Jack Johnson

By Laia Gomà 

Jack Hody Johnson, known like Jack Johnson, is an American musician.

His succes came after he published his first album  Brushfire Fairytales. Ben Harper heard some of his songs and did not hesitate to hire him to his record label. His songs Bubble Toes, Flake, Fortunate Fool or F-Stop Blues were a hit among teens and college students. Critics compared him to Ben Harper and Dave Matthews. The album sold over a million copies.

Jack Johnson is considered among some critics as the  XXI century "beach boy" because he  has become an icon in the world of music and surf. His music allows some relax, to feel close to the beach or on top of a wave as like other artists, is part of the soundtrack of travel for any surfer or nature lover.

His latest film A broken down melod", transmitted by friends such as Gerry Lopez or eleven times world champion Kelly Slater, the true spirit of surfing through his images and of course, through his music.

Band members

 - Jack Johnson - Vocals, guitar.

- Adam Topol - Drums, percussion.

- Merlo Podlewski - Low.

- Zach Gill - piano, percussion.

Katy Perry:

By Lydia Giménez

Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson was born in October 25, 1984 in Santa Barbara (California), better known by her nickname Katy Perry. She is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actress and model. Perry grew up listening to gospel music and singing during his first year in high school. Perry achieved worldwide fame with the release of her debut album, One of the Boys in 2008.
He grew up listening to only gospel music and was not allowed to listen to what her mother called "secular music." In his first year at secondary school as a student earned a certificate, then at the age of fifteen he left school to start a music career.
She rehearsed the songs with their parents who advised her to take singing lessons, she seized the opportunity and began taking lessons at the age of 9 years.
At the age of 15, Katy was singing in church and attracted the attention of rock music experts from Nashville, Tennessee, who brought her there to improve her writing skills and when she was 15 years she recorded his first album. At the age of 17, Perry became independent from their parents to live in Los Angeles where she worked with Glen Ballard on an album with the record label Island Records. But in 2004, Katy began recording on his own because his schedule was free since then, 80% of the work was completed, however, Columbia decided to freeze the musical project and decided to leave it off the record. 
During the last 4 years, has become very popular, thanks to albums as teenage dream, or the famous song Last Friday Night. Nowadays, Katy Perry is also very famous for her style. She defines her fashion style as "a mixture of different things". Her fashion has caught the attention of designers.

Eurovision 2011

By Pere Cases

On Saturday 14th May, the Eurovision Song Contest was celebrated in Düsseldorf. It consists of an annual broadcast song festival with contestants from a lot of countries whose television stations are members of the European Broadcasting Union. The festival has been broadcast every year since 1956 and it is one of the oldest television contests in the world. Its audience has been estimated between 100 and 600 million viewers. The event is broadcast even in countries outside of Europe.

Forty-three countries participated in Eurovision 2011. Each country gave a 1 to 8, 10 and 12 points to their 10 favourite songs, chosen by popular vote and jury in the final and the semi-finals. The winner of the Eurovision 2011 was AZERBAIJÁN!!!! Here you have a link of the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F11TgLVjDUE

Festival Sonar. International Festival of Advanced Music and Multimedia Art

By Andrea Bertrán

Sonar is the festival of advanced music and multimedia art that takes place in different venues in Barcelona in the third week of June since 1994.

Sonar is a pioneering festival: a leading international reference. It combines entertainment with art, the avant garde and experimentation.

In Barcelona, Sonar’s artistic programme is divided between the activities at Sonar by Day (concerts, showcases, professional zone, exhibition area), the main aim is the search of new talent, and the major shows at Sonar by Night.

The festival has regularly crossed Spanish frontiers since 2002 with events in various parts of the world, adapting the Sonar philosophy to unusual spaces and environments, and standing out the most interesting aspects of Spanish talent.

Sonar has travelled to London (an annual event since 2002), New York, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Frankfurt, Chicago and Tokyo, among many other destinations.

Sonar Barcelona 2011 will take place on 16, 17 and 18 June.

Lady Gaga

By Venus Villa

I'm going to write about the most controversial singer today, her name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta. Most of people who read this article don't know who I am referring to, but they do if I mention her with her nickname: Lady Gaga.

She is a star, she feels like a fish in the water when she is on the stages and she has a lot of fans who admire and follow her.

Nevertheless, a big amount of people has almost forgotten that she is an artist, because Gaga is becoming more and more famous for other aspects of her life, like the discussion about her sexuality.

From my point of view, it is sad for a person that people know who you are for this kind of things, instead of valuing your own job, obtained with effort.

On the other hand, I think that it is awkward. But on the other hand, I think that all this show has been created for her. That is to say that she enjoys being the center of attention and earning money easily.

I also think that if Stefani had to live again on another life, she would be a fashion model. I only hope that this time she chooses better her dresses, because I don't know if people would put up with her frightening clothes again.

Sonisphere festival

By Kyle Pearson

The Sonisphere is the Metal Music Festival that takes place in different countries. This is the big difference with other festivals such as Waken Festival that only takes place in Germany. This festival took place in Spain three years ago, it was hold in Barcelona, this year it will be held in Madrid.

Groups like the legendary Iron Maiden and Alice Cooper have confirmed their assistance to the third edition of Sonisphere in Spain and this is the eight time that they do. Twisted Sister, Dream Theater, Arch Enemy, Sober, Lacuna Coil, Hammerfall and Gojira Apatrida Angelus will be at the open air in Getafe next 15th and 16th of July too.

The festival, which was initially announced for a single day, only on Saturday 16th, is also expanding its programming to Friday 15th. Among the new bands for 2011, Twisted Sister, Sonisphere special performance, because it is acting exclusively in Spain. This is the New York band that emerged in the 70's and it is essential for understanding hard rock and glam metal of the 80's. Their outrageous makeup and some anthems like "We're Not Gonna Take It" or "I Want to Rock" have been at the altar of rock and roll.

The Who

By Alejandro Martínez

The Who is a garage rock band formed in 1963 in London, England. The group was formed by Roger Daltrey (vocals), Pete Townshend (guitar), John Entwistle (bass) and Keith Moon (drums). Initially, the group adopted the name of the Detours, later they changed it to the High Numbers, then Maximum R & B, until they finally chose the name that made them famous: "The Who". Keith Moon died from an overdose of pills in 1978 and was replaced by Kenny Jones. John Entwistle died of a heart attack in 2002. The group is considered one of the most influential in rock history, and has been described as "one of the most innovative and powerful bands in rock history." This band was the first to play a rock opera, and it is considered a precursor of subgenres such as punk and Britpop. Albums released from 1964 to the present by the British rock band The Who: Title: “The Who Sing My Generation” Year: 1965 Title: "A Quick One" Year: 1966 Title: "Sell Out" Year: 1967 Title: "Tommy" Year: 1969 Title: "Who`s Next" Year: 1971 Title: "Quadrophenia" Year: 1973 Title: "The Who By Numbers" Year: 1975 Title: "Who Are You?" Year: 1978 Title: "Face Dances" Year: 1981 Title: "It`s Hard" Year: 1982 Title: "Then and Now! 1964-2004" Year: 2004

La Pegatina

By Berta Ros and Anna Sopena

We are going to talk about La Pegatina's concert. La Pegatina is a Catalan rumba group from Montcada i Reixac that was born in 2003 when Rubén (who until then had played on his own) joined up with Ovidi and Adrià to start a new project called La Pegatina. We went to a concert given by La Pegatina in La Mercè, Barcelona's festival. It was in the Forum, and there were a lot young people, dancing, shouting and singing La Pegatina's songs. It was fantastic, we enjoyed it a lot.

JJ LIN

By Rong-Xiu Wu

JJ LIN is a famous singer and songwriter from Singapore who was born on March 27th 1981. He has written songs for different artists, for example, JI DE ("Remember"), for the Taiwanese pop diva A-MEI, and he has written songs for his best friend A-DO ("Let Go"), as well as "Heart of Superman" for the Comic Boyz. He is very successful in China, Singapore and, most particularly, in Taiwan where he has won the Golden Melody Award. Nowadays he is considered Singapore’s best artist and has signed up with Ocean Butterflies. He writes all the melodies for all of his albums.

In Singapore, he was selected to perform the remixed version of "Home", the theme song for the National Day Parade in 2004. JJ Lin's song "The Mummy" was used in the Media Corp TV Channel 8 drama, "Zero to Hero". He appeared as a guest star in the final show of Channel V’s ''Project Super Star''.

After winning the Gold award in the Best New Act category in 2004, JJ Lin won four more awards for the composition and performance of his music: the Best Local Male Artist, Best Composing Artist, Best Male Vocalist and Best Local Music Composition. His fourth album, "Cao Cao" (曹操) sold 1 million copies in less than a week and he has become famous in China, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia...

JJ Lin has released 8 studio albums, 1 compilation album and 1 World Tour DVD since his debut in 2003. He has released one album a year since then.

Albums (2003-2011):

"Music Voyager" (2003); "Second Heaven" (2004); "Nº89757" (2005); "Cao Cao" (2006); "West Side" (2007), which is my favourite album; "Sixology" (2008); "100 days" (2009); "She says" (2011).

Grammy Awards

By Àlex Santomà

The Grammy Awards (originally called Gramophone Awards) are awards to reward the best artists in the music industry. They were created by the Recording Academy. The Grammy Awards are one of the four music awards ceremonies held in the USA.
The Grammies are composed of 105 categories in 30 different kinds of music. And in the Grammys, as in the Oscars, the awards are decided by vote, and not by popular ratings, as in the American Music Awards and the Billboard Hot 100. 
In the Grammy Awards ceremony, there are some performances by the most famous artists, and the awards are given in one big ceremony broadcast on TV by the channel called CBS.
 The last day to be eligible for the Grammies is October 1st, so all the musicians make their albums before this date, to have the opportunity to be in the Grammy Awards. 
 There are four big Grammy Awards, called "General Field", which are not restricted by genre. These Grammies are more prestigious than the others:


- Album Of The Year: The Suburbs (Arcade Fire)
- Record Of The Year: Need You Now (Lady Antebellum)
- Song Of The Year: Need You Now (Lady Antebellum)
- Best New Artist: Esperanza Spalding

I'm not going to mention all the prizes, because there are 109, but I'm going to mention the most outstanding ones:


- Best Female Vocal Pop Performance: Bad Romance (Lady Gaga)
- Best Male Vocal Pop Performance: Just The Way You Are (Bruno Mars)
- Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals: Hey Soul Sister (Train)
- Best Pop Vocal Album: The Fame Monster (Lady Gaga)
- Best Dance Recording: Only Girl (Rihanna)
- Best Rock Song: Angry World (Neil Young)
- Best Male R&B Vocal Performance: There Goes My Baby (Usher)
- Best Rap Album: Recovery (Eminem)
- Best Latin Pop Album: Paraíso Express (Alejandro Sanz)
- Best Classical Album: Verdi: Requiem

JB's Concert

By Helena López and Àlex Santomà

Justin Drew Bieber is a sixteen-year-old Canadian singer of R&B and pop who became very famous last year. When he was young, he learned to play four different instruments on his own, without any help (guitar, drums, trumpet and piano), and he also learned to sing. He sang songs for his school at Christmas, but one day his mother decided to upload videos of his singing to the Internet (on Youtube), and a producer saw these videos by accident and offered him a contract. The producer then received offers from Usher and Justin Timberlake for Bieber's contract, and Usher eventually came out the winner. Justin has a contract with an important record company, Island Records.

His most famous songs are "Baby" and "One Time". He has sung with famous singers, such as Ludacris, Jessica Jarell, Sean Kingston, Jaden Smith and Usher. He has made two albums, "My World " and "My World 2.0", and now he is presenting his albums on a tour called My World Tour. He is doing this tour with his friend and manager Usher. Usher and Justin have recorded many songs together, such as "Somebody to Love" or "First Dance".

And, as part of this tour, on 6th April he gave a concert in Barcelona, in the Palau Sant Jordi. The tickets cost 43€, for the cheapest seats, and 105€ for the most expensive.

Up to now, the tour is estimated to have earned a total income of $35.6 million.
On 11th February Justin opened a film in the United States, called "Never Say Never 3D". It's about his life when he was young and how was he discovered. The film contains homemade videos that Justin's mother recorded when he was young, and in these videos Justin is singing, playing the drums or playing the guitar. The film opened in Spain on 11th April.

The Woodstock Festival

By Carlos Casquete, Oriol Sentís and Antón Tendero

The Woodstock Festival was the biggest rock festival in the history. It took place on a farm in Bethel, New York, from 15th to 18th August 1969. Its slogan was “three days of love and peace”.

It brought together 500,000 “hippies”. The local population did not want this event to place there, but it did. There were some problems but it never came to a halt. Important bands like the Who, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Joe Cocker and Carlos Santana played sets. It was so successful that ten years later a second festival was organized, with Bob Dylan and other important bands of the time taking part.

Woodstock stood as a big hippy gathering with nothing more than peace, love, flowers, colored dresses and happiness. One of the most important reasons for holding the festival was the war in Vietnam, which was going on at the same time. The organizers thought that 60,000 people would come to the festival but because of the price of the tickets – they only cost $6 – there were 500,000.

There are a lot of amazing and beautiful stories about the festival and it was an event that changed the lives of thousands of teenagers in the 1970s.

On the evening of the first day, Woodstock began with sets by Richie Havens and other artists, such as the Incredible String Band and Joan Baez, in a peaceful and calm atmosphere. The second day was the most representative day of the entire festival, because Carlos Santana, Janis Joplin, the Who and Jefferson Airplane all played. The last day of the festival was incredible because Jimi Hendrix played for around two hours and improvised a great deal.

Nina by Nina!

By Nina Vanishvili

For me, Nina Simone is one of the best musicians in history. She was a singer, composer and pianist in various styles of music, including jazz, blues and soul. Her nickname was “High Priestess of Soul”.

There is one curious point that not everybody knows: her real name was Eunice Kathleen Waymon, not Nina Simone. She started calling herself Nina Simone in 1954. Nina comes from the Spanish word “niña” and Simone from her favourite artist, Simone Signoret, whom she saw in the film Casque d'Or.

She began playing the piano when she was 3 years old and had a classical training in the Juilliard School in New York for one year. She wanted to attend the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia but she was rejected; she always thought this was because of racism.

She had to start working in bars as a singer because she and her family needed money. After that Nina debuted as a singer but at first she was not successful. She became famous with the song I Love You Porgy and then with one of my favourite songs My Baby Just Cares For Me, which became a big hit in Britain.

In 1970 Nina left the United States on account of racism and other issues, although racism was the foremost. She went to Barbados, where she did little of any significance, merely acting and singing in jazz clubs.

Two important events occurred after she left the United States. On July 24th 1998, Nina Simone was invited to Nelson Mandela’s 80th birthday and on October 7th 1999, she received a prize in Dublin for her lifetime’s artistic achievements.

Her last awards were: In 2000 she received Honorary Citizenship of Atlanta, the Diamond Award for Excellence in Music from the African American Association of Music in Philadelphia and the Honourable Musketeer Award from the Compagnie des Mousquetaires d'Armagnac in France. She died in her sleep in Carry-le-Rouet in 2003.

Who wrote IMAGINE?

By Nina Vanishvili

Imagine, John Lennon's most famous song, was voted Britain's favourite song of all time. It is an idealistic song about peace and the hope for a better world. Imagine all the people living life in peace. The song was a big hit in 1971, and again in 1980 when Lennon was murdered in New York . It become a hit for a third time after the terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001. But who really wrote the song? Until recently the answer to this questions was always John Lennon. But on a TV programme Lennon's wife, Yoko Ono, spoke for the first time about how she, in fact, helped to write it. Ono said that the inspiration for Imagine came from some of her poems, which John Lennon was reading at that time. The poems began with the word “Imagine”: Imagine a raindrop, Imagine a goldfish. Ono said: “When I was a child in Japan during the Second World War my brother and I were terribly hungry. I imagined delicious menus for him and he began to smile. If you think something is impossible, you can imagine it and make it happen”. In an interview just before he died, Lennon admitted that Yoko deserved credit for Imagine. He said: “A lot of it – the lyrics and the concept – came from her, from her book of poems, Imagine this, imagine that”. Lennon said that he was too macho to share the credit with her at the time. Ono said that some of the song was written when they were flying across the Atlantic and the rest was written on the piano in their bedroom at their home in England. Ono said: “The song speaks about John's dream for the world. It was something he really wanted to say”. Imagine became a popular song for peace activists everywhere. In March 2002 the airport in his home town of Liverpool was renamed the John Lennon Airport. A sign over the main entrance has a line from Imagine: “Above us only sky”.

Linkin Park

By Daniel Belvis

Linkin Park is a music band formed in Agoura Hills in Los Angeles, California. Their style is somewhere between nu metal and rap metal, but on their album Minutes to Midnight their sound turns into alternative rock, while their newest album, A Thousand Suns, feels more experimental.

The band has sold more than 500 million CDs and has already won two Grammy awards. Linkin Park became famous with their Hybrid Theory album, which has sold more than 30 million copies, becoming the second highest selling album of the 21st century.

Their second album, Meteora, furthered their success, selling 800,000 copies in the first week after its release and more than three million copies in 2003. Their third album, Collision Course, was a mixture of their songs and songs by the rapper Jay-Z, with good results, such as Numb/Encore and Lying From You/Dirt Off Your Shoulder.

Their fourth record, Minutes to Midnight, was highly critiziced but, in my opinion, it is really worth a listen, at least in part. Their latest album, A Thousand Suns, is a bit more experimental but has been a real success.

Members:

Chester Bennington (vocals)

Mike Shinoda (vocals (MC); Keyboard/piano)

Brad Delson (guitar)

Joe Hahn (synthesizer, DJ, sampler)

Rob Bourdon (battery, percussion)

Dave Farrell (bass)

Discography:

Hybrid Theory (2000)

Meteora (2003)

Collision Course (2004)

Minutes to Midnight (2007)

A Thousand Suns (2010)

Songs I Recommend:

Hybrid Theory:

Papercut, One Step Closer, Crawling, In the End, A Place For My Head

Meteora:

Somewhere I Belong, Lying From You, Easier To Run, Faint, Breaking the Habit, From The Inside, Numb

Minutes to Midnight:

Given Up, Leave Out All The Rest, Bleed It Out, Shadow Of The Day, What I've Done, In Pieces

A Thousand Suns:

Burning In The Skies, Waiting For The End, The Catalyst Blackout, Wretches And Kings.

PS: If you saw the movie Transformers, it features a song from Linkin Park called New Divide, a song that I also recommend listening to.

Iron Maiden

By Kyle Pearson

Iron Maiden is a legend of heavy metal, a music style based on making a lot of noise, putting a lot of distortion on the guitar and placing great emphasis on the drums.

The name comes from a medieval torture, or way to kill somebody, that consisted in putting a person in a coffin with nails and closing it.

Iron Maiden as a band began in 1975 in Leyton (East London). The band members are:

-Bruce Dickinson (lead vocals), Dave Murray (guitar), Adrian Smith (guitar backing vocals), Janick Gers (guitar), Steve Harris (bass, backing vocals and studio keybords), Nicko McBrian.

Their influences include Queen, King Crimson, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Judas Priest, Cream and the Who.

Over 30 years they have sold more than 80 million records, and they have made close to 2,000 live performances.

After playing for three years they recorded their first EP (The Soundhouse Tape), which launched them to fame, although their big success arrived in 1982 with the record The Number of the Beast. They have been playing non-stop since then. Their latest album is called the Final Frontier.

They are considered one of the best heavy metal bands in the history of music and certainly one of the pioneers in this style of music.

A lot of other bands have tried to copy them but, obviously, without a doubt, they are unique.

Pete Doherty & The Libertines

By Alex Font

Pete Doherty was born on March 12th 1979. He is an English musician, writer and artist. He was the singer for the Libertines and Babyshambles.

He enrolled at the University of London to study English literature, but he abandoned his studies in the first year. After leaving university, he moved to London with his friend, the musician Carl Barât, a classmate of Doherty's older sister.

In the 90s Doherty and Barât formed a band called the Libertines. In 2002 they began to be successful, after releasing their first album Up the Bracket.

In 2004 Doherty was asked to leave the band after the release of their second album, due to his drug addiction. The group split up after Doherty's departure.

Doherty and Barât disclosed on 29 March 2010 that the Libertines would play together again at the Reading and Leeds festivals the following August.

The pianist Maria Canals dies

By Èlia Ramoneda

In August 2010 the international pianist Maria Canals died in Barcelona. She was born in Barcelona in 1913 and studied piano at the Barcelona Municipal School of Music. She was also a specialist in music teaching.

Maria Canals and her husband founded the Maria Canals International Music Competition in 1954. This music competition, declared to be of public importance in 1996, takes place every year in the Palau de la Música in Barcelona, with musicians from the all over the world taking part in it. Various artists (including Joan Miró and Antoni Tàpies) have designed posters to advertise it.

Eminem's comeback single

By Xènia Nogué and Victoria Englert

Marshall Bruce Mathers III, commonly known as Eminem, was born on October 18th 1972, in Missouri. He had a troubled childhood and his father left his family when he was young. He had to repeat 9th grade three times because of his frequent absenteeism. He has been rapping since he was 14 years old, the age at which he also released his debut EP: Steppin' Onto the Scene. Although he attended Lincoln High School, he participated in freestyle battles at Osborne High School, where the hip hop underground crowd started to appreciate him.

In 1999 he released his first CD: The Slim Shady LP. And he recently released his 7th album. His new CD, Recovery, has two of our favorite Eminem songs: Love the Way You Lie (feat. Rihanna) and Not Afraid. His last CD before Recovery, (Relapse) was very inappropiate because he was always singing about drugs and his life. He recently made a video about bullying feat Lil Wayne, called No Love.

Love the Way You Lie is about domestic violence. It's sung from two perspectives: the male and the female. The boy says that he cannot control himself and when he snaps he does not know who he is. The girl says that she does not care because she loves him so much. When she tries to leave, he restrains her and promises he will not hurt her again.

Not Afraid, the new single released by Eminem, talks about how he cleaned his blood of drugs. He did it for himself, and to encourage everyone who has the same problem as him. He says to his fans that he will not break his promise.

We are not Eminem fans because we don't really like his songs – these are the only two songs we like.

Édith Piaf
By Ada Agustí

Her real name was Edith Giovanna Gassion and her nickname “la Môme”. She was born in Paris on December 19th 1915. She was a famous French singer and a cultural icon, almost universally considered "the best singer in France."

Edith Piaf’s life was surrounded by mystery. Her father, Louis, worked as a contortionist, and her mother Anita was an Italian-Algerian. Edith grew up with her grandmother in a brothel.

She made her debut in 1935 singing popular songs in the street. In 1936, Polydor recorded her first album “Les Mômes de la Cloche”. In March 1937, she made her debut in a music hall, the "ABC". In 1940, Jean Cocteau wrote for her “Le Bel indifferent.”

Édith Piaf had a lot of romantic relationships, with Yves Montand, Georges Moustaki and Marcel Cerdan, amongst others. In 1949, after Cerdan's death in a plane crash, Piaf became addicted to drugs. Her autobiography is entitled "Au bal du chance."

Édith Piaf sang a lot of songs, she performed in some musicals. Her most known songs are: «La vie en rose», «Non, je ne regrette rien», «Paris», «L’accordéoniste», «Milord», «Mon Dieu», «L’Hymne a l’amour»….

Édith Piaf, I think, is the best singer ever in France. For me her voice is unique and, from my point of view, she overcame all the difficulties, despite of her hard life. I love the movie "La Vie en Rose", focused on her life, and I often listen to her songs, and I even have a little music box which plays "La Vie en Rose". For me, she’s the best!