Josep Manel Pugés dies at 66, a pioneering figure of punk and ska music in Barcelona

BarcelonaBefore becoming one of the founders of the iconic group Skatalà in 1985, Josep Manel Pugés—who has died at age 66 as a result of a "serious illness," as announced by the band—played drums and guitar in several pioneering bands of the Barcelona punk scene. Since the late 70s, Pugés was linked to Clinic Humanoyds, Attak, Ruidos Molestos, or Shit S.A.

It was after ending his time with Shit S.A. that Pugés teamed up with Pitu Moregó (vocals), Quique Gallart (vocals), Jordi Ramiro (bass), Roger Geli (drums), and Pep Castells (saxophone) to launch Skatalà, one of the first Catalan ska music groups, a style originating in Jamaica and a precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Although they began performing in 1985, Skatalà did not record their first demo until 1987, Fent d'aquí, which ended up becoming the group's first iconic album in 1991. As the current members of Skatalà recall in the musician's farewell statement, Josep Manel Pugés composed the lyrics and music for one of the band's most popular tracks, Bolingas, and "played a very important role in the creation of other tracks on that demo such as Fem d'aquí, Intro, Killer, Suant la panxa, Boski and an adaptation of Desmond Dekker in Embolingats".

Pugés was also "fundamental" in the composition of what would end up being the group's second album, Borinot borinot (1993). Skatalà recall their guitarist's role in the creation of tracks like De Jamaica a Roma (via Budapest), Skandol dub, Reggae'n'ska and Ranking roure. The musician, however, left Skatalà before they recorded Borinot borinot, another key piece of the Barcelona band's discography, which was completed with Un de nou (1995), In concerto (1998) and Llunàtics (2005).

Partnering with Enric Casasses

In the 90s, Josep Manel Pugés teamed up with Enric Casasses on stage. Accompanied by a synthesizer, he sought out sound atmospheres for Casasses' poems, and from their joint collaboration came the album El pa de navegar (Edicions 62/Zanfonia, 1999). "Every poem of Enric's suggests an image to me, which in my mind transforms into a kind of movie —the musician explained at the time—. What I do is provide a soundtrack for it. If we get along so well with Enric, it's because, even if he doesn't know it himself, he is also a punk."

"From the group, we want to wish for many years of remembrance of Manel, to all the people who knew and loved him and especially to his family and friends in these very sad and painful moments," says the current lineup of Skatalà in the farewell statement.