One thousand years ago in villages throughout Spain, townspeople would gather to hear the news of the day in an epic poem that would last all night. These were poems of war and hardship, of broken hearts and greatest love. Today these poems echo in Spanish ballads known as the alabados, hymns of praise and lamentation that evoke a people's intimacy with God. Kat Snow of member station KUER has a report.
Copyright 2001 NPR