简介：Companyia Elèctrica Dharma was born in 1974 in a rural community that the Fortuny brothers settled in a countryhouse in Girona. The making of the band, however, had started a few years before, when Esteve, Joan and Josep Fortuny were learning to play on their own and copied songs by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. At the time, they played concerts in high schools and parishes. It was then that Carles Vidal and Jordi Soley joined the group and the five of them set up a community, where they created the songs of their first LP, called ‘Diumenge’. The name of the band was taken from the title of the writer Jack Kerouac, ‘The Dharma Bums’. At the beginning, the influence of Miles Davis was essential, but soon Elèctrica Dharma evolved to folk music and the Mediterranean tradition. In 1975 the band moved to Canet, where they met the theatre company Comediants. The meeting was crucial because the tandem gave momentum to street events and passacaglias, which became popular and festive expressions in a rather agitated political context: the protests in defence of freedom were becoming more and more common. La Dharma first performed before the masses in summer that year. It was in Canet Rock, in front of 50,000 spectators, that those five musicians, still unknown, hypnotized the audience at folk rhythms. This mythical show was recorded in the disc ‘L’Oucomballa’, with the participation of Comediants. The marked Mediterranean tone of Elèctrica Dharma did not pose a geographical problem. In 1977, as a result of the edition of their third album, ‘Tramuntana’, the band went on tour around Spain and performed in 11 cities in front of over 25,000 spectators. The tour ended up successfully with a concert at the Sports Pavilion of Real Madrid where the public forced the group to play up to six encores. In 1978, Companyia Elèctrica Dharma released its fourth disc, ‘L’Àngel de la dansa’, at the Palau dels Esports de Barcelona in front of over nine thousand persons. Shortly after, Jordi Soley left the band. His position was occupied by another Fortuny brother, Lluís. During Christmas 1980 they did a performance in Sala Zeleste in Barcelona, on the presentation of their new album, this time the musical poem was called ‘L’Atlàntida’. The following year was very important to the band, especially as regards the audience reactions. On the one hand, they performed in Festes de la Mercè de Barcelona in front of 100,000 people and, on the other, they went on stage at the Palau de la Música with an unprecedented experiment: blending their music to the sound of the typical Catalan rhythm. The experiment resulted in the album ‘Al Palau de la Música amb la Cobla Mediterrània’. Their following disc was called ‘Catalluna’. In this disc Dharma adapted to their style classics of traditional Catalan music such as ‘La presó del rei de França’ or ‘El rossinyol’. The company also performed for ten days at Mercat de les Flors, a facility that had just started being used as a new stage. On the occasion of their tenth anniversary as a band, in 1985 they edited the disc ‘Força Dharma! Deu anys de resistència’, including songs with Catalanist and libertarian messages more vivid than ever before, and songs like ‘Catalonia is not Patagonia’, ‘Fi de festa’ ‘La gent vol viure en pau’ or ‘Força Dharma!’. The same spirit was captured in their next recording, ‘No volem ser’, recorded live during the performances done for three days on the trot in Mercat de les Flors. On 15 August 1986, tragedy hit the band, when one of its members, Esteve Fortuny, suffered a brain haemorrhage during a concert in Cardedeu. The band guitar died four days later. It was an unexpected blow and the group decided to stop their shows for a few months. However, the desire to pay tribute to the brother and colleague of the band was growing stronger every day. Finally, Dharma reappeared on stage on 12 March 1987 on a concert in Palau de la Música with a few new songs by the late musician. Until then they had not been edited because of their extreme complexity: they were symphonic compositions interpreted together with the Chamber Orchestra of Barcelona. The performance is recorded in the disc ‘Homenatge a Esteve Fortuny’. After this brief reappearance, the band continued its temporary retirement until 1989, when some of Esteve Fortuny’s compositions were edited in ‘Fibres del cor’. The early 90’s meant the international projection of the band, which appeared on Paris and New York stages. Elèctrica Dharma also decided to explore medieval tunes of ‘Llibre Vermell de Montserrat’, in the disc ‘Que no es perdi aquest so’ (1993). On 23 April 1994, Dharma celebrated its 20th anniversary with a concert in Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona, which gathered over 18,000 people as well as numerous guest artists like Joan Manel Serrat, Maria del Mar Bonet, Toti Soler, Pascal Comelade, Els Pets, Sau and Sangtraït. The venue was recorded in a double live disc. From 1998 to 2002, the band edited the trilogy ‘Racó de món’, ‘Sonada’ and ‘Llibre Vermell’, a review of the tunes that had belonged to the band from its origins, like medieval and melodies or African rhythms. Dharma celebrated its 30th anniversary with a concert at Palau de la Música on 22 April 2005 and a double live disc. After three decades on stage, the band still creates new works and goes on tour with the same energy and with untouched festive spirit.