El Pony Pisador – Ocells (Guspira Records, 2024)
El Pony Pisador launched their fourth album, Ocells, an 11-track project that highlights the diversity of current Catalan traditional music. They mix regional traditions with contemporary sounds and Celtic music. The band explores themes ranging from medieval stories to humorous narratives and children’s tales, featuring collaborations with Jonatan Penalba and Tarta Relena.
On Ocells the band uses new instruments they learned so they could play them in this recording, including the accordion, bagpipes, and cavaquinho.
The joyful repertoire includes tavern songs, sardana and the traditional dance rhythms of contradanses boges from Solsona.
The album also includes a sea shanty, “Ala Negra,” drawing on Mediterranean musical traditions to tell the story of a smuggling ship. Other notable tracks include the Celtic punk-infused “La Guerra de l’Emú,” and “L’Espantaocells,” which explores medieval fantasy sounds.
Guests on Ocells include Jonatan Penalba, a key figure in Valencian traditional singing, and the duo Tarta Relena, known for mixing electronic beats with folk music. Penalba contributes to “Abecedari,” fusing Mediterranean and Eastern influences, while Tarta Relena’s appear on “Strelitzia,” combining Bulgarian, Georgian, and Italian taranta flavors.
Musicians: Ramón Anglada on accordion, guitar, bass, charango, cuatro, vocals; Guillem Codern on banjo, bagpipes, duduk, vocals; Martí Selga on whistles, recorder, clarinet, vocals; Miguel Pérez on violin, viola, zanfona, percussion, vocals; and Adrià Vila on cavaquinho, bouzouki, mandolin, percussion, and vocals.
Buy Ocells.
Author: Iliana Cabrera
