Els Amics de les Arts

Heavily inspired simply by French film director Jean-Luc Godard, Els Amics de les Arts’ fusion of Spanish folk, avant-garde pop, and electronica with pun-laden lyrics and ironic humor has helped them to be among the Catalan music scene’s most critically acclaimed outfits. Created in Barcelona in 2005, the music group, which includes business lead vocalist Eduard Costa, guitarist Joan Enric Barceló, bassist Ferran Piqué, and pianist Dani Alegret, released its debut recording, Catalonautes, in the same 12 months, and gradually became a word-of-mouth achievement thanks to many appearances at numerous Catalan celebrations. Roulotte Polar and Castafiore Cabaret adopted in 2007 and 2008, respectively, nonetheless it was their 2009 4th work, Bed & Breakfast time, that gained probably the most interest, winning both Enderrock Critics’ Greatest Recording and Radio 4’s Greatest Catalan Recording of the entire year honours. In 2011 they received their highest degree of mainstream publicity when they made an appearance with Spanish acting professional Quim Gutiérrez within an ad for Estrella Damm.