Gavines i Dragons
Ariola, 1987
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On the 13th of May 1987 a concert was held to celebrate the 25 Years of the Nova Cançó in the Castle of Bellver in Mallorca where Maria del Mar Bonet, Quico Pi de la Serra, Raimon, Miquelina Lladó, Joan Ramon Bonet and Guillem d’Efak performed.
Also in Mallorca, in August in Campos, Maria del Mar Bonet gave a solo concert in memory of those early years of singing and presented the album Gavines i Dragons. In the programme Damià Huguet wrote: The Council and the people of Campos want to pay homage this year to the singers of the Nova Cançó who are playing here, and at the same time recall that first historic concert – with Maria del Mar Bonet, Joan Manuel Serrat and Joan Ramon Bonet- which took place on the 3rd of March 1966 in the “Salon Moderno” of Campos in an unmistakable climate of improvisations, disagreements, personal euphoria and also operating in clandestine conditions.
In an interview in the Diari de Girona in August 1987 Maria del Mar Bonet stated: Yes, within my dedication to music from the Mediterranean in my last album, “Anells d’Aigua”, it was a like a short break in Tunisia and now “Gavines i dragons” could be the continuation of this route with some numbers from Greece, a couple of Sardinian songs and, obviously, also a reference to the Balearics.
Gavines i dragons is a diversified album with musicians from different influences. There is a focus on music from the other side of the shore such as Greek or a glance towards the Atlantic to adapt a song by her friend Milton Nascimiento, who she defined as a Brazilian musician with reminiscences of African or Portuguese music more than Brazil itself. Gavines i Dragons is an album where each song is unique and different to the others. Of the 10 songs on the disc, 5 are written by her: Sa Dragonera, Coloma blanca, La casa de l’amic, No sé com acabarà, and El meu poeta, dedicated to Pere Quart. The other songs are: two of Greek origin, one from Brazil, another by Quico Pi de la Serra and one by the Valencia poet Albert Garcia based on popular Sardinian music. Albert Garcia was in charge of doing the adaptations of this album and in later ones. He wrote Des de Mallorca a l’Alguer which would be a clear statement of intent by the singer in terms of constructing a Mediterranean within the Catalan linguistic domain. The musical direction and arrangements were by Manel Camp, with whom she had already worked in 1979 on the album and series of concerts of Per Corpus al Romea.
In February she gave concerts in Scandinavia and Germany. On the 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st of March Maria del Mar Bonet, Lluís Llach and Marina Rossell gave concerts together in the Theâtre de la Ville in Paris.
In June she presented Gavines i Dragons in the Parc del Mar in Palma, in July on the steps of the Cathedral of Girona, which would be a good setting instead of the Plaça del Rei, which after so many years would not hold any more type of musical show due to disagreements between the Barcelona City Council and the residents of the square. On the 10th of October she made the presentation of the album in Valencia, in the Teatre Principal, and it was not until the 20th of October that that the album Gavines i Dragons would be presented in Barcelona, in the Sala Zeleste.
During the following year, 1988, she took the show of Gavines i Dragons to France, in Ouilins, Meyllon and Paris in January, Luxemburg in April, Holland in May, and in the Casino de Peralada in July of that year. In September in the Festes de la Mercè of Barcelona she presented Gavines i Dragons in the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona.
