"El cant dels ocells" (, 'The Song of the Birds') is a traditional Catalan

Christmas song Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or, in the case of carols or songs, may employ lyrics whose subject ma ...

and

lullaby A lullaby (), or cradle song, is a soothing song or piece of music that is usually played for (or sung to) children (for adults see music and sleep). The purposes of lullabies vary. In some societies they are used to pass down cultural knowled ...

. It tells of nature's joy at learning of the birth of

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

in a stable in

Bethlehem Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital o ...

. The song was made famous outside

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

Pau Casals Pau Casals i Defilló (Catalan: ; 29 December 187622 October 1973), usually known in English by his Castilian Spanish name Pablo Casals,

' instrumental version on the

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

.Historical Dictionary of the Catalans Helena Buffery, Elisenda Marcer 2010 97 "He settled in Catalunya Nord to remain close to Catalan soil and organized concerts and music festivals in Prada de Conflent. One of his most famous pieces is El cant dels ocells based on a Catalan folk tune. After his exile in 1939, he would begin each of his concerts by playing this song. For this reason, it is often considered a symbol of Catalonia. Joan Baez included it in her 1966 best selling Christmas LP, dedicating the song to Casals. In 1991,

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

Josep Carreras Josep is a Catalan masculine given name equivalent to Joseph (Spanish ''José''). People named Josep include: * Josep Bargalló (born 1958), Catalan philologist and former politician * Josep Bartolí (1910-1995), Catalan painter, cartoonist and w ...

recorded "El cant dels ocells" on his album, ''

José Carreras Sings Catalan Songs ''José Carreras Sings Catalan Songs'' is a 1991 Sony Classical album featuring José Carreras and the orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu conducted by Joan Casas. The songs are more classical lieder than ''Mi Otro Perfil'', an earlier release ...

''. His

Three Tenors The Three Tenors were an operatic singing trio, active during the 1990s and early 2000s, and termed as a supergroup (a title normally reserved for rock and pop groups) consisting of Italian Luciano Pavarotti and Spaniards Plácido Domingo and ...

colleague,

Plácido Domingo José Plácido Domingo Embil (born 21 January 1941) is a Spanish opera singer, conductor, and arts administrator. He has recorded over a hundred complete operas and is well known for his versatility, regularly performing in Italian, French, ...

also recorded the song on his 2014 album, '' Encanto del Mar''.

Lyrics

Recordings

* Short speech by Pau Casals at the United Nations in October 1971, followed by a separate recording of "El cant dels ocells
YouTube
* Joan Baez "The Carol of The Birds
YouTube
* José Carreras "El cant dels ocells" (Singing with piano accompaniment
YouTube
* Placido Domingo "El cant dels ocells
YouTube

References

Catalan-language songs Year of song unknown Songs about birds Songwriter unknown {{song-stub

Lyrics

Recordings

See also

References