45 concerts in 45 municipalities is the milestone reached by the fifth edition of the Perifèria Cultural cycle. “We go to places that are very much alive,” notes Francesc Ribera, who concludes his first edition as artistic director with very positive feelings. “There are many things that emerge precisely in the periphery, outside the metropolis,” asserts Ribera, also backed by his experience as a singer with the group Brams.

The musician from La Bisbal, Mazoni, who has just celebrated the twenty years of his first album in Catalan, is premiering a new show. It is not a project of new songs nor a revision of old tracks, but rather a very original proposal in which the artist dives into the immense archive of oral tradition music to cover a handful of popular songs centered on the theme of lies. It will premiere on Friday, November 13th, at the unmissable Càntut festival in Cassà de la Selva and on December 9th it will arrive at the Teatre de l'Aliança in Barcelona, thanks to the Festival Clàssics, which, together with the Dansàneu, also co-produces the show.

We must begin by debunking the protagonist. "It will be a night of nostalgia and guests," said Jaume Pla, Mazoni, before starting the 20th anniversary concert of the album Esgarrapada (2026). There were indeed guests, but not a shred of nostalgia. Furthermore, there are things that do not need the validation of nostalgia. Therefore, there was no self-indulgence in a vibrant performance that served as a confirmation of the virtues of the repertoire of Mazoni's first album in Catalan. These are ten songs (plus the version of Cançó 7a en colors, by Pau Riba) that go beyond generational impact because they are made with material that does not fade with the passage of time. They keep their gaze on the present, also due to how Mazoni interprets them with the band from the tour of the album Banderes per daltònics (2025) and above all for the guests he chose, some of the most relevant in current Catalan music, everyone connected with those electric and poetic scratches.

There 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 Fundació Cultural El Foment de Girona doesn't stop growing. It landed in the city six years ago, in the midst of a critical moment of the pandemic, in Plaça dels Mercaders, and, since then, it has been expanding around this nerve center in the heart of the old town, with more and more leisure and gastronomic proposals, always with Catalan culture as its banner. It has now become a non-profit foundation, funded by more than 300 members and, in one year, it manages to program up to 400 proposals, more than one a day, including concerts, workshops, tastings, monologues, literary cafés... And, this 2026, for Sant Jordi, it is organizing a grand celebration again.

Copy until the end, says the devil. Be careful not to be accused of plagiarism, recommends the lawyer. In any case, make a virtue of influence, don't hide it, we will all benefit, because it's about knowledge transfer. After all, music is a combination of familiarity and uniqueness. The avant-garde tightens the string of uniqueness, pursuing the chimera of originality. The mainstream demands familiarity, recognizable things. Between one and the other there is a long way to go, including copying and legitimate inspiration, issues that intellectual property legislation sanctions or protects. Nothing legitimate, however, is extractive plagiarism, such as dispossessing authorship or passing off what belongs to another as one's own.

"I'm getting excited!" said Jaume Pla, Mazoni, on Wednesday night in Vic. He had just played Fe dins la tristesa, one of the songs of album Banderes per daltònics (2025) which begins to roll live. Although there was no trumpet that illuminates it on the album, the song sounded full, driven by the energy of the electric quartet format. "It's great that you receive a new song like this," he had said a little while before after Quant temps fa que no plores, satisfied with the applause of the audience who did not want to miss this presentation in the tent of the Mercat de Música Viva in Vic.

Jaume Pla (La Bisbal d'Empordà, 1977) stopped the Mazoni project in early 2024. He needed to rethink the future. He didn't rule out continuing to make music, but he was opening the door to artistic expression through literature. A year and a half later, Mazoni's pop melodies are spread across the eleven songs on the album he is releasing with the BankRobber label this Friday: Banderas por daltónicos. He will premiere it at the Mercat de Música Viva de Vic on September 17th, with Aleix Bou on drums, Natán Arbó on bass, and Emili Bosch on guitar. "A very classic lineup," admits Pla, happy to be back on stage.

"What is your best music-related memory, and what memory would you like to forget?" This double question has been repeated in most of the interviews with musicians (and people linked to music) published in the ARA, especially in the last year and a half. A few days ago we published a selection of the answers to the first questionNow it's time for the worst memories. There are some about Sílvia Pérez Cruz, Mazoni, María Jaime, Cesk Freixas, Roger Mas...