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Barcelona: Music Part of the Places of a Lifetime series from Traveler magazine

Compilations and classic songs that put you in mind of the city, from Traveler’s city playlist.

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Compilations:

Cançons de la Catalunya Mil•lenària
Folktales, legends, fireside stories set to music and performed by Montserrat Figueras and La Capella Reial de Catalunya, directed by famed musicologist Jordi Savall.

Catalogne: Les Plus Belles Sardanes
The Combo-Gili and Perpinya coblas—small orchestras of flutes, tamborí drums, woodwinds, horns, and strings—perform the popular circle folk dance music of Barcelona and Catalonia.

El Burro Català
Compilation of traditional folk songs of the region—including “Els Segadors” (“The Reapers”)—the unofficial anthem of Catalonia.

Els Nostres Cantautors
Compilation of love songs, cançons, and folk songs by some ofthe best known singer-songwriters in Catalan, including Joan Manuel Serrat, Raimon, Lluis Llach, and Frederic Sirés.

From The Official Barcelona Games Ceremony: Domingo, Carreras, Caballé
Compilation of 25 operatic and orchestral classics, with Jaume Aragall, Teresa Berganza, and Juan Pons. Carreras and Caballé were both born in Barcelona.

Habaneras
Choral group Orfeón Donostiarra performs the music that sailors from Barcelona and the Costa Brava brought back from Cuba in the 19th century and made their own.

Techarí
Barcelona-based group Ojos de Brujo (Eyes of the Wizard) mixes flamenco, rumba, reggae, Senegalese hip-hop, jazz, Cuban, and Persian sounds in this danceable, exciting album. Great work by lead guitarist Ramón Giménez and vocalist Marina Abad.

Classic Songs:
Barcelona has yet to match cities like Paris and Rome for the inspiration of evocative hit singles. The two that have endured both date to the 1992 Olympics: “Barcelona” by Freddie Mercury and “Amigos Para Siempre” (“Friends For Life”) by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Don Black.

Barcelona Multimedia

Know Before You Go: Barcelona

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