He feels that a circle is closing, he expresses in a video of gratitude to the Faculty of Informatics of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya for having granted him the 'honoris causa' distinction. The first blind person to graduate in Spain in this specialty.
Ignasi Terraza (Barcelona, 1962) invented his life, he let his talent emerge naturally, his interests prosper without being intimidated by social conventions, then more rigid than those of today.
In a short video that the university has posted on the website to celebrate this distinction, it is explained very simply.
He went blind at the age of 9 when disability meant staying on the border between those who could fulfill their dreams and those who were prohibited from doing so.
The next three years were dedicated to studying braille at ONCE, the venue where this afternoon he will see him collect the award (in the ONCE Auditorium at 6:30 p.m.).
One day, when he was 12 years old, he went to a birthday party and, as usual, they sang happy birthday to the honoree. That song accompanied him until he arrived at her grandmother's house where she sat on the piano bench and played with the keys until she found the music that had filled her with happiness.
Shortly after, he received formal classes at the Conservatory but continued with the playful challenge of playing music by ear and then transforming it and changing the rhythm and style, letting himself be carried away by the pure joy of experimenting and recreating.
He fell in love with jazz with the first notes he heard. An immediate and unconditional performance, she assures, after four decades of loyalty.
The next thing that happened is that he started playing, at college parties, in clubs, in pubs or he went bowling in the towns. In 1985 he replaced the pianist of La Vella Dixieland and never stopped.
Meanwhile, he had the other life, the academic one. As a child, he was not expected to go off the beaten path. After taking the last EGB courses at ONCE, he decided, with some friends who were also blind, to continue studying. They resisted selling ONCE coupons on the streets or working for the social entity.
He found tireless support in his mother who read him all the books necessary to finish his studies and, after enrolling in a Computer Science degree. She recorded them on cassettes so she could play them more than once. He was the first blind person to graduate in computer science. He worked for six years as a computer scientist and then dedicated himself entirely to music.
His discography includes more than 30 references released in Spain, France, Switzerland and Japan, eight of them with his Trio, with which he has toured countries in Europe, America, Asia and Africa. In total, he has published more than 60 albums with different musical groups.
In 1999 he premiered the show 'Jazz in the Dark', at the Teatreneu, which offered the public the experience of enjoying a concert with the lights off so that the presence of the music was almost a physical experience, without the distraction of sight.
In 2005 he founded his own label, Swit Records, dedicated entirely to jazz, and which combines work as a record label with music promotion and management. Terraza has also composed music for theater and television.
Since 2003, he combines his concert activity with teaching at the Escuela Superior de Música de Cataluña (ESMUC).
The distinction of Ignasi Terraza as an 'honoris causa' doctor by the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC) has been proposed by the board of directors and the permanent commission of the Faculty of Informatics of Barcelona (FIB) as a "reference for people with visual disabilities who carry out engineering studies, as well as their connection with the university". A university through which dozens of renowned artists have passed.
"I am excited that the computer science faculty is giving me this recognition and I am closing a circle in my life of so many years."
Terraza will have as godfather Professor Jordi Cortadella, professor of the Department of Computer Science, linked to the FIB and researcher of the Algorísmia, Bioinformatics, Complexity and Formal Methods (ALBCOM) research group.
