Michael Gil ?????
Place and date: Traditional Craftsman Center (III/15/2024)
The collaboration between the Barnasants and Tradicionàrius festivals of the last years never ceases to give us joy. Such joyful things as seeing the Valencian Miquel Gil, who appeared in Gràcia presenting his new work, Viatger. Fogueado with the venerable Al Tall, and flying on his own since the late eighties, the singer and composer of Catarroja performed together with Nelo Alfonso (keyboards, bass), Jose Reillo (drums), Toni Porcar (classical guitar), Lucía Zambudio (electric guitar), multi-instrumentalist Eduard Navarro and bassist Gusmà Gil. In the program of the night, in addition to a generous selection of his last album, he rescued pearls from previous works such as, among others, L’amor és Déu en barca, with lyrics by Enric Casasses, served with a new and beautiful arrangement.
The title track of Miquel Gil’s most recent album, with his own lyrics, is an intelligent song against ageism: the one found in the eyes of others, but also his own. Fight melancholy and sadness because, says the lyrics, “these times are the best times.” In fact, Gil has always combined his work with the musical heritage in the present, an outstanding Mediterranean nature that has looked to all the shores of our sea. In this production, he has especially played with digital sounds, very present in songs that were also part of his repertoire such as the initial Nineta (with its Andalusian rhythm and fandanguera harmonies) or the version of the song by the Ibizans UC Sa serena.
A man with a deep and telluric voice, although also delicate, Miquel Gil took us through a magnificent catalogue, with an absolutely euphoric festive coda, and in which he had previously dazzled us with wonders such as A València (with words by the Arabic-Valencian poet Al- Russafi), the mournful line of Cecília (which is her reading of the traditional L’hereu Riera) and, traveling back to her most historic production, the extraordinary Katà. Of course these are good times, artist. And they will be even better.
