Els Catarres are a
Catalan pop-folk
Folk-pop is a broad musical fusion genre that includes contemporary folk songs with pop arrangements, and pop songs with intimate, acoustic-based folk arrangements. Folk-pop has been popularized by mainstream media in recent years.
Music ...
band. The members of Els Catarres are Èric Vergés and Jan Riera Prats from
Aiguafreda and Roser Cruells from
Centelles
Centelles (; ) is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of Osona in
Catalonia, Spain. It is situated in the upper valley of the Congost River in the south of the
''comarca''. The municipality is served by the C-17 road. The renowned urban planner ...
. The band is famous for the song ''Jenifer'' that became a hit in the summer of 2011 in
Catalan Countries
The Catalan Countries (, ) refers to the territories where the Catalan language is spoken. They include the Spanish regions of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, Valencian Community, and parts of Aragon ('' La Franja'') and Murcia ( Carche), as ...
.
The band formed towards the end of 2010, starting with small gigs in bars and at la Fira d'Artesania d'Aiguafreda.
Their first EP was released and made available online. Due to the popularity of their song "Jenifer", about a prohibited love between a patriotic Catalan man and a "xoni" from
Castefa, they rose to fame in 2011. The word xoni is a slang term that in this context refers to young people in Spain, and therefore in Catalunya too, who are less culturally educated. By June 2011 the music video for "Jenifer" had received 200,000 views and by mid-September it reached 800,000. By the beginning of October it had reached over a million views and many covers were created of the song. By the summer of 2011, they had over 100 concerts planned around Catalunya. The band only released their music on CD, under the condition that it continued to be available online for free.
On 29 November 2011 their first album was released for general sale, Cançons 2011, consisting of 13 songs, four of which completely unedited. Under the company Discmedi Blau, the album was released in shops, though also available for free online. The first unedited song to be released was "Me'n vaig al camp", a parody of a "modernet" from Barcelona that decides to go and live in the countryside. The disc sold over 5,000 copies.
In March 2012 Els Catarres were awarded the "Enderrock 2012" prize for best lyrics, for the song "Jenifer".
References
*https://www.enderrock.cat/noticia/5512/trio/moda/catarres
*https://www.ara.cat/xarxes/Els_Catarres-Jenifer-potser_vindre-videoclip-xarxes_0_506949544.html
*https://web.archive.org/web/20131203012228/http://www.vilaweb.cat/noticia/3901313/20110622/catarres-directe-vilaweb.html
*https://www.324.cat/video/3579930/Els-Catarres-i-lexit-de-la-seva-Jenifer
External links
Els Catarres
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Musicians from Catalonia
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