He founded, in 1971, the recognized independent record label Ayuí/Tacuabé in order to promote and support valuable Uruguayan musical expressions, along with other musicians like José "Pepe" Guerra, Braulio López, Coriún Aharonián, Myriam Dibarboure, María Teresa Sande and Edgardo Bello,
He has performed the works of Cuban Nueva Trova stars Silvio Rodríguez and Pablo Milanés and Brazil's Chico Buarque and Edu Lobo and has worked with Cuban composer and arranger Leo Brouwer. His recordings are widely available, especially "Trópicos" (1972).
Viglietti was imprisoned in 1972 by his own government. He was supported by the likes of Jean-Paul Sartre as an international man of conscience, a voice for peace, and an opponent of the fascism and tyranny that plagued South America in the 1970s. Rumors about possible mistreatment against him forced the authorities to bring him out in front of television cameras to show that, in particular, his hands were fine. However, Viglietti spoke out that his treatment in police custody was much better than what other political prisoners received. He was a peer of the late Chilean poet and folk singer Victor Jara and composer and activist Violeta Parra.
El Viento
Daniel Viglietti Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Su antigua nostalgia de andar
Contando sus sueños al aire
Haciendo del cielo un cantar.
La copla del viento es azul,
Envuelve la tierra de inviernos
Y ya en el verano del trigo
Es tibio susurro de ensueño.
Su pena ancestral de volar,
Besando ramaje de pinos
Sin nunca poder regresar.
Amigo de dulces copleros,
Zorzales del amanecer,
Escucha de lejos las coplas
Y nunca las puede aprender.
Y nunca las puede aprender.
The song "El Viento" by Daniel Viglietti is about the wind and its yearning to travel and dream. The first line of the song, "El viento me dijo al pasar" (the wind told me in passing) introduces the wind as a character communicating with the singer. The wind tells the singer about its ancient longing to wander and share its dreams with the air, turning the sky into a song. The chorus, "La copla del viento es azul, envuelve la tierra de inviernos y ya en el verano del trigo, es tibio susurro de ensueño" (the song of the wind is blue, it wraps the land in winters and in the summer of wheat, it's a warm whisper of dream), describes the nature of the wind's song. The wind's song is blue, not in terms of sadness, but possibly in terms of freedom or vastness. The wind's song is present in both winter and summer, but in different forms - in winter, it wraps the land completely, whereas in the summer, it is a soothing whisper of dreams.
The second stanza of the song describes the wind's sorrow about its inability to return to where it has been. The wind, once it has kissed the pine leaves, cannot come back again, and this is a source of ancestral pain for it. The wind is a friend of sweet singers and morning thrushes but it can only listen to their songs from afar, never able to learn them for itself. The song "El Viento" is full of poetic imagery that evokes the freedom and sorrow of the wind.
Line by Line Meaning
El viento me dijo al pasar
While passing by, the wind told me
Su antigua nostalgia de andar
About its old nostalgic longing to wander
Contando sus sueños al aire
Sharing its dreams with the air
Haciendo del cielo un cantar
Making the sky sing
La copla del viento es azul,
The wind's song is blue,
Envuelve la tierra de inviernos
It wraps the earth in winters
Y ya en el verano del trigo
And in the summer of grain
Es tibio susurro de ensueño.
It's a warm dreamy whisper.
El viento me dijo al oído
Whispering in my ear, the wind told me
Su pena ancestral de volar,
About its ancestral pain of flying,
Besando ramaje de pinos
Kissing the pine branches
Sin nunca poder regresar.
Without ever being able to return.
Amigo de dulces copleros,
Friend of sweet folksingers,
Zorzales del amanecer,
Dawn thrushes
Escucha de lejos las coplas
Hears the song from afar
Y nunca las puede aprender.
But can never learn them.
Y nunca las puede aprender.
And can never learn them.
Contributed by Xavier I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.