Triana has been one of the best Spanish rock bands, considered as a legend today. Triana was formed by three musicians from other 60s pop groups: Jesús de la Rosa (1948-1983), vocals and keyboards; Eduardo Rodríguez “Roadway”, guitar and vocals; and Juan José Palacios “Tele” (1944-2002), percussion. They recorded his first LP in 1975. Triana belongs to the musical movement called as Andalusian rock and the flamenco-rock style (beside other bands as Smash or Medina Azahara), a kind of mix of flamenco and foreign psychedelic and progressive rock (King Krimson, Pink Floyd, etc.), so, maybe, it’s a kind of folk-rock. Triana’s lyrics, generally writen by De la Rosa or by “Roadway”, are very poeticals, and those of their beginnings are very implicated with society. Here there are three great songs, each one from a different album: El patio (“The Quadrangle”, 1975), Hijos del agobio (“Children of the burden”, 1977) and, their last one, … Llegó el día (“… Has come the day”, 1983):
El patio, recorded in 1974 and released in 1975, was their cover letter: psychedelic and progressive rock, with the touch of flamenco, and a very strong songs influenced by Andalusian poetry. The album first cut is this invitation to life and love.
Abre la puerta
Yo quise subir al cielo para ver
y bajar hasta el infierno para comprender
qué motivo es
que nos impide ver
dentro de ti
dentro de ti
dentro de mí…
Abre la puerta niña
que el día va a comenzar
se marchan todos los sueños
qué pena da despertar.
Por la mañana amanece
la vida y una ilusión
deseos que se retuercen
muy dentro del corazón.
Soñaba que te quería
soñaba que era verdad
que los luceros tenían
misterios para soñar.
Hay una fuente niña
que la llaman del amor
donde bailan los luceros
y la luna con el sol.
Abre la puerta niña
y dale paso a la luz
mira qué destello tiene
esa nube con el sol.
Por la mañana amanece
la vida y una ilusión
deseos que se retuercen
muy dentro del corazón.
Hay una fuente niña
que la llaman del amor
donde bailan los luceros
y la luna con el sol.
Open up the door
I wanted go up to heaven to see/ and go down to hell to understand/ which is that reason/ that prevent us from seeing/ inside you,/ inside you,/ inside me…// Open up the door baby/ the day is beginning/ all the dreams go along/ what a pity is awaking.// In the morning dawns/ life and a hope,/ wishes that are twisting/ very deep inside the heart.// I was dreaming I love you/ I was dreaming it was true/ that the bright stars had/ mysteries for dreaming.// There’s a spring, baby,/ they call it “of love”/ where are dancing the stars/ and the moon with the sun.// Open up the door baby/ and let ligh in/ look such a flash has/ that cloud with the sun…
Jesús de la Rosa
Meanwhile, their second one, Hijos del agobio, with the same kind of powerful music (psychedelic, progresive and har-rock with flamenco), had a kind of songs more implicated with the Spanish society of the last 70s: a country that was on the road to democracy, but with a lot of injustices, as the repression against worker’s strikes, and the rise of the extreme-right wing’s parties and armed bands. The next song –completed by the next track, “Necesito” (I need)- talked about that situation of a kind of politicians talking about what was the best for the people, and it’s also an allegation for democracy, the right of choosing:
¡Ya está bien!
Quién hablará
quién nos dirá
la verdad.
Todos pretenden saber y decir
lo que piensa usted
con elegantes palabras
y el gesto duro a la vez
y queremos elegir
sin que nadie diga más
el rumbo que lleva a la orilla
de la libertad.
Enough is enough!
Who shall speak/ Who shall tell us/ the truth.// All of them claims to know and say/ what you think/ with smart words/ and a severe gesture both,/ and we want to choose,/ no need for someone saying anything more,/ the drift that shall drive us to freedom’s/ shore.
Jesús de la Rosa
Finally, … Llegó el día, released in 1983, was their sixth and last album. Since 1980, the band left a little their strong and experimental line, taking a more commercial style, not bad but less interesting than before. Jesús de la Rosa’s death in a wreck, at 14 October, put end to the career of the band. Both members of the band tryed to rescue the band’s name with new members unsuccesfully and with polemic… But it’s another story. This one, that gives name to the album, is probably the best of this LP, recovering Triana’s original spirit. It’s a beautiful song that seems to announce De la Rosa’s death… Maybe for that reason, but the words too, I use to compare it with Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free bird”, because both ballads sounds something like a farewell song:
Llegó el día
Ya no siento que me ahoga la nostalgia
y estoy muy cansado de llorar;
ya no importará más quien gane,
y no quiero de esta fuerza escapar.
Volaré por las estrellas una a una
en el brillo de tu cara y tu mirar,
pediré al sol que toda mi fortuna
sea un rayo perdido en alta mar.
Si sabes que no me vale,
si sabes que no me sirve.
Ahora siento que llegó el día
en que tengo ganas de vivir,
de atravesar los muros y ruinas,
que aunque pase el tiempo están ahí;
y florecer como un hombre nuevo
sin miedo a las tragedias por venir,
regalarle a la vida todo el fuego
de tus ojos y tus ansias de vivir.
Iba vestida la aurora
con rayos de sol,
y en los cabellos prendida
llevaba una flor.
Has come the day
Now I feel nostalgy doesn’t smother me/ and I’m very tired from crying;/ now shall no matter anymore who win,/ and I don’t want to run away from this strenght./ I will fly by the stars one by one/ on the shine of your face and your look,/ I’ll ask to the sun that all my fortune/ be a lost beam at offshore.// If you know that’s not worth for me,/ If you know that’s not help me.// Now I feel that has come the day/ in which I feel like living,/ like breaking through the walls and ruins,/ that although time pass by there they are;/ and bloom up as a new man/ without fear to tragedies to come,/ give away to life all the fire/ of your eyes and your longing of living.// The dawn was dressed/ with sunbeams,/ and pinned in her hair/ was wearing a flower.
Jesús de la Rosa
La Zamarra de Gustavo 