Guernica Remembered

Picasso's Guernica (click to enlarge) image: wikipedia

Bob from Brockley reminded me that Thursday was the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Guernica by the Nazis and Italian Fascists supporting Franco's Nationalist forces during the Spanish Civil War. The brutal bombing, which caused widespread firestorms from the use of thousands of incendiary bombs, killed anywhere from 250-1,600 civilians and destroyed most of the ancient Basque town. Fighter pilots machine gunned those who survived the initial bombings and fled to surrounding fields.

The bombing of Guernica came to symbolize the atrocity of war campaigns directed at civilians thanks in large part to Pablo Picasso's famous mural depicting the massacre. In the 1970's, Picasso's Guernica also came to symbolize the Basque left and the struggle of Basque Nationalists. For more, see this article in the Guardian last year.

And here's some music inspired by the Spanish Republic's fight against fascism in the Spanish Civil War. Starting with "Homage to Catalonia" from the Durutti Column's sample heavy Vini Reilly (although "Homage" is just Reilly's solo Spanish guitar, ghostly vocal samples occasionally permeate the (distant) background). Homage to Catalonia is, of course, the title of George Orwell's account of his time fighting with the International Brigades supporting the Spanish Republican forces in Catalonia. Coincidentally, Adam from hahamusic and I recently had an email exchange about Orwell's Spanish Civil War account and the title of this blog.

Up next is the second incarnation of Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra. The first Liberation Music Orchestra album, released in 1969 as opposition to the Viet Nam War was growing, adapted songs from the Spanish Civil War with arrangements and compositions by Haden and the great Carla Bley. Bley, along with Dewey Redman, Paul Motion and Don Cherry, rejoined Haden for the Liberation Music Orchestra's 1983 follow-up. The Ballad of the Fallen was a musical statement in opposition to the Reagan Administration's Latin American Policy, particularly the intervention in El Salvador. The most recent incarnation of the Liberation Music Orchestra released Not In Our Name in 2005 (in opposition to the war in Iraq, obviously).

But back to The Ballad of the Fallen. In addition to several songs from the Spanish Civil War, the album includes "La Pasionaria," a Haden composition in the same style dedicated to Dolores Ibarruri, the woman responsible for the "No Passaran" (they shall not pass) rallying cry in the fight against Franco. It's one of the album's many highlights.

Homage to Catalonia -- Durutti Column: Fac 244 (Vini Reilly) (1989)

La Pasionaria -- Charlie Haden: The Ballad of the Fallen (1983)

Spanish Bombs -- The Clash: London Calling (1979)

None of this music is about the bombing of Guernica or the Basque Nationalist opposition to the fascists. But it is about the fight for freedom and opposition to fascism.

The hillsides ring with "free the people!"
Or can I hear the echo from the days of '39?
I'm hearing music from another time
Spanish bombs, yo te quiero infinito
Yo te quiero, oh mi corazón
My señorita’s rose was nipped in the bud . . .

-- The Clash "Spanish Bombs"

BONUS: Since I was just talking to a friend last night about Jonathan Richman, here's the Modern Lovers classic "Pablo Picasso" ("some guys try to pick up girls and get called asshole / this never happened to Pablo Picasso / he was only 5'3" but girls could not resist his stare / Pablo Picasso was never called an asshole / not like you"). See rock in Boston for more on Jonathan Richman.

Pablo Picasso -- The Modern Lovers (1974)

peace
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