Pere Pons Macías: In the Name of Tete

"Let's see where I start to explain who I am. University graduate, local journalist, urban busybody, traveling reporter, social chronicler, music critic, programmer, producer, writer, documentarian, professor...", and the et cetera that Pere Pons Macías leaves in suspense after this succinct description of the messes he has gotten into for the greater glory of the Catalan cultural framework is long. Leaning on the bar, savoring a "Havana 7 with Cola Zero, two ice cubes, a splash of Vichy and lime peel" that he has strictly forbidden to be served in a highball glass; he appeared crowned with his trilby with a short brim at dusk, at the beginning of one of his beloved night walks until dawn, watching the sunrise.

---Should I leave the radio on? Do you want to listen to anything in particular?

---The radio, nowadays, better off. Listening to silence is priceless.

Host of the programs L'home del jazz and Planeta Omega on Ràdio 4, artistic director of Vijazz de Vilafranca and, previously, artistic director of Jamboree and Mas i Mas Festival, the regular has been editor-in-chief of Ajoblanco and director and founder of Jaç magazine. He has lent his pen and knowledge to publications such as El Punt Avui, Diari de Barcelona or Enderrock. He has directed documentaries such as Ovidi Montllor, crònica d'un artista or Tete Montoliu, una mirada; and television and radio programs about music for Canal 33, La Xarxa or Ràdio Estel. He has taught History of Jazz at the Liceu Conservatory and has worked at the Taller de Músics. He has also authored books such as Els millors discos del jazz català or El cas Jamboree.

These days he presents Round about Tete (Libros del Kultrum), an ambitious choral biography that seeks to keep alive the legacy of the most transcendent jazzman that the Barcelona stages have given to the world, drawing on a legion of musicians, family, relatives and friends to thoroughly explain the brilliant pianist and composer: his life and circumstances. A book that adds to and complements, through an imposing and meticulous work, the biography that Miquel Jurado wrote about Montoliu in his day, now adding hundreds of voices, facts and anecdotes.

"Anyway, the most relevant thing among what I've been doing has been lifting the trophy of the 12 hours of futsal of the Universitat Autònoma de Bellaterra with my teammates from Os Palmeiros from Brazil, representing the Faculty of Arts" he adds, after heartily downing a resounding gulp of rum.

The commitment to stay alive being oneself

"Except for brief periods, my personal and professional life is associated with the figure ---or rather condemnation--- of the self-employed, so inflections, reflections and all the movement of ions have been and continue to be a constant in everyday life. The challenge is that of the juggler who must hold so many plates in the air and try to drop as few as possible. And I'm still at it," explains this activist who, in addition to his work as a writer and journalist, also promotes the careers of musicians Mariola Membrives, Horacio Fumero, Pedro Javier González, Olvido Lanza and Raúl Rodríguez. "Programming art in humble places, like village theaters and friends' orchards," he jokes ---though perhaps not so much--- he who has been and remains linked, in one way or another, with major Catalan jazz events.

---Hey, and with so many things you've been doing, what would you highlight from your career? What are you most proud of?

---Still alive, first miracle. And proud to be the son of an absolute and vital fighter who, without intending to, but with her example, has always pushed me not to give up on being myself.

A lover of the past

For the parishioner, there are two clear turning points in his life. The first, at 18, when he left his hometown, La Bisbal d'Empordà, to come to Barcelona. "And the second occurs thirty-five years later, with the return home."

---Did you get tired of the city?

---Like a lover of the past, it kicked me out of home three years ago due to its tourist and speculative promiscuity. Although I still love it at times, despite the noise and ecofascism.

In love, like so many Barcelonans, with the memory of what it once was, he is disgusted by the current reality of the city, "and I knew it at the beginning of its decadence. That's why, in part, I feel like one of its executioners," he laments.

---Luckily there are things that don't decline, for example our gastronomic offer if you fancy something to eat before going out on your nocturnal wanderings. We have everything: menu, à la carte, sandwiches, tapas…

Pere Pons Macías adjusts his hat and brandishes the smile of someone who knows the answer by heart.

---Always à la carte. Free will ---he declares--- and for after-dinner, a good cigar, preferably Cohiba or Montecristo. Smoking is not for children or for shades.

And a pleasant silence precedes, then, the rest of what will be a long night: one more journey full of pleasures and uncertainties towards dawn.