Elections (again)

Left home this morning thinking that's the elections done with, having seen the results from yesterday's elections in the UK, only to find the election posters had sprung up here for the upcoming Spanish local and regional elections on the 24th May.

The posters bring some colour, but accompanying them will be the vans with loudspeaker on the roof, passing every half-hour, playing a couple of bars of tinny music at full volume, followed by an exhortation to vote for party 'x'.

Since I can vote in these, unlike the UK elections, I spent a little time checking out the two new parties on the block, Podemos and Ciudadanos. They are going to make the elections more unpredictable.

Anyway, in doing so I landed up listening to one of those tunes that once listened to takes stays in my head for a good 24 hours. It's called the 'Santa Barbara bendita', referring to patron saint of the miners. Miners have played such a significant part in politics, particularly here in Asturias. There is a choral version here and another version sung by Anabel Santiago and Sara Cangas here and here.

Anabel is also a leading exponent of the 'Toná Asturiana'. A traditional style of singing, usually either unaccompanied or accompanied by bagpipes. But that's another story.