III Sons de la Mediterrània

Assabè (a duo from Valles who compose electro-Balkan songs), Dàfnia (an instrumentalist quartet who formed in Sant Hilari Sacalm and create musical languages of the roots genre, especially Mediterranean), Rascanya (a group from Horta who take their inspiration from popular Valencian musical parties) and Tazzuff (instrumental sextet from Barcelona) are the finalists of the third Sons de la Mediterrània Demo Competition, which is organised by Centre Artesà Tradicionàrius, Fira Mediterrània and the Enderrock Group. All four groups, chosen from the 54 acts entered this year (twice that of last year), will perform in the Contest final, which will take place at the 13th Fira Mediterrània of Manresa festival. This will produce a winning group which will be awarded a prize of a performance contract for the Tradicionàrius festival, the Fira Mediterrània festival, the Circuit Folc, the FIMPT-International Popular Traditional Music Festival of Vilanova i la Geltrú, the Festcat of Llívia and a CD recording session and recording contract, as well as an advertising campaign with the magazine Sons de la Mediterrània and the radio station iCat fm.

The first notes of their songs remind you of a disco in the very early hours of the morning. A little further on, however, the combination of vocals and the sound of the diatonic accordion give the impression of Pomada who have jumped in a car or van and toured around the Balkans. They are Assabè, a singular duo who have sprouted from the fertile lands of Valles, from Sabadell to be exact. They are KT (vocals and diatonic accordion) and Rebor (vocals, saxophone and electronic base) and they formed the group in late 2008 to vent two passions: on the one hand, the quickened force which is characteristic of Balkan music (especially gypsy) and the accelerated melancholy of klezmer music, with names such as Fanfare Ciocarlia, Goran Bregovic, Emir Kusturica, Dúmbala Canalla, L'Orkestina, Klezmatics or Frank London as their main influences, and on the other hand, the more ‘rave’ side of electronic music. Assabè makes these two sound universes flow together, and in December 2009 they did a home recording, in Sabadell, of the demo, which includes seven songs ("Gats i bruixes", "Crisi", "Calçotada", etc.) which got them into the final of the third Sons de la Mediterrània Demo Competition.

Dàfnia is quite a recent project as they formed the band just about a year ago, in July 2009 in Sant Hilari Sacalm (la Selva). The idea behind this project is, according to the words of the band members, "to explore and show the stylistic, linguistic and timbral diversity of the vocal music of Mediterranean roots", and also incorporate, in a parallel way, features of different musical cultures, creating their own compositions. When heard live, their concert is like a journey through sound, starting in Catalonia, running in a clockwise direction along the arch that makes up the Mediterranean coast, and finally leaving on a Galician note. At each stop, the Dàfnia quartet offer a traditional song, putting an instrument or a rhythm characteristic of each of these regions in the spotlight. The group members have lots of experience with bands or groups of different styles: Amarok, Catau, Toni Xuclà, Guirigall, La Coloma i el Puma, Les Violines, Duet’u, etc. Dàfnia are Robert Santamaría (saz, kanoun, tar, pandeiro, darabuka, bendir, octagonal tambourine, agual), Marta Segura (vocals, tambourine, krabs), Manel Vega (electric bass, double bass, agual and cymbals) and Coloma Bertran (violin and krabs).

The group Rascanya formed in Valencia in 2007 to interpret songs and dances from the popular and traditional music genre. The spontaneous and lively feature of Valencian music and festivities is this sextet’s source of inspiration, who offer a repertoire which retrieves traditional melodies and combines them with their own creations ("Vals del gaiter", "Havanera de la Malva-rosa", "Bolero de Vila-real", etc.), with instruments from the region such as the dulzaina (dolçaina) and the tabor, the guitarro (smaller guitar), the lute, etc; a processing of the vocals which seeks the "cant a l’aire" characteristic of the Mediterranean genre in order to interpret lyrics which are sometimes activist and sometimes humorous, and a dance master who introduces the features of each dance style to the audience and gets them to join in. In the past few years they have become a regular name at folk dance events and gatherings, and in addition they have a more educational side which has led them to give concerts and workshops in primary and secondary schools. The group members are Amparo Navarro (dolçaina, chirimia oboe, tarota, flute, and flabiol), Benjamín Lacruz (percussion), Francesc Sanchis (guitar, guitarro (smaller guitar, lute and vocals), Pere Ballester (diatonic accordion and dolçaina) and Vicent Martínez (dance master). Furthermore, since last spring, they have added a bass player to the group.

The group Tazzuff was formed in late 2006 in Barcelona, grouping together a collection of young instrumentalists who, coming from different stylistic areas, have a similar idea: building their own repertoire, entirely instrumental and based on the language of the traditional genre, which sounds new and imaginative, and which shares out the centre-stage roles amongst the different instruments. The group’s performances are just as much for dancing at as to listening to, and include different Catalan musical styles, as well as other styles from Occitania, the Basque country, Brittany and the Balkans. For all these pieces, the six instrumentalists discuss and apply their own creativity and imagination when composing the arrangements. This season, Tazzuff have introduced changes to their instrumentation, which has further enriched their timbral variety. Xavi Grau (electric bass) and Òscar Antolí (bass clarinet) have joined the current group which is made up of Marc del Pino and Aleix Armengol (diatonic accordions) , Adrià Grandia (electro-acoustic hurdy gurdy) and Dídac Sauret (percussion).