It has been 10 years since he published Jo mai mai, his coming-out in the world of music, and to celebrate it nothing better has occurred to him than to reissue the song in an updated version and accompanied by its sound continuation, Judit. A story of love and heartbreak that has gone on like this for a decade, and that has given rise to a tour with the "madness" of filling the Palau Sant Jordi this coming January, a concert for which more than 6,000 tickets were sold on the first day. that were put up for sale. And to show that he is serious, for a week his face appeared on a giant canvas in the middle of Rambla Catalunya, an image with which the musician from Sant Feliu de Llobregat encourages him to join what could be the great success of his career. while hiding his face, biting his shirt, looking a little scared.
Where does the idea of the canvas come from, is it an ego attack?
On the contrary, we were not at all clear about putting our faces on the canvas, I was betting on putting “Jo mai mai al Palau Sant Jordi”. But then you analyze how you can better convey the intention, the gesture, the attitude with which you face the challenge, and when I add “La gran locura” to the image of my face I find it more likeable, more human.
Is Sant Jordi crazy?
We've done some really crazy and fun stuff over the past ten years, but that's another story. Sant Jordi is even more crazy than the canvas, but it starts from the illusion, the challenge and the desire to live something like this with the excuse of the 10 years of Jo mai mai and the return of Judit. There was a mix that made it possible, realistically, to imagine a tour ending with 8,000 or 10,000 people.
How does your more intimate music fit into such a large space?
My music is intimate, my concerts are not. People come to see a show, also with their moments of intimacy, but I am a very open person and at concerts I like to interact with the public, play with their energy. Nothing excites me more than imagining people singing together, it already happened to me when I played the guitar in the esplai and interpreted songs by others. Now it's the same, I really want to sing with so many people some songs that we share.
Ten years ago, when you published Jo mai mai, did it look like it does now?
I have never put a ceiling on myself but I have never dedicated myself to thinking about what my limit could be. I have gone step by step, each thing I did led to another, we started at the Heliogàbal, then the Apolo and then the Palau de la Música. The project has been consolidated until a time came when we sold 8,000 tickets for the six days of performances at the Respira festival, in Empúries.
The new version of Jo mai mai sounds more cheerful
The first two albums were more melancholic, but I realized that this music did not represent the real Joan Dausà. I have a melancholic, sad side, which interests me, but I am also a festive person and I wanted to transfer this optimism to my songs, that is why after Ara som gegants I have released a new repertoire, new songs that complement the more dramatic ones.
Jo mai mai has also changed
It has grown over the years, and the way it was recorded no longer represented us much live, it was too small for us. It had been a while since we played it as we have recorded it now, the idea was to update it but keeping the soul, and it has been very difficult.
The good songs are those that accompany their generation
Jo mai mai is a song that people have made very much their own, that's why it was a challenge to pose Judit, because people have also made what could happen next their own. Depending on which way to continue he would have chosen, he would have charged me with many paths that people have traced in his imagination. I have tried to go one step further in the story of these two characters, that they meet without denying that they are attracted, but I do not explain much more. It remains to be seen if they are committed to living a relationship together or if Joan's blocks, after having suffered so much trying to forget her, make him unwilling to let himself be carried away by her love. I made several versions, many lyrics, but finally I have settled on this one, more open and also more narrative, cinematographic. It explains emotions that everyone has ever felt, like having someone looking at you in a way that destroys you inside.
It's a reflection of our insecurities
It is possible that the Joan of today has redone his life, that he is calm, but what Judit represents, that memory, that pain, makes him tremble and disconcerts him. It's that moment you want someone to come and stop it because "I can't forget you again", you think, "I'm not ready, you caught me on the wrong foot, today we'll end up together". And I want it but I don't want to suffer it, I'm pretty lost.
On the album Jo mai mai dedicates a song to her mother
My mother died when I was only two months old, and my father's new partner is the one who has played this role for the rest of my life. I had a full family structure and I didn't have the impulse or the need to scratch more, but there comes an age when you begin to understand what it means to be a father, to be a mother, to give your life for your son as my mother did . She was sick and she knew that if she got pregnant it was easy for her to die. Then you begin to understand and value that gesture of love, and from here is born the will to understand and empathize that gives rise to the song 1979 as a tribute to what she represented for me. I always keep her very much in mind.
In your latest work, Ho tenim tot, is there a reflection on the pandemic, have we learned anything?
If we learned something, we are forgetting it by force, we have imposed ourselves forgetting everything instead of taking advantage of it as an opportunity for growth and collective awareness. The planet cried out for help, sent us a virus to stop us but we continue to do the same, we have not learned anything and we came out of the pandemic a little more disappointed and resigned. I wrote Ho tenim tot in those moments, reflecting on how the situation forced you to look at yourself, your environment and from there build your path. It is increasingly difficult to sing optimism, but we must do it because when positive thoughts are projected, good things happen. That is why I will continue singing to optimism, to believe in life to project better things. If not, we can forget about everything.
