Nova Cançó
Encyclopedia
The Nova Cançó (ˈnɔβə kanˈso, meaning in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 "The New Song") was an artistic movement that promoted Catalan music in Francoist Spain. The movement sought to normalize use of the Catalan language in popular music and denounced the injustices of the Franco regime. Musically, it created a new genre, with roots in the French Nouvelle Chanson
Nouvelle Chanson
Nouvelle Chanson or 'New Chanson' is a recently coined buzzword used to define a new style of music emerging in France, one which takes clear inspiration from the forefathers of French Chanson , albeit in an updated style...

. The Grup de Folk, which emerged in the same period, also promoted a new form of popular music in Catalan, drawing inspiration from contemporary American and British music.

Historical context

The Nova Cançó movement originated at the end of the 1950s, twenty years after the installation of the Franco regime in Spain with its repressive policies against the Catalan language and Catalan culture. The late 1950s were a period of economic and political change in Spain: the regime ended its policy of economic autarky
Autarky
Autarky is the quality of being self-sufficient. Usually the term is applied to political states or their economic policies. Autarky exists whenever an entity can survive or continue its activities without external assistance. Autarky is not necessarily economic. For example, a military autarky...

, and Francoist Spain was admitted to the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

, which required the government to improve its image abroad. In this new context, at the beginning of the 1960s, new cultural projects emerged in Catalonia. In 1961, the record label Edigsa and the cultural organization Òmnium Cultural
Òmnium Cultural
Òmnium Cultural is a cultural association based in Barcelona . It was originally created to promote the Catalan language and spread Catalan culture....

 were founded, and the first edition of the children's magazine Cavall Fort was published. In April 1962, the publishing house Edicions 62 released its first book. Little by little, the Catalan language, the public use of which had been expressly forbidden after the fall of Catalonia in the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...

, began to regain a public presence. A notable example is the magazine Germinàbit, published by the Abbey of Montserrat, which in October 1952 became the magazine Serra d’Or.

In 1957, the writer Josep Maria Espinàs
Josep Maria Espinàs
Josep Maria Espinàs i Massip is a Catalan writer, journalist and publisher known for his novels, travel writing and newspaper articles....

 gave lectures on the French singer-songwriter Georges Brassens
Georges Brassens
Georges Brassens , 22 October 1921 – 29 October 1981), was a French singer-songwriter and poet.Brassens was born in Sète, a town in southern France near Montpellier...

, whom he called "the troubadour
Troubadour
A troubadour was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages . Since the word "troubadour" is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a trobairitz....

 of our times." Espinàs had begun to translate some of Brassens' songs into Catalan. In 1958, two EPs of songs in Catalan were released: Hermanos Serrano: Cantan en catalán los éxitos internationals ("The Brothers Serrano Sing International Hits in Catalan") and José Guardiola: canta en catalán los éxitos internationales. They are now considered the first recordings of modern music in the Catalan language. These singers, as well as others such as Font Sellabona and Rudy Ventura, form a prelude to the Nova Cançó.

La Nova Cançó

The movement's beginnings were in the second half of the 1950s, with the formation of a group suggested by Josep Benet i de Joan and Maurici Serrahima. This consisted of Jaume Armengol, Lluís Serrahima and Miquel Porter, who started composing Catalan songs. In 1959, after an article by Lluís Serrahima, titled "Ens calen cançons d’ara" ("We need songs for today"), was published in Germinabit, more authors and singers were attracted to the movement. After a very successful representation at the Centre Comarcal Lleidatà, the group Els Setze Jutges
Els Setze Jutges
Els Setze Jutges was a group of singers in the Catalan language founded in 1961 by Miquel Porter i Moix, Remei Margarit, and Josep Maria Espinàs...

 was born, founded by Remei Margarit and Josep Maria Espinàs
Josep Maria Espinàs
Josep Maria Espinàs i Massip is a Catalan writer, journalist and publisher known for his novels, travel writing and newspaper articles....

. Delfí Abella and Francesc Pi de la Serra joined soon thereafter.

The first Nova Cançó records appeared in 1962, and many musical bands, vocal groups, singer-songwriters, and interpreters picked up the trend.

In 1963, a professional Catalan artist, Salomé
Salomé (singer)
Salomé , born Maria Rosa Marco Poquet, is a Spanish Catalan singer.Salomé was born in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. At the Eurovision Song Contest held in Madrid in 1969, she performed "Vivo Cantando", composed by Maria José Cerato with words by Aniano Alcalde...

, and a Valencian
Valencian Community
The Valencian Community is an autonomous community of Spain located in central and south-eastern Iberian Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Valencia...

, Raimon
Raimon
Ramon Pelegero Sanchis, who takes the stage name of Raimon , is a Valencian Spanish singer, one of the most important exponents of the musical style of Nova Cançó and one of the most well-known veteran artists in the Catalan language.-Youth:...

, were awarded the first prize of the Fifth Festival of Mediterranean Music with the song "Se’n va anar" ("[She] left").

Despite the restrictions and administrative hurdles in television and radio broadcast, as well as in record industry, the Nova Cançó became increasingly popular, so many interpreters started to professionalize. At the same time, other variations on the style, based on other genres such as folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

, appeared, with bands such as Grup de Folk and Esquirols.

Other important participants in the movement included Guillem d'Efak and Núria Feliu, who received the Spanish Critics' Award in 1966, or other new members of Els Setze Jutges. Some of them were even well known abroad.

As time passed, some bilingual singers appeared and other ideological positions emerged, diverging from the initial ideas behind the movement.

Apart from Raimon, other former members of Els Setze Jutges continued their careers successfully, including Guillermina Motta, Francesc Pi de la Serra, Maria del Mar Bonet
Maria del Mar Bonet
Maria del Mar Bonet i Verdaguer is a Balearic singer from the island of Majorca.-Early life and career:She studied ceramics in the school of arts, but eventually she decided to dedicate herself to song. She arrived in Barcelona in 1967, where she began to sing with the group Els Setze Jutges...

, Lluís Llach
Lluís Llach
Lluís Llach i Grande is a Catalan composer and songwriter.Though partially dependent on arrangers, like Manel Camp or Carles Cases in his early works, Llach's songwriting has largely evolved from the more basic early compositions to a vastly more complex harmonic and melodic writing...

 and, especially, Joan Manuel Serrat
Joan Manuel Serrat
Joan Manuel Serrat i Teresa is a Catalan Spanish singer-songwriter.Serrat is considered one of the most important figures of modern, popular music in both the Spanish and Catalan languages...

. Other significant figures appeared somewhat later, like the Valencian Ovidi Montllor
Ovidi Montllor
-Career:At the age of 24, Montllor moved to Barcelona, where he was a member of various independent theater groups, including the CICF, and later with Núria Espert and Adrià Gual...

.

Inspired by the success of the Nova Cançó, parallel movements sprang up in Galicia, Basque Country
Basque Country (historical territory)
The Basque Country is the name given to the home of the Basque people in the western Pyrenees that spans the border between France and Spain on the Atlantic coast....

 (Euskal Kantagintza Berria), and Castile
Castile (historical region)
A former kingdom, Castile gradually merged with its neighbours to become the Crown of Castile and later the Kingdom of Spain when united with the Crown of Aragon and the Kingdom of Navarre...

.

External links

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