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The Mutual Israelite Association of Argentina (AMIA) has published AMIA Memory a book that relates to the process of video production by the same name, where some one hundred well-known Argentine singers sing the song “Memory,” by Leon Gieco.  This award-winning video, which has more than five million views, has been subtitled into fifteen languages, including Basque.  The translation was provided by students and teachers from the Euskaltzaleak Association in Buenos Aires. 

Buenos Aires, Argentina.  Yesterday another anniversary of the terrorist attack, against the AMIA that took place 23 years ago in Buenos Aires, was commemorated.  As part of the commemoration, the Artistic Space of the Association announced that the book AMIA Memory. We are what we Remember, a work that includes stories as well as a video of the song “Memory” by León Gieco, sung by hundreds of Argentine singers that responded to an invitation “plural, with the participation of musicians of several generations, styles and ideologies.”

From the Artist Space “AMIA Memory is a project that has developed at the institution as an exercise in memory and reclamation of justice.  Even if the idea has been around for a while, the project materialized in 2016, as part of the 22^nd anniversary of the attack, and the starting point was the song that had already been converted into an anthem “Memory” by Leon Gieco.  The lyrics don’t only remind us of what happened on July 18, 1994 but also of many other tragedies in our country and in Latin America,” AMIA sources said.

After the video debuted, social media, print media and word of mouth made it possible that millions of people saw it.  Its spread was also facilitated by the Association itself that made a great impact creating subtitles to it in several languages including German, Arabic, Armenian, English, Italian, Portuguese, Hebrew, Yiddish, French, Japanese, Chinese and Basque.

Basque subtitles

The Basque subtitles to the song “Memory,” were done in Buenos Aires by the Euskaltzaleak Association.  They told EuskalKultura.com that the Euskaltegi didn’t hesitate in doing the job, “it seemed very important to us to not miss out on this opportunity to be part of the Memoria AMIA.  It was also a good challenge for some of our students because the translation wasn’t done by the teachers, but was presented as homework to a class of the advanced students.  It was very gratifying to see how the result of all this is reflected in material with a strong commitment that also enjoyed great diffusion,” club sources said.

[To see the Basque subtitles, enter and select Basque]

The video of the song “Memory” was producted by Gabriel Scherman and Elio Kapszuk with musical direction by Lito Vitale and general direction by Sebastian Orgambide.  In some channels it has surpassed five million copies, and has been awarded the Platinum Award in the category of “Nonprofit Social Media Campaigns” in the international contest “Hermes Creative,” screened at the 2016 Latin Grammys in Las Vegas.