Pau Casals and the History of Catalonia

Today I'll show you a video. Maybe you may not know this man, his name is Pau Casals and was considered one of the best cellists in the world. He was Awarded in 1971 with the U.N. Peace Medal in recognition of his stance for peace, justice and freedom. In this video you can hear his speech in front of the UN:

 In this speech he talks about some things in the history of Catalonia that you may not know but they have their historical basis:

1.- Catalonia has been the greatest nation in the world.

Well, maybe not, but Catalonia did be one of the greatest nations in the world: Catalonia was a group of counties that formed part of the Spanish March (a buffer zone between the Frankish Kingdom and the Muslim Al-Andalus). That Catalan Counties united under the rule of the Count of Barcelona and in 985 the Count of Barcelona Borrell II broke the vassalage to the Frankish kingdom and declared the independence of Catalonia. With the dynastic union upon the marriage of Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona and Petronilla of Aragon the principality of Catalonia and the Kingdom of Aragon united to found the Crown of Aragon, a Kingdom that would spread across Valencia, the Balearic Islands and the Mediterranean Sea, becoming one of the greatest nations within the known world.

2.- Catalonia has had the first Parliament, much before England.

Iceland and the Isle of Man have claimed to have Parliaments before Catalonia. However, the Parliament of Catalonia (Corts Catalanes), dating from the 11th century, is one of the first parliaments in continental Europe. The Parliament of England dates from 1215.

3.- Catalonia had the beginning of the United Nations.

When Pau Casals speaks about a French city in that time Catalan in which all authorities met to discuss about peace, I think he refers to the city of Toluges, a city in which took place the Pau i Treva de Déu (Peace and Truce of God) that was a social movement promoted the 11th century as a response of the Church and of the farmers to the violence perpetrated by feudal nobles (the different counts of Catalonia). That Pau i Treva de Déu can be considered the origin of the Catalan Parliament, because the three levels of society then represented in the Parliament had to reach an agreement.

Aspencat, my favourite music group

Today we talk about music. In this case, a music group that sings in Catalan. Maybe you find it a bit boring that I am always talking about Catalan language and my culture, but I've noticed that when you're away from your land you sorely miss your language and customs. In Spanish we have a term that comes from Galician that perfectly express this feeling: morriña (something similar to the English term ‘homesickness’). Turning to my favourite music group, its name is Aspencat and its members are from the region of La Marina Alta, in the Valencian Country. Their style is based on ska, reggae and drum and bass, but now they've moved towards a more electronic rhythms. They have been considered one of the most critic groups with the Valencian institutional culture due to the content of their work. In 2013 they finished second in the Premi al Disc Català de l'Any (Award to the best CD in Catalan of the year), if they had won they would have been the first Valencian group to win this award. The last time I saw them in a concert was in the Aplec dels Ports, a festival held in the region of Els Ports (Valencian Country) in the summer of 2013. Below you can hear one of the songs that I most like of this group: