Nómadas podcast - Santiago de Compostela, fin de camino

[MichaelC]

RTVE (Radio y Televisión Española) just released a new episode of the Nómadas podcast - Santiago de Compostela, fin de camino (in Spanish).

Nómadas is a Lonely Planet-style podcast, and this episode deals with the city of Santiago itself. There's some interesting bits in there, some having to do with the Camino. The Spanish is clear (no slang!), and I think would be accessible to low-intermediate speakers.

It usually takes me two passes to fully understand an episode, and I've only listened to it once. I might pop back in with some observations once I've listened to it again. I'm also trying to find the name of the final song ... I'll definitely be back once I learn that.

 

[markgrubb]

I've used Nómadas for learning Spanish for a while and find it excellent. The 2 presenters speak very clearly. However I would say you need a high level of Spanish to understand the episode well-it contains poetry and one of the interviewees has quite a tough accent, lots of subjunctives and complex grammar too.
The song seems to be in Gallego, definitely not Spanish. I can catch the lyric Chove en Santiago and that seems to be your song and a quick search shows it is by Luar na Lubre. Chove is one of the ten or so words I seem to remember learning from a local when a hospitalero en Galicia and means appropriately enough for Galicia-'it rains'

 

[MichaelC]

That's the song, thanks! It didn't even cross my mind that it might be in Gallego.

And now, down the rabbit hole. This is all stuff I've gathered from poking around on the internet this morning, so feel free to offer any corrections of clarifications if anyone has them!

Chove en Santiago is the first line in a poem by Federcio Garcia Lorca called
Madrigal á cibdá de Santiago (Song of the city of Santiago). It's from his collection Seis poemas gallegos that was published in 1935.

Luar na lubre set it to music. It's a beautiful song; hope you all enjoy.

For those who like to sing along, the lyrics are:

Chove en Santiago
meu doce amor.
Camelia branca do ar
brila entebrecida ô sol.

Chove en Santiago
na noite escrura.
Herbas de prata e de sono
cobren a valeira lúa.

Olla a choiva pol-a rúa,
laio de pedra e cristal.
Olla o vento esvaído
soma e cinza do teu mar.

Soma e cinza do teu mar
Santiago, lonxe do sol.
Agoa da mañán anterga
trema no meu corazón.

I couldn't find any English translation, so this is a really rough take using online dictionaries:

It's raining in Santiago,
my sweet love.
White camellia of the air
shining dimly in the sun.

It's raining in Santiago
in the dark night.
Herbs of silver and dreams
cover the empty moon.

Look at the rain on the street,
lament of stone and glass.
Look at the faded wind,
Soma e cinza do teu mar.

Soma e cinza do teu mar
Santiago, far from the sun.
Ancient morning water
trembles in my heart.

I can't work out a good translation for Soma e cinza do teu mar. One Spanish site says soma is an untranslatable Galician word referring to earth that leaves a furrow when it's plowed. Some Spanish sites translate it as smoke, some as shadow.

 

[markgrubb]

Thanks Michael! Really interesting! And yes it is a lovely song.