Catalan singer-songwriter Pau Alabajos performed for more than 75 people at the Thomas Center Tuesday night in celebration of Catalan culture and its constrained music scene.
The department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies brought Alabajos and actress Susanna Sebastiá to Gainesville, as they are on their American tour.
Accompanied by Sebastiá, Alabajos shared music from the “Nova Cançó,” a politically rebellious genre of music which arose during the 1960s and 1970s in Catalonia, a territory belonging to Spain that struggles with its independent identity and its desire to be its own country.
“You couldn’t give an explicit message about what you thought politically in those times,” Alabajos said, “so people did it through music.”
Although censorship reached its heights during Spain’s Franco era, Alabajos said playing music on the streets of Valencia will still land you a $500 fine and the confiscation of your instrument today. Alabajos said the city now bans the music as a misguided means of protecting its reputation, but he still plays to “catch the feeling” of the oppression the “Nova Cançó” musicians felt during Franco’s reign.
“The image the government is trying to maintain is this very modern, conservative kind of image,” he said. “It doesn’t really work, though.”
Alabajos said the artistic expression of Catalan culture is more celebrated beyond its borders than within. Even UF’s Catalan program, with only 12 students enrolled in classes this fall, is a refreshing dose of enthusiasm about his and Sebastiá’s little-discussed culture.
“There’s really no space for musical expression in our country,” he said. “There’s this general censorship for those against the government. It’s a form of discrimination.”
