The phenomenon of El Pony Pisador is to be studied in some of the many courses taught today on the music industry. It was not written anywhere that a young band of traditional music, ranging from Celtic music, Sardana, bluegrass or sailor songs, would reach the levels of popularity that they have achieved in Catalonia in recent years, with a number of annual concerts out of reach for many. Nor was it written that, in times of reggaeton and urban music, they managed to reach a young audience and that, furthermore, they did so completely independently: self-producing not only the music, but also the promotion through the networks.
The keys? There are probably two of them. The first, few restrictions when experimenting with genres, styles and repertoire, which gives the formula a freshness that is unusual in this type of music. It may have helped somewhat that the fashionable folk quintet in Catalonia does not come from the conventional Catalan folk music circuit. And, the second, his absurd good humor reflected in his lyrics, and which has connected very well with his generation. Curiously, it is a brand of the house forced by circumstances: in a recent interview with Sergio Lozano for La Vanguardia, they told the reason for so much joke: “The music that we take most seriously is the instrumental, the lyrics are an obligation because the “People need to have lyrics and choruses to sing.”
With this luggage they are already on their fifth album, Ocells. Launched this February, today, Friday, they present it at the Paral·lel 62 in Barcelona along with their inseparable Polzes Prènzils, within the framework of the Curtcircuit cycle. The album is a kind of tribute to these charming flying critters (note, not all of them) and is born from the obsession of one of the Ponys, Guillem Codern, with ornithology. On this occasion they leave Celtic and seafaring music behind to explore Catalan folk and, in general, Mediterranean genres. They’ve even learned to play new instruments for the album. Not in vain, it is a job that they themselves describe as the “most thought out.”
Without renouncing the humor distilled by pieces such as La guerra de l’emú or the children’s Great manual for identifying birds, they also know how to get serious in ABC, in which they travel to the sounds of the Middle East and North Africa, the medieval Scarecrow , in which together with the Tarta Relena, they combine a diabolical southern Italian tarantella with Sardinian tenor singing.
On the other hand, the Valencian Jonatan Penalba, who precisely lends his voice rooted in the terreta in Abecedari, will be in charge of opening the evening at the Paral·lel to present Reversions, an album that seeks to get closer to pop without abandoning tradition.
