Political Concert (Auditorium at Ripollet) 20th May 2011

This particular concert was slightly different to normal. It took place in an auditorium in a small town called Ripollet. Normally, the choir preforms concerts in churches or cathedrals, but not this time.

Even from the start there was a certain sense of political presence. I am not one who criticizes normally, but the town mayor was present from the moment of our arrival, throughout the reception at the Hotel Ibis (which was mainly biscuits and water), during our visit to the town's water mill museum, and all the way through the rehearsal itself. 

This was something which I had not seen happen whilst in my choir in Madrid. There was certainly a number of photographers whenever we had a concert, but this would only be the case after a concert, and not as we were walking down streets towards the venue. Here, however, the photographers were present at the water mill, took an endless number of pictures outside the hotel, did some interviews and kept a safe distance in front of us as we walked down the town streets.

So why were there so many people? And why was the mayor always emphasising his own involvement in the concert, and why was he constantly signalling towards the local flag hanging on the town hall behind him? I then realised that the 20th May was the last day when campaigning would be legally allowed for the municipal elections of 22-May-2011. It now suddenly all made sense. It was pure propaganda.

Although this was not normal for the choir, they sang very well. In particular, the final piece stood out, called the "Marinara" ("From the Sea", very roughly translated). This is a typical "sardana", a typical Catalonian dance. 

The repertoire was once more formed of a first half exclusively of Montserrat composers. But the piece to once more stand out for the quality and simplicity of the sound was Pau Casals' "Nigra Sum". Even though I had heard this various times before, I had never realised that this was referring to the statue of the Virgin Mary of Montserrat; the statue is a very dark wood, almost black, which is where the name Black Madonna comes from, the colour of the "skin". 

The main difference of this concert to previous ones was the endless number of soloists who performed. There were duets, quartets, individual soloists and sextets. Out of roughly twenty pieces performed, probably around 15 of them had soloists performing. The acoustic was very different, however, giving a very dry resonance to the music.

The public were very happy for the opportunity to listen to the choir. As mentioned earlier, the choir normally performs in large churches, so the chance to hear them in an auditorium in a small town gave the residents a lot to thank their mayor for. No doubt he will have won the elections two days later.