El Cant dels Ocells is a Christmas song and lullaby from Catalonia. The melody and text are very old, but it isn't known how old exactly.
Pau Casals (sometimes better known by his spanish name Pablo Casals) brought the song to renewed attention when he started playing the song in every concert during his time in exile. Casals has been in self-imposed exile from his native land for 23 years, unwilling to accept the Franco dictatorship.
He still considered himself however a Spanish citizen. Most of his years in exile were passed in Prades, the once obscure village that became world-famous because of his festivals there, but in 1959 he moved to Puerto Rico, the birthplace of his mother.
The dutch organisation "Alarm Europe" has asked musicians from all over the world to perform this piece in a kind of "musical estafette". This as a sign to never forget the people who flee from their homecountries because of war, fascism or intolerance.
I wrote this arrangement for this action. Anyone who wants to perform it to support this action is free to download and perform it to support this action.
At this moment there are two versions. One for SATB and Piano and one for SABar and piano.
You can download them here and use them free of charge. Please don’t share the score, but point any interested choirs to this site.