“Terra” is Tanxugueiras’ entry for Benidorm Fest. The song delves into Galicia’s traditional music with a modern twist and celebrates the universality of music. As they sing: “There are no borders.”
Scroll down for the “Terra” lyrics
Benidorm Fest: Tanxugueiras “Terra”
Strong, brave, empowered — those are the three words that best describe this three-piece group. Olaia Maneiro, Aida Tarrío and Sabela Maneiro come from Galicia to Eurovision and in the Galician language. That marks the first attempt within Spain of sending a song in the language, which is one of the four main languages of the country.
Tanxugueiras make their attempt at Eurovision with a song that draws on Celtic music and the most ancient folklore of its region. “Terra” its entirely in Galician, but includes the lyrics “There are no borders” in all the co-official languages of Spain. The song has amassed over a million views in just one week.
What do the “Terra” lyrics mean?
“Terra” is a celebration of traditional music, particularly those made by women. Aida, Olaia and Sabela often refer to the pandereteiras, those women who have kept oral tradition alive, helped by their tambourines. In their minds, they are “poets who didn’t know how to read or write.” They’ve even dedicated their song to these women, and honour them through action. “You’ll sing and I’ll sing, the way our mothers did.”
At the same time, the song is a cry that celebrates the universality of music. “There are no borders,” they say in each of the languages of Spain, at the end of every chorus. “Let them hear us shout” is a reference to the representation of Spain’s co-oficial languages.
However, “Terra” is a celebration of Galician music, and so, it’s also a call to party. “There’s a party tonight, there’s a party this evening”, “I’m coming to sing with a tambourine in my hand”, “We’ll celebrate life of those who are dancing”.
After each section of “Ailaralalás” there’s the same sentence in English (“There are no borders”) but a different one in the original lyrics each time. That’s because they sing it in one language each time: First Galician, then Basque, Catalan, Asturian and finally, Spanish.
“Terra” lyrics – Tanxugueiras (Benidorm Fest 2022)
Written and composed by: Aida Tarrío, Olaia Maneiro, Sabela Maneiro
Galician textAilaralalá Esta noite hai foliada Para cantar veño eu Ailaralalá Canta ti, cantarei eu Ailaralalá Ailaralalá
Veñen pra quedar (x3) Ailaralalá Ailaralalá |
English translationAilaralalá There’s a party tonight I’m coming to sing Ailaralalá (You) Sing, I’ll sing Ailaralalá Ailaralalá
They are coming to stay (x3) Ailaralalá Ailaralalá |
¹ A terreiro is an open space with earthen floor where parties are held in the towns.
² An aturuxo is a traditional cry of Galician music. Aturuxa is the imperative form of the verb that derivates from that noun.
Is “Terra” your favourite Benidorm Fest entry? Should Tanxugueiras sing at Eurovision 2022? Tell us in the comment section below!
Image: Rocío Cibes
Tanxugueiras – TERRA pero es electroclash. – YouTube
Here you can find the tecno version of Terra
Such a powerful dark metal folk!!! Like meeting with a savage beast in the deep forest, you don’t know its intentions but you can’t stop looking at its beauty. This is the feeling Terra gives me. I have made my election. 1 powerful bass instrumentation song between 13 generic pop songs. As a musician, is easy for me. TERRA. No doubt.
i’m so obsessed with this song. it def should win benidorm
They sing well, but the song is dated. I cant see spain winning, probbaly scoring better than the last few years with this song, but that is a very weak objetcivve. Rigoberta or Rayden are by far better options than this one
They sing well, but the song is dated. I cant see Spain winning, probably scoring better than the last few years with this song, but that is a very weak objective. Rigoberta or Rayden are by far better options than this one
Brilliant song from Spain! Very high score from Belgium if they choose this. ?
their look reminds me of the gothic-style <3
My favourite song from Spain. Hope they win their selection.
They certainly should
We still need to see a lot of songs from other countries, but during a “normal” year and with a good staging, I can see this in the left side of the scoreboard. Their live vocals are really good and this is not the kind of entry that leaves people indifferent.
I really like this. It gives me a bit of Go_A vibes, it has mystery and power, and is potentially one of the most interesting entries for Spain in years. They’ve really never sent anything like this; I think this could, with good staging of course, be a very good choice.
1. “Let them hear us shout” is actually a reference to when they sing “Aturuxa with me” aturuxa being a Galician high pitched scream done before a performance by either the artist or audience.
2. This song does NOT include all of Spain’s co-official languages. I should also add that Asturian has NO official status, not even in Asturias. A language which DOES HAVE co-official status not included in this song is Occitan (Aranés dialect)
I’m really rooting for this song to win! We haven’t seen one of Spain’s co-official languages in Eurovision yet. I think one of the closest times was “La, La, La” which was originally supposed to be in Catalan. Plus the “ailaralalá” has been stuck in my head for days now.
That’s correct. At the time of the 1968 Contest, Spain was still under the rule of dictator Francisco Franco, and the regional languages of Spain were repressed under his regime in favor of Castilian (which is the language used for Standard Spanish). Because of the Francoist stance on regional languages, both the performer and the language of the song were changed before the 1968 Contest took place. The original Catalan version, though, can be found on YouTube. I usually have a policy of not listening to national final candidate songs so that I don’t grow too attached to them in… Read more »
Replying to myself because I linked to the wrong version of Joan Manuel Serrat’s version of “La, la, la”. The version in my first comment was performed in Spanish by Serrat.
Here is the Catalan version.
Such a shame for the Spanish broadcaster comparing to French one giving us Breton, Corsican, French Creole, and even Spanish (!) languages perfomances.
It was more than 50 years ago
It isn’t my winner but I would be so so happy to see Spain send something like this to Eurovision. It would be such a subversion of what they’ve been doing for the last decade. And if it does well it sets a good precedent!
not my favorite but this song would be a televote magnet at the eurovision
I have to admit that the song combines tradition and modernity, may they win, I only have concerns that this may cause a political storm on the part of the extreme right of Vox
It has good potential, but it’s quite monotonous.. Without the bridge it would’ve been simly boring. I’m not sure this is the best pick for Spain.
These are some of the best lyrics in this NF season, so simple but they paint an elaborate picture that really sells the message. They really should win.
Monotonously great. Always loved more monotonous songs over more dynamic ones.
Now, when are we gonna get a Scottish bagpipe bop too? Comeon, UK!
Also hope they’d sing in anything other than English. Scottish Gaelic, Scots and Welsh are just three beautiful languages that the UK should try
I think we won’t get a Scottish Gaelic or Scots song at ESC because there is a strong independence movement in Scotland so it could be a political statement and the BBC really wants to avoid controversy when it comes to ESC.
Likewise, we’re seeing a Galician rather than Catalan song in Benidorm, maybe in part because Galicia is less supportive as a whole of independence in contrast to Catalonia.
The result may even be better
As someone from the UK, I completely agree. I think the BBC sometimes forgets that The UK is not just England, it does annoy many people. I hope in the future we can send a song in anything other than English, I guess for now we just have hope the BBC actually try and find a decent song for 2022 😐
This and Postureo are my favorites at Benidorm. Terra literally sounds like it came out of a fantasy or superhero video game or series (I’m a sucker for those things, btw) and I can feel the world building and the story coming from this song. This song could put Spain in the top 10 for sure.
When I heard this, I thought “this is the first potential winner of the ESC season I’ve heard.”
It’s a tad repetitive indeed, but more in a “full circle” style (as in “Sebi” or “Release Me”). Since folk chants used to be short and have a recurring hook, when paying tribute to traditional music, there’s a chance it’ll sound repetitive compared to current music. The climax here comes earlier than normal, reinforcing this feeling. Still a very good song in my books.
About the lyrics: it was clever to use other Spanish languages and a “no frontiers” message, avoiding right away possible nonsense controversies.
And just to make clear: I loved “Sebi” and liked “Release Me”. So it’s far from an issue to me, but I understand why some people would be bothered by it.
I really hope this goes to esc. I love it. And we’ve never seen Spain deliver something this unique
First time hearing this and WOW. This is a clear path to Spain’s best result in decades if they pull this off.
I know I might get some hate for this, but I just don’t understand the hype around this song. I love an ethnic bop as much as the next Eurovision fan, but this just feels so repetitive and monotonous to me…
I agree it sounds repetitive, but still it has verses and says a lot between the lines. Might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but still is a different (and way better) choice to what we’ve been used to hearing from Spain lately.
wtf with the downvotes?
the lyrics remind me of Germany 1994. Very deep.
not a fan either, i’m not digging immediate success from this as others apparently are.
Nathan, this song is an ”alalá”. The alalá is a folkloric musical genre of lyrical character in the Spanish region of Galicia (most authors consider the alalá the oldest and most characteristic traditional Galician musical form). The alalá is arrhythmic and is composed of octosyllabic verses in which a short theme is repeated with onomatopoeic choruses.
This song is an ”alalá”. The alalá is a folkloric musical genre of lyrical character developed in the Spanish region of Galicia (most authors consider the alalá the oldest and most characteristic traditional Galician musical form). The alalá is arrhythmic and is composed of octosyllabic verses in which a short theme is REPEATED with onomatopoeic choruses.
Ok, that doesn’t mean I can’t criticise it 🙂
I agree with you. I’m not a huge fan of the song either and after several listens I think it ages badly.
However, they have great live and stage presence, so they can add that dynamism to the song that the studio version lacks. The way they combine their voices is mesmerizing, it brings you to a world full of magic.