Musician Joan Manuel Serrat won Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts 2024 – Music

The jury, which unanimously awarded the prize, considers that in the work of Joan Manuel Serrat “the art of poetry and music come together in the service of tolerance, the sharing of values, the rich diversity of languages ​​and cultures and a desire for freedom.”

Joan Manuel Serrat, born in Barcelona in 1943, is considered one of the precursors of the Catalan ‘new song’, which rose against the repression of the Franco regime, and is the author of “Mediterranean”, considered one of the best songs in Spanish music. all times, wrote the Efe agency.

In a biographical note, the Princess of Asturias Foundation recalls that, in 1968, Joan Manuel Serrat refused to represent Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest because she could not sing in Catalan, and that in 1975 she had to go into exile in Mexico for criticizing the regime Francoist dictatorship.

“Serrat’s trajectory was marked by the commitment and defense of democracy and human rights” and in recent years the musician has expressed himself “very critical of the direction of Catalan independence and the call for the referendum, on October 1, 2017”, reads the foundation’s statement.

Serrat, who retired from the stage in 2021, recorded more than 500 songs, published more than 40 albums and sang poets such as Miguel Hernández, Pablo Neruda, Mario Benedetti and Federico García Lorca.

His songs, such as “Penélope”, “Palabras de amor” and “Cada loco con su tema”, “are part of the emotional memory of several generations” in Spain and in the Ibero-American space, both in Catalan and Castilian.

Throughout her career, Joan Manuel Serrat earned several distinctions, ‘honoris causa’ doctorates, decorations in Spain, Venezuela, Argentina, France or Mexico and won a career Latin Grammy in 2014.

Joan Manuel Serrat had already been proposed several times for the Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts and will receive it at a ceremony in October.

Serrat performed in Portugal for the last time, in a live concert, at the Coliseu dos Recreios, in Lisbon, in 2015, as part of the tour that marked his 50-year career.

In the coming days, the Princess of Asturias Foundation will announce awards in the areas of Communication and Humanities, Sports, Social Sciences, Literature, International Cooperation, Scientific and Technical Research and Concordia.

Each of the prizes has a monetary value of 50,000 euros.