Serrat's songs take on new life in the versions by his arranger's son

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. If Josep Maria Bardagí was a close collaborator and friend of Joan Manel Serrat, his son Jofre could not help but reflect Serrat's world. He has done so, as his father did in his day, on an album of covers released a few weeks ago under the title Jofre Bardagí Interpreta a Serrat Vol 1, ten tracks featuring collaborations with Ana Belén, Andreu Buenafuente, Santi Balmes, Litus, and Serrat himself, who yesterday accompanied Jofre at the presentation of the concert that will take place in April as part of the Barcelona Guitar Festival, where he will present this album and a second one that Jofre is already working on. It is almost a family affair, as Jofre recalled that he, born during a tour with his father, slept with María, Serrat's daughter, “in cribs that were actually the musicians' guitar cases.” It was at the age of 13, when he listened to the album Per Al Meu Amic and specifically the song Helena, “that Serrat's music ceased to be what I listened to at home or on tour with my father and became a decisive influence, on a par with others such as Springsteen, Radiohead, and Dylan,” he recalled. While Jofre reminisced about his childhood against the backdrop of Serrat's music, Joan Manel looked at him as he recalled that he had a clear vision for his cover versions from the outset, defining his role: "I never got involved in anything, I was receptive and waited for Jofre to approach me, letting things take their course, confident that if he needed anything he would tell me, avoiding unwanted interference." On this first album of covers, already released, Jofre called him to sing Una mujer desnuda y en lo oscuro again, a poem by Mario Benedetti that Serrat and his father had already recorded decades ago, in which he has rescued the guitar that his father recorded at the time, which can now be heard again in this new version. Serrat, not wanting to steal the limelight from Jofre, simply blessed her with a “it's very good,” which in his laconic manner means a lot. Serrat also approved of the very idea of covers of his work, since “there are things that are understood differently, and I think that's okay. They're my songs, but filtered through someone else's thinking.” What he found most difficult, due to its complexity, he said, was specifying what a cover version needs to be good: “The truth is, I don't know. It should surprise, but not only by straying from the original path, distancing itself harmonically or melodically from the first. Ultimately, it all comes down to the talent of the person doing the cover version and knowing how to avoid the tics of the original,” he added. But in addition to Serrat and Jofre, their released album, the one he is already working on as a second part, and the concert where both will be played, with special guests yet to be revealed, it was Josep María Bardagí who stole the show at the presentation. Serrat described him as "a fountain of talent, a very funny person and someone very intense and exuberant who didn't marry anyone. His amusing impertinence, always sharp, frightened some people, but he was an extraordinary arranger, musician, and even a cartoonist. I knew that today we would end up talking about him," confessed Serrat. Judit Llimós, artistic director of the Guitar Festival and host of the meeting, asked how it was that Jofre had not rebelled against his father figure by going off in other directions, to which Jofre responded by praising his father: “He was so curious that he was interested in the music I listened to, without dismissing it.” Serrat expanded on this view, stating, “Jofre is very similar to his father in his playful nature, without being as fast-paced as he was. He is a son who comes from a good background: music, cinema, humor. Even his daughter walks like her grandfather; there are things and ways of understanding life that come naturally,” he noted. Второй альбом кавер-версий Joan Manel Serrat находится в стадии подготовки, и Jofre не захотел раскрывать, кто из гостей примет в нем участие, поскольку запись совместных композиций еще не завершена, но сообщил, что в январе начнут выходить синглы, а альбом будет выпущен в апреле и включит кавер-версии таких песен, как Paraules d’amor, Menuda, Plany al mar, Es caprichoso el azar и Hoy puede ser un gran día. Наконец, Серрат, который в понедельник вместе с Нурией Эсперт получит Золотую медаль Женералитата, выразил «радость и большую удовлетворенность этой неожиданной наградой, которая свидетельствует о том, что я уже старик. На самом деле это награда от публики», — заключил он.