The most comedian musician of the Ludwig Band releases a solo album

GironaThe Ludwig Band is a well of creativity. All its members are truly talented, they have a lot of artistic interests and always have some project on the go. Whether it is with the group, where everyone has their say, or also as a solo act. This is the case of Lluc (or Lluki, depending on his stage name) Valverde, saxophonist and keyboardist of the band, born in Espolla (Alt Empordà), who has been releasing some songs on his own for some time and has now just premiered his first album, titled A la catalana (Primavera Labels). There are ten songs, most of them Catalan rumba, filled with anecdotes, desires, and daily adventures in Barcelona, halfway between irony, bitterness, and merrymaking. The album, conceived above all to be performed live, with a very extravagant staging, was previewed at the Mercat de Música Viva de Vic and on November 12th it will arrive at the Sala Upload Barcelona.

"I am very used to releasing records with the Ludwig, but now I feel like a novice: I have to take care of many things and I have been nervous all summer for the preview in Vic. I wanted to give a lot of myself," explains Lluki Valverde, who has experienced the step of heading a solo project in a very progressive and natural way. Not to replicate the same thing he already does with Quim Carandell's band, but to take his bet to its ultimate consequences and take more initiative. "Since before joining the Ludwig I have been writing my own songs, and now I wanted to show them, to talk about things that matter to me and focus the energy on a project genuinely thought out just as I am," the musician continues.

And the result is stimulating. Songs that flow with a friendly cadence, starting from Catalan rumba, but also with references to popular dance music, melodic song, cabaret, or musical theater. From the festive spirit of Gato Pérez to the psychedelia of Pau Riba or Jaume Sisa, passing through the acid innocence of Albert Pla.

"I see myself quite a bit as a singer-songwriter with long lyrics. I have discovered many styles of music and many methods from around here, Iberian, from Laietana music, from Barcelona. And I have the small pride of trying to make music based on that, somewhat isolated from the Yankee formulas of rock and blues," comments Valverde, who as a teenager trained at the conservatory, but who over time has known how to transcend the norms of classical music to move with ease through modern languages. Regarding the rumba style, the musician adds: "I am not a gypsy, but I feel like claiming the national heritage of the Catalan rumba and, doing it rather from the vein of the Nova Cançó, which is only used when it is politically convenient, in events like the Olympic Games and that's it".

"I am a chronicler of wherever I go, with a taste for anecdotes"

Rumba, moreover, is an ideal starting point for telling stories, and Valverde, who has also trained in theater and literature in Paris, is a great narrator. On the album, he talks about the Barcelona night and traces a whole map through nocturnal walks around El Carmel, the Heliogàbal, neighborhood festivals, unions, afters, rebellious meetings... "On one hand, it's quite sentimental music, a bit cheesy, and I love that very much: dealing with the vast abyss of feelings. And, on the other hand, there is a lot that I see around me. A compilation of stories throughout my life. And that makes me, to tell the truth, love stories very much. Like a chronicler of wherever I go, with a taste for a well-told anecdote," the composer relates.

A good example of this is the track El 248 del carrer Navas, a funeral ballad about the suicide of two evicted neighbors. Also the rumbera harangue of L’ambaixada dels sentiments or the hymn with kitsch musical airs that closes the album, titled No vull tornar sol a casa.

And all of this takes on dimension in the live performance, where the musician appears wearing makeup, tight clothing, little angel wings, and gives free rein to his facet as a comedian. Valverde, in fact, is the soul of the Col·lectiu Pedant a Missa i Repicant, the Ludwig Band company that has already participated in six musical theater plays and is this year a resident at the Sala Beckett. And in his project, he gives free rein to this scenic side, with eccentric music videos and a very powerful and original aesthetic. At concerts and in the studio, he is accompanied by Gabriel Bosch (from the Ludwig Band), Joel Sánchez, Martí Escobedo, and Lídia Facerías.