A brief musical interlude ...

[UncleBob]

Hi everybody,

@Mrs UB has asked that I post this for her. It's a video that she received from a client her thought that she might like it. I'll add the text that accompanies the video as well.

I'm expecting @snowbunny to provide some further info based on her Spanish knowledge

Here is the text:

Take a wonderful three-minute trip to Spain!

This song, performed in The Sagrada Familia Church in Barcelona,
Spain is a remarkable performance. It also gives you a look inside
the Church that was designed by the famed architect ... Gaudi.

Look up this church. It is spectacular and while either very close
to being finished or not finished, it has been under construction for
almost125 years. It may be the last great cathedral built for any Christian faith.


The decor is fantastic.

Even more interesting is that the song is being sung in Catalan
This is the language of the "Moors" or Muslims and it is being sung
in a Catholic church. Also great to see and hear the bagpipes!
Given the differences between the Spanish and Catalan people that
makes the news, this is a wonderful demonstration of communities
getting along. Bravo!

Gaudi's masterpiece... Sacred, awesome, inspirational & unbelievable!
Concert held at the Sagrada Familia Church in Barcelona, in memory
of the victims of terrorism. "Safe in the hand of God" sung in
Catalan; watch the bagpipes entering the church.

Here is the video:

 

[Atemas]

I am a big fan of Gaudi’s Barcelona. On my to do list is to revisit Barcelona to see the Sagrada Familia Church nearer completion than when I last saw it - I understand there are a few more years before completion. Thank you @UncleBob and @Mrs UB

 

[Candy]

Trevor and I had booked flights to Barcelona back in 2016. We were going to have two days there before catching the TGV to Collioure, in Catalan France. Top of our list to visit was the Sagrada Familia Church. Unfortunately Solstice ruptured her cruciate ligament, so we had to cancel the holiday. I have promised myself that I will get there one day though, so thankyou for that reminder.

 

[Emily]

Nathan on a playground in 2018

 

[Jacqui-S]

Wow!
What a stunning place.
Our trip(s) to Barcelona have been quite brief, that definitely didn't feature on our itinerary, I would have remembered.

 

[Anne123]

Last year we were there when there were the protests.....

 

[snowbunny]

Beautiful!! I’ve never been inside the Sagrada Familia! I’ve not been to that part of Barcelona in a couple of years and haven’t seen it without it being totally covered in scaffold, even. I’m not a massive tourist attraction person, and queuing for hours to be in a sardine can with other people has never been high on my list of fun days out, even pre Covid! But I still appreciate the art from afar, and Gaudí is an institution. It amazes me that he was allowed to do what he did in Barcelona, as it’s so out of place with the character. Yes, once a precedent is set, there’s a good reason to add more pieces, but how did the first one ever happen?
I’m glad that it did, though. I love the bonkersness of it all!

The history of Spain is enriched with the influence of the Moors (Islamic people). It’s a huge part of their culture and dates back to the eighth (?) century when the Moors first arrived from the African mainland, and started to settle throughout Spain.

I’m not a history buff, yet I’m touched by the history of Catalunya. I speak only very rudimentary Catalan, to my shame (it’s on my list!) but I totally understand why they are so protective of their language and culture.
This article explains some of their history: History of the city Barcelona and Catalonia: Ebro, Moors, Cordoba, Castile, Aragon, Spain, Antiquity, Punic War

I recently found an online teacher to help me learn Catalan as it’s such a big part of their identity, and even though I can only scratch by in my understanding of it at this point, I still find it incredibly moving to listen to such a powerful song being sung in this repressed language in its natural home.

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

I was not expecting the song to be Amazing Grace!

Because I'm contrary and nit picking, I was more fascinated with the bizarre discription @Mrs UB 's client included of the video than the video itself (which of course is lovely).

Even more interesting is that the song is being sung in Catalan
This is the language of the "Moors" or Muslims and it is being sung
in a Catholic church.

The linguistic nerd in me had to look this up as my first reaction was "Heh??". I can read most basic Catalan (not speak it of course) so I thought, "Wow, I'd never noticed any Arabic influence in Catalan". So...nope. Not sure where the original writer got the idea that Catalan was an Arabic-derived language, but it's not. It's a Romance language that (to me anyway) feels like a mash up of French, Italian and Spanish.

Given the differences between the Spanish and Catalan people that
makes the news, this is a wonderful demonstration of communities
getting along. Bravo!

This intrigued me too. After I went down my rabbit holes (see below), it's obvious this is just made up.

"Safe in the hand of God" sung in
Catalan;

That's definitely Amazing Grace. Which led me down a really interesting rabbit hole of the history of the song. Never knew it was English! Also thought this may be a Google translate thing (ie someone took the Spanish/Catalan title of Amazing Grace and auto-translated back to English). But no...

And that led me down a bigger rabbit hole. Amazing Grace in Catalan is called "Avui vull agrair". The clip is from 2016: "Mónica Naranjo from Figueres is the protagonist of the new music video for TV3's La Marató album. Shot in the Sagrada Família, the singer is accompanied by the Jove Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona, the Banda de Gaites Xuntanza de Catalunya and the Polifònica de Puig-reig." So everyone here is Catalan, including the singer, which makes the description about 'communities getting along' moot (even if it is a nice idea).

Concert held at the Sagrada Familia Church in Barcelona, in memory
of the victims of terrorism. "

The performance was part of a fund-raising effort for stroke research. Yes, "stroke" as in the medical condition. Nothing to do with terrorism. The program La Marató de TV3 is an annual telethon which picks a different theme/beneficiary each year. In 2016 it was stroke research.

So that description? Completely made up in someone's imagination after they watched the video.

@UncleBob thank you for an interesting morning rabbit hole which has allowed me to postpone the start of my first post-holiday workday by 15 minutes.

 

[Mrs UB]

@Emily_Babbelhund to be fair to my client she was just passing the description on from her friend. My client’s comment was that the music was beautiful and uplifting and that it was a good advert for Spanx - no plumpy bits there!

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

My client’s comment was that the music was beautiful and uplifting and that it was a good advert for Spanx - no plumpy bits there!

All 100% true!

 

[Atemas]

Love the way this forum can always make me laugh . Thank you @Emily_Babbelhund and @Mrs UB. Definitely the building that fascinates me rather than the music

 

[Joy]

We visited the Sagrada Familia eight years ago (in November so no long queues) and I loved its quirkiness. This turtle especially appealed to me as it made me think of Terry Pratchett's discworld.