Joan Manuel Serrat celebrates the 50th anniversary of his legendary album “Mediterráneo”

The legendary album Mediterranean, from spanish Joan Manuel Serrat, celebrates its 50th anniversary. In 1971, the singer-songwriter, actor, writer, poet and troubadour recorded in a Milan studio an album that had been produced a short time before in a Mediterranean hotel. Costa brava, in northeastern Spain.

From a room that no longer exists, the artist observed the Mediterranean Sea every day while his “only guide” was his varying emotional state. “It depended on what was happening to me and what was happening to those around me at that time i.e. kisses and slaps that life gives you», He recalled in dialogue with the Spanish newspaper The country.

This is the eighth album by a barely 28-year-old singer-songwriter who hadn’t made his debut just four years ago and who, along with ten songs by Mediterranean, had a great impact at the time, which crossed borders.

All the songs were composed by Serrat – lyrics and music – with the exception of the lyrics to “Vencidos”, based on a poem by León Felipe.

To all, the singer infused with a soft layer of jazz and bossa nova, with the help of a team made up of Juan Carlos Calderón, Gian Piero Reverberi and Antoni Ros Marbà.

The album lasted five decades and spanned generations, as the tour showed “Cape Mediterranean“That Serrat dedicated to this album in 2019.

After Mediterranean, his career was that of consolidating a teacher, awarded eleven honorary degrees for his contribution to Spanish music and literature and the Latin Grammy 2014 as Person of the Year, among many other awards.

In the interview with The countryHe remembered what those days and nights were like. “In a family niche, we buried my grandmother and my father when I was a child. While writing ‘Mediterranean’ I was thinking of this niche. From there you can see the beach and the sky. You see it? There was no poetic intention. Rather, it was a very crude and very real intention”.

And he continued, “There were things that clearly influenced. One of them is that I spent a lot of time in Ampurdán. This is an area of ​​particular strength and richness, and I always expected it to creep into me. “

Now this work is again available in vinyl on the occasion of its half-century of life. These are 10 simple but round songs. Like the one that gives its title to the album, dedicated to the sea that rocked him since his childhood; a song that would end up humming the whole world. Or “Those Little Things”, which contains one of his most personal and evocative lyrics. Or all the others, from “Lucía” to “What will you become”, including “Defeated”, “The Whites”, “The woman I want”, “Paper boat”, “Uncle Alberto” and ” Take a walk ”.

An unmissable album that has traveled through time, to the point of shining in the top 3 of the 100 best Spanish albums of the 20th century. One of his most inspired works, a summary of his lyrics, big themes and emotional search as a singer of little things. A living legend who today celebrates the 50th anniversary of the album that would change his life forever: Mediterranean.

Songs

“Mediterranean”

“These little things”

“The woman I want”

“White city”

“Uncle Alberto”

“What are you going to become”

“Lucy”

“Wandering”

“Paper boat”

“Late”

(With information from EFE and Europa Press)

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