Raimon, "the indomitable"

Barcelona"This is wonderful. Fantastic. What a guy, I'd buy it," says Raimon (Xàtiva, 1940) looking at the book cover Raimon. That me that I am (Ara Llibres, 2026), written by journalist Miquel Alberola (Valencia, 1958). The cover features a 25-year-old Raimon at the Olympia in Paris in 1966. "Sixty years have passed," he observes, taking a breath at the magnitude of the time gone by. "What can I say? It's a very well-written book. It doesn't talk nonsense. It doesn't make any mistakes. It's a book that, when I read it, I see myself reflected in it. In other words, it's who I am," Raimon continues at the Abacus headquarters, seated at a table between Alberola and Ara editor Carles Barcelonés, at an event hosted by Antoni Bassas.

And what is Raimon, according to Alberola? "An indomitable spirit," "an absolutely disruptive singer," "a classic on the level of true classics, those who have built their entire body of work with a language that does have a state behind it, like Léo Ferré, Georges Brassens, Jacques Brel, Bob Dylan, Juan Baez, Leonard Cohen, Violeta Parra, or Ví. And as Salvador Espriu wrote, 'a highly complex phenomenon.'" "Raimon is not just a singer, not just a musician, not just a poet. Besides all that, which he is in great excellence, everything he does has an impact on language, literature, music, the civic and political movement, and above all, he greatly influences the awakening of a sense of belonging to a community, the Balearic Islands, which were previously separated by the centripetal force of a centralist state. Raimon is many things," explains Alberola.

Raimon. That me that I am It is the first biography about the author ofTo the wind which covers his entire artistic career, from his first recital to in the farewell concerts of 2017 at the Palau de la MúsicaA blend of "narrative journalism and essay" and written with "total freedom," it would not have been possible without friendship and mutual understanding, and without the immense work of Annalisa Corti (Raimon's partner) in systematizing its chronology. "A couple of books have also been very helpful. One is the portrait Joan Fuster painted of him in Raimon, published in 1964. The other is The construction of a song “(2005), by Antoni Batista, which is a more academic book, because Batista is a musicologist as well as a journalist and writer, and he has suggested many key points to me,” says Alberola.

Indeed, the book covers Raimon’s entire career. The author applies a dual focus: one on the contradictions,” and another broader one that provides the sociopolitical context, fundamental because it directly impacts what Raimon does. There’s no need to dwell on it, or perhaps there is. As Alberola says, he is a man “uncomfortable for the dictatorship, but who is also uncomfortable in democracy” because he has never sacrificed consistency to appease it. A black and white photograph of Raimon, which made sense at a specific moment in history, under certain circumstances, as a singer endemic to an era, but which doesn’t correspond to reality, because Raimon has a long evolutionary trajectory. From the most existential and essential moment, he evolves toward harmonic complexity. He is a singer with many registers. "From the so-called 'canto'—the one that's most visible in that black and white photograph—to rhythm and blues, counterpoint, free jazz, contemporary minimalism, pop, and rock," he recalls as Raimon smiles approvingly.

"The book is a vindication of heritage, an exceptional quality perhaps best recognized: 'the extraordinary international projection.' He has toured Japan, Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, Central America, South America, Central Europe... He is undoubtedly the most international of our Catalan singers. He was also the first to sing in the language of Ausiàs March at the Olympia in Paris," says Alberola, who doesn't forget other facets in which Raimon was a pioneer: "He was the first to make an album with poems by an author—Salvador Espriu, on the album Songs from the Wheel of Time, from 1966—before Paco Ibáñez. And in 1968 Joan Manuel Serrat, copying Raimon's idea, did the same with Antonio Machado, and later with Miguel Hernández."

Raimon and the ruling classes

Obviously, there was room for clashes with authority. First with the Franco regime, absolutely ruthless and determined to prevent Raimon from pursuing a singing career. In this sense, Alberola values ​​the importance of Barcelona. "In Valencia, he would have become just another bearded professor, while Barcelona was crucial for his emergence as a singer," says the biographer. He finds the explanation in the different nature of "the ruling classes" and the sociocultural landscape during the Franco regime. "Barcelona did have a ruling class open to supporting Raimon's creative vision, a bourgeoisie that always wanted him as a guest. This didn't happen in Valencia, because in the 50s, 60s, and even 70s, it was a very Castilianized society. If you spoke Valencian, you were immediately expelled from all social circles. Valencian is like slippers for wearing around the house, but when you go out on the street, you have to put on your shoes, which are Castilian."

The book also recounts his clash with political parties, when in 1980 he rejected various offers from the PSOE, PSUC, and Convergència Democràtica to sing at rallies. Raimon, indomitable by nature, writes Alberola, "reproaches them for only remembering cultural figures when elections come around." It also covers the 1982 controversy surrounding the Creu de Sant Jordi (Cross of Saint George), which he refused to accept because "the award could have connotations of liquidating stock" and because it was being sent "to a museum of the anti-Franco resistance" at a time when the new regime considered the Nova Cançó (New Song) movement a thing of the past. "I've gone from fighting the dictatorship to being wary of the administration and feeling a certain disillusionment," Raimon explained at the time. Alberola doesn't overlook the complicated relationship with power in the Valencian Community, first during the Franco regime and then during the democratic era, a relationship that with the People's Party "remains as bizarre and radical as it was back then."

Asked about the current political situation in general terms, Raimon takes a breath before answering. "I find the current situation pretty messed up. Things are bad from many points of view. We're governed by people who shouldn't be governing us; it should be a different kind of person. But what can you do if people vote the way they do? It's very complicated, that's it. Very complicated," concludes the indomitable Raimon.