"The cultural and political history of our country cannot be told without our singer-songwriters"

Barcelona"Look at the validity of Litany. Railway history of Spain“Wow!” exclaims Borja Penalba (Valencia, 1975). Indeed, more than sixty years have passed since Lluís Serrahima, Miquel Porter, and Jaume Armengol wrote this song, back in the days of Setze Jutges. “Everything changes, nothing changes, / look at the train, look at the track. / If you think about it and observe well, / you’ll already know philosophy. / A thousand speeches, few resources, / it’s the daily bread,” say the first verses of that litany that no one had released on a record until Joan Manuel Serrat included it on the album From a time, from a country, the recording of the concert at the Palau Sant Jordi in 1996.

Thirty years after that tribute by Serrat to the Nova Cançó (with a repertoire of different artists ranging from 1962 to 1975), Borja Penalba and Meritxell Gené (Lleida, 1 From a time, from a country (like Raimon's song), and which will be presented as part of the Barnasants festival this Thursday, February 26th in Barcelona, ​​at the Casino la Aliança del Poblenou (8 pm), and on Saturday the 28th in Gelida (8 pm). "The cultural and political history of our country cannot be told without our singer-songwriters, without their songs. And putting on this show is our way of thanking them," says Gené. The tribute includes some songs that Serrat also compiled thirty years ago, such as the same one. LitanyBut Gené and Penalba's selection goes beyond 1975, because they wanted to include singer-songwriters like Joan Isaac and Marina Rossell. "We capture the spirit of Serrat's tribute, but at the same time we incorporate songs that are our own personal choices," explains the singer-songwriter from Lleida.

Both, in a guitar and voice format (plus a surprise collaboration), perform pieces by Maria del Mar Bonet, Els Dracs, Lluís Llach, Dolors Laffitte, Guillemina Motta, Teresa Rebull, and Lluís el Sifoner, among others. As Penalba points out, they perform them in "the organic singer-songwriter style, without the world of arrangements." "We bring them into our own territory, we make them our own. They were the soundtrack of a time and a country, and now we, in one way or another, are also contributing to the soundtrack of this moment and that country," affirms the Valencian musician. "The selection process was meticulous; we put a lot of effort into it. We made a very conscious choice so that we would feel comfortable," Gené adds.

The origin of this adventure was a proposal to play in Minneapolis in the sample Flavors of CataloniaAs part of the Perifèria Cultural series in September 2025, Gené and Penalba gave a joint recital, mixing their own compositions. Seeing the strong artistic connection between the two musicians, Marçal Girbau, the director of the Perifèria Cultural series and now also of Barnasants, "had a lightbulb moment," recalls Penalba. The whole thing took on the feel of a tribute to the Nova Cançó movement. "Borja is a very genuine musician. He has a sensitivity and, at the same time, a wildness that makes him unique. He tears at your soul," says Gené. "As you get older, you like less and less half-measures. If you have to be meticulous, then be meticulous. But if you have to explode, then no holds barred," asserts Penalba, who describes Gené as "absolute passion": "Meritxell lives music with a brutal intensity and a lot of common sense. Crazy."

Their commitment to singer-songwriter music goes back a long way, each with their own projects. Furthermore, Gené has been part of The Kolontai and Penalba often accompanies Maria del Mar Bonet, with whom he made one of the best live albums of recent years: Maria del Mar Bonet with Borja Penalba (Azul-Discmedi, 2020) Recorded at the Micalet Theatre in Valencia. "María del Mar Bonet is a natural on stage. She needs to sing, give concerts, and record. The other day she was talking and she sounded like a twelve-year-old girl, thrilled with her latest album. It's not normal to convey this enthusiasm with something she's done two million times in sixty years. She's one of the architects of the soundtrack of that time and that country."

Times have changed, it's true, but Penalba and Gené defend the enduring relevance of singer-songwriter music, and therefore demand "a space that is the home of singer-songwriter music," as Pere Camps, the founder of Barnasants, has been requesting for years.