Maria del Mar Bonet
Ariola, 1974
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On the 20th of December 1972 the painter Joan Miró attended a concert of Maria del Mar Bonet in Palma where she interpreted poems by Bartomeu Rosselló-Pòrcel, who Joan Miró admired. On discovering the differences that the singer had with her record company, Bocaccio Records, he suggested he design the cover of her next record if this would help her in freeing herself from her contract with the company and help her follow the professional path she desired. Thus, in March 1973 she finally broke with Bocaccio Records and Alain Milhaud. A new stage begun with the Ariola record company and with which Joan Minguet came to be her representative, and she set about working on this new album, which the critics defined as essentially Mallorcan. This is how, in 1974, this LP was issued with a cover by Joan Miró and presentation by Salvador Espriu, a close friend of the Mallorca poet. In this presentation Espriu wrote: The intelligent, civilised way of speaking and singing of Maria del Mar Bonet will immediately impose itself, once again, on the attention of everyone who listens to this record. With the songs that make it up, the great artist achieves –I would dare to affirm – a definitive maturity, which has taken her to the top, via the complex paths of her sensitivity, a highly conscious and disciplined effort.
The album includes five poems by Bartomeu Rosselló-Pòrcel, one by Joan Alcover, and another by Joan Vergés and two of her own songs, Vigila el mar and Jo viatjava amb tu. The recording was done in Normandy, France, in the Fremontel studios, with arrangements once again by Jacques Denjean. It was issued by Ariola and the Mallorca art gallery Sala Pelaires. The music on the majority of songs is by Maria del Mar Bonet with the collaboration of Hilario Camacho.
On the 14th of April she presented the album in the Auditorium in Palma with her new musical group: Albert Moraleda on the double bass and piano, Josep Maria Bardagí on guitars, R. Oliva on drums and Josep Maria Brotons on the flute. She later presented the album from the 19th to 23rd of April in the Sala Zeleste in Barcelona ; from the 25th to 28th of April in the Teatre Quart in Valencia and on the 5th of June performed for the first time in the Teatro Español in Madrid with great success.
Before that, she had sung in Paris and in the French radio show Musicorama which represented the anteroom of the Olympia. She travelled to Portugal and took part in the “Canto Livre” Festival which was held after the Portuguese revolution of April that year. She premiered her song Abril dedicated to her Portuguese friend and singer José Afonso.
She took part in television programmes in Portugal and Switzerland and recorded the TVE programme “A su aire” in the Palau Pivot in Palma, presented by her friend Joan Manresa.
In November of that year she was arrested by the Francoist police before boarding on her way to Palma. The reason was that they had found a press cutting from a clandestine newspaper in a house that was rented in her name, but where she had recently left and no longer lived. She was released in 24 hours.
