They Dance Alone
They Dance Alone ( cueca solo ) is a protest song against the crime of forced disappearance of people, which was written by the British musician Sting and published in 1987 on the album ... Nothing Like The Sun. The lyric is a metaphor referring to mourning Chilean women ( " arpilleristas " ) relates that, dance the cueca, the Chilean national dance, alone, with the photos of their " disappeared" husbands and sons in their hands. Sting describes his song as a symbolic gesture of protest against the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, whose regime during 1973-1990, thousands of people were murdered or disappeared without a trace, the so-called " Desaparecidos ". The song was written in English (with some gesprochenenen Spanish lines) and in a Spanish version entitled " Ellas Danzan Solas ", which was also released on the EP Nada como el sol. When recording, Sting was supported by Mark Knopfler ( on guitar ) and Ruben Blades (background vocals and guitar).
The most notable live versions of " They Dance Alone", there were the following concerts: June 11, 1988 with Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute Concert, October 15, 1988 with a concert for Amnesty International in Buenos Aires with Peter Gabriel and the Madres de Plaza de Mayo and, finally, on 13 October 1990 at the "From Chile ... An Embrace to Hope Concert" in Santiago de Chile. In addition to performances by artists such as Jackson Browne, Wynton Marsalis, Sinead O'Connor, Peter Gabriel and the New Kids on the Block, there was an appearance of 20 Chilean women who came to the stage with photographs of their missing husbands and sons, and together with Sting danced to " They Dance alone".
In 2001, Sting was awarded for this song the Gabriela Mistral Prize of Culture.
Cover versions
" They Dance Alone" was repeatedly gecovert in English, Spanish, or as an instrumental version. Among the best-known versions: José Feliciano and the Vienna Symphonic Orchestra Project ( Instrumental Version) (1987 ) from the album Jose Feliciano and Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Richie Havens (1994 ) from the album Cuts to the chase, Bob Belden Ensemble ( Instrumental Version) (1989 ) from the album Straight to My Heart: the Music of Sting, Mark Hall from the album Acoustic Moods of Sting, the London Symphony Orchestra (1994 ) from the album Performs the Music of Sting, Lynn McDonald ( 2007) from the album it's high Time, Holly Near & Mercedes Sosa ( English and Spanish version) (1990 ) from the album Singer in the Storm, Mariano Yanani (2005) from the album Babies go Sting and Joan Baez ( Spanish version) (1989 ) from the album Diamonds & Rust in the Bullring.