República Cromañon (repost)

(Originalmente posteado el 29/Dic/07)

Me imagino que todos se acordarán de este himno :

We all came out to Montreux,
on the Lake Geneva shoreline.
To make records with a mobile,
we didn't have much time.
Frank Zappa and the Mothers,
were at the best place around,
but some stupid with a flare gun,
burned the place to the ground.
Smoke on the water, fire in the sky.
Smoke on the water...

Pero es probable que no conozcan la historia detrás de la canción. Aquí está contada por el propio Zappa en su autobiografía (The Real Frank Zappa Book, pag. 112-113) :

On December 4 [1971], we were working at the Casino de Montreux in Geneva, Switzerland, right on the edge of the lake -just in front of Igor Stravinsky Street- a venue noted for its jazz festivals.

In the middle of Don Preston's synthesizer solo on "King Kong", the place suddenly caught fire. Somebody in the audience had a bottle rocket or a Roman candle and fired it into the ceiling, at which point the rattan covering started to burn (other versions of the story claim the blaze was the result of faulty wiring). There were between twenty-five hundred and three thousand kids packed into the room -well over capacity.

Since more kids were outside, trying to get in, the organizers had cleverly chained the exit doors shut. When the fire began, the audience was left with two ways out: through the front door, which was pretty small, or through a plate-glass window off to the side of the stage.

I made an announcement -something like: "Please be calm. We have to leave here. There is a fire and why don't we get out?". You'd be surprised how well people who speak only French can understand you when it's a matter of life and death. They began filing out through the front door.

As the room was filling with smoke, one of our roadies took an equipment case and smashed the big window. The crew then began helping people to escape through it into some kind of garden place below. The band escaped through an underground tunnel that led from behind the stage through the parking garage.

A few minutes later the heating system in the building exploded, and some people were blown through the window. Fortunately, nobody was killed an there were only a few minor injuries -however, the entire building, about thirteen million dollars' worth, burned to the ground, and we lost all our equipment.

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Pensaba en todo esto hace algunas semanas mientras visitaba el "santuario Cromañon" al lado de la estación de tren de Once.

Olvidemos por un momento la explotación política de la desgracia, y la tradicional ocupación de un espacio público. En este lugar se percibe un dolor que no se va a resolver jamás, porque esto es Argentina.

Y llegué a la conclusión de que en Argentina podemos darnos el lujo de muchas cosas, pero no al mismo tiempo, porque eso es receta para el desastre.

Podemos darnos el lujo de carecer de procedimientos de evacuación... tener inspectores venales... empresarios irresponsables... músicos ruines y demagogos... audiencias que encienden bengalas en lugares cerrados...

...pero no todo junto, porque ahí se arma la "tormenta perfecta". Si sólo hay una o dos de estas condiciones juntas, "no hay problema". Estamos viviendo de prestado.

Pero 3000 personas estaban en el casino de Montreux. También había un idiota con una bengala, puertas cerradas por el empresario.... tienen algo de diferente los suizos a los argentinos, para que ahí no haya muerto nadie ? Alguien que me lo explique por favor.