Feliu Ventura: "You can't invite to the funeral the person who caused the funeral."

BarcelonaIt's a collective cry against the handling of the October 2024 storm, and also in support of the victims and community solidarity. This is how Feliu Ventura (Xàtiva, 1976) presents the song When the sky turned black, a traditional dance in which the singer-songwriter from Xàtiva sings with Maria, Noèlia Llorens TitanaMiquel Gil, Pep Gimeno Butifarra and Vicent Torrent. The track is a preview of the album that Feliu Ventura will release next year, his first studio album since Call for applications (2019).

Do you remember what you were doing on October 29, 2024?

— We were at home, knowing that we couldn't go anywhere that long weekend because there was a lot of rain, but we didn't expect it to actually be like this.

Did he immediately realize that the situation was very serious?

— It seems that we, unlike Mazón, were watching TV. Because we were seeing all that information live. Besides, Valencian public media are used to covering severe weather extensively, because a lot of people are glued to their TVs at these times, and the weather service on Valencian television has always been very good. So we saw that things were getting very bad. In my case, because as a child we had already experienced the Tous dam disaster of 1982 firsthand, which had been traumatic for us. For a long time at school, classmates would come in with notebooks still stained with mud, from the stationery stores that were still selling school supplies with those marks.

There is the memory of clay, which is something you clearly address in this song.

— Yeah.

What was the process of creating the song like? When the sky turned black And how do you involve the singers?

— The performance has been a collaborative effort, because the lyrics are all mine, and the music too. I had previously worked writing lyrics for Pep Gimeno. ButifarraOn my latest album, and in some way I've always been influenced by tradition. In fact, my song is very much inspired by dance; it's music for dancing. They asked me for an article about what happened, an article called Knowing how to rainAnd I compiled a list of all the songs that dealt with similar situations in the Valencian Country. There's one called The romance of SenyeraIt speaks of an ancient flood, and you listen to the lyrics and think, "Wow, it's the same thing every time." And since I've always believed in songs as memory capsules, that's what I've tried to do: take that snapshot of what happened, or what I believe happened, and turn it into a song so it won't be forgotten, and so it can serve for truth, justice, and reparation, like all memory processes around the world. When I saw the result of the song, I looked for singers who were role models for me and new ones who were involved in traditional singing, because I was very interested in this, this choral singing of tradition, and also from different parts of the Valencian Community, both those directly affected and those not directly affected by this landslide. And we built this with the production of Genís Ibáñez.

The choice of singers is like a genealogy of Valencian song: from Vicent Torrent to La Maria.

— Yes, I always say that Valencians experience a catastrophe like this every generation, and what we've had recently is a trauma and a mourning that hasn't quite ended because the people who caused it are still in public office. It's like a COVID lockdown: the virus is still there, and what the virus causes still exists. So we haven't quite healed the wound.

A state funeral for the victims of the DANA storm will be held on October 29, and the families have requested that Mazón not be present.

— You can't invite the person who caused the funeral to the funeral. It's absurd. I believe they have every right to heal their wounds as they need to.

How did you see the singers' moods when they performed? Was there a special motion?

— Perhaps if you've experienced something similar, like the flooding, etc., it won't be so new to you, but yes, it's strange. The people who lived through it, and even those who came to help from elsewhere, will take many years to forget that smell of mud. They come from areas with local emergency and reconstruction committees, made up of neighbors who organized themselves from the very beginning, back when there was no government other than the local government. I'm not going to repeat that phrase that was circulating, "only the people can save the people," because the people can save them from many things, but it did help them not feel so helpless. abandonment, the word that explains what we hear.

What did you think of the opportunism of the far right seeking the spotlight in those first days after the DANA storm?

— They always try. But I think this time they haven't succeeded. Everyone saw it. The local committees and the Valencian social agreement were there from the very beginning, and they haven't delivered on that narrative. Because it was about winning a narrative. And that's why we're in this situation, because Valencian society knows the narrative firsthand and, therefore, when they see a political representative saying things that aren't true, they're completely immune. At the same time, that's why I feel indignant, because things aren't progressing.

The song contains that mixture of indignation and pride that draws from the Latin American tradition you know so well, especially from Víctor Jara and Violeta Parra. I suppose it's inevitable that it appears in your work.

— Yes, it's inevitable, because when I think about memory I also think about Death bells by Lluís Llach and in much of the local tradition, but much of the local tradition also comes from listening to Latin American music. And many songs in that vein form a significant part of my music collection. Surely, the memory, the songs about Víctor Jara, made it possible that finally, after 40 years, there was a trial.

And, in addition, Violeta Parra also has songs like Puerto Montt is trembling that pick up the thread of popular stories about disasters.

— There's a popular saying: "Don't build a nest where there's a river." Popular culture already knows how to explain urban planning, which ravines shouldn't be built on, or which streams should be kept clean. And it's been telling us this for years. And art and culture serve to preserve memory and to make things better.

The song When the sky turned black This is a preview of the album you'll be releasing next year. In what way, both stylistically and thematically, does this song represent the album as a whole?

— Look, I hate to say this, but it doesn't exactly represent the album. It's a song that's part of the album, but I wanted to release it now to support the people of the Valencian Social Agreement and the local committees in their October protests. Those who have looked at the lyrics and listened to the songs on the album say it's a mature album, that it was about time [laughs]. But above all, it's an album that speaks of that maturity that often involves losses. And leaving such a long gap between albums allows me to observe reality and laugh at myself and other things.

What's your best music-related memory? And what's a musical memory you'd like to forget?

— The best souvenir I have is a set of folding wooden chairs with the logo of my town hall. I mean, the town halls used to organize concerts, and you could listen to great singers outdoors in our Mediterranean country. I remember a concert by Raimon and Ovidi Montllor in the Plaça de la Galera in Xàtiva. I was very young, but I remember sitting motionless in that folding wooden chair. It left a mark on me very early on. And what I'd rather forget...

I'm just asking what an artist who works with memory in such an intense way would want to forget.

— Yes, yes, I keep everything, even the bad things. But I don't know if I have a bad memory. Well, yes, I could say the only time I had to cancel a concert because I lost my voice, which isn't something that usually happens to me, because my voice is quite strong. I couldn't make a sound; I tried until the very last minute, and the audience was very understanding. It was in Sabadell, where I've given some wonderful concerts since. It's not that I have a bad memory of Sabadell; I also taught there. But wanting to sing and not being able to is the worst thing that can happen to you.

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