Spanish concert for the International Brigades

September 16, 2013
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concierto brigadasNow online: highlights from a Concert for the International Brigades held in Logroño, Spain, on 30 April 2013. Co-sponsored by the International Brigade Memorial Trust, the concert featured the Spanish and British musicians who played at the IBMT’s annual commemoration in London’s Jubilee Gardens in July 2012.

Watch the 20-minute film here.

The film begins with three short speeches of introduction by:

– Jesús Vicente Aguirre, historian
– Ernesto Muro of the association “La Barranca” for the recovery of historical memory in Rioja
– Jim Jump, IBMT Secretary

The featured songs and performers are:

“Brigadas Internacionales” by Paco Marín
“Only For Three Months” by Na-mara (with Ewan McLennan)
“Jaime Foyers” by Ewan McLennan
“Valley of Jarama” by Na-mara, Ewan McLenann, Paco Marín and Jesús Vicente Aguirre.

Paco Marin comes from the Rioja region of northern Spain, where the Francoist repression was very harsh. Some 2,000 supporters of the Spanish Republic – mayors and local councillors, teachers, trade unionists, political activists – were rounded up and shot in the summer of 1936 by the fascists. This was out of a total population of just 200,000. Paco often sings about the repression, its painful aftermath and lasting legacy today.

Made by Sonovisión Centro Electrónico, the film runs for about 20 minutes. Watch it here.

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