Musically speaking, 2023 has shown an exceptional effervescence here at casa nostra, in our corner of the world. An excellent year dominated by urban music, but not only that. With the Banda del pati - moniker for the generation of The Tyets, Figa Flawas, Julieta and company - at the helm, some of the best songs, the ones we couldn't stop singing, have been written by Catalan artists. A mad year. These are the 10 best Catalan songs of 2023.
The 10 best Catalan songs of 2023
1. Julieta, LOKURA
Up till now, the report card on Barcelona's Julieta registered consistent progress. Multiple collaborations and three albums. With a glorious debut, Tu juru ju, with ballads that hit their mark, with little-known tunes of a poignant power, and others picking up more listens, but not quite...arriving. Until now. The pop diva of La banda del patio was missing her definitive tune. Now she has it. This is LOKURA.
2. La Ludwig Band, El meu amor se n’ha anat de vacances
Nobody can resist La Ludwig Band. Not even you. The group from the village of Espolla recently published their third full-length collection, Gràcies per venir - "Thanks for coming" - a work in which they continue to juggle the legacy of classics such as Bob Dylan and Pau Riba, as well as distinguishing themselves once again as the group with the best lyrics in the house. El meu amor se n’ha anat de vacances - "My love has gone on vacation" is all this, with the addition of a Springsteenesque rock nerve.
3. Júlia Colom, Olivera
Júlia Colom set out to recover traditional Mallorcan tonalities and bring them up to date. A combination of the traditional and contemporary that has resulted in one of the most distinctive records of the year, Miramar, a work in which this tune stands out above all: Olivera.
4. Sílvia Pérez Cruz, Els dracs busquen l'abril
There are few artists who manage to scratch our most sensitive selves, and do so with such a broad repertoire, as Sílvia Pérez Cruz. With a whisper that makes you fall in love, the Palafrugell-born singer has once again hypnotized us with Els dracs que busquen l'abril - "The dragons look for April" - an ode to Sant Jordi's Day with an aroma of Catalan sea shanties, written during lock-down and now released in the album Toda la vida, un dia.
5. Magalí Datzira, Des de la cuina
Magalí Datzira is another of the figures that emerged from the Sant Andreu Jazz Band. The double-bass player from Barcelona announced her talent with a couple of singles and has confirmed all her genius with her full-length debut Des de la cuina - "From the kitchen" - an album between jazz and pop, simple, radiant, tender, like a hug from your mum when you're feeling sick. The title track is a treat you could find yourself listening to on loop one of those days when you need someone to tell you they love you.
6. 31Fam, FUNERAL
Unable to sit still, 31 Fam have released two albums this year, BONA FE ("Good Faith") and X SI ENS VEIEM EN UNA ALTRA VIDA ("In case we see each other in another life"), yes, in capital letters, to make it clear that they are GREAT. Dark, exquisitely immature, FUNERAL (yes, also in capitals), is their very particular song to the dead, to celebrate life.
7. Socunbohemio, El conte que mai s'acaba
"Good music" doesn't exist. What exists are teenagers, young people, parents. The aware, the snobs - and varying the order - the mediocre. And the idiots who divide between good and bad music. Those who are open to being told stories, multiple lies, and those who are not. Those who can be moved by Socunbohemio – the Catalan singer-songwriter and physics student behind the label, who has made just over 20 circuits round the sun – and his nostalgic pop. Those who get excited by El conte que mai s'acaba - "The never-ending story".
8. Maria Jaume, Ressaca a sa platja
She mesmerized us with her debut, that folk pop treat with nostalgic production Fins a maig no revisc, "Until May I don't revive". With her second album, Voltes i voltes, Mallorcan Maria Jaume wanted to grow, to expand into other territories of sound. The search wasn't successful, but it wasn't fruitless either, because without that collection of songs, a single like Ressaca a sa platja - "Hangover on her beach" - wouldn't have arrived, a bright tune despite the emotional wound of its lyrics. Sweet longing amplified by its reminiscence to Italian disco. Can't wait to hear her new album!
9. Figa Flawas, MUSSEGU
Banda del pati translates to "playground band", and to continue the metaphor, this lot are the new kids in class, the hype of the year. 2023 has been the year of the hatching of Figa Flawas, although with a certain gaseous effect. Their latest singles indicate a certain exhaustion of ideas, too much haste to re-formulate the perfect hit, the unbeatable track-breaker MUSSEGU with which they started the season, with the same effervescence and surefootedness in musical terms as has been shown recently on the football fields by Míchel's Girona...
10. Hereus del Beat, Big Mac
This is classic hip-hop. Soul, funkiness and the rest. That is why they are called Hereus del Beat. Heirs of the Beat. This is the new drug that has come on sale. Hits from the bong.
The phenomenon of 2023
The Tyets, Coti x Coti
We could have expected it to go somewhere, but not to reach these heights. The Tyets have been the undisputed protagonists of the musical year in casa nostra, leaders of the pati squad. Their latest album, Epic Solete, a remarkable combination of pop and urban music, has broken all possible records for a Catalan album: thousands of plays on the digital platforms, international tours... What matters most, however, is that it is a record full of indisputable hits, and among these, a Coti x Coti, which, with its nod to the traditional Catalan dance, the sardana, has become the country's new unofficial anthem, you hear it everywhere from the village squares to the big festivals, at end-of-year parties and on the dancefloor at clubs like Apolo.