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The Ultimate Alba Playlist

Statement of intent:  I tried to transcribe with contemporary songs the tension contained in the genre of the alba: the longing, the timeless parenthesis and the parting; the strong delimitation between the night world and the day world, the triangular structure between the lovers and the gaita, the illegitimacy of the lover's true love and their opposition to society. I chose popular songs because the melodies of the albas were known by the audience (to the extent that a religious song could be a contrafactum of an erotic alba) and alos because the refrain is the most important rethorical element of the genre, and comes again and again as a cyclic utterance, a fatal warning. I created the playlist on a music sharing platform because it seemed appropriate for a genre that circulated from one court to another, and from one country to another. Here is the playlist and some comments on the choice of the songs. 1.J-Lo-Waiting for tonight (represents the longing for the upcoming night, like in the genre of the serena, which is a reversed alba); 2-The Doors-Moonlight Drive (represents the timeless pleasure of the lovers protected by the night); 3-Akon-Nobody wanna see us together (when dawn comes, the illegitimacy of the lovers' true love is revealed); 4-Shaggy-It wasn't me (classic adultery song with the intersting presence of a third character giving advice to the lover, reminds us of the antithetic structure: lovers and gaita against the gilos); 5-Dawn (Go Away) (a personification of Dawn to underline its allegorical power); 6-The Eagles-Tequila Sunrise (shows the strong melancholy that seizes the lovers that have to part from each other); 7-Phil Collins-Against All Odds (illustrates the physical tear caused by the separation, illustrates the lament dimension of the genre); 8-The Beatles-Good morning (ultimately shows how daylife ironically starts anew, with all its social constraints and hypocrisy). Enjoy!
http://8tracks.com/cec-daria/the-ultimate-alba-playlist

Course: 
Songs of Love and War: Gender, Crusade, Politics (Winter 2014)
Project type: