A genre-bending thriller and a book that is a journey through music: what you can't miss this week
What you may have missed and what you surely cannot miss: the cultural and leisure proposals of 'Ara Diumenge'
The week ahead, with Jordi Garrigós
Some of the things we hope not to miss in the next seven days
I will read one of the latest publications from Temporal, a Barcelona-based publisher with exquisite taste in form and execution, directed by Fani Manresa, a classic in the field. In When Music Transcends Time, by Claria Rico Osés, a journey is taken through the history of the conservation and evolution of music through various key episodes. The journey is extremely interesting and ranges from the Middle Ages to the explosion of YouTube.
I will listen to the episodes I have pending from La Gent Normal, Adam Martín's podcast for 3Cat that focuses on mental disorders. I am aware that I have arrived late, because it is a more than recommended and awarded space, but now that I have listened to it carefully, I have found a very well-made product with enviable treatment. Although they have chapters that chill the blood, it is always worth listening to them until the end.
I will eat at one of my latest culinary discoveries, the extraordinary Bar Felip in La Pobleta de Bellveí, in Pallars Jussà, in the heart of Vall Fosca. From the outside –and from the inside– it looks like a dilapidated and neglected eatery. But appearances are deceiving, because it is a temple of mountain paella, which they cook extraordinarily, with a top-class confit pork rib. A mandatory stop when visiting this wonderful area in the north of the country.
The week that ends, with Thaïs Gutiérrez Vinyets
Notes on what we have seen, felt, tasted and, in short, experienced in the last seven days
I have enjoyed the series Deadloch which you can watch on Prime and which, under the guise of a thriller, is a much more original proposal. The plot takes place in a remote town in Tasmania and the characters break away from the usual clichés of the genre: here the dead are men and the protagonist police officer is a lesbian woman who discovers how the finding of a corpse on the beach has many more connections than it seemed. The claims of the aboriginal community or gentrification are key background themes to understand a distant reality that is shown here with all its complexity.
I have reserved Saturday morning to go to the BCN en las Alturas festival which is being held this weekend at Torre Bellesguard, a rather unknown gem of Gaudí in the upper part of Barcelona that is well worth visiting. Here there will be stalls from more than seventy brands with clothing, accessories and decoration proposals, a gastronomic offer from various food trucks, vermouth and gin tastings, and live music.
I have celebrated the opening to the public of the last inhabited floor of the fantastic Casa Batlló. The space was inhabited by the descendants of the Batlló family for more than a hundred years and can now be visited after carrying out an archaeological restoration of all the elements. In this process, some marvels have been discovered, such as a handle designed by Gaudí that was still unknown. A new opportunity to continue discovering the creation and legacy of the great Catalan architect.
I haven't been able to stop thinking about the new release from Combel publishing house: the adaptation of the Iliad for children, a version by translator Pau Sabaté and illustrator Arnal Ballester that condenses, in just under 200 pages, all the magic and darkness of one of the classics of universal literature. The publishing house's commitment is to bring this work attributed to Homer closer to younger readers.
More proposals for plans and activities: