Tribute to the Barcelona of Zeleste and Ona Laietana

Maybe you lived through Ona Laietana and are one of those music fans who never missed a concert at the old Sala Zeleste on Carrer de l’Argenteria, or maybe you’ve heard about it and want to know what was happening in that temple of the newest music of the moment… In any case, I’m sure you’ll want to know what Els 50 de Zeleste sounds like, a tribute, as part of the Mercè programme, to the most free musical spirit of Barcelona of the last century. 

 Everything will take place on Cathedral Avenue, the stage for a tribute to the legendary venue that was founded in 1973. It is a proposal by two major institutions, Barcelona City Hall and the Generalitat de Catalunya (in the picture, the Councillor for Culture of the City Council, Xavier Marcè and the Minister of Culture of the Generalitat, Sònia Hernández Almodóvar, among other organisers of the proposal) that remember and celebrate the musical movements that, in the seventies, came out of that concert hall. It was created by Víctor Jou and designed by Santiago Roqueta. It may have been born on Carrer de l’Argenteria (at the time it was called ‘Platería’), but it moved to Poblenou in 1986 and, after closing in 2000, it was transformed into what is now Razzmatazz.

Remembering that special moment, Cathedral Avenue will be the setting for a concert in which different generations of Barcelona’s music scene will come together in a proposal imagined by Gisela Sais (programmer of Música Mercè) and directed by Sergi Vergés and Toni Vaquer.

Come and remember artists such as Gato Pérez, Pau Riba and the Orquestra Plateria, some of the best-known artists who performed at Zeleste, you can reclaim the free spirit that guided the venue’s programme and revisit that open cultural oasis, Ona Laietana, a musical movement marked by a diversity of styles, from jazz and Latin rhythms to rock and ball music, was an open, eclectic and interclassist cultural oasis. 

Classical artists from the early days of the venue and others from the present day will share the limelight in an intergenerational musical proposal featuring Liceu Gran Ensemble, directed by Sergi Vergés, trombonist of the Orquestra Plateria, and the pianist and composer Toni Vaquer, representing the new generation of musicians. 

The group that you will see on stage, which will be made up of 37 musicians, will include wind, string, percussion and keyboard instruments and will perform a concert divided into seven chapters dedicated to Gato Pérez, Pau Riba, the Orquestra Plateria, Música Urbana, Jaume Sisa, Toti Soler and the Orquestra Mirasol.

Yes, there will be some of the original musicians, but also many of today’s musicians who are still from that generation, such as the Ludwig Band (they will play songs by Pau Riba), Joan Colomo (singing Sisa’s song Qualsevol nit pot sortir el sol) or other artists who will perform songs by Gato Pérez or Rubén Blades (the latter by Manel Joseph and Pep Torres, original members of the Orquestra Plateria).

Se fuerza la máquina, a classic and premonitory song by the great Gato Pérez, will close a concert that brings together artists from different eras united by the spirit of Els 50 de Zeleste.

If you don’t want to miss the tribute to this venue founded half a century ago, come to Avinguda de la Catedral, but first check out the details of the event on the Mercè website.