Introducción (Crónicas de Hombres Libres)
Tabare Etcheverry
Introduction (Chronicles of Free Men)
Sung:
I am from a land of men,
I am from a land of men
Shaped in rebellion
From the first days
Of the strong Spaniards
When dark clouds of criollos
God had taken back
Flashed during the day
In wild attacks
That wrinkled the landscape
In hills and mountains.
Recited:
Land of brave men
Who knew how to play
So that here the freedom
Would settle forever
Land that planted its braves
Like human palenques,
Land that was made with blood
Of free men
And tyrants.
Today we are going to sing to those men
The great ones, the average ones, and the small ones
Who, wiping their lives for the homeland,
Achieved greatness by themselves.
Sung:
Handsome men from my land,
Handsome men from my land
Villagers and tough gauchos
Courageous Orientals
And free men of one piece
Who showed their integrity
When the danger was serious
Fighting with any means
To defend their values
Fighting against dictators
And facing empires.
Recited:
Great men,
Small men,
Pure men, great men
Known Orientals
And unknown Orientals.
Great men who knew,
Small men who sensed,
Great men who won
And great men who lost.
And we begin our story
In 1825
Because before there were so many of our men
Who followed the leader diligently,
That singing to all of them would be long,
Singing to a few would be unfair,
They were all brave,
Which is not little,
They were all equal,
Which is a lot.
*from the musical work
