Serrat: "I am deeply grateful to the neighborhood and the country where I was born"

BarcelonaJoan Manuel Serrat retired from the stage three years ago, but tonight he made an exception and sang again. My streetWith maestro Joan Albert Amargós at the piano, he sang upon receiving the Gold Medal, the highest distinction of the Generalitat, which was awarded to the musician and the actress Núria Espert for their exceptional professional and personal trajectories. President Salvador Illa stated that, in addition to being united by generation and the esteem they have for each other, these two artists, "deeply Catalan and precisely for that reason profoundly universal," were destined for the award. President Tarradellas institutionalized the Gold Medals in 1978, during the height of the democratic recovery, and awarded it first to Joan Miró. Indeed 1978 It's the title of a Serrat album and it's the year Espert premiered Another Phaedra, pleaseWritten by Salvador Espriu for her. Isla celebrated the civic role of both artists, their "commitment to freedom and democracy," and also their "fraternity with the rest of Spain."

With the medal around his neck, an emotional Serrat (81 years old) thanked all those who have accompanied him on a path that was unpredictable, and especially wanted to remember his origins. On the one hand, his family, whose working-class roots he emphasized: "Today there is a rejection of a worker recognizing themselves as a worker, and it is wonderful to be able to feel part of a class that advances with dignity and helps the country move forward," he said. On the other hand, Poble-sec: "I am deeply grateful to the neighborhood and the country where I was born, which I love."

Serrat also reaffirmed today the values that his songbook has championed: humanism, democracy, justice, and freedom. "Only with a system that strengthens tolerance and the ability to coexist and understand difference will we find a path that leads us to the future. My origins are my memory. Every day I delve into my memory to find a better future," she stated. Raimon Obiols, a friend and former Socialist deputy, had praised her as a "symbol of a melting pot of Catalonia," as "one of the vanquished who has restored the voice of the people," as an example that "kindness, fraternity, and beauty" have meaning against hatred, and as a defender of "human roots."

Núria Espert (90 years old), who has lived retired from the stage and public life since leaving the project last December All birds Wajdi Mouawad's play, directed by Mario Gas, sent a voice note thanking her for the medal, and it was her granddaughter, stage director Bárbara Lluch, who accepted the award. The grandmother, who had been cleaning the theater, shared everything she had learned from her grandmother, such as "unconditional love, passion and sacrifice, listening and communication, and that it's never too late to learn," she said. She recalled that Espert performed with broken bones, a fever of 104 degrees Fahrenheit, two days after her husband's death, and suffering from severe depression. And with all this, "when the buba "She comes down from the stage, she's my grandmother, without arrogance, with curiosity, without diva-like behavior, with love, tenderness, and affection," he said, and recalled that she used to tell him the strangest stories: the story of Turandot, Penelope, and Bernarda Alba. "You don't know what it's like to hear Esperte describe Santa Claus."

The theater director and friend, Mario Gas, who acted alongside her and directed her last show to date, The island of airShe had previously enjoyed an immense career, spanning seventy years on stage. "Since Medea"An unstoppable phenomenon erupted: the Esperto, the tragic figure of Spanish and Catalan theater," she said. Àngels Gonyalons performed a fragment of Medea at the ceremony. Having her own company, she performed iconic works such as The maids, Yerma and Doña Rosita the Spinster or the Language of Flowers, The Seagull And yet, she has always maintained her curiosity: "A person of her worth is always learning. She's a ninety-year-old young woman who retains her enthusiasm and ingenuity," said Mario Gas. President Illa celebrated that in a "globalized and homogenized" world, both Serrat and Espert demonstrate that one can contribute culturally to the world "from Catalonia and also in Catalan." He also noted that from today onward, both have earned the title of "Most Excellent."