Sing while Making Paper

Songs only make sense within certain contexts. It is impossible to talk about music without taking into account the society that makes it. Today, old popular songs and work songs portray a society that has disappeared; a society that once had poetic elements through which it reflected on societal conflicts and social classes, as well as social differences and inequalities. Reviewing the songs sung in the Paper Mills helps to break the silence of our industrial heritage which often merely contemplates silent and cold technological remains. These old songs allow us an insight into these objects and lets us understand them not just with our heads, but also with our hearts.

“Sing while Making Paper, with a prologue by Jaume Ayats, is an anthropological reflection on the songs of the oral tradition and society that were sung in the last of the old paper mills. The work presents versions of songs (often never before published) that offer a different perspective from what we think of as classical folklore. It concentrates on the essential character of a popular music and poetry that represented a symbolic system more than an aesthetic product.

Jordi Castellví

Jordi Castellví i Girbau (Capellades, 1964) has a PhD in Social and Cultural Anthropology. He is currently an Associate Lecturer at the Autonomous University of Barcelona.