R, I. P.
This weekend, someone I once met died of old age. His name was Salvador Escamilla. For everybody reading this, he's an unknown person. But for Catalan people, he's someone who really fought for Catalan culture. Back in 1964, when Catalan was forbidden and if you taught it you ended up in prison, he started a program called Radioscope in Radio Barcelona, where he didn't only speak (sometimes only) in Catalan, but started the promotion of music in Catalan, what was called "La nova cançó" and gave an opportunity to people such as Joan Manuel Serrat. He was tollerated because his program was so popular that authorities feared the reaction of listeners.
He himself sang in Catalan. He's known for having made the translations of musicals such as West Side Story and many Disney songs from the 60s. And he wasn't bad at all. Before you think how weird is that, bear in mind that people didn't have access to study foreign languages and local versions were always made both for the lack of knowledge of foreign language and the desire of governments to control information. Censors could speak Spanish and Catalan, but not English.
I met him 11 years ago. I had a friend who got interviewed by him in one of his last programs in Catalunya Ràdio. They spoke about the future of Radio. My friend, a Ph. D. in Telecommunications, spoke about Radio on demand via Internet. Escamilla was amazed.
He himself sang in Catalan. He's known for having made the translations of musicals such as West Side Story and many Disney songs from the 60s. And he wasn't bad at all. Before you think how weird is that, bear in mind that people didn't have access to study foreign languages and local versions were always made both for the lack of knowledge of foreign language and the desire of governments to control information. Censors could speak Spanish and Catalan, but not English.
I met him 11 years ago. I had a friend who got interviewed by him in one of his last programs in Catalunya Ràdio. They spoke about the future of Radio. My friend, a Ph. D. in Telecommunications, spoke about Radio on demand via Internet. Escamilla was amazed.