She and It @ Quiet Cue

  She + It live at Quiet Cue Berlin from quiet cue_intermedia&cooperation on Vimeo.  

This is the story of a duo made of a brazilian girl and an european robot. Me, the "She" in the duo, and my partner the robot Krach, here named "It" were looking for a topic that could unite our pasts, that was our challenge for the concert @ Quiet Cue in Berlin.

Krach told me he used to listen to latinamerican songs, the ones that crossed the charts ocean all the way to Europe. From these songs, on of "It"´s favorites was "La Paloma". You might know it, and if not, here is the video:

By researching about the song I found out that this music unites our pasts in a much deeper way than we ever thought it would.

The story begins in 1809, when the composer of "La Paloma" was born, Sebastian de Yradier (1809 - 1865).

Source http://www.eitb.com/radio/noticias/detalle/69712/radio-vitoria-celebra-bicentenario-nacimiento-sebastian-iradier/

The piece was supposed to be heard first time publicly at Teatro Nacional de Mexico 1863. One member of the audience was your highness the emperor Maximilianthe 1st from Mexico.

Porträt Maximilian I. von Franz Xaver Winterhalter

Well, one could ask, what is a Habsburger doing in Mexico? (although when one speaks of a Habsburger, it is clear that long distances were not a problem for that dinasty, but the very goal)

The answer to our question above unites not only She&It, but also Austria, Latinamerica, Brazil and now Berlin, where the story will be told.

Let´s catch up with our emperor, Maximilian the 1st from Mexico: born 1832 in Vienna, he was a lover of the seas, has even been to Brazil.

Napoleon the 3rd wanted by all means to have Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph Maria von Österreich as an emperor in Mexico. Napoleon told everybody in Europe, the mexican people wished themselves nothing more than a Habsburger as their emperor. On the other side, the Habsburger family had of course its conquering interests and either fully believed what Napoleon told about mexican people or just took the chance to see what they what would happen, risking even Maximiliam´s life.

The problem was that archduke Maximilian didn´t know, by the time, that Benito Juarez was already long ago the chosen president of Mexico, settled in fact by France, but supported by many other american states too.

Unknowingly the conjuncture, emperor Maximilian became very fast an unwanted european intrusion in Mexico´s history. 

Maximiliam and Charlote, 1857

He and his wife, Charlotte from Belgium, were so bad welcome that they had to sleep on a billard table because the mattresses were all full of insects.

After the end of the american civil war, the US put pressure over the french troops to leave Mexico. The atmosphere started to become unpleasant for the austrian emperor...

Maximiliam cried for help from Europe, but nothing came back.

On may the 14th 1867 emperor Maximiliam was disempowered and condemned to death by a martial court. He was shut dead in "Tres Campanas"

Execution of the Emperor,Maximilian portraited by Manet, 1868

If you think we lost track in our storytelling, guess which was the song Maximiliam wished to hear before falling dead? - Yes, you´re right, it was La Paloma. The song was not only played then, but also when his coffin was brought out of the ship with all martial ceremonies in Miramare (near Triest), where he had lived before with her lovely wife. 

Miramare Castle

 

After this sad moment of austrian´s military history, the marine officers present at the ceremony decided La Paloma would never be played again inside an austrian military ship. This tradition is valid until the present time inside austrian navy.

But here in Berlin, this story is part of the "Donauwellen" concert series, and from now on it will be the tale about a pigeon, a composer, an emperor, a woman without eyes and a robot.

Here is "La Paloma" from Sebastian de Yradier:

Si a tu ventana llega una paloma
Tratala con carino que es mi persona
Cuentale tus amores bien de mi vida
Coronala de flores que es cosa mia

Ay chinita que si
Ay que dame tu amor
Ay que vente conmigo chinita
A donde vivo yo

Auf Matrosen ohe, in die wogende See!
Schwarze Gedanken, sie wanken und flieh’n
geschwind uns wie Sturm und Wind!
Auf Matrosen ohe, in die wogende See!
Schwarze Gedanken, sie wanken und fliehn
geschwind uns wie Sturm und Wind!

And here is the Paloma that the robot used to listen to, Una Paloma Blanca:

When the sun shines on the mountain
And the night is on the run
It's a new day
It's a new way
And I fly up to the sun

I can feel the morning sunlight
I can smell the new-mown hay
I can hear God's voice is calling
For my golden sky light way

Una paloma blanca
I'm just a bird in the sky
Una paloma blanca
Over the mountains I fly
No one can take my freedom away

Once I had my share of losing
for they locked me on a chain
Yes they tried to break my power
oh I still can feel the pain

Una paloma blanca
I'm just a bird in the sky
Una paloma blanca
Over the mountains I fly
No one can take my freedom away