“It all started with Friederike Darius, flutist and artistic producer of the Metropole Orkest in the Netherlands. She and her then-husband, a guitarist, were the first to arrive at Els Prats de Rei”, say Sofia Ribeiro, a Portuguese singer, and the American Michael League, leader of the bands Snarky Puppy and Bokanté. Musicians from all over the world, some passing through and others already settled in this town in inland Catalonia, such as Ribeiro and League, have put the name of Els Prats de Rei on the map and have encouraged the rehabilitation of houses in ruins in the historic center . The building with a modernist facade that she bought two decades ago Darius, a German resident in the Netherlands, has become a kind of musical home, a temporary retreat in which not a few artists have composed. The singers Becca Stevens, from the USA, or Magda Giannikou, from Greece; British composers Bill Laurance and Jules Buckley, also a conductor, or League himself, winner of four Grammy Awards with the instrumental ensemble Snarky Puppy.
“Friederike hired me to compose a symphony for the Metropole Orkest. She told me: 'Don't do it in New York, you need a quiet place' and she gave me the keys to Els Prats. I spent Christmas 2013 or 2014 here and in ten days I made friends with the townspeople. I kept coming for the major festivals, the calçotades... Since then I've been to Prats every Christmas. Since I was coming so much, a real estate agent suggested I buy a house. At that time I had already been in New York for ten years and I thought it was time to change gears, ”recalls League, sitting next to Sofia in the room next to the recording studio he set up on the fourth floor of his building.
“But before we foreigners came there were already musicians at Els Prats de Rei! My house is called Cal Trumpet because an electrician lived here who played this instrument with the Vives Ensemble. I couldn't meet him anymore, ”he adds.
The enthusiastic work as a music theory and piano teacher carried out by Mercè Carbonell, a vital 91-year-old neighbor, was key to spreading the passion for music to the little ones. Carbonell expresses her satisfaction at seeing how two of her students, brothers Roger and Albert Costa, composer and trombonist, respectively, have charted fruitful careers.
Sofia Ribeiro and her partner, the Colombian pianist, producer and comedian Juan Andrés Ospina, lived in New York when they first traveled to this destination in Anoia. Some time later, the leader of Snarky Puppy sent them a photo of a property for sale. Ribeiro did not have too many doubts, she accepted the offer and embarked on a long process of remodeling her future home, very close to the Plaza Major.
“The important thing is that they have bought and renovated buildings that were falling down, now we have the old center much more tidy. The houses occupied by older people remain empty when they die, the young people here prefer to settle on the outskirts, in open spaces”, explains the mayor, Cristina Mas.
So far, four buildings have been rehabilitated and other musicians are toying with the idea of following in the footsteps of League and Ribeiro. Among those who spend their vacations in second homes in the historic center is another couple of musicians, made up of the Dutch Robbert Vermeulen and Marjan Linnenbank.
"This group is giving us projection, people didn't know us and this is an important town, we have valuable Iberian vestiges", emphasizes Mas.
While other municipalities in rural Catalonia are planning initiatives to try to stop the staggering loss of population, Els Prats de Rei has managed to spontaneously contain this trend. The latest Idescat data points to 551 registered citizens, the highest figure since 2013, when the same number was registered. During the covid pandemic, new families with children also settled, says the mayor. But the consolidation of the population, with a school attended by 61 students, has not been enough to guarantee other services. "Now the bakery and one of the two grocery stores have closed, but we still have the pharmacy, the hairdresser and two bars," says Mas.
The musicians relativize these shortcomings. “When I came to live here I already assumed that I wouldn't have everything and you get used to it,” reflects Ribeiro. He especially values the feeling of community that day-to-day life in this town gives him. “What hooks is the people, they treat us as if we were from here. I had always dreamed of having a garden and, the day after I arrived, I already had it, they left us a piece of land. Our friend Francesc waters when we are on tour, I don't know how to plant a single potato and there is always someone who teaches you, everything is possible because everyone helps you”, says Ribeiro.
League, also known as “the one from Cal Trumpet”, is fully integrated into local life and, in what others would find flaws, he discovers virtues. First Friederike Darius and then League and Ribeiro have managed to surround themselves with a lot of talent. When they are not on tour they return home, where League writes and records in his studio; therefore, he often hosts members of his gang. “With Bokanté, which brings together Caribbeans, Africans, North Americans..., we have recorded an album in my studio that we will release in January with Real World, Peter Gabriel's label. The neighbors treat them all as if they were pradencs”.
League has also shot a video clip in the bar that is a stone's throw from her house, a curious place with an atmosphere that favors very cinematographic scenes.
Unintentionally, Els Prats de Rei, in Anoia but which claims the creation and belonging to the Alta Segarra region, has become a very cool town for musicians of all disciplines that have animated the cultural life of the area. In 2021, the Ground Up festival moved from Miami to Els Prats de Rei and this summer they improvised a free concert in the church. The next step would be to open a multipurpose cultural room, a project that Friederike Darius caresses and that would have the support of the city and the community of artists. “The first thing would be to create an association to organize a series of concerts, but the most ambitious thing is to have a space with regular programming. It's so obvious that something beautiful must be staged at Prats!” concludes Darius, who has a long history in music production.
