In one of the last columns he wrote for EL PERIÓDICO (‘A no to transcendence’, published on October 5, 2019), Josep Maria Espinas reported that his lack of competence in handling new technologies prevented him from listening the songs of Georges Brassens, which caused him, he admitted, a feeling of longing “that comes from a long way off and that I will never be able to erase& rdquor ;. “Fortunately I keep the lyrics and I remember the music, and so I can renew my admiration,” added the Barcelona writer, who died last Sunday at the age of 95.
With his dazzling ability to avoid transcendence “and create simple and throbbing scenes of life”, Brassens became Espinàs’ first serious musical love in the second half of the 50s, who saw in the singer-songwriter from Sète a viable model for promote a new song in Catalonia who questioned the society of his time with a critical sense without renouncing light and joy. “Oblidem velles cançons / that praise sadness. / Encetem la nova veu / i alegrem l’antiga terra”, sang Espinàs in 1962 in his composition ‘A la vora de la nit’. That same year, the writer published his first album, ‘Espinàs canta Brassens’, an epé with five adaptations into Catalan of as many songs by the disreputable troubadour.
‘Chanson’ and cultural action
The influence of Brassens, and of the French ‘chanson’ in general, was decisive in the birth of Els Setze Jutgesa collective founded in 1961 by Espinàs (who gave it its name), Miquel Porter i Moix and Remei Margarit with the purpose of Promote and normalize the use of Catalan through contemporary songs. In the following years, the group expanded with the arrival of professional singers and musicians (Francesc Pi de la Serra, Enric Barbat, Guillermina Motta, Joan Manuel Serrat, Maria del Mar Bonet, Lluís Llach…), and Espinàs, moved by the conviction that the time of amateurism had passedhe stepped to the side and left the stage.
In his short but highly influential musical career, the writer published cover versions, his own compositions (‘Espinàs canta les seves cançons’, 1963) and traditional songs (‘Cançons traditional catalanes’, 1962); he also composed for other artists, such as Guillermina Motta and Joan Isaac, he recorded children’s pieces (collected many years later by the publishing house La Campana in the bookdisco ‘The 26 children’s songs’) and collaborated with Xavier Montsalvatge in the children’s story ‘Viatge a la Lluna’, from 1969. Likewise, together with the businessman and cultural promoter Ermengol Passola, he participated in the foundation of the Concèntric record label and at the opening of the concert hall La Cova del Drac, where the performances of the members of the emerging Nova Cançó alternated with theatrical shows and literary evenings. Over time, and with other owners, the venue oriented its programming towards jazz, another of Espinàs’ great musical passions.
“I’ve been all arreu”
Starting in the 1970s, and with the notable exception of composing the lyrics of the ‘Cant del Barça’ in 1974, the Barcelona writer and journalist kept away from musical activity. But the music did not forget him. The mentions and recognitions could come from the most unexpected places, like when in 2014 the Barcelona duo of ‘cançó-punk’ vàlius included in his second LP, ‘Fam’, a Catalan version of the classic ‘I’ve been everywhere’ (Australian composition Geoff Mack made popular by Johnny Cash) and renamed the song… ‘Thorns’.
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Alerted to the existence of the song by his editor Isabel Martí, Espinàs attended a performance by vàlius at the Festa Major de Sarrià and at the end, visibly pleased by the tribute, spent a while chatting with the members of the group, Gerard Segura and Pol Serrahima. Not only that. A week later, he commented on the concert and the meeting in his daily column in EL PERIÓDICO, in an article entitled ‘La plaza de Sarrià’ in which he established a link between the songs of vàlius and the beginnings of the Nova Cançó.
In the spring of 2021, the song by vàlius dedicated to the writer gained enormous popularity by appearing as tune of an advertisement for Xibeca beer. Espinàs was certainly everywhere.