I probably skipped some of the appreciations in the comments (hope you can forgive me :)...). Thanks for your collaboration!

Barça, Estrella Damm, Catalonia or everything?

Today I'd like to share this ad with you:



Here is the translation:

Un equip de futbol va ser el centre del món. I quin és el secret? Es preguntava tothom. La velocitat, el control? Anar sempre a l'atac? Buscar sempre el gol? És el joc en equip? no serà la humilitat? Sense protagonistes, ni cap divinitat. Un equip de futbol va ser el centre del món. I quin és el secret? Es preguntava tothom. La feina ben feta, qui no ho recorda una cosa molt nostra en els moments de més glòria Estimar el teu ofici, vigilar cada detall, va cantar en un poema Joan Maragall. Tot està per fer, podem aixecar el vol. Tot és possible, escrivia Martí i Pol Salvador Dalí, Pau Casals, Antoni Gaudí, Des d'aquí universals. La Ruscalleda amb la cullera, amb la ploma el Monzó, tu amb el teu martell i jo, amb el meu ordinador. Metges, periodistes, mecànics, pintors, fusters, lampistes, músics i escriptors. Un equip de futbol va ser el centre del món. I quin és el secret? Es preguntava tothom. La passió, la dedicació, l'atreviment, la curiositat, i estimar la feina és la nostra creativitat. Són les ganes, treballar fort, Desperta company, és millor que anar sol. No ens hem de reinventar Hem de seguir essent qui som, fer les coses com sempre, que no ens venci la son Un equip de futbol va ser el centre del món I quin és el secret? Es preguntava tothom Si fem les coses com nosaltres sabem Hi ha res impossible ho aconseguirem I el que facin els altres tant se val. La feina ben feta no té fronteres, No té rival.

A football team was the centre of the world. And which is the secret? Asked everyone Speed, control? Be always striking? Always aiming at the goal? Is it team game? can't it be humbleness? No protagonists, no master gods. A football team was the centre of the world. And which is the secret? Asked everyone. A job well done, who can forget, a thing of our own in the most glorious moments Love your trade, Care for every detail, sang once in a poem Joan Maragall. Everything's to be done, we can fly up. Everything's possible, wrote Martí i Pol Salvador Dalí, Pau Casals, Antoni Gaudí, From here, universal. Ruscalleda with her spoon, with his fountain pen, Monzó, you with your hammer, and I with my computer. Doctors, journalists, mechanics, painters, carpenters, plumbers, musicians and writers. A football team was the centre of the world. And which is the secret? Asked everyone. Passion, dedication, Audacity, curiosity, and loving our job is our creativity. Being eager, working hard, Wake up fellow, it's better than being alone. We mustn't reinvent ourselves We must still be what we are, do things as we always do, do not let sleep defeat us. A football team was the centre of the world. And which is the secret? asked everyone If we do things as we know Is there anything impossible? We can do it. And what other may do it is not essential. A good job has no borders, It is unrivalled.

Now I'd like to ask you some things:
- What do you think of the ad?
- Do you think it is a good beer ad?
- Do you think it tells something to the (Catalan) audience?
- Does it tell something more to you, rather than just advertising beer?
- Do you like the ad text?
- Do you think it is a nationalist ad?
- Do you think it seems to mix things up?

I am interested on how you see the ad, especially if you are not Catalan (but Catalans are welcome too!). If you wish to do so, just comment on the post. Then, I will explain it and give my opinion on the next post. I hope you participate :)!

La gralla

It was lying there, on the table. It was years since I last played it, and as I was not using it anymore, my father had lent it to a friend of his, and she had given it back to him. And yesterday I saw it lying on the table.

When was it that I last played it? Regularly, more than seven years. Occasionally, perhaps four or five. So, this morning, I picked it up again. I took it out from its hippy leather case and I saw it again. My gralla. It was a present for my (16th?, 17th?) birthday. My father had bought it for me because he had liked what it was made of: olive tree wood. I can remember that when I first took it out of the case it smelled like olive oil and wood mixed together.

My gralla and its case

My memory went back to 1997, when I first set my fingers on a gralla. In the village, there were other people that had been playing it for one or two years and they patiently taught me the basics. Later on, I took private lessons until I did not feel like playing it anymore (as a teenager, sometimes it felt like an obligation).

We rehearsed in what had been the old nursery school of Vilafant once a week, Saturday from 3 pm to 4 pm, just after lunch. We were not professionals and did not aim at it, but we liked to play. Without the company of the timbal and the caixa, the gralla felt lonely. So, these two percussion instruments were also essential in the music played. So, there was always a timbal and a caixa playing with us.

We rehearsed to prepare street parades that took place mainly in the spring and the summer. We were part of a bigger group of people called COLLA GEGANTERA (literally, "The giants group"). A colla gegantera is a group of people that carry and accompany the two gegants (giants): two big papier-mâché figures up that usually represent the traditional life of a specific village. But this is a whole post in itself... so for now, let's focus on the gralla.

The gralla is a traditional and typical Catalan music instrument. It doesn't have a translation other languages, not in Spanish either. It has been speculated that its origin has a connection with snake enchanters who play that special flute that seem to cast a spell on snakes. But I do not know if this is possible or not. What is certain is that it is often confused with a very similar instrument called dolçaina (in fact my first step into the gralla world was playing a dolçaina).

The gralla was named after a bird (in English, the name for the gralla bird is "jackdaw"), as its strident sound reminds the song of this bird. Indeed, the instrument has a very peculiar loud sound and it should be this way, as it is a street instrument.

Different gralles

Technically, it is a wind instrument and the playing mechanism is that of a flute: it has 6 holes on the front and one hole at the back, plus two extra holes at the bottom sides that only used to let more air out. Playing music with it consists in opening and closing holes using the fingers. To blow it, you need to use an "inxa" (a reed). To prevent the reed from breaking lips are pushed slightly to cover the teeth (how many reeds did I tore learning how to blow it properly!).

After playing the instrument is usually humid and it needs to be cleaned, which is easily made with a special feather duster (like the ones that come with a flute) and the inxa and the reed holder, called "tija" (a kind of holding-tube) can be separated from the main body to dry.

One of the first difficulties for beginners is that the gralla is tremendously difficult to blow and it is easy to run out of breath. The lips also hurt after a while and begin to tremble, making a funny sound which sounds like a fart. But if you insist a little bit and don't get discouraged, you can easily play for 1h-1h 30 without having much trouble.

Playing the traditional song "El ball de la civada"
(after not having played the gralla for a long long time)

Bonus videos: the gralla is not that easy to blow :P

I can't believe there was a time when I could play this for 1h 30...



Keep on trying and maybe you'll get the note...

The eternal discussion

So far I have avoided politics as much as I could, mainly because a) I do not want to create trouble and conflict, b) I do not want to bore you, and c) I do not want to write a political blog. But I think I need to write lines on the sociopolitical discussions between Catalonia and Spain. Not saying a word without it would be like lying, denying a truth that exists and is very present -even in daily life. On the other hand it is a very delicate issue in which I have my own opinions, as everybody has in this country. Therefore, carefulness is needed to avoid offence.

The "battle" between Spain and Catalonia began long ago and will be still here for long. But why so? What happens exactly? Why these discussions exist?


For me the whole Spanish-Catalan question boils down to

1- Identity and feelings
2- Language
3- History
4- Miscomprehension

It seems easy when put into 4 points, but it is really complex!

I do not want to go further into detail today, but if you agree and you wish to learn some more things about it, I will give some insights from time to time, as objectively as I can.

Frankfurter Buchmesse, October 2007

Two years and a half ago Catalan culture and literature was the centre of one of the most important Book fairs in the World: the Frankfurter Buchmesse. This fair was an excellent platform for Catalan writers to expand to the European -and world- market. It also was a good opportunity to show the world our culture, our language, our traditions.

The poster that was used for promoting Catalonia in Frankfurt's book fair.

The text reads: "Catalan culture, singular and universal".

Within Catalonia this was conceived as a great event and cultural organisations became really involved in it. Since it was publicly known that Catalan culture would be the guest of honour in Frankfurt's fair, great broadcasting of the event began. And also debate and discussion. Which writers would go to the fair? Only Catalan writers who wrote in Catalan? Catalan writers who wrote in Spanish? Both? As always, the never-ending sociopolitical discussions on language exploded. These are so recurring that I do not even remember how they ended.

Time passed by and the day arrived. The square outside the fair's facilities were the scene for parallel cultural activities, as for example, human towers exhibition, traditional music, theatre, etc. The things that were culturally and linguistically origianl were highlighted, like for example, in writing, characters like ny (read like Spanish ñ, Portuguese nh or Italian gn), ç (which also exists in French and is read as s) and l·l (two l pronounced together).

Inside the building, Quim Monzó, a great contemporary Catalan writer was the chosen one to perform the inaugural speech. He build a sublime ironical text about Catalonia and Catalan.s It is so brilliant and well-structured that the best thing one can do is reading it to get an idea of how modern Catalan society thinks. And to have a great great laugh (it is something Catalan usually do: laugh at themselves...yes strange sense of humour, but really funny). It is absolutely hilarious. The text was translated into four languages: Catalan, Spanish, German and English. I strongly recommend you read it. And they say the translations are really good, specially, they praised the German translation of a very typical Catalan tongue twister. Click here to read it. At the end of the pdf you will find information about Quim Monzó in German and in English.

Here you have the video of the inaugural speech (so you will know how it sounded like):



And finally, you can find all sorts of information related to the event here (in Catalan, Spanish, German and English).

"Garbo, the man who saved the world"

This is the title of a documentary film I saw yesterday. A film that I definetely recommend if it happen to be in cinemas of your area. It tells the story of a double agent spy whose strategy was crucial in the result of World War 2. He, together with the British espionnage system saved the world from fascism. The weapon: deception. He fooled Hitler and the nazi regime. Who was then this man who embarked in such a dangerous mission?

It was him:

He was known as Garbo to the British and Alaric or Arabel to the German. But his real name was Joan Pujol Garcia. Joan was born in Barcelona on February 14th, 1912 within a burgeois, liberal family. His father was apolitical and believed in individual freedom so that is what Joan grew up it. As a young men in his early twenties he was a dandy (I guess he could afford to) and used to walk around Barcelona all the time. The Spanish Civil War was a blow for him. He, as many other, was called to fight on the Republican side (Barcelona was one of the last cities to fall under Franco's troops, so it was Republican most of the war). He actually responded the call but he deserted, with the risk of being shot. He hid during some time, but unable to stay closed in the house any longer, he finally went to war with one objective: passing on to the the fascist side. He did so not because he was a fascist but because he wanted to be left alone and Franco was winning the war by then.

After the war he married and moved to Madrid. There he felt he should help somehow in WW2, he wanted to help in fighting fascism, something which he had not done in the Civil War. But he did not want to get hurt. He went to the British embassy in Madrid asking for a job. He was disregarded. He then moved to Lisbon and there he contacted the German Abwehr and began providing information to them. Germans trusted him and his alledged agents: they did not know this information was false and fake. After some time he went to the British embassy again and this time he was given a chance. So he became a double agent. He was a virtuous actor and, as I said gained full trust from the Führer himself. They trusted him so much that he even was award with the Iron Cross and of course, given funds to continue his spy job. Money which, ultimately, was used by the British MI5 (the British secret service) to spy on the nazis. So Hitler was, in fact, paying to be spied on.

The crucial event was Normandy disembarking on 6 June 1944, the D-Day. Joan, well, Garbo, totally fooled Germans by telling them Normandy was a diversion manoeuvre and that the attack would be somewhere else. And he was believed, and thus, D-Day was a success. This was the definite blow to change the course of the war. When asked for an explanation on why the supposed attack did not take place, he simply said it had been cancelled as Normandy had been a success for them. And they, again believed him and even after nazis lost the war thanked him for his "valuable service".

After D-Day, he lost his power position and he mysteriously disappeared and reported death.Until they found him. He had faked his death and he really moved to Venezuela, where he began a new life. Once knowing he was alive he was awarded, on D-Day 40th anniversary, with an MBE, a British condecoration which grants membership in the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.

Joan Pujol Garcia died in Venezuela on October 10th, 1988. He has been the only man who has been in the two sides of two crucial wars in contemporary Europe. And, without shooting one shot, he was a hero.

The documentary film talks about all his life. I gave you the main lines of his life, but the film tells with detail the whole story. Simply amazing. The film is mostly in English, but also there are some German, Catalan and Spanish, so the best option is subtitling. The following trailer is in English subtitled in Spanish (though in the cinema I saw it subtitled in Catalan...except for the Catalan and Spanish bit of course :P).

Note: more info on Garbo found in:
- Wikipedia
-Youtube: simply write "Garbo the spy"
-Film's website (in English and Spanish)

Smell of Christmas (XI)... - Reis

This is the day that children wake their parents up at the cry "Han vingut els reis! Han vingut els reis" (The Three Wise Men have been here tonight!). They just can't wait to see which presents the Three Wise Men left for them during the night and unwrap them.

If they have been good, they will get nice presents, though not always everything they had asked for. They might get angry, but then their parents tell them that every boy and every girl must have toys and that they shouldn't be so selfish.

If they have been bad, they will get a... coal!!! This wasn't such a punishment for me, in fact I remember asking for coal, as I always knew it would be delicious sugar coal...

Naughty or nice?

Usually, on January 6th a last family meal is held. More, more food, as if we had not had enough! But delicious anyway! Traditionally, for dessert, we eat the Tortell de Reis (or Roscón de Reyes in Spanish). Though being eaten in the whole of Spain, there are local differences in the traditions related to it. In Catalonia, a broad bean and a little king china figure are hidden inside the tortell. The tortell is cut into pieces and one piece is given to each member of the family. If you get the piece with the broad bean inside, you have to pay for the tortell, and if you get the piece of the figure, you are crowned king with the paper crown that is usually placed in the centre of the tortell.

This is the Tortell de Reis

I do not like tortell very much, I think it is because of the cabell d'àngel (a kind of jam made of pumpkin) and the fruita confitada (glazed fruit), and when I was a child I didn't want to eat it also because I was afraid I might find the broad bean and I would cry at the thought of spending my savings on a tortell. But then I also ran the risk of not being crowded queen...

One funny thing I remember about the 6th January family lunch is that usually the tortell box included a small cardboard with the same poem in Spanish and Catalan and my father would have us children read in aloud in both languages, but making special emphasis in correcting our Spanish reading. That's how I learned, my Catalan accent would always be with me when speaking Spanish, but I also learnt that it was very important that I should read Spanish without my tongue twisting at every word :P.

The Reis day, or Epiphany (if we talk in religious terms), are the end of Christmas festivities. So that is the last of the Christmas series of posts. I have liked writing them a lot, as I discovered and learnt new things. Now you might say...no more Christmas series next year? Yes of course! While writing the posts I realized I could not talk about everything, so I had to leave some things for next year! So more on this from December 2010. Thanks for sharing Christmas with me by reading the posts ;).

Smell of Christmas (X)... - Nit de reis

Wrap yourself up and go out on the street. See the illuminated, happy wondering faces of little children as they pass by throwing sweets at the crowd. Do not forget your paper lamp while you are waiting for them. Why?

Because...ARRIBEN ELS TRES REIS D'ORIENT!, The Three Wise Men are here!. Melcior, Gaspar and Baltasar are here to bring presents to all children!

Prior to Wise Men arrival, children write letters saying they have been very good children, done well at school and helped their parents so they would be really pleased if the Wise Men brought them some presents. And they list the presents they would like to have. This letters have to be ideally given to a royal page that comes to the place some days before. If not, last minute letters are also taken in.

January 5th is the D-day for children. After seeing the Three Wise Men parade, they will have to face the Wise Men: they will sit on one of Wise Men lap and he will ask them if they have been good children. Obviously they will say yes, I've been good and they will get a little gift. Occasionally, a little toddler will cry because he will be scared but his/her parents will smile and tell him, the Three Wise Men are very good people and that he should trust them.

Poster announcing the royal page coming to get the letters
and the Three Wise Men 2010 parade in my village, Vilafant.
I love this poster! :)

Images of the Wise Men parade in my village, January 2009.
In order: the Three Wise Men, a royal page and one moment in the parade.

After the parade and the talk with one of the Wise Men, children must have supper, prepare their shoes (so the Wise Men knows where they have the presents for him), leave some food and drink for their camels, and go to bed early. During the night, the Wise Mean will come to the house (they are magic, so they will be able to come in) and leave the presents.

Núria, my sister, is almost ready (year 1993)

The three of us are almost ready (1993)

Food, drink and shoes...all ready for the magic night! (1993)

I hope you have been good or else... (you will learn what on the next post) ;)!

Smell of Christmas (IX)...Feliç any nou!

Well...I guess New Year is pretty much the same for those who use Gregorian calendar: either you sleep the whole morning after a long party night or you do not party and get up early to do some kind of activity without the annoying crowd. Since January 1st I take the second option and go skiing in Andorra...there is almost no one going down the slopes! Magic!!! And after a whole morning of ski...delicious shower, delicious lunch, delicious chilling out in the sofa.

And you? How do you spend your New Year? Is there any special tradition on that date in your country?

I can not finish without wishing you...


I hope that this new year brings you health, happiness and achievements! :)