Lorca by Cardone

The song “Hasta siempre” about Che Guevara in the version of Nathalie Cardone (oh, that great YouTube clip!) has been popular in our politicized part of blogosphere since the beginning of times — equally on both sides, pro- and contra-Putin’s.

Many years ago, not knowing Spanish almost at all, I memorized the song to sing along on occasion. And at the same time, armed with dictionary, tried to translate its text by Carlos Puebla word by word from Spanish to Russian and predictably failed — to translate such texts you must also understand at least the basics of the language grammar.

Now, finally, after a considerable time of studying Spanish it’s not a problem for me — I can explain every single word and expression in the original Spanish text of that song, and proud of it. But after managing this long-delayed task — just out of curiosity — I began trying to translate another Spanish songs of Cardone. And after more or less simple (in both meanings — lexic and content) “Baila si” encountered quite a more sophisticated one — “Antonio”. Which turned out to be a compilation from two prominent poems by Federico Garcia Lorca. And, performed by her, sounds for me no less beautiful than even the famous “Hasta Siempre”.

But both poems itself — in its original Spanish versions — are also excellent and awesome for reading. A true pleasure.

Spanish text of the song with player and Russian translation