Singer-songwriters Joan Manuel Serrat and Maria del Mar Bonet were invested this Monday doctors of honor cause by the University of Barcelona (UB) for “having contributed to the renewal of Catalan popular music, within the framework of the fight for language recovery and culture against the extermination of Francoism”, through The Sixteen Judges.
In a solemn ceremony in the Paranimf of the historical building of the UB, Serrat and Bonet received the distinction for their contribution to the “recovery of traditional popular music and the great poets of yesterday and today; the excel excellence in the art of musical and poetic composition and interpretation; and his commitment to freedom, solidarity, democracy and human rights.”
Serrat was grateful to receive recognition from the UB, where he studied, and has committed to fight for freedom against those who “want it for themselves but don’t give it to others” and those who consider that it is for “others to think as they think”.
According to him, most citizens think that “they were born with freedom, but you have to roll up your sleeves and fight every day”.
“Freedom of expression”
For her part, Maria del Mar Bonet has expressed happiness for receiving this recognition alongside Serrat and for the fact that it was granted to her by the UB, the university where she studied and was “around the 70s asking for the Freedom of expression“.
She has highlighted the importance of the city of Barcelona where she met The Sixteen Judgesof which he was a part together with Serrat and which he believes played “a definitive role in recovering Catalan culture and music, in the face of a dictatorship that was against it”.
On the current situation of freedom, he warned of the emergence of a “fascist wave that has returned to visible physical places and that tries to ban everything that is prohibited, what they don’t like or what they didn’t like already in the Franco era”, and he has stated that this leads to the need to go out on the streets again to defend freedom, in his words.
Acknowledgment
The rector of the UB, Joan Guàrdia, has assessed the talent and commitment de Serrat i Bonet, in addition to his fight for values that he has also claimed as university students, and has stated that “today is indeed a great day”, referring to Serrat’s song ‘Hoy puede ser un gran día’ .
The godfather of the honoris causa, Agustí Alcoberro, has stated that “it is not the first time” that the UB grants this distinction to a personality in the world of music, since in 1987 it was received by the soprano Victoria de los Ángeles, in 2003 the Italian conductor Ricardo Mutti, in 2006 the conductor Jordi Savall and in 2010 the soprano Montserrat Caballé.
At the event, Bonet performed the song ‘Madona de Sa Cabana’, in honor of “female feeling which must be forced forward” and has done so in what she considers a hopeful moment for womenthe same week in which 8M, International Women’s Day, is celebrated.
For his part, Serrat sang the song ‘Pare’ and remembered his time in the Faculty of Sciences of the UB and the work of the teachers he had.
Among the attendees were the president of the Balearic Government, Francina Armengol; the Minister of Culture of the Generalitat, Natàlia Garriga; the second vice-president of the Parliament and member of the PSC-Units, Assumpta Escarp; and the Deputy Mayor for Culture of Barcelona City Council, Jordi Martí.
Also present were the president of Junts, Laura Borràs; the major and ex-commissioner in chief of the Mossos Josep Lluís Trapero; the former Minister of Health Josep Maria Argimon; Dr. Bonaventura Clotet; and the former deputy of the CUP in Parliament David Fernàndez, among other representatives of Catalan politics and society.
At the end of the event, the two distinguished people performed the ‘Cançó de l’amor petit’, by Serrat; and culminated with the singing of the university anthem ‘Canticorum iubilo’ by the UB choir.