Andrea Motis: "Village life gives you the opportunity to feel free"

Since trumpeter and singer Andrea Motis was little, her parents have had a house in the town square of Argelaguer. It was a second home for weekends, long weekends, and holidays, which they didn't take advantage of as much as they would have liked. Even so, Andrea feels fortunate to have had this enriching experience, which would not have been possible in Barcelona, where she didn't walk alone through the streets until she was eleven years old. Instead, in the village she made short trips from the age of six, going with friends to the church area or the football field. It was there that for the first time she went alone to buy bread at the bakery and the newspaper for her grandfather, "quite an adventure," she says. She moved around by bike from one place to another, it was there that she learned to pedal: "We would go on paths from village to village, to Sant Jaume de Llierca, which was a short and beautiful route, and we also reached Besalú."  She is convinced that there are differences between children who grow up only in the city and those who have some experience of village life, even if intermittently: “In Barcelona life was more limited, going to school and extracurriculars. In Argelaguer there was a lot of social exchange, we had to make more decisions, the risk was also more present and there was less adult supervision”. She is aware that she has always fallen in love with people who have grown up in rural environments, they seem more attentive and sharp than those from the city. Regarding having chosen Argelaguer as a preferred place, she believes that being a mother has influenced her; otherwise, she would surely have opted for a space that inspires her professionally: “Village life gives you the opportunity to feel free, to have to decide what you do and where you go, it opens up a lot of possibilities for you, without specific guidelines like when you go on a camp”. She admits that as a mother, with her partner, they consider whether Barcelona is a good option to live or if they would like to settle in a smaller place. That's why, with the children, they go camping a lot, which is a similar experience: “We have a van where we can sleep and we live there for two months. It's our version of the village. And if my partner or I have a concert, we accompany each other to the nearest airport, we leave for as many days as necessary and then we return”. Her father is Argelaguer's biggest fan, who has passed on his love for the town to them. She returns from time to time, and although she doesn't see her friends from there regularly, they always meet up when they can to catch up. Regarding the house, if it's very cold or hot, it might not be the most practical home, but she loves that it's an accordion house: "if necessary, many people can fit in". Sometimes they went there with the four grandparents, school friends, and the friends' parents. "It's a house where you can make room, it has a lot of beds. A kind of refuge, even though you spend most of the day outside," she recalls.