“Any Catalan around here?”. The question has been frequently asked in recent weeks by TikTok, the platform that burns dances and songs at the speed that a match is lit. If there is luck with the algorithm, of course. The question in question is related to a song by The Tyets, a duo from Maresme, called ‘Coti x Coti’ that has spread virulently on the platform, especially after the ‘influencer’ Dulceida danced it (many more have gone after her). A song in Catalan that fuses a base of reggaeton with -be careful- the sardana and that since its release, more than two months ago, has already generated 4 million views on Spotify and its video clip, one million on YouTube.
An important figures for a piece stamped in urban music in Catalan, a scene that is experiencing a boom and that has the maximum evidence of this in ‘Coti x Coti’. A growth that goes beyond Catalonia, as clearly indicated, for example, by TikTok. “We have crossed borders. We see that there are many people who say they are learning Catalan with our music,” says Oriol de Ramon, one half of The Tyets (the other member is Xavi Coca), who explains that, at the very least, the number of people listening to them from Madrid has doubled (Based on data provided to artists by Spotify). “We are in numbers comparable to those of an artist from Madrid who is rocking it, and we are in Catalan,” boasts the singer.
“There are many people who say that they are learning Catalan with our music”
The Tyets
Tip of the iceberg’
The Mataró group (both born in 1998) is now at the top of the an ‘iceberg’ made up of many other bands or artists and that has been formed over the years. From the pioneers of trap in Catalan, the Pawn Gang, to the now television Lildami or the band 31 FAM.
“In Catalonia there have always been scenes: Catalan rock, miscegenation… And everyone was wondering what the next scene would be,” de Ramon points out. He slides so that his, the urban, seems to be the next to consolidate with members like Flashy Ice Cream, Figa Flawas, Mushkaa or Juliet, noted pop hope.
All of them make up ‘La banda del pati’, as they have humorously called themselves (reference to the popular series) after all of them collaborated on The Tyets’ latest album, ‘Èpic solete’. “We are all young, we do everything ourselves, we have similar spirits… It’s about making the group grow, we all help each other,” de Ramon acknowledges.
“We are creating a network, we are moving among ourselves, we share the ‘trends’ of TikTok…”, says Xavi Cartanyà, producer of the rising duo Figa Flawas. The success of ‘Coti x Coti’ has coincided with that of a catchy “‘Catalan bachateta'” -a concept that borders on the oxymoron- the work of this group from Valls called ‘Mussegu’. A bachata in Catalan that has also multiplied interest on the urban scene, followed, above all, by young consumers of these rhythms.
“It is reaching a lot of people who, in general, did not listen to music in Catalan, and this is cool”, points out Pepe Velasco, the voice of Figa Flawas, who explains that they are in a few months of “transition” to “take the step to be able to live from this.” Something not easy at all when singing in Catalan, they say, with a lot of dependence on “the major festivals of Catalonia”.
For their part, The Tyets -with a career spanning 5 years now- state that their intention is “to continue playing here, but also to look for the circuit of Spanish festivals in which our music can fit”. “And I think the way to get in there is to go to Madrid and sell tickets,” adds de Ramon, who slips that they are working on several concerts abroad.
new shop windows
The growing interest in the Catalan urban scene can also be seen in, for example, the birth of the Strenes Urbana Festival -division in search of this youth niche of the Strenes Festival-, which will be held next weekend in Barcelona. Òmnium, a leading entity in the defense of Catalan culture and language, has also supported many of these young artists for the second edition of the Límbic festival, which this weekend brought together 20,000 people in Sitges. An event that, in the words of its president, the philosopher Xavier Antich, is “the great cultural intervention by Òmnium in the field of young people”.
A festival that was born to defend and promote the Catalan language, a key element for social cohesion, according to the president of the entity. And it is that Catalan is in an evident decline in its social use, as indicated this week by a survey by the Barcelona City Council, which indicated that it was at historical lows in the capital.
In this context, Antich points precisely to these groups as one of the tools to reverse this. “We want to influence the key speakers for the future of the language, which are three: children, young people and new speakers. And Límbic is aimed at these. And referents are vital for that”, points out the president of Òmnium, who points out that there are three strategic areas that have a “massive impact when it comes to reversing the alarming data”: “the audiovisual world, sport and music”.
music as an instrument
‘Coti x Coti’ (from gossip) and ‘Mussegu’ (from ‘mossegar’, to bite) are two titles that explain how these groups use Catalan, something that has generated some controversy in some sectors. By order. The Tyets: “We write the way we express ourselves, we don’t invent it ourselves, they are things we use every day. We are creating art, which does not have to be normative either. The goal is for people to listen to music and if it is in Catalan, better”.
The Figa Flawas are in the same vein: “It’s a very generational thing, each generation speaks in a different way, and it’s also stylistic,” the Valls men saypointing to the factor of the musical genre, which always, in any language, includes expressions used in the street and/or adapted from other languages.
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“Maximum purism in Catalan does not have to blind us. It is obvious that it is very good news that groups continue to appear in Catalan”exposes Pol Cervera, a 33-year-old linguist, who nevertheless defends that is a language “rich enough not to have to resort to so many Castilianisms and, above all, to syntactic structures typical of Spanish”. For Cervera, who points out the importance of differentiating the concepts “informal” and “Spanishized”, he points out that these groups -“like any mass communicator”- are linguistic referents and the Catalan that they use “will be understood as good or certain uses that they make will be absorbed”.
Asked about this controversy, Antich states: “We think that to break barriers sometimes it is necessary to take risks, and these risks can collide with the normative use of the language”. “A language is a living organism, which evolves constantly, and therefore attempts to prevent its social uses from evolving is going a little against the current”, defends the president of Òmnium.