Girtain: 5 Canciones de Mistral's "Tala"- IV. Todas ibamos a ser reinas

Описание: Todas ibamos a ser reinas is a melancholy reflection, and one of the most recognized poems from Tala. Mistral recounts the idealistic childhood fantasies she and her playmates shared-- visions of grandeur and beauty-- later shattered by the harsh realities of life, often through the suffering inflicted by men. My setting, like th epoem, interweaves the exuberant innocence of youth with the melancholy of disillusionment.

A rough English translation reads:

We were all going to be queens,
of four kingdoms by the sea:
Rosalía with Efigenia,
and Lucila with Soledad.

In the valley of Elqui, ringed
by a hundred mountains, maybe more,
that burn like offerings or tributes
in saffron gold and ruddy red.

We said it, drunk on the dream,
and we believed it to be true:
that we would all be queens
and that we’d all reach the sea.

With braids at seven years of age,
and dresses light as muslin cloth,
chasing blackbirds through the shadows
underneath the fig tree’s boughs.

Of the four kingdoms, we would say —
certain as the Holy Qur’an —
that for their greatness and perfection,
they would reach unto the sea.

Each of us would take a husband
at the time for marrying,
and they’d be kings, and singers too,
like David, the king of Judah.

And being vast, our royal realms
would have, without a doubt,
green seas, seas of weed and wave,
and the mad bird, the pheasant.

And if they held all fruits of earth,
milk-tree, breadfruit, every bloom,
we would not cut the guayacán,
nor would we bite down into steel.

We were all going to be queens
and queens in truth would reign;
but none of us has worn a crown
in Arauco or in Copán…

Rosalía kissed a sailor
already wed unto the sea,
and the one she kissed, in Guaitecas,
was swallowed by the storm.

Soledad raised seven brothers
and left her blood inside her bread,
and her eyes were black with sorrow
for never having seen the sea.

In the vineyards of Montegrande,
with her pure and wheat-white breast,
she rocks the children of other queens —
and hers shall never, never be.

This work was made possible through the support of the Seremi de las Culturas, las Artes y el Patrimonio de la Región de Los Lagos (Chile), and through the vision and leadership of @loretomarques_contralto, who both performed and managed the project.

Performers:
@joaquingomilla
@arita_li
@jessik_maj7
@cuerdas.y.resonancias
@juan.flautista_
@loretomarques_contralto
@cesar_oyarzun_

Recorded live by:
@maullincultura

With support from:
@culturaancud
@sede_pm_uach
@culturaloslagos

#gabrielamistral #tala #chileanpoetry #latinamericanart #contemporarymusic #músicachilena #artsongs

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