Manu Torres

Joana Dark is the musical project of Ariadna Rulló (Barcelona, 1985).
With a self-revealing and personal vocation, the artist delves into the popular repertoire of the Catalan-speaking regions, bringing it to our time through a re-interpretation adapted to the contemporary sound context.

Like many good stories begin, Lo Secà was created while touring with the artist to present her first EP and during the artistic residency we shared at Fabra i Coats (Barcelona), the city's pioneering art incubator where many other artists such as ROSALIA or Maria Arnal have depeloped some of their projects. 

What can I say about this album? I've known Ariadna for over 6 years now.

Lo Secà has everything from her and from me. Her acenstor's lands, in Catalonia. And those of mine, in the Valencian Country. All the kilometers that separate them, and that we have traveled together. Our mothers, fathers and grandparents. The present, the future and somehow, the rain that seems to never fall again  ("Lo Secà" refers to the drought we are suffering in this area). 

Ambient music, soundscapes, trap, pop and the popular voices that once sang these melodies.
And the incontestable essence of all the experiences we lived together playing across 25 different venues of Catalonia and the Balearic Islands.

Lo Secà is the result of a huge research work of digging into books or old music sheets (where Ariadna found most of the pieces), and even in field recordings, like "A la vora del riu, mare",  a beautiful Valencian "cant de batre " (singing) I discovered while I was immersed in this project by digging into the Alan Lomax archive. Yes, I knew for sure he visited my land and this is a piece I will always hold a special love to.

Somehow, it is also the way the artist pays homage to our elders, the way they knew and took care of the land. "El Mosso"  originally written by Ton Rulló, a respected Catalan songwriter and musician and Ariadna's dad, is the only song with known author on the album and a good example of that.

Some of this might sound old, but even the oldest songs that Ariadna found for the album, can still connect us with today's present, like "La Fam" (Hunger), which tell us about people leaving their towns.
I guess not many things have changed since then. 

This is defintely one of the works I'm more proud of. And now I can only think of this album as a long exposure photograph of time, in the middle of a world that is going faster and faster.

Moltes gràcies, estimada Ari.