When president Joan Laporta proposed to David Carabén (Barcelona, 1971) to be the commissioner of the 125th anniversary of FC Barcelona, he immediately said yes, even though he was not very clear about what exactly his job would be. Over time, Carabén has made the mission his own with the usual passion, whether as the singer, guitarist and composer of the band Mishima, or, as in this case, to elevate the club he loves so much to another dimension.
The new song
“I wanted to connect again the musical, poetic and cultural talent of Catalonia with the club”
Who first told you about being the anniversary commissioner?
President Laporta. I remember that day I had a gig with Mishima and we met at a bar.
What is it like to be a commissioner?
I asked him the same thing. What the hell is that? He talked to me about establishing the conceptual framework for the 125th anniversary and told me that he had already talked about it with the board, he wanted it to be me.
Was it difficult for you to decide?
I felt very honored. The president knows how to wrap his proposals and mix them with the history of the club. He reminded me that my father actively participated in the 75th anniversary and that it would be very nice if I accepted this responsibility 50 years later.
It struck a chord with him.
That is. I said yes right away, even though I knew it meant a lot of hassle for me.
By?
They are links that condemn me to Barça. I am a musician, I like to be identified with my work, but sometimes everything ends up leading you to Barça. It also happened to my father. And I can’t deny that I feel privileged.
Why do you think you are chosen?
Well, partly because of the articles I write in The Vanguard.
His club concept transcends football…
At least it doesn’t depend so much on the latest results. It fascinates me that as a club we have such a brutal story.
His manifesto on the occasion of the 125th anniversary has a lot of intellectual charge…
I tried to explain what excites us about Barça. What makes us culés feel proud. Now, for example, we love to see so many young people playing in the first team, emerging in them a style that comes naturally to them.
Does Barça have more history than titles?
Absolutely. Hence Menotti’s historical urgencies.
But things have improved a lot since then.
Titles don’t matter to us! (laughs)
It isn’t true.
Of course not, but last season was a lesson.
In what sense?
Everything went so well for us that we invented the expression “discounting titles” and that is a disaster. It is better for us to be the underdog the humble one, the ball boy who dreams of reaching the first team like Guardiola… Our Messi arriving at La Masia as a child, Lamine Yamal now…
And the two of them together in Joan Monfort’s photo of the bathtub…
That’s a miracle. Like the ‘remember my name’ from Messi’s campaign. Madrid, PSG, Manchester United don’t have that… because nobody has it. It is the myth of the Western hero every season. The sword of Excalibur every year.
But defeat feels bad.
If we defend the idea, I accept defeat better because I understand that it is part of the process. And let’s remember, the message of sport is that in life you lose. The Netherlands of the 70s, the Hungary of the 50s… We must celebrate the losers. Musicians, for example, never lose.
Have you been given independence to act as commissioner?
That’s why I wanted to start with the manifesto. I read it to the president, to the board, to the anniversary strategic committee, I contrasted it with friends… Once you have the idea and you are clear about what you celebrate, and you create “volem la pelota” as a motto, the next thing is to generate acts that give meaning to everything.
For example, creating the 125th anniversary anthem. Being a musician, why aren’t you the author?
Precisely because if I am commissioner I don’t think it has to be me. That’s where the idea of ’El nou Clam’ comes from. I wanted to connect the musical, poetic and cultural talent of the country with the club again. For some time now we have called on members to contribute the lyrics and then they will be the ones to vote on the final version on November 29 at the Liceu. We have turned the entire process into a documentary series that is now broadcast on TV3.
The ‘cant’ of the 75th anniversary became the anthem…
It is unbeatable, still valid and we do not intend to replace it.
And before the anthem the Miquel Barceló poster arrived.
I have felt privileged accompanying him. It was obvious that it had to be him.
How did you propose it?
I already knew that he was a big football fan and we went to visit him at his workshop in Mallorca. There I confirmed that he is very culé. He said yes right away.
Did they give you total freedom?
I gave him the manifesto and he thanked me that it contained and suggested many artistic ideas. The central character contains a multitude of elements that bring together the club. For example, collective play.
Were you able to follow the process?
He was sending me whatsapps. It has been wonderful for me. He has worked a lot.
What a luxury.
Do you know something? At the same time as the Barça poster he was working on some tapestries for the Notre Dame Cathedral. Barceló is an incredible and sought-after artist. We have got it right. No club in the world has the Miró, Tàpies, Barceló sequence. They are not poster artists, they are avant-garde painters.
And the criticisms?
The works must generate debate. It is contemporary art.
Anthem, poster… His passion for art is evident.
On this anniversary there is a logo, a poster, a song, a movie and a lot of participation.
It’s a shame that the Spotify Camp Nou is not ready…
It would have been better, of course, but it is being built, we have to be patient. Security measures prevent organizing anything. The ideal would have been in 2015, with money and a stadium (laughs).
The six pillars
The manifesto. David Carabén created a text that intellectualizes the history of Barça through its essential features
Motto and shield. On November 29, 2023, the slogan “Volem la pilota” was presented as well as the 125th anniversary logo
The poster. From Miró to Tàpies and from Tápies to Barceló. There was no question about who to order the 125th anniversary poster from
the song. Lyrics by the partners, composition by great composers and production by Alizzz and Josep Montero, hit makers
Documentary. Precisely to explain the process until deciding on the anniversary song. On November 14, the 3 finalists will be announced. Everything, on TV3
video podcast. It is called ‘La Llotja del 125’ and it is the platform through which all activities related to the anniversary will be announced.
Is the history of Barça collective or personal names?
Our history is moved by a kind of collective unconscious in which we all actually decide. This is how the history of Barça has been made. And then there are specific names who are our mediums, who interpret us and guide us to a certain place. They are like our psychologists, they know what we like and what happens to us.
And who are those mediums?
A very clear one is Johan Cruyff. Menotti already sensed it but Cruyff knew that we had to possess the ball, it was what we liked, so let’s make it happen. Before they were the Barça of the 20s, then the Hungarians, the 50s, with very technical players, the Dream Team and then Rijkaard’s Barça, Pep’s, Messi’s, Luis Enrique’s… Barça’s style is to play football well. The rondo is pure rationality.
You link it to Catalanism…
It is very evident. The five great moments of the club have their translation in the history of Catalonia. The Royal march is whistled in the 1920s, Gamper goes into exile; The Barça of the five Cups is ‘the time of silence’, autarky, Catalanness converted into resistance with Jaume Vicens Vives defining the “eina i feina” in ‘Notícia de Catalunya’, that is, predefining the Barça style; then Michels as a symbol of the transition and Johan as the architect of globalization; and finally Guardiola and in parallel starting the process.
Where is Messi?
Style is embodied through a beast that is Messi. In my opinion, the zenith image of the 125th anniversary is that of Xavi, Iniesta and Messi as the three finalists for the Ballon d’Or.
Catalan, adopted Spanish and foreigner.
The three concentric circles of Barça’s history. Hence the “Volem la pilota”. The roundness of the pelota, the sardana, the pinya of the castells and, of course, the rondo.
And Real Madrid?
Madrid’s style is to win. As? It doesn’t matter. We are more damned, for better and for worse.
And Flick?
He is a coach who is sensitive to all this and that is why he fits.
Read also
#David #Carabén #Barça #incomparable #unique #story
