Remezcla blogger Juli Nalerio writes from Valladolid, Spain while working on her Masters. Cabrones, he salido de Salamanca ya … ¿esto no lo sabías?
Early February in Spain and we have just seen the end of the 2013 carnaval celebrations. These fabled parties bring thousands of young and young-at-heart spaniards to the street, drinking calimocho of vino don simon (1€) y coca cola while decked out in egg, caveman, spiderman or chulo costumes. My fave is the fried egg, really spanish.
Cádiz is the famous site of the second best carnaval party in Spain, the first being, of course, in the hot and humid Gran Canarias. I couldn’t make it to the islands, so I went down to Spain’s southern tip with my mom. Yes, I went to carnaval with my mom, don’t make fun of me. The latin love para la madre transcends all boundaries, no?
Anyway, she and I and M. went down to Sevilla where the garbage men were on strike and to Cádiz. There at carnaval, all I got was (1) drunk off of the best mojito ever, squeezed from sugar cane on the spot, (2) a pair of fake-ass Ray Band knock offs to rock all Spring long, and (3) this stupid didactic political song which I recorded when I was drunk and with no intention of sharing with you all, so please don’t judge my cameraman-ship which is drunken okayy, valeeee??? JODER
[insert-video youtube=oLO-t-NFX7Q]
OK, eee, so the song is not actually stupid at all.
Hopefully you’re wondering about the context of this amazing spectacle of musicianship. Pues, Cádiz carnaval is most famous for its chirigotas, satirical groups of spanish barber shop quartets or sextets or…( you get the point) that sing biting satirical tunes while wearing sardonic smiles and sipping on brandy. You can find them around the winding corners and alleys characteristic of the old port city or in the carnaval gran finale in the Cádiz theater.
The chirigotas set the stage for the drinking and revelry like this group above that mentioned the pope’s twitter account and then went on to poke fun at the recent news that has the Spanish ready to kick some politician ass….The words are as follows: “Y lo pagas tu, y tu y tu y solamente tuuuu.” That addressee is each Spanish citizen who has to pay for corrupt politicians’ salaries in addition to their weekend spending money as well. Bottles and bitches este finde, anyone? It’s on me!
This January it was released that the conservative El Partido Popular (El PP) currently in power in Spain was under investigation for corruption. When the media got hold of the financial records the news broke that nearly all PP party members had been pocketing dirty money for more than a decade, and loads of it, while the Spanish middle class struggled under the country’s financial crisis. This created even more civil unrest (how is that even possible, I know). The polls show that the country is turning to the left, and more of the middle class is supportive of la izquierda unida.
As you can note in the song, since the Quijote, the Spanish have known how to turn tragedy into tragicomedy. And in regards to the political corruption, are currently in the process of “laughing it off.”
_____
More by Juli:
Salamanca Diaries 3: Porto, Portugal, losing 3000 dollar watches and sheet
Salamanca Diaries 4: Madrid, Strikes, Illegal Status and Hipsters
Salamanca Diaries 5: Music Videos to Make You Rethink Spanish Rap + ¡Don’t Date El Rapero!
Salamanca Diaries: Tres Ya No Son Multitud | XXXmas En Valencia, Spain
Salamanca Diaries: Churros Españoles | Top 10 hottest spanish celebs