Raimon
Encyclopedia
Ramon Pelegero Sanchis, who takes the stage name
of Raimon (ˈrajmon), 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
.
in the province of Valencia, Spain
on December 2, 1940, at el carrer Blanc (White Street), which he references in some songs. In his youth he worked for several years as a radio broadcaster in his hometown, absorbing the music of artists as diverse as Juliette Gréco
, The Platters
, and Juanito Valderrama.
At age 21, he moved to Valencia in order to study history. It was there that he discovered Catalan culture, and read writers such as Ausiàs March
, Salvador Espriu
, Josep Pla
, and Joan Fuster
, among others. Prior to this, however, he had already written his first song, Al vent (To the wind).
In 1962, Raimon made his first public appearance at a literary prize ceremony. A little later, after entering a contest in Castelló
, where Els Setze Jutges
participated, he sang for them. Josep Maria Espinàs
was impressed and invited him to Barcelona
for the Fòrum Vergés. His success was immediate. Raimon surprised with the form and content of his songs. His urgent texts spoke of a rebellious existentialism; his style departed from the "French style" of Els Setze Jutges
and offered a vision of the world tied not to the life of the Barcelona bourgeois in which musicians like Espinàs, Delfí Abella, and Enric Barbat lived, but rather to the Valencian working classes. His first EP
appeared quickly on Catalan record label Edigsa in 1963; it included the songs Al vent, Som, La pedra, and A colps, and became a great sales success.
, who gave a feminine interpretation of the love song Se'n va anar by Josep Maria Andreu and Lleó Borrell. The song, voted by the public, won first prize. From that moment, Catalan song, considered up to then a minority phenomenon of little consequence, began to receive the attention of the censors and of the institutions of the Franquistas, with the host of prohibitions that accompanied them.
Immediately thereafter, Raimon's second EP appeared, with Se'n va anar and three other tunes: the existential Disset anys, Cançó del capvespre (Raimon's first setting of a poem of Salvador Espriu
) and Ahir, quickly known by its subtitle Diguem no, which would for many years be song with altered lyrics that softened its overtly political message. Much later, Raimon confessed that he wanted to put Se'n va anar and Diguem no together because, if they banned the disc, they would ban the both of them.
In 1964 a third EP appeared, which featured the songs D'un temps d'un país and Cançó de les mans. That same year, his first LP saw light, a live album
containing versions of the majority of his previously released songs and two new tunes, Si em mor and Cantarem la vida. In 1965, Raimon sang for the first time in Barcelona without Els Setze Jutges or other singers: his first solo recital took place in the Aliança del Poble Nou. The same year he began his international activities at the university at Lovaina in Belgium
. He published an EP with four love songs dedicated to the woman whom would become his wife the following year. The songs were En tu estime el món, Treballaré el teu cos, Si un dia vols and No sé com.
In 1965, his historic open-air performance at the Institut Químic de Sarrià took place, the first true massive act of Catalan song; he also made his first appearances in Paris
and Germany
. The album Cançons de la roda del temps appeared that year, with a painting by Joan Miró
on the cover. The music was centered around the book El caminant i el mur by Espriu, twelve poems which recall the solar cycle and the life cycle of man, to which Raimon added a concluding song of character more civic than metaphysical, Inici de càntic en el temple.
In France he released an album recorded live on June 7 at the Olympia, which won the Francis Carco
award the following year for best foreign song, granted by the Académie du Disque Français. Unreleased versions of some songs censored in Spain appeared on this disc.
In 1967 he performed at the Teatre Romea, the first recital of a Catalan singer there. He also performed in Cuba
, Switzerland
, and other countries. A concert in Barcelona at the Palau de la Música Catalana
on January 28 was released as a live album, Raimon Palau, with 12 songs. A last EP followed that same year.
In 1968 he released his first disc with Discophon, the song Indesinenter (a setting of a poem of Espriu). This same year he had two more historic recitals, one at the Price labor movement festival and the other at the Faculty of Economics in Madrid
. He also performed in Mexico
, Germany, Switzerland, and Cuba that year. The next year, he returned to the Paris Olympia, and another LP was released solely in France.
After another single, which included his first setting of Ausias March, Veles e vents, he released the disc Per destruir aquell qui l'ha desert in 1970, arranged by Lleó Borrell and with cover art by Antoni Tàpies
. Side A was dedicated to settings of 15th century Catalan poets: the poem Desert d'amics (the original name, Presoner, was forbidden by the censors), by Jordi de Sant Jordi
; a fragment of the Llibre dels bons amonestaments, of Anselm Turmeda
, titled Elogi dels diners, and four poems of Ausiàs March: Veles e vents, Així com cell, Quins tan segurs consells and Si com lo taur. Side B featured Indesinenter and five songs written by Raimon: Societat de consum (one of his few songs with an ironic treatment), Quan creus que ja s'acaba, De nit a casa, T'ho devia and Sobre la pau.
In 1971 he released another LP with included 13 de març, cançó dels creients and the love song Quan te'n vas. Other releases appeared in France, the U.S. and Uruguay
, and he toured in Uruguay, Chile
, and Argentina
. The following two years he released further international discs and gave hundreds of live shows. In 1973 he published the book Poemes i cançons, with a prologue by Manuel Sacristán
.
In 1974 the album A Victor Jara was released, collaborating with a number of avant-garde French musicians like Michel Portal
. It includes some settings, of Ausias March (No em pren així, Lo jorn ha por), Joan Roís de Corella
(Si en lo mal temps), Joan Timoneda (So qui so) and Pere Quart (Una vaca amb un vedellet en braços). Raimon's originals were T'he conegut sempre igual, a song about secrecy written as a result of his fortuitous encounter with the persecuted Gregori López i Raimundo; Molt lluny, a nostalgic revisitation of adolescence; Morir en aquesta vida, a rejection of suicide which contains a literal citation of Mayakovsky
; Amb tots els petits vicis, about being in one's thirties; and the sober love song Com un puny. It was dedicated to Victor Jara
, Chilean singer assassinated by the Pinochet government in September 1973.
This same year, two more albums appeared; the first in France, T'adores, amic, had several songs banned in Spain. The other, Campus de Bellaterra, was recorded live at a performance at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Many of the songs had strong social/political overtones: Qui ja ho sap tot, A un amic, 18 de maig a la Villa, No em mou al crit, Quan jo vaig nàixer, and the poem of Espriu, dedicated to Pompeu Fabra
, El meu poble i jo.
In 1975, while Franco
ailed, Raimon sang at the Palau dels Esports de Barcelona
, where he debuted one of his classics, Jo vinc d'un silenci.
of Real Madrid
on April 1. This was originally to be the first of four concerts, but the final three were cancelled. The performance was captured on a double album
, El recital de Madrid. In the spring of this same year, he appeared for the first and only time at the Sis Hores de Cançó in Canet de Mar
. More than sixty thousand people filled the Pla d'en Sala de Canet. During Raimon's performance, while he performed the song Inici de càntic en el temple, a crane elevated an enormous Catalan flag on the side of the stage.
From this moment, Raimon dedicated much effort to avoiding irrelevance as a resistance artist. Despite making four appearances at the Palacio de los Deportes de Barcelona in 1977, he began to steer clear of large concerts and stayed away from organized actions for political parties. Also, he began to play accompanied by a double bass
, before assembing a full backing group. Up until then, Raimon always had played solo, with his guitar.
Before touring Japan
for the first time in 1977 he released the album Lliurament del cant, which combined settings of Joan Timoneda (Bella, de vós so enamorós, Qui té anguila per la cua), Espriu (Potser arran de l'alba), and some of his own texts: Qui pregunta ja respon, Un lleu tel d'humitat, Tristesa el nom, Com una mà, Que tothom, A Joan Miró (not exactly a new song, but hitherto not released in Spain), and a studio version of Jo vinc d'un silenci.
Two years later, in 1979, a new album appeared, Quan l'aigua es queixa, assembled from six concerts in the Palau de la Música Catalana
. It includes poems of Espriu (Nous cants de llibertat and the ironic swing I beg your pardon), Ausiàs March (Si em demanau and On és lo lloc), and his own texts: Als matins a ciutat, L'última llum, Un sol consell, No el coneixia de res, Fou un infant, Perquè ningú no em contarà els seus somnis, I després de creure tant Andreu, amic, dedicated to the sculptor Andreu Alfaro. This album displayed a maturation in his poetic style.
In order to regroup all his work, in 1981 he re-recorded all his songs with new arrangements by Manel Camp and Antoni Ros Marbà. The result was a set of ten discs, whose songs were grouped thematically: Orígens, Cançons d'amor, Ausiàs March, Dedicatòries, Cançons de la roda del temps (Espriu), He mirat aquesta terra (Espriu), Poetes dels segles XV i XVI, Amb els silencis i les nostres paraules and L 'aigua del temps que vius. The tenth disc, Testimonis, is dedicated to live recordings and includes a version of Al vent sung in Japanese by a choir from that country. The only unreleased songs incorporated in Raimon. otes les cançons were some settings of Joan Roís de Corella
, Joan Timoneda, Ausiàs March and Espriu.
In 1983 he released Les hores guanyades, which included his thoughts on the political scene (including the failed coup d'etat
of February 23), the life of the artist and many other themes. From this moment, Raimon appeared rarely in public and made few recordings. He released a new album in 1984, Entre la nota i el so, with songs like Lluny de la pedra i de l'aigua and Al meu país la pluja.
The following album (Presències i oblit, 1987) marked a brief experimentation with electronic music
and with instruments like a drum kit
and a synthesizer
(with arrangements made by the percussionist Ezequiel Guillén Saki). On this disc are songs of a markedly intimate character: Del blanc i el blau, La mar respira calma (written in the style of Espriu), Primer parlaré de tu, etc. At the presentation of the album at the Palau de la Música Catalana
, Raimon performed for the first time almost entirely without using the guitar, gesturing to great effect during the concert.
Raimon then took exactly a decade to record an album of new songs, but this was not a time of inactivity; he formed a stable group of accompanying musicians on the guitar, double bass, cello and accordion - and performed together with them as well as solo, under conditions he found artistically preferable.
In 1992 he toured Japan again, and also sang in various universities in the United States. The same year, he surprised many by making an appearance on Literal, a program on TVE-Catalunya dedicated to the world of literature.
On Saint George's day 1993, a large concert took place in the Palau Sant Jordi
in Barcelona
, before some eighteen thousand spectators, to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the release of Al vent. Raimon sang many songs, but also on stage were many artists who had shared experiences with him over many years: the Uruguay
an Daniel Vigiletti, the Basque
Mikel Laboa
, the Portuguese
Luis Cilia, the American folk singer Pete Seeger
, and others. Catalan guests included Serrat (a former rival, but reconciled friend), Ovidi Montllor
, and Pi de la Serra. Also in attendance were the Japanese group Warabi-za, the Coral Sant Jordi directed by Oriol Martorell and the band La Lira Ampostina.
The same year a new Complete Works was released, this time on CD. The work, which won the Palmarès des Palmarès given by the Nouvelle Académie du Disque Français, collected a total of 121 songs divided into the following: Orígens i dedicatòries, Cançons d'amor i de lluita, Cançons de la roda del temps i d'altres poemes de Salvador Espriu, Ausiàs March i alguns poemes dels segles XV i XVI, Aquest cant vol ser plural and Coincidències, dissidències, indecències i algunes rareses, the last being dedicated to live recordings.
In early 1997 a new album finally appeared, Cançons de mai with arrangements by Manel Camp. It consisted of seven settings of Ausiàs March
and six of his own poems, including the ironic Soliloqui solipsista, which was accompanied by a video clip.
That same year he was granted the Gold Medal (Medalla de Oro) of the Generalitat de Catalunya
. Under the title Cançons de mai. Cançons de sempre, Raimon made appearances in Perpignan
, Xàtiva
, Majorca, and in the Palau de la Música Catalana. He also toured Britain. He was heckled at Madrid's Plaza de las Ventas bullring, where he sang a homage to Miguel Ángel Blanco
, assassinated by ETA
. Some of the public criticised his singing in Catalan, which he publicly avowed by singing Valencian dialect of Catalan, and the fact that the song País Basc was prohibited during the Francoist dictatorship. The act was rebroadcast on TVE, and provoked great controversy.
At the end of 1997 the CD Recitals al Palau was released and in 1999 he published a compilation of all his love songs, Les cançons d'amor. In 2000, he published a new Complete Works with many unreleased songs, settings of 15th century authors: Francí Guerau, Jordi de Sant Jordi
, Mossèn Estanya, Bernat Metge
and Jaume Roig. The new complete works also included the only two songs he recorded written by other songwriters: Se'n va anar and Amanda.
Stage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...
of Raimon (ˈrajmon), is a Valencian
Valencian people
The Valencians are an ethnic group or nationality whose homeland is the Valencian Community, which is a historical region in eastern Spain. The official languages of Valencia are Catalan , and Spanish ....
Spanish singer, one of the most important exponents of the musical style of Nova Cançó
Nova Cançó
The Nova Cançó 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...
and one of the most well-known veteran artists in the Catalan language
Catalan language
Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
.
Youth
Raimon was born in XàtivaXàtiva
Xàtiva is a town in eastern Spain, in the province of Valencia, on the right bank of the river Albaida and at the junction of the Valencia–Murcia and Valencia Albacete railways....
in the province of Valencia, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
on December 2, 1940, at el carrer Blanc (White Street), which he references in some songs. In his youth he worked for several years as a radio broadcaster in his hometown, absorbing the music of artists as diverse as Juliette Gréco
Juliette Gréco
Juliette Gréco, — also Michelle – is a French actress and popular chanson singer.-Early life and family:Juliette Gréco was born in Montpellier to a Corsican father and a mother who became active in the Résistance, in the Hérault département of southern France. She was raised by her maternal...
, The Platters
The Platters
The Platters were a vocal group of the early rock and roll era. Their distinctive sound was a bridge between the pre-rock Tin Pan Alley tradition and the burgeoning new genre...
, and Juanito Valderrama.
At age 21, he moved to Valencia in order to study history. It was there that he discovered Catalan culture, and read writers such as Ausiàs March
Ausiàs March
Ausiàs March was a Valencian poet who was born in Gandia towards the end of the 14th century. He was the son of Pere March, nephew of Jaume March II, and cousin of Arnau March....
, Salvador Espriu
Salvador Espriu
Salvador Espriu i Castelló was a Catalan poet writing in the Catalan language.-Biography:Espriu was born in Santa Coloma de Farners, Catalonia. He was the son of an attorney. His childhood was divided between his home town, Barcelona, and Arenys de Mar, a village on the Maresme coast...
, Josep Pla
Josep Pla
Josep Pla i Casadevall was a Catalan Spanish journalist and a popular author. As a journalist he worked in France, Italy, England, Germany and Russia, from where he wrote political and cultural chronicles in Catalan.His figure is somewhat controversial for present day Catalans...
, and Joan Fuster
Joan Fuster
Joan Fuster i Ortells was a Valencian writer, who published mostly in Catalan.- Life and works :He was born in the village of Sueca near Valencia, Spain, in a relatively prosperous middle class family. Both his parents were pious Roman Catholics and Carlists. His father was a renowned local...
, among others. Prior to this, however, he had already written his first song, Al vent (To the wind).
In 1962, Raimon made his first public appearance at a literary prize ceremony. A little later, after entering a contest in Castelló
Castelló
Castelló is the Catalan name corresponding to Spanish Castellón. As such, it may refer to either of:*Castellón *Castellón de la Plana...
, where 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...
participated, he sang for them. 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....
was impressed and invited him to Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
for the Fòrum Vergés. His success was immediate. Raimon surprised with the form and content of his songs. His urgent texts spoke of a rebellious existentialism; his style departed from the "French style" of 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...
and offered a vision of the world tied not to the life of the Barcelona bourgeois in which musicians like Espinàs, Delfí Abella, and Enric Barbat lived, but rather to the Valencian working classes. His first EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
appeared quickly on Catalan record label Edigsa in 1963; it included the songs Al vent, Som, La pedra, and A colps, and became a great sales success.
The dictatorial era
During this period of success, he received a surprising proposal: to sing at the Festival de la Canción Mediterránea with a song in Catalan. Initially reticent, Raimon eventually accepted "per voluntat de servei al país i a la llengua" (as an act of service to the country and the language). Raimon, without a guitar, sang, together with SaloméSalomé (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...
, who gave a feminine interpretation of the love song Se'n va anar by Josep Maria Andreu and Lleó Borrell. The song, voted by the public, won first prize. From that moment, Catalan song, considered up to then a minority phenomenon of little consequence, began to receive the attention of the censors and of the institutions of the Franquistas, with the host of prohibitions that accompanied them.
Immediately thereafter, Raimon's second EP appeared, with Se'n va anar and three other tunes: the existential Disset anys, Cançó del capvespre (Raimon's first setting of a poem of Salvador Espriu
Salvador Espriu
Salvador Espriu i Castelló was a Catalan poet writing in the Catalan language.-Biography:Espriu was born in Santa Coloma de Farners, Catalonia. He was the son of an attorney. His childhood was divided between his home town, Barcelona, and Arenys de Mar, a village on the Maresme coast...
) and Ahir, quickly known by its subtitle Diguem no, which would for many years be song with altered lyrics that softened its overtly political message. Much later, Raimon confessed that he wanted to put Se'n va anar and Diguem no together because, if they banned the disc, they would ban the both of them.
In 1964 a third EP appeared, which featured the songs D'un temps d'un país and Cançó de les mans. That same year, his first LP saw light, a live album
Live album
A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...
containing versions of the majority of his previously released songs and two new tunes, Si em mor and Cantarem la vida. In 1965, Raimon sang for the first time in Barcelona without Els Setze Jutges or other singers: his first solo recital took place in the Aliança del Poble Nou. The same year he began his international activities at the university at Lovaina in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
. He published an EP with four love songs dedicated to the woman whom would become his wife the following year. The songs were En tu estime el món, Treballaré el teu cos, Si un dia vols and No sé com.
In 1965, his historic open-air performance at the Institut Químic de Sarrià took place, the first true massive act of Catalan song; he also made his first appearances in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. The album Cançons de la roda del temps appeared that year, with a painting by Joan Miró
Joan Miró
Joan Miró i Ferrà was a Spanish Catalan painter, sculptor, and ceramicist born in Barcelona.Earning international acclaim, his work has been interpreted as Surrealism, a sandbox for the subconscious mind, a re-creation of the childlike, and a manifestation of Catalan pride...
on the cover. The music was centered around the book El caminant i el mur by Espriu, twelve poems which recall the solar cycle and the life cycle of man, to which Raimon added a concluding song of character more civic than metaphysical, Inici de càntic en el temple.
In France he released an album recorded live on June 7 at the Olympia, which won the Francis Carco
Francis Carco
Francis Carco was a French author, born at Nouméa, New Caledonia. He was a poet, belonging to the Fantaisiste school, a novelist, a dramatist, and art critic for L'Homme libre and Gil Blas. During the War he became aviation pilot at Étampes, after studying at the aviation school there...
award the following year for best foreign song, granted by the Académie du Disque Français. Unreleased versions of some songs censored in Spain appeared on this disc.
In 1967 he performed at the Teatre Romea, the first recital of a Catalan singer there. He also performed in Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, and other countries. A concert in Barcelona at the Palau de la Música Catalana
Palau de la Música Catalana
The Palau de la Música Catalana is a concert hall in Barcelona. Designed in the Catalan modernista style by the architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner, it was built between 1905 and 1908 for the Orfeó Català, a choral society founded in 1891 that was a leading force in the Catalan cultural movement...
on January 28 was released as a live album, Raimon Palau, with 12 songs. A last EP followed that same year.
In 1968 he released his first disc with Discophon, the song Indesinenter (a setting of a poem of Espriu). This same year he had two more historic recitals, one at the Price labor movement festival and the other at the Faculty of Economics in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
. He also performed in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, Germany, Switzerland, and Cuba that year. The next year, he returned to the Paris Olympia, and another LP was released solely in France.
After another single, which included his first setting of Ausias March, Veles e vents, he released the disc Per destruir aquell qui l'ha desert in 1970, arranged by Lleó Borrell and with cover art by Antoni Tàpies
Antoni Tàpies
Antoni Tàpies i Puig, 1st Marquess of Tàpies is a Catalan painter. He is one of the most famous European artists of his generation. After studying law for 3 years, he devoted himself from 1943 onwards only to his painting...
. Side A was dedicated to settings of 15th century Catalan poets: the poem Desert d'amics (the original name, Presoner, was forbidden by the censors), by Jordi de Sant Jordi
Jordi de Sant Jordi
Jordi de Sant Jordi was born in the Kingdom of Valencia. He was Chamberlain at the court of King Alfons V of Aragon but is best known for his poetry....
; a fragment of the Llibre dels bons amonestaments, of Anselm Turmeda
Anselm Turmeda
Anselm Turmeda or Abd-Allah at-Tarjuman was a Majorcan writer born in Palma in 1355 and died in Tunis in 1423. Early in his life he was a Franciscan friar, but converted later to Islam from Christianity and lived in Tunis. He is one of few writers who have written in Arabic and a European...
, titled Elogi dels diners, and four poems of Ausiàs March: Veles e vents, Així com cell, Quins tan segurs consells and Si com lo taur. Side B featured Indesinenter and five songs written by Raimon: Societat de consum (one of his few songs with an ironic treatment), Quan creus que ja s'acaba, De nit a casa, T'ho devia and Sobre la pau.
In 1971 he released another LP with included 13 de març, cançó dels creients and the love song Quan te'n vas. Other releases appeared in France, the U.S. and Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
, and he toured in Uruguay, Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, and Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
. The following two years he released further international discs and gave hundreds of live shows. In 1973 he published the book Poemes i cançons, with a prologue by Manuel Sacristán
Manuel Sacristán
Manuel Sacristán was a Spanish philosopher and writer.Sacristán, the son of a Francoist collaborator, moved to Barcelona in 1940, thereafter living most of his life in said city...
.
In 1974 the album A Victor Jara was released, collaborating with a number of avant-garde French musicians like Michel Portal
Michel Portal
Michel Portal is a composer, saxophonist, and clarinetist.Portal studied clarinet at the Conservatoire de Paris...
. It includes some settings, of Ausias March (No em pren així, Lo jorn ha por), Joan Roís de Corella
Joan Roís de Corella
Joan Roís de Corella was a Catalan-language writer from the Kingdom of Valencia.He was born into a minor noble family of Aragonese origin in either Gandia or Valencia and apparently followed a career in the church. He may have been ordained as a priest, but apparently had two children.He is...
(Si en lo mal temps), Joan Timoneda (So qui so) and Pere Quart (Una vaca amb un vedellet en braços). Raimon's originals were T'he conegut sempre igual, a song about secrecy written as a result of his fortuitous encounter with the persecuted Gregori López i Raimundo; Molt lluny, a nostalgic revisitation of adolescence; Morir en aquesta vida, a rejection of suicide which contains a literal citation of Mayakovsky
Vladimir Mayakovsky
Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky was a Russian and Soviet poet and playwright, among the foremost representatives of early-20th century Russian Futurism.- Early life :...
; Amb tots els petits vicis, about being in one's thirties; and the sober love song Com un puny. It was dedicated to Victor Jara
Víctor Jara
Víctor Lidio Jara Martínez was a Chilean teacher, theatre director, poet, singer-songwriter, political activist and member of the Communist Party of Chile...
, Chilean singer assassinated by the Pinochet government in September 1973.
This same year, two more albums appeared; the first in France, T'adores, amic, had several songs banned in Spain. The other, Campus de Bellaterra, was recorded live at a performance at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Many of the songs had strong social/political overtones: Qui ja ho sap tot, A un amic, 18 de maig a la Villa, No em mou al crit, Quan jo vaig nàixer, and the poem of Espriu, dedicated to Pompeu Fabra
Pompeu Fabra
Pompeu Fabra i Poch was a Catalan grammarian, the main author of the normative reform of contemporary Catalan language....
, El meu poble i jo.
In 1975, while Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
ailed, Raimon sang at the Palau dels Esports de Barcelona
Palau dels Esports de Barcelona
The Palau dels Esports de Barcelona is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is on Lleida Street on the slopes of Montjuïc, a hill to the south east of the city centre....
, where he debuted one of his classics, Jo vinc d'un silenci.
The democratic era
The following year, during the optimism preceding democratic rule, he sang in the sports pavilionRaimundo Saporta Pavilion
Raimundo Saporta Pavilion was an Indoor sports arena used particularly for basketball matches of Real Madrid. Until 1999 it was known as the Sports City of Real Madrid Pavilion, when it was renamed in honorary of the former president of Real Madrid basketball team, the late Raimundo Saporta.It was...
of Real Madrid
Real Madrid
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol , commonly known as Real Madrid, is a professional football club based in Madrid, Spain. The club have won a record 31 La Liga titles, the Primera División of the Liga de Fútbol Profesional , 18 Copas del Rey, 8 Spanish Super Cups, 1 Copa Eva Duarte and 1 Copa de la...
on April 1. This was originally to be the first of four concerts, but the final three were cancelled. The performance was captured on a double album
Double album
A double album is an audio album which spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically records and compact discs....
, El recital de Madrid. In the spring of this same year, he appeared for the first and only time at the Sis Hores de Cançó in Canet de Mar
Canet de Mar
Canet de Mar is a municipality in the comarca of the Maresme inCatalonia, Spain. It is situated on the coast between Arenys de Mar and Sant Pol de Mar. and el Montnegre ranges. It is an important tourist centre, but is also known for the cultivation of...
. More than sixty thousand people filled the Pla d'en Sala de Canet. During Raimon's performance, while he performed the song Inici de càntic en el temple, a crane elevated an enormous Catalan flag on the side of the stage.
From this moment, Raimon dedicated much effort to avoiding irrelevance as a resistance artist. Despite making four appearances at the Palacio de los Deportes de Barcelona in 1977, he began to steer clear of large concerts and stayed away from organized actions for political parties. Also, he began to play accompanied by a double bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
, before assembing a full backing group. Up until then, Raimon always had played solo, with his guitar.
Before touring Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
for the first time in 1977 he released the album Lliurament del cant, which combined settings of Joan Timoneda (Bella, de vós so enamorós, Qui té anguila per la cua), Espriu (Potser arran de l'alba), and some of his own texts: Qui pregunta ja respon, Un lleu tel d'humitat, Tristesa el nom, Com una mà, Que tothom, A Joan Miró (not exactly a new song, but hitherto not released in Spain), and a studio version of Jo vinc d'un silenci.
Two years later, in 1979, a new album appeared, Quan l'aigua es queixa, assembled from six concerts in the Palau de la Música Catalana
Palau de la Música Catalana
The Palau de la Música Catalana is a concert hall in Barcelona. Designed in the Catalan modernista style by the architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner, it was built between 1905 and 1908 for the Orfeó Català, a choral society founded in 1891 that was a leading force in the Catalan cultural movement...
. It includes poems of Espriu (Nous cants de llibertat and the ironic swing I beg your pardon), Ausiàs March (Si em demanau and On és lo lloc), and his own texts: Als matins a ciutat, L'última llum, Un sol consell, No el coneixia de res, Fou un infant, Perquè ningú no em contarà els seus somnis, I després de creure tant Andreu, amic, dedicated to the sculptor Andreu Alfaro. This album displayed a maturation in his poetic style.
In order to regroup all his work, in 1981 he re-recorded all his songs with new arrangements by Manel Camp and Antoni Ros Marbà. The result was a set of ten discs, whose songs were grouped thematically: Orígens, Cançons d'amor, Ausiàs March, Dedicatòries, Cançons de la roda del temps (Espriu), He mirat aquesta terra (Espriu), Poetes dels segles XV i XVI, Amb els silencis i les nostres paraules and L 'aigua del temps que vius. The tenth disc, Testimonis, is dedicated to live recordings and includes a version of Al vent sung in Japanese by a choir from that country. The only unreleased songs incorporated in Raimon. otes les cançons were some settings of Joan Roís de Corella
Joan Roís de Corella
Joan Roís de Corella was a Catalan-language writer from the Kingdom of Valencia.He was born into a minor noble family of Aragonese origin in either Gandia or Valencia and apparently followed a career in the church. He may have been ordained as a priest, but apparently had two children.He is...
, Joan Timoneda, Ausiàs March and Espriu.
In 1983 he released Les hores guanyades, which included his thoughts on the political scene (including the failed coup d'etat
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
of February 23), the life of the artist and many other themes. From this moment, Raimon appeared rarely in public and made few recordings. He released a new album in 1984, Entre la nota i el so, with songs like Lluny de la pedra i de l'aigua and Al meu país la pluja.
The following album (Presències i oblit, 1987) marked a brief experimentation with electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
and with instruments like a drum kit
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
and a synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
(with arrangements made by the percussionist Ezequiel Guillén Saki). On this disc are songs of a markedly intimate character: Del blanc i el blau, La mar respira calma (written in the style of Espriu), Primer parlaré de tu, etc. At the presentation of the album at the Palau de la Música Catalana
Palau de la Música Catalana
The Palau de la Música Catalana is a concert hall in Barcelona. Designed in the Catalan modernista style by the architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner, it was built between 1905 and 1908 for the Orfeó Català, a choral society founded in 1891 that was a leading force in the Catalan cultural movement...
, Raimon performed for the first time almost entirely without using the guitar, gesturing to great effect during the concert.
Raimon then took exactly a decade to record an album of new songs, but this was not a time of inactivity; he formed a stable group of accompanying musicians on the guitar, double bass, cello and accordion - and performed together with them as well as solo, under conditions he found artistically preferable.
In 1992 he toured Japan again, and also sang in various universities in the United States. The same year, he surprised many by making an appearance on Literal, a program on TVE-Catalunya dedicated to the world of literature.
On Saint George's day 1993, a large concert took place in the Palau Sant Jordi
Palau Sant Jordi
Palau Sant Jordi is an indoor sporting arena and multi-purpose installation that is part of the Olympic Ring complex located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain...
in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, before some eighteen thousand spectators, to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the release of Al vent. Raimon sang many songs, but also on stage were many artists who had shared experiences with him over many years: the Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
an Daniel Vigiletti, the Basque
Basque Country (autonomous community)
The Basque Country is an autonomous community of northern Spain. It includes the Basque provinces of Álava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa, also called Historical Territories....
Mikel Laboa
Mikel Laboa
Mikel Laboa Mancisidor was one of the Basque Country's most important singer-songwriters.Considered the patriarch of Basque music, his music has had an influence on younger generations...
, the Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
Luis Cilia, the American folk singer Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger
Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
, and others. Catalan guests included Serrat (a former rival, but reconciled friend), 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...
, and Pi de la Serra. Also in attendance were the Japanese group Warabi-za, the Coral Sant Jordi directed by Oriol Martorell and the band La Lira Ampostina.
The same year a new Complete Works was released, this time on CD. The work, which won the Palmarès des Palmarès given by the Nouvelle Académie du Disque Français, collected a total of 121 songs divided into the following: Orígens i dedicatòries, Cançons d'amor i de lluita, Cançons de la roda del temps i d'altres poemes de Salvador Espriu, Ausiàs March i alguns poemes dels segles XV i XVI, Aquest cant vol ser plural and Coincidències, dissidències, indecències i algunes rareses, the last being dedicated to live recordings.
In early 1997 a new album finally appeared, Cançons de mai with arrangements by Manel Camp. It consisted of seven settings of Ausiàs March
Ausiàs March
Ausiàs March was a Valencian poet who was born in Gandia towards the end of the 14th century. He was the son of Pere March, nephew of Jaume March II, and cousin of Arnau March....
and six of his own poems, including the ironic Soliloqui solipsista, which was accompanied by a video clip.
That same year he was granted the Gold Medal (Medalla de Oro) of the Generalitat de Catalunya
Generalitat de Catalunya
The Generalitat of Catalonia is the institution under which the autonomous community of Catalonia is politically organised. It consists of the Parliament, the President of the Generalitat of Catalonia and the Government of Catalonia....
. Under the title Cançons de mai. Cançons de sempre, Raimon made appearances in Perpignan
Perpignan
-Sport:Perpignan is a rugby stronghold: their rugby union side, USA Perpignan, is a regular competitor in the Heineken Cup and seven times champion of the Top 14 , while their rugby league side plays in the engage Super League under the name Catalans Dragons.-Culture:Since 2004, every year in the...
, Xàtiva
Xàtiva
Xàtiva is a town in eastern Spain, in the province of Valencia, on the right bank of the river Albaida and at the junction of the Valencia–Murcia and Valencia Albacete railways....
, Majorca, and in the Palau de la Música Catalana. He also toured Britain. He was heckled at Madrid's Plaza de las Ventas bullring, where he sang a homage to Miguel Ángel Blanco
Miguel Ángel Blanco
Miguel Ángel Blanco Garrido was a local Spanish politician for the People's Party, who was kidnapped and subsequently executed by the Basque terrorist group ETA.-Early life:...
, assassinated by ETA
ETA
ETA , an acronym for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna is an armed Basque nationalist and separatist organization. The group was founded in 1959 and has since evolved from a group promoting traditional Basque culture to a paramilitary group with the goal of gaining independence for the Greater Basque Country...
. Some of the public criticised his singing in Catalan, which he publicly avowed by singing Valencian dialect of Catalan, and the fact that the song País Basc was prohibited during the Francoist dictatorship. The act was rebroadcast on TVE, and provoked great controversy.
At the end of 1997 the CD Recitals al Palau was released and in 1999 he published a compilation of all his love songs, Les cançons d'amor. In 2000, he published a new Complete Works with many unreleased songs, settings of 15th century authors: Francí Guerau, Jordi de Sant Jordi
Jordi de Sant Jordi
Jordi de Sant Jordi was born in the Kingdom of Valencia. He was Chamberlain at the court of King Alfons V of Aragon but is best known for his poetry....
, Mossèn Estanya, Bernat Metge
Bernat Metge
Bernat Metge was a Catalan humanist, best known as the author of Lo Somni .He held a position at the court of Joan I of Aragon, and, following some troubles, once more served Martí of Aragon....
and Jaume Roig. The new complete works also included the only two songs he recorded written by other songwriters: Se'n va anar and Amanda.
Discography
- 1964: Disc antològic de les seves cançons
- 1966: Raimon a l'Olympia
- 1966: Cançons de la roda del temps
- 1967: Raimon al Palau
- 1967: Raimon música sola
- 1968: Raimon en directe
- 1969: Raimon a Montserrat
- 1969: Sobre la pau. Contra la por (Olympia 2)
- 1970: Per destruir aquell qui l'ha desert
- 1971: Raimon
- 1971: Raimon en Montevideo
- 1971: Raimon. Catalonian protest songs
- 1972: En vivo
- 1972: Diguem no
- 1972: La noche
- 1974: A Víctor Jara
- 1974: Campus de Bellaterra
- 1974: T'adones amic...?
- 1976: El recital de Madrid
- 1977: Lliurament del cant
- 1979: Quan l'aigua es queixa
- 1981: Totes les cançons
- 1984: Entre la nota i el so
- 1985: Raimon canta
- 1987: Presències i oblit
- 1989: Canta Ausiàs March
- 1993: Integral
- 1993: Cançons
- 1995: I després de creure tant
- 1997: Ausiàs March / Raimon
- 1997: Cançons de mai
- 1997: Recitals al Palau
- 1999: Dotze cançons
- 1999: Les cançons d'amor
- 2000: Nova Integral 2000
- 2003: Clàssics i no
- 2003: Raimon-Espriu Poesia cantada
- 2006: Raimon a l'Olympia (1966–2006)