These past days, we’ve all been outraged at the sentence that didn’t condemn the members of La Manada with rape. Even though we still have a long way to go before we reach a truly equal society, every time more and more people take part in the feminist fight, as we could see in the recent protests against la Manada and the strike and demonstrations on the past 8th of March.
This change in mentality has to impregnate all the manifestations of our culture. So when we turn on the radio, we don’t have to hear songs which glorify rape or objectify women.
Here I made a playlist with my favourite feminist songs in Catalan. I choose mainly cheerful songs (pop, techno and rap). I know that there are many more, this are only the ones I like the most. Feel welcome to add your favourites!
Playlist of Catalan feminist songs
L’Horitzó - Les Kol·lontai
Dóna-li color - Frida i Tessa
La nit és nostra - Roba Estesa
Trenca els miralls - Aspencat i Mai
Les silenciades - Pupil·les
Decidim - Les Kol·lontai
I tu, sols tu - El Diluvi
Pincepeses - Ovella Xao i Roba Estesa
Estima’t - Pupil·les i Tremenda Jauría
Click on the name of the song to listen to it on YouTube, except for Les Kol·lontai’s which aren’t on YT so I linked to the song on Spotify. All the songs in the playlist are on Spotify.
Translated Catalan songs: Quan Caminàvem by Aspencat
Last time I translated a more traditional song, so now I come back with a modern pop/ska song by the Valencian band Aspencat. This is a love song that talks about Valencia, the oppression its culture and people have gone through, and their resistance against it. Hope you like it!
The original lyrics in Catalan and their translation to English under the cut!
Quan caminàvem per la desobediència
When we walked for disobedience
Quan tu i jo teníem somnis rebels
When you and I had rebel dreams
Quan sobreviure forma part de l'essència
When surviving is part of the essence
A la meua terra hi ha una pluja d'estels
In my land there’s a meteor shower
Quan caminàvem pels carrers de València
When we walked through the streets of Valencia
Quan tu i jo teníem somnis rebels
When you and I had rebel dreams
I amb poemes d'amor bastíem la resistència.
And with love poems we constructed resistance.
Per camins d'horta sembrada avancem
We advance through paths of sown fields [“horta” refers especifically to the typical fields of the Valencian Country]
Enyorem un temps que no s'ha viscut encara
Missing a time that has’t yet been lived
Un passat de lluita accelerada
A past of accelerated fight
Assaig d'una esperança que camina fermament
Rehearsal of a hope that walks firmly
I transforma aquest present.
And transforms this present.
El Cabanyal que resisteix
El Cabanyal [neighbourhood in the city of València] resisting
Hui no tinc cap dubte, hui t'estime encara més
Today I have no doubt, today I love you even more
Hui vull fer l'amor de matinada
Today I want to make love in the daybreak
Hui voldria ser un gran deixeble d'Estellés
Today I would like to be a great disciple of Estellés [Valencian poet]
Veig murals a les parets.
I see murals on the walls.
Saps que no vull glòria ni riqueses
You know I don’t want glory nor wealth
No vull cartes de promeses enfonsades en el mar
I don’t want letters of promises sank in the sea
Que no vull palaus ni vull princeses
I don’t want palaces nor princesses
No vull plors, ni vull tristeses. Comencem a caminar.
I don’t want cries, nor sorrows. Let’s start walking.
Quan caminàvem per la desobediència
When we walked for disobedience
Quan tu i jo teníem somnis rebels
When you and I had rebel dreams
Quan sobreviure forma part de l'essència
When surviving is part of the essence
A la meua terra hi ha una pluja d'estels
In my land there’s a meteor shower
Quan caminàvem pels carrers de València
When we walked through the streets of Valencia
Quan tu i jo teníem somnis rebels
When you and I had rebel dreams
I amb poemes d'amor bastíem la resistència.
And with love poems we constructed resistance.
Fins un nou combat.
Until a new fight.
Quan l'Albufera ens sostenia
When L’Albufera [lake in the Valencian Country] held us
Una vela llatina navegava contra el vent
A Latin sail navigated against the wind
Amb la memòria empresonada
With jailed memory
Els punys i les corbelles sobre sendes de paper
The fists and sickles on paper paths
Creix la flor del taronger
The orange tree’s flower grows
Davant les torres de Serrans
In front of the Gates of Serrans
El nostre amor serà la clau que obri tots els panys
Our love will be the key to open all locks
Dels portals d'una València
Of the entrances of a Valencia
On sona la freqüència del cor de Benimaclet
Where the frequence of Benimaclet’s heart sounds
Amb Tereses i Bassets
With Teresas and Bassets.
Saps que no vull glòria ni riqueses
You know I don’t want glory nor wealth
No vull cartes de promeses enfonsades en el mar
I don’t want letters of promises sank in the sea
Que no vull palaus ni vull princeses
I don’t want palaces nor princesses
No vull plors, ni vull tristeses. Comencem a caminar.
I don’t want cries, nor sorrows. Let’s start walking.
Quan caminàvem per la desobediència
When we walked for disobedience
Quan tu i jo teníem somnis rebels
When you and I had rebel dreams
Quan sobreviure forma part de l'essència
When surviving is part of the essence
A la meua terra hi ha una pluja d'estels
In my land there’s a meteor shower
Quan caminàvem pels carrers de València
When we walked through the streets of Valencia
Quan tu i jo teníem somnis rebels
When you and I had rebel dreams
I amb poemes d'amor bastíem la resistència.
And with love poems we constructed resistance.
Fins un nou combat.
Until a new fight.
Es difícil oblidar, les façanes d'aquell temps
It’s difficult to forget, those times’ façades
I els amants que s'estimaven quan la por era el segell
And the lovers who loved each other when fear was the seal
I el futur d'aquells infants que miraven als estels
And the future of those children who looked at the stars
Il·lusions d'un gran present.
Illusions of a grand present.
Tu i jo som rebels del temps i la distància
You and I are rebels of time and distance
Alumnes de l'amor, amants de la insolència
Pupils of love, lovers of insolence
Poetes d'esta nit, pintors del nostre llit
Poets of this night, painters of our bed
Les coses imposibles d'explicar d'aquesta ciència
The impossible things to explain about this science
Tu i jo som satèl·lits sense rumb en la galàxia,
You and I are satellites without a direction in the gallaxy
d'amors impossibles som la paradoxa,
we are the paradox of impossible love
som pretèrits imperfets de la nostra història,
we are pasts imperfects of our history [past imperfect: verb tense of an action started in the past that has not ended]
som aquell record inoblidable en la memòria
we are that unforgettable memory
Quan caminàvem per la desobediència
When we walked for disobedience
Quan tu i jo teníem somnis rebels
When you and I had rebel dreams
Quan sobreviure forma part de l'essència
When surviving is part of the essence
A la meua terra hi ha una pluja d'estels
In my land there’s a meteor shower
Quan caminàvem pels carrers de València
When we walked through the streets of Valencia
Quan tu i jo teníem somnis rebels
When you and I had rebel dreams
I amb poemes d'amor bastíem la resistència.
And with love poems we constructed resistance.
Fins un nou combat.
Until a new fight.
