Music of Catalonia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Music of Spain | |
|---|---|
| Andalusia | Aragon |
| Balearic Islands | Basque Country |
| Canary Islands | Castile, Madrid and Leon |
| Catalonia | Extremadura |
| Galicia, Cantabria and Asturias | Murcia |
| Navarre and La Rioja | Valencia |
| Genres: Classical - Flamenco Jazz - Folk - Hip hop - Opera - Pop - Rock |
|
| Timeline and Samples | |
| Awards | Amigo Awards |
| Charts | AFYVE |
| Festivals | Benidorm, Eurovision, Sonar |
| Media | Fans, La Revista 40, Mundo Joven |
Catalonia (in Spain and France) has one of the oldest documented musical traditions in Europe, and has had a rich musical culture continuously for at least two thousand years.
Contents |
[edit] History
Records from Roman times indicate that the city of Barcelona had an active musical life. Dances, masquerades and other musical performances were popular: apparently too much so, for they were specifically condemned by the Christian saint Paciano in the 4th century.
In the Middle Ages, Barcelona and the surrounding area were relatively prosperous, and both music and arts were cultivated actively. Catalonia and adjacent areas were the home for some troubadours, the itinerant composer-musicians whose influence and aesthetics was decisive on the formation of late medieval secular music, and who travelled into Italy and Northern France after the destruction of Occitanian culture by the Albigensian Crusade in the early 13th century. The so-called Llibre Vermell de Montserrat (red book of Montserrat) stands as an important source for 14th century music.
Renaissance polyphony flourished in Catalonia, though local composers never attained the fame of either the Spanish composers to the South and West or the French composers to the North. Juan Pujol wrote four books of polyphonic masses and motets for the patron saint of Barcelona, St. George.
Performances of opera, mostly imported from Italy, began in the 18th century, but some native operas were written as well, including three by Isaac Albéniz and seven by Enrique Granados. The Barcelona opera house, Gran Teatre del Liceu, which opened in 1847, remains one of the most important in Spain; in addition, in the mid-19th century the first Barcelona Philharmonic Society was founded for the performance of orchestral music. Several symphonic orchestras exist in Catalonia today, including the Barcelona Orchestra.
Around the beginning of the 20th century, two Catalan composers--Enrique Granados and Isaac Albéniz--became the most famous composers in Spain. Francisco Tárrega and Miguel Llobet expanded the technical possibilities of guitar. Their music remains in the standard classical repertory today. Cellist Pablo Casals is admired as an outstanding player. Federico Mompou (1893–1987) is known for his delicate piano works, which often have a Catalan flavor. He spent most of his life in Paris, returning to his native Barcelona only during and after World War II.
[edit] Folk and popular music
Originally from the Northern areas, Sardanes are popular dances, were especially widespread at the end of the nineteenth century. Currently, two main types, the original sardana curta (short sardana) style and more modern sardana llarga (long sardana), are very popular. Sardanas are danced in a circle dance. Other more strange sardanes are sardana de lluïment and sardana revessa.
The sardana's music (música de cobla, in Catalan) is played by an 11-piece band called a cobla, that includes genuine folk instruments such as the flabiol (tabor pipe) and tamborí, tenora, tible which are also used in other regions of Spain. Coblas also frequently play as concert bands without the dance.
Other popular music are the ball de bastons (stick dances), galops, ball de gitanes and the music of gralla (shawm])and drums used in cercaviles or by colles diableres.
In areas around the river Ebre, the jota is a popular dance.
Sung in both Catalan and Spanish, Havaneres are very popular at parties since the end of the 19th century when sailors returned from the War of the Cuban Independence.
In the last half century the rumba catalana genre has spread in Catalonia, played mostly by Gypsies, including popular performers like Peret and Gato Pérez.
During the end of the Franco period there was a group of Catalonian singer-songwriters (Setze jutges) that included Lluís Llach and Joan Manuel Serrat, for example; they sang in Catalan, denouncing the official oppression. This music movement was known as Nova Cançó.
In the last 20 years rock and roll has become popular, and a Catalan scene called rock català has appeared. Some very popular groups are Lax'n'Busto, Sau, Els Pets or Sopa de cabra.
In the wake of Mano Negra and Manu Chao's success, Catalonia has also produced a number of popular fusion and world music bands, such as Dusminguet or Cheb Balowski. Ojos de Brujo, a band from Barcelona merging traditional flamenco with hip-hop, has also become popular.
Singing in Catalan has received a boost in the 21st due to the success of Operación Triunfo (Spain's answer to Fame Academy), where some contestants sing in Catalan. Also, a few contestants have released albums with Catalan songs, notecably Gisela and Beth.
[edit] References and further reading
- "Spain", in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. ISBN 1-56159-174-2
