JOANA GOMILA & LAIA VALLÈS

Folk Souvenir

INFORMATION

“The birds will sing on a tree, just because, because it’s in their blood. Unaware that anyone can hear them. If you get close they notice, they stop and leave.” Rafel Ginard

Sometimes it happens: from faraway places, with different paths, different people arrive to the same conclusion. They move towards the same point not knowing anything about the others. This is what happens in “Folk Souvenir”. It seems like a record waiting to be created, born from zeitgeist and Joana Gomila, a singer who switches the canon and makes us relive the interest for the musical essence of our island. In “Folk Souvenir”, Gomila joins Arnau Obiols, Santi Careta, Àlex Reviriego and Laia Vallès, five soul siblings with a unique background, to reinvent the popular Majorcan folk with a freshness and a fixed net ready to play with any sound they find, finding in the soul of these melodies an inspiration to burst the band’s creativity. Recorded live and produced by Jaume Manresa (Antònia Font), “Folk Souvenir” draws from popular tunes to mesh wild and delicate sounds that intertwine with farmers’, children and grandmothers’ samples, recordings from Alan Lomax and unheard material from Joana, with a continuous honest love for the prime matter and a strong will to experiment, which turns this record into one of the boldest, most brilliant and respectful works made from traditional Majorcan music. Because in “Folk Souvenir” you can hear the landscape, the city, the work songs, romances, jotas, songs and games. You can hear the reflections of Rafel Ginard. It sounds of memories. We all sound, maybe without hearing us. “Folk Souvenir” is the village and the memory. It the chant and the prayer. It is folk and free jazz.

It is our need to search within ourselves. And maybe not find us.

Voice: Joana Gomila
Guitar: Santi Careta
Bass: Àlex Reviriego
Keyboard: Laia Vallès
Drums: Arnau Obiols
Production: Jaume Manresa
Mix: Marco Morgione
Master: Toni Pastor
Image: Maria Bartrons
Design: Joan Garau