To say Joan Manuel Serrat is to say “Lucía”, “Penelope”, “Vaganbundear”, “Fiesta” and, of course, “Mediterráneo”, a hymn with which the ‘noi del Pobl-sec’ wanted to pay tribute to the sea that saw him born on December 27, 80 years ago, in Barcelona.
The emblematic Spanish singer-songwriter, who has become a symbol of several generations, has recorded more than 500 songs, 40 albums and has set music to the verses of the most awarded poets such as Antonio Machado, Miguel Hernández, Alberti, Lorca and León Felipe.
Composer, poet, troubadour… he left the stage forever in 2022 with his farewell tour “El vice de canto 1965-2022”, which began in New York and ended at home, at the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona, after tour all of Spain and America.
And so, after more than half a century of career, ‘the party is over’ for the voice of “Your name tastes like grass”, “Those little things”, “The woman that I want” or “La saeta”, a goodbye accompanied by multiple awards such as the Grand Cross of the Civil Order of Alfonso X the Wise, the honorary Latin Grammy and the Ondas Award for artistic career.
Poet defender of his native language
With a Catalan father and Aragonese mother, he grew up in the working-class neighborhood of Poblé Sec, hence his nickname when he was young, ‘noi del Pobl-Sec’, two languages and customs that will mark his identity.
After taking his first steps in music with three university classmates, in 1964 he debuted on Radio Barcelona, in the Radio-Scope program for young talents, and recorded a single with the small Edigsa record label, “Una Guitar”, with four songs, including “Ella em deixa”, his first composition.
That same year he joined the group “Els setze jutges” (The Sixteen Judges), which defended his right to sing in Catalan, then prohibited by the Franco regime. He soon became one of the pioneers of what was called the Catalan Nova Cançó, but it was 1967 when he obtained great recognition with “Ara que tinc vint anys”, “Cançó de matinada” and “Paraules d’amor”, songs that They made him number one in sales in the entire country.
In 1968 he was selected to represent Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest with “La, la, la”, the winning song, but with Massiel, since Serrat rejected the offer amid great controversy by not allowing him to sing in Catalan. That first push against Franco’s regime earned him a ban in the official media until 1974, the year in which he performed again, but in Spanish, and obtained his first gold record.
Always committed to human rights, at the end of 1970 he joined the confinement of 300 intellectuals and artists in the Monastery of Montserrat in Barcelona against the “Burgos trial” and the death penalty.
When he published “Mediterráneo” in 1971, Serrat, at just 28 years old, had already become a symbol of freedom in Spain and Latin America, a right that must be defended, he would say many years later, “tooth and nail” every day. and “be attentive and willing to fight and not let our guard down if we do not want to retreat and be returned to the starting square.”
A Latin American from Barcelona
While he was in Mexico in 1975 and faced with the last Franco executions, he showed his “absolute repudiation of the death penalty and the established official violence”, which is why in Spain a process was opened for insults to the head of State that forced him to go into exile in the Aztec country.
The Spanish singer-songwriter, who recognizes himself as a Latin American from Barcelona, returned to Spain in 1976, once Franco died, with “Para la libertad” in his repertoire, a popular cry in the last years of the dictatorship.
Already in democracy, he published “El transit” and “Cada loco con su tema” and toured Latin America, except Chile, Uruguay and Argentina, countries to which he would not return until years later with the recovery of his freedoms.
His identification with Latin America was reflected in the album “El Sur also exists”, with verses by the Uruguayan poet Mario Benedetti, a tribute of gratitude to the people and countries that marked him.
On the road with his usual friends
Next, he began a long tour with “El gusto es Nuestros”, with Ana Belén, Víctor Manuel and Miguel Ríos as traveling companions, an experience they repeated in 2016, to celebrate twenty years of that successful experience.
He published “Sombras de la china” in 1998, which was followed by “Cansiones”, “Versos en la boca”, “Serrat Sinfónico” and the “One Hundred per hundred Serrat” tour.
In 2006 he released the album “Mô” in Catalan and then embarked as a duet with his friend Joaquín Sabina on the “Two Birds with One Stone” tour, a success that led them to repeat the experience in 2012 with “Two Birds Contraatacan”, which They contributed an original album, “The Titanic Orchestra”, with new songs written by four hands.
Two years earlier, in 2010, Serrat set to music a new selection of poems by Miguel Hernández under the title “Son of light and shadow,” which commemorated the centenary of the poet’s birth.
He celebrated his 50 years on stage with “Antología Desordenada”, his 50 most personal songs revised and recorded again, about thirty of them duets with friends and colleagues, from Alejandro Sanz to Gino Paoli, from Silvio Rodríguez to Mina, from Gal Costa to Pablo Milanés, Ana Belén, Mercedes Sosa, Pablo Alborán, Miguel Poveda, Lolita Flores…
Since his emergence into music, Serrat has not stopped writing songs, recording albums and touring the world in the most varied formats so that today, on his 80th birthday, his usual songs “My childhood” continue to play. “Today can be a great day”, “De papier-mâché” or “Pueblo blanco”.
2023-12-26 00:36:02
#Serrat #celebrates #years #long #musical #journey #committed #freedom
