The sound protocol of Barça in Montjuïc includes a novelty: the celebration of the goals through the public address system. After scoring a goal, a song plays and the speaker calls out the name of the scorer with an interrogative emphasis so that the public responds by shouting his last name. Example: goal by Ferran Torres, song-question from the speaker (“¡Ferran!”) and response from the public (“¡Torres!”).
This children’s ritual has been practiced in many stadiums (the Bernabeu) for years, and comes from the influence of North American sports shows, designed to keep the public constantly busy and spare them any spontaneous initiative. Against Cádiz, the song Serà perquè t’estimo sounded, the version that the Owls have made of the original by the Genoese group Ricchi e Poveri, Sarà perché ti amo.
It is a song from 1981 that has been resurrected many times and today relives a moment of great popularity (if you want to know more about Italian popular music, listen to David Guzmán’s Viva l’Italia program on Catalunya Ràdio).
Regarding the setting of the stadiums, the change is evident. Noise is established to saturation to place advertising spots (for sponsors or the club) and the viewer is intimidated with a disco logic –if they cannot speak, they will consume more–. The moment of conversation prior to the matches, so formative for many generations of culés, today is a fossil. The stridency is imposed to the point that, in the retransmissions, the previous comments suffer constant interference that sabotages communication. It is useless to complain: it is a sign of the times that has commercial alibis and connects with the liturgical habits of the fans –sorry: of the clientele–. The shout (like “Hello Don Pepito! Hello Don José”) and the song are the link in a chain that distances us from individual experience to impose the spirit of the Mexican wave or prefabricated animations.
I don’t know if the song of the Owls will always sound or if it will be part of a broader repertoire. But to the dissidents of these new protocols, in addition to considering them relics, it can already be said that if they do not accept these changes, it will be that they do not love Barça.
