Gerard Quintana Rodeja (Catalan pronunciation: [Ê'əˈɾaɾt
kinˈtanə]; born 27 November 1964 in Girona, Catalonia) is a spanish
Español singer, songwriter, poet, writer, actor, and radio and TV
personality. He first came to prominence in 1986-2001 as the lead
singer of the rock band Sopa de Cabra. Sopa de Cabra was one of the
leading bands of the rock català genre. Since the dissolution of the
band in 2001, he has pursued a very successful solo career. As a
singer/songwriter independent of his extensive input into the original
musical repertoire of Sopa de Cabra, he completed 5 well-received
albums between 2003 and 2010, together with 3 in collaboration with
Jordi Batiste, and a recent album (2014) with Xarim Aresté. His solo
work from 2003-10 reveals a personal and intimate style which is not
easily classified, but may, perhaps, be characterised as poetry and
music about the human condition. He also writes and publishes poetry,
and has written regularly as a journalist for online Catalan
newspapers and journals. He has published two books and appeared in
the film Diogenes, the dog.During the temporary reunion of Sopa de
Cabra in 2011 to celebrate 25 years since the band's formation and ten
since its final appearances, Quintana reverted to his original
rock-star style of singing and performance, and his most recent work
(2013-4), in collaboration with Xarim Aresté and a new supporting
line-up, continues that approach. Quintana is a very articulate and
charismatic speaker, and has become a well-known figure in Catalan
culture quite apart from his musicianship. In recent years he has
expressed his personal political and ideological views, including his
support for Catalan independence.In the mid-1980s, Quintana was a
member of a group of young musicians, writers and artists based on a
squat in Girona. His role was initially more as a writer, both of
poetry and in the journalistic sphere of producing fanzines, than as a
singer and performer. Indeed, in a magazine interview published in
2010, Quintana revealed that in spite of his lifelong deep love of
music, his initial youthful ambition was to be a writer, because as a
child he was far too shy to contemplate performing in public. He was
involved with the bands Hasta los huevos de Mili and Ninyin's Mine
Workers' Union band before the formation of Sopa de Cabra in the
summer of 1986, when he became the new group's lead singer, as well as
the most prolific writer of lyrics for its original repertoire. The
influences on Sopa de Cabra's style included classic rock (the band's
name was in homage to the Rolling Stones' 1973 album Goat's Head
Soup), reggae, and blues, but the combination of the Catalan language
and the creative originality of Quintana and his colleagues (Josep
Thió, Joan 'NinyÃn' Cardona, Francesc 'Cuco' Lisicic, and Pep Bosch)
ensured that the band's sound was unique: authentic rock music and yet
distinctively Catalan.
kinˈtanə]; born 27 November 1964 in Girona, Catalonia) is a spanish
Español singer, songwriter, poet, writer, actor, and radio and TV
personality. He first came to prominence in 1986-2001 as the lead
singer of the rock band Sopa de Cabra. Sopa de Cabra was one of the
leading bands of the rock català genre. Since the dissolution of the
band in 2001, he has pursued a very successful solo career. As a
singer/songwriter independent of his extensive input into the original
musical repertoire of Sopa de Cabra, he completed 5 well-received
albums between 2003 and 2010, together with 3 in collaboration with
Jordi Batiste, and a recent album (2014) with Xarim Aresté. His solo
work from 2003-10 reveals a personal and intimate style which is not
easily classified, but may, perhaps, be characterised as poetry and
music about the human condition. He also writes and publishes poetry,
and has written regularly as a journalist for online Catalan
newspapers and journals. He has published two books and appeared in
the film Diogenes, the dog.During the temporary reunion of Sopa de
Cabra in 2011 to celebrate 25 years since the band's formation and ten
since its final appearances, Quintana reverted to his original
rock-star style of singing and performance, and his most recent work
(2013-4), in collaboration with Xarim Aresté and a new supporting
line-up, continues that approach. Quintana is a very articulate and
charismatic speaker, and has become a well-known figure in Catalan
culture quite apart from his musicianship. In recent years he has
expressed his personal political and ideological views, including his
support for Catalan independence.In the mid-1980s, Quintana was a
member of a group of young musicians, writers and artists based on a
squat in Girona. His role was initially more as a writer, both of
poetry and in the journalistic sphere of producing fanzines, than as a
singer and performer. Indeed, in a magazine interview published in
2010, Quintana revealed that in spite of his lifelong deep love of
music, his initial youthful ambition was to be a writer, because as a
child he was far too shy to contemplate performing in public. He was
involved with the bands Hasta los huevos de Mili and Ninyin's Mine
Workers' Union band before the formation of Sopa de Cabra in the
summer of 1986, when he became the new group's lead singer, as well as
the most prolific writer of lyrics for its original repertoire. The
influences on Sopa de Cabra's style included classic rock (the band's
name was in homage to the Rolling Stones' 1973 album Goat's Head
Soup), reggae, and blues, but the combination of the Catalan language
and the creative originality of Quintana and his colleagues (Josep
Thió, Joan 'NinyÃn' Cardona, Francesc 'Cuco' Lisicic, and Pep Bosch)
ensured that the band's sound was unique: authentic rock music and yet
distinctively Catalan.
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