NANAS DE LA CEBOLLA - after Joan Manuel Serrat 1974

Miguel Hernández (October 30, 1910-March 28, 1942), was a Spanish poet, born in Orihuela (Spain), to a poor family and given little formal education, published his first book of poetry at 23, and gained considerable fame before his death. He spent his childhood as a goatherd and farmhand, and was, for the most part, self-taught, although he did receive basic education in state schools and with the Jesuits. He was introduced to literature by Ramon Sije. As a youth, he greatly admired Góngora, who was an influence in Hernández's early works.As many Spanish poets of his time, he was deeply influenced by the European vanguards, remarkably by Surrealism.

However, although he used novel images and concepts in his verses, he never abandoned classical, popular rithms and rhymes. Two of his most famous poems were inspired by the death of his friends Ignacio Sánchez Mejías and Ramon Sijé.
During the Spanish Civil War he campaigned in favour of the Republic, writing poetry and addressing the troops deployed to the front. Unlike others, after the Republican surrender he could not escape Spain. The poet was arrested multiple times after the war for his anti-fascist sympathies, and eventually sentenced to death. His death sentence, however, was commuted for a prision term of 30 years, leading the poet to live in multiple jails under extraordinarily harsh conditions until eventually succumbing to tuberculosis in 1942. Just before he died, he scrawled his last verse on the wall of the hospital: Goodbye, brothers, comrades, friends: let me take my leave of the sun and the fields. Some of his verses were kept by his jailors.

While in jail, the poet produced an extraordinary amount of poetry, much of it in the form of simple songs, which he collected in his papers and sent to his wife and others. These poems are now known as his Cancionero y romancero de ausencia (Songs and Ballads of Absence). In these works, the poet writes not only of the tragedy of the Spanish Civil War and his own incarceration, but also of the death of an infant son and the struggle of his wife and another son to survive in poverty. The intensity and simplicity of the poems, combined with the extraordinary situation of the poet, give them remarkable power.

Perhaps the best known work of the poet is a poem called "Nanas de cebolla" ("Onion Lullaby"), a poem in which Hernández replies to a letter from his wife in which she told him that she was surviving on bread and onions. In the poem, the poet envisions his son breastfeeding on his mother's onion blood (sangre de cebolla), and uses the child's laughter as a counterpoint to the mother's desperation. In this as in other poems, the poet turns his wife's body into a mythic symbol of desperation and hope, of regenerative power desperately needed in a broken Spain.

La cebolla es escarcha
cerrada y pobre:
escarcha de tus días
y de mis noches.
Hambre y cebolla:
hielo negro y escarcha
grande y redonda.

En la cuna del hambre
mi niño estaba.
Con sangre de cebolla
se amamantaba.
Pero tu sangre,
escarchada de azúcar,
cebolla y hambre.

Una mujer morena,
resuelta en luna,
se derrama hilo a hilo
sobre la cuna.
Ríete, niño,
que te traigo la luna
cuando es preciso.

Tu risa me hace libre,
me pone alas.
Soledades me quita,
cárcel me arranca.
Boca que vuela,
corazón que en tus labios
relampaguea.

Es tu risa la espada
más victoriosa.
Vencedor de las flores
y las alondras.
Rival del Sol.
Porvenir de mis huesos
y de mi amor.

Desperté de ser niño.
Nunca despiertes.
Triste llevo la boca.
Ríete siempre.
Siempre en la cuna,
defendiendo la risa
pluma por pluma.

Al octavo mes ríes
con cinco azahares.
Con cinco diminutas
ferocidades.
Con cinco dientes
como cinco jazmines
adolescentes.

Frontera de los besos
serán mañana,
cuando en la dentadura
sientas un arma.
Sientas un fuego
correr dientes abajo
buscando el centro.

Vuela niño en la doble
luna del pecho.
Él, triste de cebolla.
Tú, satisfecho.
No te derrumbes.
No sepas lo que pasa
ni lo que ocurre.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• nanas
• de
• la
• cebolla
• Joan
• Manuel
• Serrat
• Miguel
• Hernández

[irisroma]

aplaudo a alguien que es capaz de interpretar un poema tan importante en una lengua completamente distinta a la suya, es un homenaje a M. HERNANDEZ Y A SERRAT, CUANDO LA CULTURA SE DIFUNDE SIEMPRE ES SINONIMO DE PROGRESO

[capitanlicerio]

considerando que su dominio de una lengua extranjera es limitado, definitavemente, su esfuerzo es de considerarse y dudo que existan personas que se aventuren a esto, mis respetos para su dedicacion, para mi el poema es bello y su interpretacion vale la pena escucharse.

[tusitaladecai]

Me parece genial. Gracias por entender y difundir la cultura de este país.

[Poetamo]

Hi, Ben! fantastic job. Thank you for knowing Serrat's music and Hernández poetry so well, and spread them by your channel.

[youjulio1]

Los "chinos imitan todos" inventaron la brujula , la polvora la imprenta, el papel moneda, la idea del primer cohetes del primer helicoptero, los papalotes el futbol soccer, el cepillo dental, la mejores cocinas del mundo, el primer horno la primera represa aun funcionando. lamentablemente no tengo espacio para mas

[elcor59]

Lo preciosoes,es que a el como a nosotros,lo toca la inspiracion de HErnandez,y la interpretacion de Serrat,no teme interpretar y en un idioma diferente a el de el,muy buena interpretacion,con sentimiento,es lo que importa qu ela sienta

[gina0615]

me pongo de pie y hago carabana, realmente no es burla ni por parte mia ni de el, veo que siente lo que canta, bravo!!!

[tikizzia1981]

ill do it a  lot better of course im hispanic and know all these songs up side down Modesty apart But absolutly salute this person as someone said its anothewr cultur and language and was respecttibly done Good job

[TheJoshwallace]

Los chinos imitan todo, pero me encanta cuando lo imitan con amor

[texlobo]

Creo que la canta con respeto pero mal Saludos como sea.

[Gloryvanna]

Todo es susceptible de interpretarse de diferentes maneras, ésta me parece muy válida y respetuosa. No hay que encorsetarlo todo.

¡Wenarto, me encantan tus "Nanas"!