Hiya
Yes, I'm still around. Have just been totally busy with all kinds of things -- work, life, etc. -- so I've sorely neglected my blog.
Nor do I have much time today, but just wanted to share this with you all who are interested in music, peace and everything.
Prompted by a hauntingly beautiful performance earlier today by the great Bernese cellist, Thomas Demenga, and a wonderful Canadian pianist who also lives in Berne, James Alexander, I went in search of Pablo Casals' own composition, El Cant dels Ocells, or The Singing of the Birds. And found a link to a performance by the great Catalan cellist himself. I hope I'm not infringing copyright here by quoting the link:
http://membres.lycos.fr/casals/ecdo.htm
Enjoy! It's one of the more haunting pieces I've ever heard. Casals used to perform it as an encore after his concerts -- a subtle form of protest against General Franco's fascist terror regime in Spain.
Demenga and Alexander performed earlier today here in Berne at the Kunstmuseum on the occasion of the opening of a photo retrospective of Paul Senn, one of Switzerland's great early photo journalist. Senn was totally committed to social justice and peace and ventured to the border between France and Spain just when the great exodus of mostly Catalan but also Andalusian refugees poured into France across the high passes of the Pyrenees. Thousands perished of starvation or froze to death during that trek. Within one day, according to Paul Senn's reportage, some 30,000 made it into France at the border crossing of Le Perthus alone. His photos are harrowing still. Those of you who are interested may want to go to http://www.paulsenn.ch (-> Reportagen -> Bürgerkrieg -> Zürcher Illustrierte vom 10. 02. 1939 / Nr. 6, pp. 146-149: article entitled "Nach Frankreich!" (commentaries in German and French)
www.paulsenn.ch is the recently established online archive of Paul Senn's impressive photo reportages. The Kunstmuseum has a large show of photographs on now -- a great exhibition.
My very first Spanish teacher was one of the children who were brought to safety in Switzerland -- I'm not sure exactly which route he came in on but I will never forget the hush that fell on our class when he told us of the fear and loneliness that was in him as he arrived here.
The worst about this is that exactly this kind of thing keeps happening all over the world -- only on a much greater scale.
Peace!
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