Serrat announced that he would step down from the stage, and we quickly understood that this was not a promotional game, but a symbolism-laden step. We may be exaggerating today when we talk about the end of an era (or the world) for whatever reason, but Its withdrawal invites us to a collective examination of conscience and the balance of the way we understand life. song as popular and cult art, with a precise poetic line that exalts the soul.
It was a year ago when Serrat opened the ‘El vicio de cantar 1965-2022’ farewell tour with the final station in Palau Sant Jordi on Friday, December 23, with no possible extension or gimmick. add two more (20 and 22). A farewell to Calle Poeta Cabanyes, where it all began, in Poble Sec, where she was born almost 79 years ago (she will celebrate her 27th birthday). Blessed tournament, this one who saw it Double the dates and capacity wherever it goes in Spain and the United States. America, with changing and encyclopedic repertoires (He usually manages about 70 songs each night, from which he chooses from 22 to 24), he tries to surround the hymns and watermarks, the poetry of himself and other people (as well as himself and everyone else), with compositions that make the difficult easy and manage to question the crowds with highly personal considerations.
Explaining that his love for trade increased with his interest in flour, Serrat dreams of the future as an agricultural expert, and carries out works that reveal his sensitivity to nature and that will spread to his work. In the early seasons, the songbook lost an appetite for life (“Ara que tinc vint anys”), with an appreciation of the landscape and the daily life of the craftsman. watch out for certain characters from the margins (‘El drapaire’ and ‘Els titles’, ‘La balada per a un trobador’ and ‘La tieta’), treated with great affection, and where you can breathe a past and some wounds to come out with all your youthful urge. in your own musical language French speaking edition (Brel, Brassens, Aznavour), In the future, it would combine with other occult influences, from the copla to the popular song from overseas (tango, the folklore-washed history of Don Atahualpa Yupanqui). The memory of the disaster floating around: father, CNT anarchist Josep; his mother, Ángeles, is originally from Belchite, who was a martyr.
Thus, Serrat responded to Lluís Serrahima’s call in his article ‘Ens calen cançons d’ara’ (‘Germinabit’ magazine, 1959), enlisted as the 13th of Els Setze Jutges and devoted himself to the Catalan revival of the song. full Francoism. On the album ‘Cançons tradicionals’ (1968) by Antoni Ros-Marbà, he is a curious person in his twenties, ready to dive into the tunes of another time, perhaps outdated. Although Arcusa and De la Calva tightened the ropes with the regime by wanting to defend their ‘La la la’ in Catalan at Eurovision, it did not take long for him to express himself in his other language, Spanish. But the self-titled album known as ‘La paloma’ (1969) formalized the genius of a singer with bilingual excellence, which is unusual internationally.
Today, many Catalan singers mix languages on their records, but Serrat has always preferred to allocate an album for each; mental, emotional, a space of its own (and a market with nuances). Slowly Serrat’s ‘Cançó de matinada’ or ‘Me’n vaig a peu’ (surprisingly number one for sales in Spain in 1966) has become iconic to ‘Your name tastes like grass’ and ‘Penélope’ and landmarks . ‘Mediterrenian’ (with a dizzying arrangement by Juan Carlos Calderón) and symbiosis with poets in his albums dedicated to Miguel Hernández and Antonio Machado. Serrat singer-songwriter ready to imitate every word and graceful Serrat tuner with the ability to combine poetic inflections and harmonic logic with the angelic. Expressive translator, yet capable of uttering the texts with sincere neatness, without guile.
With all this, it slipped into categories such as bard, light song or pop, which could be the object of a cult for minorities. Music is a powerful channel through which ideas, emotions and high literature are transmitted. I always try to look up aware of the public impact of his art (or craft, as he humbly points out), ignoring the differences and repeating clichés with the idols of the trade show: “The woman I love / doesn’t need to be bathed in holy water every night”, she sang her song in defiance of a certain romantic ideal. femininity
The singer-songwriter label has been taken with occasional reservations by Serrat, who is aware of the political aura surrounding it. Theirs has always been broader and more diverse, but in Francoism it wasn’t necessary to make a political song to be political. Anything could happen, and a song like ‘Fiesta’, a celebration of popular unity beyond ideological and class distances (where acid critique was planned), excited censorship, which softened the flirtatious edges of the text and forced it to change ‘purple’. flags for “green”. In September 1975, the conflict with the regime was already at the front. While touring Mexico, Serrat denounced the recent executions that cost him almost a year into exile.
His time of asylum in Mexico heralded emotional pain in the Southern Cone, where his growing ties to Latin America and Serrat were a mirror and food for souls amid a cycle of military coups and dictatorships. Hot junction sections: Seal a mutual love at Luna Park in Buenos Aires, 1983; Santiago de Chile, 1990, fills the National Stadium. Serrat’s American dimension would become essential, reflected in albums such as “El sur is also there” (with texts by Uruguayan Mario Benedetti, 1985) or later in homage from “Songs” to boleros, tangos, milongas, rancheras, and tonadas llaneras. (2000). It goes without saying that it is common for the Catalan language to be learned through Serrat on the other side of the Atlantic.
He never stopped returning to his mother tongue, singing to Barcelona and the developing world, evoking the “poetic revolution” embodied by Salvat-Papasseit (‘Res no és mesquí’, 1977). mixed-race Catalonia (‘Sensitive material’, 1989) or ‘nova cançó’ lavishly enters the garden of ‘Banda sonora d’un temps, d’un país (1996)’ (double), a dedication to their colleagues. And he sings some of his most tender maturity songs, such as ‘Cremant núvols’ and ‘Plou al cor’, on the album ‘Mô’ (2006), dedicated to the island of Menorca, his refuge from the crazy crowd. An introspective work in line with his long-shot alliance with his friend and fan, Joaquín Sabina (whom he dedicated a song called ‘My cousin the nano’ to him in the 90s).
And up to here. Or almost: Serrat leaves the door open to continue song creation and perhaps record the awkward album. But he guesses it’s time to get off the stage and let go of more urgency and commitment than necessary. Serrat turns the page on his relationship with the public (and his manager for 50 years, José Emilio Navarro, ‘Berry’): incredible longevity that reminds us that he is a man of long fidelity).
Although she has occasional distinguished guests at other concerts on this tour (Maria del Mar Bonet, Sole Giménez, Rozalén), she will not distract from her figure and status in Barcelona. Emotional drunk nights are coming, but let no one think that he will attend a funeral: the teacher wants joy and celebration for the path taken, not drama or melodrama. So be it.