Mazoni subscribes to 'The Tempest'

BarcelonaThere is an understandable fascination in the choice of musician Jaume Pla (la Bisbal d'Empordà, 1977), known as Mazoni, for art. "It's a work that I like because it combines the dreamlike part with the part of intrigue drama in a single story and with an ending that left me thinking for a good while," recalls Pla. That's why he recommends The Tempest, one of the latest works by William Shakespeare (1564-1616), which in Catalan can be read in translations by Josep Maria de Sagarra, Salvador Oliva, and Miquel Desclot, among others. "I also really like storms, the preceding weather, the moment when it falls...", adds Pla.

The Tempest features a group of emblematic characters born from the talent of the English bard, such as Prospero, the duke-magician of Milan, and his daughter Miranda, both exiled to a desert island. Revenge is the engine that triggers the action, involving Ariel, the spirit of the air, and Caliban, the barbarian upon whom all sorts of analyses related to the role of colonialism in Shakespeare's work have been deployed. Love and forgiveness are other driving forces that converge in a theatrical piece for which Jaume Pla also values the relevance of what it proposes.

Pla's fascination with Shakespeare goes back a long way, to high school, when someone recommended his sonnets. The interest, however, first led him to Hamlet, and it remains very much present today, as the musician from La Bisbal culminates the tour of the magnificent album Banderes per daltònics (Bankrobber, 2025). Later, on October 27, Mazoni will celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the release of the album Esgarrapada (2006) at the Paral·lel 62 venue in Barcelona with a special concert featuring Quim Carandell (from La Ludwig Band), Xantal Rodríguez (from Remei de Ca la Fresca), Anna Andreu, and Roger Mas, among others.