Current:Home > Contact-usTaylor Swift Eras Tour: Sign language interpreters perform during Madrid show-InfoLens
Taylor Swift Eras Tour: Sign language interpreters perform during Madrid show
View Date:2024-12-23 11:02:36
MADRID - Four sign language interpreters delivered their own Eras Tour show to the deaf community, coinciding with Taylor Swift's live performance in the same arena here in May.
The interpreters not only signed the songs, but performed them - in costumes often as sparkly as the singer's herself.
“It was a great, exciting and brilliant experience in every way,” Anna Greira Parra, 26, said of her Madrid appearance. “My favorite song? There is not one! I loved them all and Paramore was also amazing.”
While Swift and her crew performed to two sold out crowds in the Estadio Santiago Benabéu in Madrid, Spain, Parra and three other women signed to an iPad off to the right side of the stage.
They placed their printed setlist on a lectern for support. Deaf community fans watched from the crowd and online.
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
"We know from what they have said to us in the comments there are many deaf people who like Taylor Swift," said Núria Martorell, a director for EN-CANTA-DOS ASSOCIACIÓ.
EN-CANTA-DOS ASSOCIACIÓ is a Barcelona-based organization providing access of music to deaf people through sign language. The organization has performed at sold-out, massive shows for the past five years. From rock band Coldplay to Brazilian singer Toquinho, they typically work with event promoters to learn the setlist ahead of time.
It takes four interpreters to get through the Eras Tour and the dancers-slash-actresses alternate by songs. For example, during the "Lover" era there were three interpreters for the four songs and for "Fearless" there were two. Every song was covered except for the two surprise acoustic tunes Swift performs every night.
"The two secret songs that Taylor sang were not done because they were 'secret,'" said Martorell. "We did not know which ones she was going to sing, which means we could not prepare them in advance."
The videos posted online are mesmerizing to watch and allow the deaf community to experience the show through more than just the vibrations of the music. A 52-second clip of the show in Spain has received more than a million clicks on Instagram.
The biggest challenge is translating the three hour plus repertoire from English oral language to Spanish sign language.
“It is the first time I faced this situation and it was complex since sometimes people's shouts made it difficult to listen,” said Anita Agejas Fernández, 41. "The good thing is to have enough time of the songs to work on them thoroughly and learn them.”
Agejas has two favorite lines: “with you I'd dance in a storm in my best dress" from “Fearless” and “a friend to all is a friend to none" from “Cardigan.”
The hope of the organization is to put a signer onstage at these large scale events.
Fans at other Eras Tour shows have shared that they enjoy watching the interpreters as much as they love watching Swift.
“We would have liked to be able to share a little piece of stage to be even more part of her show and for visibility to be complete for the deaf audience,” Griera said.
Don't miss any Taylor Swift news; sign up for the free, weekly newsletter This Swift Beat.
Follow Taylor Swift reporter Bryan West on Instagram, TikTok and X as @BryanWestTV.
veryGood! (72)
Related
- Homes of Chiefs’ quarterback Mahomes and tight end Kelce were broken into last month
- Climate Change Is The Greatest Threat To Public Health, Top Medical Journals Warn
- How a robot fish as silent as a spy could help advance ocean science and protect the lifeblood of Earth
- California's Dixie Fire Is Now The 2nd Largest In State History
- Parts of Southern California under quarantine over oriental fruit fly infestation
- Harvard University Will Stop Investing In Fossil Fuels After Years Of Public Pressure
- Smoke plume from Canadian wildfires reaches Europe
- Teen on doomed Titanic sub couldn't wait for chance to set Rubik's Cube record during trip, his mother says
- NY forest ranger dies fighting fires as air quality warnings are issued in New York and New Jersey
- Satellite Photos Show Just How Bad The Flooding From Ida Has Been In New Jersey
Ranking
- Caitlin Clark has one goal for her LPGA pro-am debut: Don't hit anyone with a golf ball
- A Wildfire Is Heading For Lake Tahoe, Sending Ash Raining Down On Tourists
- A mega-drought is hammering the U.S. In North Dakota, it's worse than the Dust Bowl
- Local security guard killed in shooting outside U.S. consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, State Dept. says
- Joey Graziadei Details Why Kelsey Anderson Took a Break From Social Media
- How Marlon Wayans Is Healing Days After His Dad Howell Wayans' Death
- A new report shows just how much climate change is killing the world's coral reefs
- What The U.S. Can Do About The Dire Climate Change Report
Recommendation
-
Olivia Munn Randomly Drug Tests John Mulaney After Mini-Intervention
-
France arrests 180 in second night of violent protests over police killing of teen Nahel in Nanterre
-
MrBeast YouTuber Chris Tyson Is Undergoing Hormone Replacement Therapy
-
Western Europe Can Expect More Heavy Rainfall And Fatal Floods As The Climate Warms
-
'This dude is cool': 'Cross' star Aldis Hodge brings realism to literary detective
-
Come and Get a Look at Our List of Selena Gomez's Best Songs
-
Computer Models Of Civilization Offer Routes To Ending Global Warming
-
YouTuber Tanner Cook Shot While Making Prank Video in Virginia Mall