musician

The internationally-recognised Early Music expert, Catalan Jordi Savall, rejected on Thursday Spain’s National Music Prize, which is awarded by the Spanish Government each year. Savall has not accepted the Prize, which was announced on Wednesday and comes with €30,000, because he wants to show his rejection of the Spanish Government’s cultural policies, particularly that towards musicians. Savall is probably the world’s top interpreter of viola da gamba and the main expert in Early and Renaissance music. In 2012 he received the Leonie Sonning Music Foundation Prize, considered to be the ‘Nobel Prize of Music’. In a letter addressed to the Spanish Culture Minister, José Ignacio Wert, Savall blames the Spanish Government for “the dramatic lack of interest and the great incompetence in defending and promoting arts and its creators”. Furthermore he “deplores the Spanish Government’s downplaying policy towards the vast majority of musicians”. Besides, Savall has been publicly advocating for Catalonia’s right to self-determination in the last few months.

Catalonia’s music is one of the highlights of this year’s Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival with a specific programme called ‘Catalan Series’. Barcelona’s Hèctor Parra, who achieved international recognition with pieces performed by KNM Berlin, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, or the National Orchestra of Ile-de-France, is the resident composer. The festival will feature several of Parra’s pieces, notably the world premiere of his latest work, FREC, performed by the composer himself alongside famous Catalan pianist Agustí Fernández. The well-known BCN216 Ensemble will also give a concert within the ‘Catalan Series’ in this year’s festival, which opens this Friday and will run until the 24^th of November.

Raimon is one of the most important artists in the Catalan language, and is part of the group of singer-songwriters of the ‘Nova Cançó’. Raimon’s protest songs became true popular anthems against Franco’s dictatorship, with titles such as ‘Al vent’, ‘Jo vinc d’un silenci’ and ‘D'un temps d'un país’. His songs and concerts were often censored. With a style combining simple musical guitar arrangements with literary and direct texts, influenced by the French Chanson, Raimon highlighted the value of the Catalan language, as it was being persecuted. Born in Xàtiva, in Valencia, he has also defended the unity of the Catalan language. The exhibition shows a wide range of documents from the artist’s personal archives. It is complemented with films, conferences and a concert at the Liceu theatre.

Maria Busqué decided to move to Berlin so that she could live off a musician's income, something she found almost impossible in Catalonia. This is a story from the new Catalan emigration.