MUSIC

I THE CATALANROCK OF THE NINETIES

"CATALANROCK EXISTS." TODAYTHIS IS AN UNDENIABLE FACT, BECAUSE AT LAST IT HAS A PUBLIC THAT REWARDS THE CATALANGROUPS WITH A MASSIVE PRESENCE AT THEIR CONCERTS AND THAT HAS THE HEALTHY HABIT OF BUYING THEIR RECORDS.

MARC MATEU JOU RNALIST

GERARD QUINTANA [SOPA MUSIC

MACROCONCERT AT PALAU ST. JORDI, , 1 4 JUNE 1 99 1

fter some years of stylistic inde- the audience a much wider range of finition and popular indiffer- possibilities than what there was be- ence, Catalan rock has mana- fore. ged to reach a massive public and The clearest example is the one I men- normalize the situation. A situation that tioned at the beginning, the compilation was almost critica1 at the beginning o{ record El tec i la teca 11, where we can the eighties, when no-one could have find elegant pop -080-, hard rock in foreseen that a record like El tec i la the heavy metal style -Sangtrait-, teca 11, featuring twelve groups that sing irreverent "hardcore" of an exalted in Catalan, could ever get to se11 nationalism -Pixamandúrries- and a 300,000 copies. light-hearted parody of an old hit by In reaching this point of recognition and one of the historic names of the "Can- stability, a number of factors have coin- cón -the Majorcan Ocults with Maria cided. The institutional support from the del Mar Bonet's "Sa Balanguera". Generalitat de Catalunya, for example, There's no doubt, though, that the in the form of campaigns to promote group that has played the most out- local rock sung in Catalan on its commu- standing part in this process of getting nications media: Catalunya Radio, RAC ce to compete with groups singing in down to earth and connecting with a 105 (Radio Associació de Catalunya) Castilian or English. really multitudinary public is Sopa de and TV3 (Catalan television). And as Although Barcelona has the record in- Cabra. Their successful participation in well as this, the subventions for records dustry and the media, it hcs always large-scale events outside the ususal and videoclips. But we must also bear in been the most difficult place to conquer, Catalan rock circuit, like the Festes de la mind the musical diversification that has possibly because the public has better Merce and the Festival en Defensa de taken place recently in this country: not access to al1 sorts of music offers. la Natura, where they acted as curtain- so long ago, talking of Catalan rock It was in the regions, where people raisers to Tina Turner and El último de generally meant talking of a form of have always been more receptive to la Fila, shows the popularity of this music that tended to be sloppy and pre- Catalan groups, that the real explosion group with their timeless rock, heir to tentious. Rock with capital letters, sung of Catalan rock took place: the boldest classics like the Stones, in our language, was practically non- ideas come from , with Sopa de and . Catchy songs like existent. The majority of pop groups Cabra, Sangtrait and Kitsch. In Tarra- "L'EmpordaW, "El correr deis torrats" were more concerned with trying to re- gona, , with their "agricultural and "No tinguis pressa" are the trade- lease their first record than with being rock", who with Bars and Tancat per mark of a group that speaks directly to able to put on a good live concert that Defunció, amongst others, play a di- young people. Their secret is simple: would allow them publicity and a chan- rect, sincere, savage rock that offers hours and hours playing live before MUSIC

going into a recording studio and a fa- then cornpletely irnpervious to any rnusic cility for rnelody seasoned with words in Catalan, both started the "Cop de that are fresh and racy. And then the rock", a supplernent in the newspaper scatology of Els Pets -"Qui s'ha Ilui and a weekly prograrnrne on the radio fat?"- or the ardent sexuality of Tancat devoted to al1 the rock -sung in Catalan per defunció -"Corn vols que t'ho di- or Castilian- produced throughout the gui". The situation has irnproved, this is Palsos Catalans. undeniable, but it's still too early to However, in spite of al1 the fuss, the clairn victory. Records sell, but the srnall success of Catalan rock is still largely labels that record in Catalan still need limited to . The success of institutional support to keep going. The Sopa de Cabra and Sangtrait in their Catalan market has a ceiling and sorne respective presentations in Madrid is leading groups are beginning to consi- just a flash in the pan, the sarne as der singing in Castilian so as to reach a Mecano's success in a New York dis- rnuch bigger rnarket. In fact, the rnacro- cotheque. For the time being, the lan- concert of 14 June 1991 in the Palau CARLES SABATER /SAU/ guage is still a difficult barrier to over- Sant Jordi in Barcelona, with the partici- come outside our country, because, as pation of the "Group of four" -Sopa de see Catalan rock as a nationalist tool Ninyín Cardona of Sopa says, "no ef- Cabra, Sau, Els Pets and Sangtrait- -Els Pets- and those that defend a fort has been rnade in for every- was the catalyst for the subsequent sig- more neutral position in which ideolo- one to understand his neighbour's ning-up of two of the protagonists by gies play no part in the rnusic -Sopa de language, be it Catalan, Bosque or rnultinationals -Sau by EMI and Sopa Cabra. The situation got even more Galician". de Cabra probably by MBG. This con- delicate a few days later during anot- For the rnornent, the vitality of Catalan cert, which set a new European record her rnacrofestival in the town of Reus, rock is even helping to revive vocalists for attendance at a rock performance in "Els 10 de Rock & Reus". Part of the by rousing the public's interest in new closed prernises, with 22,104 people, audience booed Sopa de Cabra and figures like Albert Pla or Joan Arneric. also rnarked the beginning of a certain accused thern of being "Spaniards and As the newspaper El País said, "Catalan tension between the four groups taking traitors". Els Pets, who were also taking rock exists". And it exists because it has part. The fact that Sopa de Cabra ex- part in the Reus festival, carne on to the rnanaged to wake up and get rnuch pressed their rejection of the event's stage to show their solidarity with their closer to the everyday reality of its supposed politicization by refusing to colleagues. These incidents brought Ca- potential public, who have rewarded it pose for a photograph of the four talan rock into al1 the media. A few with a rnassive presence at their con- bands for the newspaper Avui sparked rnonths earlier, the newspaper El País certs and the healthy habit of buying off a verbal battle between those who and the radio station Cadena Ser, until their records. ¤