Lluis Llach

I'm writing this letter to tell you about Lluis Llach, my hero. He was a singer, composer and songwriter. He was born in Spain on 7 May 1948 He started to write songs during his childhood, in our days he's 65 years old and he doesn't sing anymore, he stopped all activities in 2004. He was a singer who defied Franco's dictatorship by singing political songs in Catalan at a time when the language and all others cultural manifestations of Catalan identity were prohibited

His most famous song is L'Estaca. It's a story about a rotten stick which is about to fall. It was clear enough that it was an image of the regime. He left Spain to live in Paris because Franco wanted to arrest him. That is why I consider Lluis LLach to be as reckless as his song. He never surrendered in the worst moment of the war and he continued to write songs despite the dictator. He made it possible for Catalan to still exist in our days, he is considered as a hero in Catalonia because of that.

Today L'Estaca is an anthem of the Catalan independence movement, regularly sung by crowds at demonstrations. Yours sincerely.