Released today on the excellent Catalan Record Label Microscopi is ‘Substrat’, the new album by Guillem Ballaz. A work based on old Catalan square tambourine songs -largely unpublished- and one of Catalonia’s greatest unknown cultural riches.
What you hear may not be what you expect after reading that introduction. Ballaz’s interpretations are both beautiful and surprising. He has spent years researching and disseminating what he has learned in that time through workshops and performances. He also makes those unique-looking square tambourines, following the construction methods of the instruments preserved in museums and private archives in Catalonia.
The tunes sound deceivingly simple but are actually quite complex in terms of bars and modes…described as a game of subtleties.
With some of the tunes, Ballaz applies new lyrics, poetry and forms, building upon the old for the future. This is most notable in one tune, originally from Pallars (Lleida, Catalonia), which has been given lyrics with an environmental theme linking it with a speech by the Sami musician Mari Boine whose culture believe everything is connected. This belief is widely held among many indigenous cultures – it was something that Jen Cloher touches on in her latest album, in which she reflects on the Māori culture and how we can learn from those cultures going forward. The fragility of the planet and our climate is something that Ballaz feels strongly about. In the press for the album, he mentions how Mediterranean countries are increasingly affected by global warming. In fact, these areas are warming 20% faster than the global average, according to the UN Environment Programme. That Ballaz can use these once-lost old tunes to benefit the future is quite remarkable.
In the recording, apart from Marta Rius and Maia Kanaan, who accompany him live, Andrea Motis, the Ibizan singer Catalina Marí, the double bassist Marcel Casellas and Adrià Dilmé, singer of Germà Negre, among others, have also collaborated.
Listen to the album below or stream it here.
Guillem Ballaz’s website: https://www.guillemballaz.cat/
Label: https://www.microscopi.cat/