LiberPress Song Award 2013

Joan Manuel Serrat, the Noi del Poble-sec, was born in a working-class family in this Barcelona neighbourhood. His father was a Catalan anarchist affiliated to CNT and his mother, Ángeles Teresa, was from Belchite (Zaragoza). In songs like “La Carmeta”, “La tieta” and “El drapaire”, Serrat describes typical local characters. At the age of twelve, he studied to be a lathe operator and later he studied agriculture. Then he started to sing. He was one of the pioneers of the “Nova Cançó” in Catalonia and was a member of Els Setze Jutges (he was number thirteen of the sixteen judges), who promoted the Catalan language during the Franco regime. In 1965 he released his first recording, with four songs. In 1966 his second record was released, with “El drapaire” and “Ara que tinc vint anys”. It was followed by other songs such as “Cançó de matinada”, “Paraules d’amor” (the best known and one that has been sung by other singers), “Me’n vaig a peu” (one of his favourite songs) and “Les sabates”, by Guy Béart. These are part of Serrat’s third recording, which became the first record in Catalan to reach number one in Spain. Other songs issued later include “La tieta” and “Cançó de bressol”.

In 1968 he released his first record in Spanish, with songs like “El titiritero” and “Poema de amor”. He then recorded “La, la, la” in Catalan, which was never marketed as a result of the conflict it generated in Eurovision. The record “Cançons tradicionals” was then issued. In 1969 he made his first tour of South America and this later became a regular event. In the same year he published an album of poems by Antonio Machado, which was a great success. He fell foul of Francoist censorship, although in South America he found the support that the Spanish authorities denied him. In 1970 he participated in the sit-in protest by intellectuals and artists in the monastery of Montserrat to protest against the Burgos trial and the death penalty. There, he began to compose the song “Mediterráneo”, which was issued as part of the “Mediterráneo” album (1971). The disc was very successful, staying at number one for several weeks. Serrat acted for free at the Viña del Mar Festival, in support of Salvador Allende. The following year he brought out “Miguel Hernández”, which contains a selection of verses by the poet. In 1973, he published the album “Para mi amigo”. In September 1975, in Mexico, he publicly condemned the latest executions by the Franco regime, which led to his being exiled for a year. Moreover, as had already happened in 1968, his recordings were withdrawn from the market and censored by the regime. In 1977, having returned, he issued an album with recordings of poems by Joan Salvat-Papasseit, entitled “Res no és mesquí”.

Serrat has continued to fight for freedom in the world, often singing in South America. In the 1980s he released “Fa vint anys que tinc vint anys” (1984) and “Bienaventurados” (1987), which includes one song criticising the Christian churches (“Bienaventurados”) and another attacking the dictatorships that still survived (“Lecciones de urbanidad”). In 1989 he released the album “Material sensible”. In 2000 he paid tribute to Latin-American song with the album “Cansiones”, issued under the name Tarrés|Serrat. It contains versions of popular songs from various Latin-American countries and others by such well known writers as Violeta Parra and Víctor Jara.

In 2004 he participated in the “Neruda en el corazón” project, with a collective recording in which he performs “Poema XX” by Pablo Neruda. The show was presented live at the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona, as part of the programme for the Universal Forum of Cultures 2004. Also in 2004 he was declared “Catalan of the Year” by El Periódico de Catalunya in recognition of the forty years his career spanned. On 15 March 2006 he received the title of Doctor Honoris Causa from the Complutense University of Madrid for his contribution to Spanish and Latin American culture and for his work in favour of the coexistence of the different languages spoken in Spain. Ten days later he received the Gold Medal for Merit in Work. On 18 April 2006 he brought out the album Mô. In 2007 he was awarded the Parliament of Catalonia’s Medal of Honour in recognition of his defence of the Catalan language and culture as a member of Els Setze Jutges in the 1960s, and was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour of the French Republic. The same year he undertook a tour with Joaquín Sabina called “Dos pájaros de un tiro”, which involved seventy-one concerts. On 17 June 2008 he received the Ovidi award for his artistic career from the Col·lectiu Ovidi Montllor de Músics i Cantants en Valencià. In 2013, at the San Sebastián Film Festival, the documentary “El símbolo y el cuate” was screened. He also took part in an event against Alzheimer’s.