Stop the presses, Roger Mas has recorded another album with the Cobla Sant Jordi. Twelve years have passed since the first volume of this love story that has not stopped adding concerts in all our countries. The first thing to comment on this second installment is a general change of tone compared to the telluric sinuosity of the first: in a time of cultural minoritization of everything Catalan, with the language at an all-time low and spirits underground, Mas has chosen to shoot us an essentially joyful work, counter-culturally Catalan (far from the bad mood and surly character ancestrally associated with the tribe), because he knows that battles are not won by self-pitying or looking worried, but by broadening the base of good humor. The singer-songwriter becomes happy, almost crooning like a barista singer, and that change of script makes his demands even more valuable.
The sound machine of this new work functions perfectly, thanks to the arrangements by Xavier Guitó (musicarro!) and the good work of the professors of our cobla. Mas wanted to fill the album with sister languages, such as Quebecois or Italian, not to do linguistic tourism, but to demonstrate that ---starting from our language--- one can travel all over the world without any complex. The language is all there, in effect, and that is how in the beautiful Tres branques a Valencian lullaby, a popular illenca, and a carnival madness from Solsona are intertwined. Sí a tot, escolti. Roger has not renounced his saddest side, present in the canonical Si tu m'ho dius (how well seasoned with the lamenting and incisive sound of the tenora!), but it is symptomatic that the album closes with a version of I la pluja es va assecar, a point of union of our singer-songwriter with the Catalan musical heroes who have preceded him.
Whatever happens, the clouds will eventually clear. This is the corollary of a series of wonderful songs with which Mas continues to assert that the best way to achieve universality is through ultra-localism and that our country is our language (an idea widely shared by most nations on the planet, by the way). It is necessary for everyone to listen to this second volume from the Mas-Sant Jordi tandem, duly sealed in the sardana Massardana, and for our beloved universal Solsona native to soon tour the world as an ambassador for the country. I would suggest concerts in the main cities of the world, starting with Manhattan, London, Venice... and from there taking him also to smaller cities like Paris or Madrid. It is necessary that all music lovers in the world, before kicking the bucket, admire the baritone voice of our Roger and thus be able to tell the miracle to their descendants.
We must celebrate that, in this tedious time, of absolute gloom, someone has given us back the enjoyment of a certain beatitude.If anyone still doubts the solidity of the copla as an instrument to be the center of a contemporary album, they should review the chapter dedicated to it by the beloved composer Joan Magrané in the magnificent booklet.Sentimental Anthology of Catalan Music(Peu de Mosca, 2022), and thus better understand a formation that captivated my dear Igor Stravinsky and Leonard Bernstein.If these two gènits were reborn, they would be delighted to spend the night singing these songs, as we often do at home while preparing to cook the nightly ranch. We must celebrate, in short, that in this tedious time, of absolute gloom, someone has given us back the enjoyment of a certain beatitude. Today I writeThe Stabasking you to listen to this delicious music and, if possible, to loosen up some cash and buy the album or attend one of their concerts, because art doesn't live only on my praise...
You've done it again, Roger. I en un instant, explosiu, el món es va enfonsar. Més enllà de l'horitzó. How much joy!
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