Adaptação do poema por
Alexandre O'Neill
Poema (original) e musica de Joan Manuel Serrat.
Joan Manuel Serrat i Teresa (Catalan
pronunciation: [ʒuˈam mənuˈɛɫ səˈrat]) (27 December 1943) is a Spanish singer.
Serrat is considered one of
the most important figures of modern, popular music in both the Spanish and Catalan
languages. He became involved with music at the age of 17, when he got his
first guitar, to which he dedicates one of his earliest songs, "Una
guitarra".
In the early '60s, the young
artist participated in a pop band, playing along with classmates at Barcelona's
Agronomy School and performing mainly Beatles songs and Italian
'pop-of-the-era' songs translated to Spanish.
In 1965, while singing in a
radio show called Radioscope, host Salvador Escamilla helped him secure a
record deal with local label Edigsa, where he recorded his first LP, as well as
joining the group Els Setze Jutges.
Joan Manuel Serrat's first
live stage performance in 1967 at the Palau de la Música Catalana, served
to establish him as one of the most important artists inside the Nova
cançó movement in Catalonia.
The following year, Spain entered
Serrat in the Eurovision Song Contest 1968 to sing "La, la,
la", but he asked to sing it in Catalan, to which the Spanish
authorities would not agree. This would be the first time he would come into
conflict with the language politics of Francoist Spain, because of his
decision to sing in his native Catalan language, repressed by dictator Francisco
Franco. Defiantly, Serrat refused to sing the Spanish-language version, and was
hurriedly replaced by Massiel, who went on to win the contest with her
Spanish-language interpretation.
As a result, Serrat's songs
were banned and his records burned in the streets. He then traveled to South
America and participated in the Rio de Janeiro's World Music Festival, where he
took first place with the song "Penélope".
In 1969, Serrat released an
album containing songs with texts of Antonio Machado, a well-known Spanish
poet of late 19th-early 20th century. This album brought him immediate fame in
all Spain and Latin America though, in spite of this, his decision to sing in
Spanish was criticized in some Catalan nationalist circles. Regarding this and
other times when his choice of language (sometimes Spanish, sometimes Catalan)
raised controversy on either side of the political sphere, he once explained:
"I sing better in the language they forbid me."
The release of the Mediterráneo LP
in 1971 consolidated the artist's reputation worldwide. During that year,
Serrat sang a seminal concert at the theater of theUniversity of Puerto Rico,
Río Piedras Campus, which was highly influential in the Puerto Rican music
community of the time, and which had repercussions as late as 2006.
In late 1974, Serrat was
exiled in Mexico due to his condemnation of arbitrary executions
under Franco's regime. It wasn't until Franco's death on November 20, 1975 that
Serrat was able to return to his homeland. In 1976, Joan Manuel Serrat was
acclaimed for the first time in the U.S.A., while performing in Los Angeles,
San Francisco, and New York.
In January 1995, the Spanish
government awarded him a medal for his contribution to Hispanic culture. That
same year, a tribute album called Serrat, eres único was made to
honor his career, featuring artists such as Diego Torres, Ketama, Rosario
Flores, Joaquín Sabina, and Antonio Flores. On 28 November 1998,
Serrat performed the Cant del Barça during the FC Barcelona Centenary
festival at the Camp Nou.
In 2000, the Spanish
Association of Authors and Editors (SGAE) awarded him with one of ten Medals of
the Century.
Serrat revealed in October
2004 that he had been undergoing treatment for cancer of the urinary
bladder and in November that year he had to cancel a tour of Latin
America and the U.S. in order to undergo surgery in
Barcelona, where he still lives. His signature song "Mediterráneo"
was selected as the most important song of the 20th century in Spain.
His recovery was satisfactory,
and in 2005 he went on tour again ("Serrat 100×100") around Spain and
Latin America with his lifelong producer and arranger, Ricard Miralles.
During the tour Serrat played symphonic versions of his songs with local
symphony orchestras.
A second volume of Serrat,
eres único was also released this year, featuring Alejandro Sanz, Estopa,
and Pasión Vega. Around the same time, Cuban artists such as Silvio
Rodríguez, Pablo Milanés, Chucho Valdez, and Ibrahim Ferrer came
together to make another tribute CD, Cuba le canta a Serrat.
By 2006, the theater of the
University of Puerto Rico in Río Piedras where Serrat sang in 1970 had
undergone a multi-million dollar renovation, after being closed for ten years.
The university planned to reopen the theater with Serrat as its first popular
culture act, thus recalling his first performance there. However, student
protests over the university conceding private entities control over some
theater administration functions ended up in a physical confrontation between
some student leaders and patrons attending the theater's inaugural gala, the
day before Serrat's first scheduled performance. As a result, the concerts had
to be postponed and changed to another venue. Serrat felt particularly uneasy
about the whole situation; when he was pressed to take sides in the controversy
he opted to remain neutral.
In 2006 Serrat also released Mô, his first album
completely in Catalan in 17 years. The album title refers to the city
of Mahón, capital of the Spanish island of Menorca, where he likes to
get away from it all during long touring seasons.
Retirado da: Wikipédia.
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