NANA DE ESTA PEQUEÑA ERA / THIS LITTLE ERA LULLABY

Fran MM Cabeza de Vaca | María Salgado


Nana de esta pequeña era / This little era lullaby is a narrated video made by María Salgado and Fran MM Cabeza de Vaca in the summer of 2019, commissioned by Pedro G. Romero as a part of his project Cancionero de la guerra social contemporánea / Songs for the contemporary social war. From rewriting of the lyrics and music of the popular song Nana de Sevilla (Lorca and La Argentinita, 1931) comes this lullaby that speaks of a crises underway in dreamless world we inhabit.

Lullabies are songs that tenderly warn of danger, that care without lying, that conjure fear. The lullaby of this era warns of the warming of the oceans, the melting of ice, the extinction, violence against refugees and the fearsome figures like Bolsonaro who today act as bogeymen. Lullabies are the only piece of music that triumphs when the audience falls asleep. This 12-minute lullaby is presented in three acts: from the distortion of an old folk melody and lyrics for its recontextualisation in the harshness of the present to the sweetness of a sensual and hypnotic song, passing through the analysis of the loop that sustains everything.

Nana de esta pequeña era / This little era lullaby was first exhibited in Actually, the Dead are not Dead. Bergen Assembly 2019 (Norway, 5/9-10/11/2019). From March to September 2020 the video was broadcast on the websites of L'Internationale Online and the Shutdown program of WKV Stuttgart and then exhibited in the following group shows: Actually, the Dead Are Not Dead / Politics of life (Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart 2020); Romper el aire (Galería Alarcón Criado, Sevilla, 2020); Sin palabras. Voces y silencios en el arte contemporáneo (Red Itiner Comunidad de Madrid, 2022); Jondo, sonidos maquínicos (Fundación Rafael Botí, Córdoba, 2022; Dilalica gallery, Barcelona, 2022). As a live audiotextual performance the lullaby was premiered on 29/12/2020 at the gallery Nadie Nunca Nada No in Madrid and incorporated into Jinete Último Reino Frag. 1, a performance piece premiered at the 39th Festival de Otoño en Teatros del Canal (Madrid, 18-19/11/2021). The graphic and printable version of the lullaby is part of the 3rd issue of L'Internationale Online magazine (Austerity and utopia, may 2021).

Technical datasheet

  • Title: NANA DE ESTA PEQUEÑA ERA / THIS LITTLE ERA LULLABY
  • Direction: Fran MM Cabeza de Vaca - María Salgado
  • Production: 2019.
  • Duration: 00:12:07
  • Languages: English - Spanish
  • Original format: HD 1920x1080
  • License: Creative Commons CC-BY-SA