Maria del Mar Bonet

Maria del Mar Bonet i Verdaguer (Catalan pronunciation: [məˈɾi.ə ðəɫ ˈma boˈnət]) (born 1947) is a Balearic singer from the island of Majorca.

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Early life and career

She studied ceramics in the school of arts, but eventually she decided to dedicate herself to song. She arrived in Barcelona in 1967, where she began to sing with the group Els Setze Jutges.[1] She has published many albums of folk music in Catalan, in spite of the prohibitions during Francisco Franco's dictatorship. She has performed throughout Spain as well as in Turkey, the former USSR, Tunisia, Netherlands, Poland, Italy, Japan, Portugal, Belgium, France, United Kingdom, Brazil, Sweden, Switzerland, Venezuela, Mexico, and the U.S.

Recording career

In 1981, Bonet recorded Jardí Tancat in Paris, along with accompaniment by Jacques Denjean and noted Breton harpist Alan Stivell. She has worked with the Ensemble of Music Traditionelle di Tunis and Brazilian musician Milton Nascimento. She has earned the French Charles Cross Academy Prize and the Catalan Cross of San Jordi and the National Prize awarded by the Catalan government. In 1984 the French Government gave her the Charles Cross Academy Award for the best foreign record released in France. That same year Bonet was awarded the Cross of Saint George, the highest distinction of the Generalitat de Catalunya (the Catalan Government). In 1985, as a result of her interest and research into North African music, she recorded Anells d’aigua (Rings of Water) with the Ensemble de Musique Traditionelle of Tunisia, and then toured with the group throughout France and Spain. In 1998 she toured abroad and collaborated with other well-known Spanish artists such as Amancio Prada, Loquillo, Jordi Sabatés and Rosa Vergés. In 2001 Bonet recorded a Jackson Browne tribute album, Sing My Songs. The album was recorded live in July 2001 in the Gothic district of Barcelona. The album won the 2002 Spanish World Music Awards.

Discography

Awards and Accomplishments

References

  1. ^ Collar, Matt. "Biography: Maria del Mar Bonet". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p831323. Retrieved 29 May 2010. 

External links