The success of the Asturian Rodrigo Cuevas has given greater visibility to a musical phenomenon that has been developing throughout the Iberian Peninsula in recent years and that, due to its quality and innovation, has aroused enormous interest. It is a suggestive and heterogeneous mix between traditional music and more modern (and postmodern) sounds, which has borne notable fruits from Galicia to Andalusia, passing through Castilla or the Pyrenees. Some have called it new folklore; others prefer the folktronica label. In any case, it is still worthy of study that young musicians have set out to rescue the popular songbook and dances such as the muñeira, the jota or the fandango to reinvent them in such an airy and unapologetic way.
In this trend, projects as different from each other as María Arnal i Marcel Bagés, Queralt Lahoz, Marina Herlop, Arnau Obiols or Tarta Relena have been registered in Catalonia. And also the trio that concerns us this week: Marala. The Catalan Selma Bruna, the Mallorcan Clara Fiol and the Valencian Sandra Monfort joined their voices and talents back in 2020 and their second album, Jota de muerte (Propaganda pel Fet!, 2022), garnered very good reviews last year, especially for its depth when addressing an issue as complex as death. The album, produced by Pau Vallvé and Jordi Casadesús, is the result of meticulous research in which Bruna, Fiol and Monfort have delved into Valencian wake dances, Balearic songs for the dead or classic masses for the dead. The result, perfectly harmonized voices that sing old funeral melodies from the folklore of the Catalan Countries dressed in organic and synthetic sounds of all conditions. There are drum rolls and tambourines, but also a lot of synthesizer in loop mode that provides modernity and an atmosphere of transcendence. And, above all, a very feminine (and feminist) point of view of said tradition.
Marala will offer all the mystique of the album this Friday at the Sala La Paloma in Barcelona within the framework of the 25th Banco Mediolanum Festival del Mil·leni. The concert will kick off her new tour with a renewed live performance and aesthetics taken care of down to the smallest detail. The entire staging, from the costumes to the lights, will be at the service of a story that also wants to be an immersive, almost ritual experience for the audience.
The progressive reintegration of the famous venue on Tigre Street into the city’s live music programming circuit deserves a separate celebration. Another incentive for tonight’s concert.
