Dani Flaco launches Barcelona’s 19th Barnasants singer-songwriter festival

Barcelona (ACN).- Once again, Barcelona’s L’Auditori concert hall has hosted the opening concert of the Barnasants festival for independent singer-songwriters. This year around, Dani Flaco set things in motion with a performance that spiked interest in the festival. The Catalan singer is scheduled to give two further concerts: one on Friday and one on Saturday. In his latest album, Flaco shifted away from his rockiest side to quieter and more intimate airs of acoustic folk. The 19^th edition of Barnasants’s music festival, epitomised by the slogan ‘La pàtria és el poble’(The motherland is the people), will address Catalan cultural and political resistance. It will offer over a hundred concerts to the audience, from both old and new generations of songwriters. This year, the festival will notably honour Quico Pi de la Serra for his 50 years on stage. There will also be a tribute concert in honour of Salvador Puig Antich, a Catalan anarchist who was murdered by the Franco dictatorial regime 40 years ago.

Dani Flaco, who was born in 1977 in L’Hopitalet de Llobregat’s Bellvitge neighbourhood (Greater Barcelona), is one of the festival’s old acquaintances, having already performed there on numerous occasions. However, it was the very first time the organisers of the event chose the singer for the opening concert. Flaco accepted such a challenge and also made his debut at Barcelona’s L’Auditori concert hall.

The success of the concert set the festival to a perfect start. Initially, Flaco was scheduled to give only one concert. However, since entrance tickets were rapidly sold out, two more concerts have been scheduled. On Friday, the Catalan singer will treat an audience largely made of ‘patrons’ – who financed his latest album through crowd-funding – to another performance. On Saturday Flaco’s third and final concert, for which there were still tickets available, will take place,.

With ‘Versos y madera’, Dani Flaco has produced a much more acoustic and calmer work than his previous melodies, nearer to folk and shifting away from rock. But neither the change in register nor the audience’s high expectations betrayed his nerves. On Thursday, the musician sang with such ease on stage that he never gave away it was his debut at Barcelona’s L’Auditori and that he was opening the festival.

The festival’s slogan ‘The motherland is the people’ alludes to centuries of Catalan resistance

‘The country is the people’ is the motto of the 19^th edition of Barnasants festival. The Director of the festival, Pere Camps, is known for his political commitment, and during this edition, a concert will be given in honour of the Catalan activist and anarchist Salvador Puig Antich, as 2014 marks the 40^th anniversary of his murder by Franco’s dictatorial regime. John Isaac will be in charge of the concert 'Cançons d'amor i anarquia' (Songs of love and anarchy), which honours the activist, in a much awaited performance at the Joventut Theatre of L'Hospitalet (Greater Barcelona), on the 2^nd of March.

There will also be a tribute to General Moragues which will take place on the 30^th of January L’Auditori. The General Moragues, a symbol of Catalan resistance during the War of Succession against the Bourbon troops in the early 18^th century, alludes to 300 years of fighting. Maria del Mar Bonet, Pau Altabajos, Cesk Freixas, Miquel Gil or Rafel Subirachs, as well as Catalan band Mesclat will perform during such an occasion.

Tribute to Quico Pi de la Serra

The other star of this edition is Catalan singer-songwriter and guitarist Quico Pi de la Serra, one of the most emblematic figures of the ‘Nova Cançó’ movement, which sought to encourage the use of the Catalan language in popular songs at the time of Franco’s Dictatorship. A year after celebrating 50 years of stage performances, Barnasants has scheduled a concert featuring young singers who will interpret some of the musician’s songs. The concert, with the participation of Amadeu Casas and Joan Pau Cumellas, will take place on the 11^th of April at the at Joventut Theatre of L'Hospitalet de Llobregat.