The aim of the paper is to go beyond the commonly accepted view of Sarajevo's Plavi orkestar (The Blue Orchestra) as the 1980s “teen pop-rock sensation” and illuminate the less conspicuous, but ...nevertheless crucial, political dimension of the band's music and visual aesthetics. This will be done by discussing several “pieces of the puzzle” essential to understanding the background to and motivations behind Plavi orkestar‘s political engagement in the second half of the 1980s: (1) the “Sarajevo factor;” (2) the Sarajevo Pop-rock School and the New Primitives “poetics of the local;” (3) the generational Yugoslavism; (4) the New Partisans “poetics of the patriotic;” and (5) the post-New Partisans “hippie ethos.” The concluding section of the paper will reflect on Plavi orkestar‘s resurgence in 1998 and explore the question of the band's continuing resonance within the post-Yugoslav and post-socialist contexts. An argument underlying the discussion of all of these elements is that Plavi orkestar's Yugoslavism of the 1980s is best understood as a soundtrack for the country that never was (i.e. a popular-cultural expression of what, from the viewpoint of a particular generational cohort and its location in the “Yugoslav socialist universe,” the community they thought of as their own ought to have been but never really was), and that the current value of this soundtrack lies in offering not only a particular window into the pre-post-socialist past but also in being a symbolic referent for a certain kind of retrospective Utopia that gauges the realities of the post-socialist – that is, neo-liberal capitalist – present and, in so doing, figures as a “normative compass” for the life of dignified existence.
Maria Rodés understands life as a fun and unexpected loop. Almost like an unpredictable spiral that takes it from one side to the other and straightens it back to the same port. Although she, ...following the dynamic and mutant character of many artists, never stops. And a good example is a musical trajectory that has led her to make personal confessions from her songs or to be inspired, later, by the most original dreams she has ever had. Ironic pop which, in its own way, is also a revolution.
\ ‘33 Revolutions’ discovers the musical adventures shared by Joan Pons (Little Cal Eril), Joan Colomo and Dalmau Boada (Spirit!). These last two grew in Montseny and together they made their first ...group (Zeidun) when they were only eleven years old. At all three joins the ones also a adolescence marked by the hardcore, and have evolved respectively to a rural folk farmed at Guissona, a passion for the sonic experimentation that makes to transport multiple instruments at a magic van, and some full letters of subtle humour and intelligence.
To end the season, we offer you a summary of the artists who have gone throught this first edition of PROP 2013: Quimi Portet, Anna Roig et l’ ombre de tonne chien, Esther Condal, Gani Mirzo, ...Cuchillo, Burruezo & Bohemia Camerata..
In Quimi Portet presents us\ ‘Oh My Love\’ his 2012 work. Probably the best work of his discography, along with his inseparable Antonio Fidel (Bass), guitarist Jordi Busquets and drums Xarli.
When his hands build the model of a building, it is called Carles Sanjosé. When they play the strings of a guitar, Sanjosex is said. But the two ways of doing do not move away from each other For ...this singer-songwriter, music is created just like a building: looking for a rhythm, a harmony, a balance, a light. And he knows it because he works every day in an architect’s office that is located in his hometown, the Bisbal de Emporda, this kind of Manchester Catalan XXI century from which a whole generation of musical talents has emerged. As Mazoni, a friend of the soul, who has grown up and forged his own universe, halfway between the lyrics of Bob Dylan and music with much of what he likes in Sanjosex: the groove.
Senior and Brutal Choir is the training led by Michelangelo Landete, a singer-songwriter Valencia critical. His staging is blunt and tender in equal parts, and his compositions have a lot of ...influence on American music. Senior sings to luv, sex, party and friendship, but also denounces injustices. He says that music has saved him because "he is able to create such a powerful effect in human beings, which cannot be compared to anything in the world. It’s very big. At me it has aided me at exiting of my miFicció, has aided me at being stronger, has aided me at understanding the life, at communicating me with the others, aids me at educating my daughter, at loving my wife, aid me at a lot of things\ ".
For Maika Makovski, Mallorca, Switzerland, Madrid, New York and Barcelona are five essential points of a human map where she has left her particular mark. Her nomadic spirit and desire to communicate ...have shaped a discography that presents as a creator very constant. We talk about a song writer who longs to live in the countryside and sink his fingers on earth to touch the roots. In fact, this is his revolution: touching from foot to earth
Pep Toni Ferrer, leader of the Mallorcan band Oliva Rota, claims the trade and work from day to day, and therefore likes to define himself as a craftsman and not as an artist. The definition is more ...than adequate, as apart from musician is illustrator. In fact, the songs of Oliva Rota may seem like the soundtrack of cartoons. But under a surreal, native and childish wrap, his songs are fables of the twenty-first century that tell and denounce great truths. Themes that are inspired by corruption, alienating technology, birds that survive between planes or working-class neighbourhoods, and that pay tribute to the musical tradition of the island.
This fall, the programme\ ‘Close\’ has presented twelve new musical proposals of the current Catalan scene. Twelve groups and artists today we present summarised.
