Viva la Quinta Brigada (song)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Viva la Quinta Brigada is a version of the Spanish song 'Viva La Quince Brigada' (most-often credited as a traditional song) elements of which may pre-date the Spanish Civil War although other authorships for the contemporary (Spanish) version are claimed.

The version by Christy Moore, the famous Irish folk singer and composer doesn't credit 'Trad' or any other author as a source.

Moore wrote his version[1] choosing to focus on the Irish socialist volunteers who were but a small contingent within the 15th International Brigade who went to Spain to fight against Franco and the fascists during the Spanish Civil War. The majority of soldiers in 15th International Brigade were British, American or French.

Both the original and Christy Moore's version have been sung by many singers and groups since.

The song title (which translates as "Long live the Fifth Brigade") appears to be a slip by Moore - perhaps because of the similarity in Spanish between "quinta" (fifth) and "quince" (fifteen) - since the bulk of Irish volunteers served with the XV (Fifteen) International Brigade. The "Fifth Brigade" was not one of the International Brigades. The song sometimes appears listed as "Viva la Quince Brigada".

(Note from Spanish speaker): The title may not be a slip but rather poetic licence as the word for fifteenth is "décimo-quinto" which wouldn't really sound well as in "Viva la décima-quinta brigada". "Vive la quince brigada" although commonly used in this form in spoken Spanish is grammatically incorrect as this is equivalent to "Long live the fifteen brigade"