Catalan singer Maria Arnal went to the place where we had an appointment after passing the sound tests to Marcel Bagés. He has told us that he is tired, but as soon as we start the conversation, we have felt it very intensely. It's not one of those who gets quiet just in case.

Memory is one of the threads that connects the entire album, but yet it has underlined that it is not a work on historical memory.

Traditional music is often viewed from a nostalgic and romantic point of view. We did not want to stay there. We've worked with digitized phonoteca files and field recordings, but we've wanted to take these songs out of the museum so that today, and most of all, by getting them in, they're useful. These are songs with special characteristics, without individual authors, which has allowed us to adapt and adapt everything we want. In all the songs we've done, there's a complex and personal way to approach memory since today. This is very clearly indicated by the title of the disc itself: “45 brains and a heart.” It talks about the bodies that were mummified three years ago in a grave. But to us talking about it is not working the historical memory, but looking critically at the present.

It is not usual to address this issue…

There is a story that comes from the Transition that says that the wounds must be allowed to close, that we must not look back… From all this it follows that the most corrupt party in Europe is in government, the current censorship, the violations of rights… And the worst thing is that these violations are becoming widespread and normalised. Talking about these kinds of issues or not wanting to get wet on topics other than music is not in accordance with our project. Our work or proposal is not just the interpretation of a list of songs. For us, music is something that opens our eyes to understand the present. It serves to communicate what cannot be explained through a speech.

You mentioned censorship. That also generates self-censorship in some artists. But in your case, it doesn't look like that. With the excuse of the musical project, you have brought to the media themes that do not have much space.

I respect very much the choice of each creator, that everyone should do whatever they want. But having said that, I stand on this path because as a musician and as an artist that is my interest: to influence through concepts and emotions, as far as possible, to transform reality. Even if we forget it, we build reality among all of us.

The nostalgic have considered you as heirs of former protest singers. Are you comfortable with that?

We've been labeled with protest songs, yes, but I think those prejudiced labels don't do any favor. Behind this need for labels is a very limiting thought. It is much more interesting and enriching to work on the limits of these descriptions because reality is complex and open. Music with a critical perspective is associated with a historical moment in the West; the songs of “protest” of the Spanish State, for example, are related to the Transition, with singers, with guitar… But today, for example, hip-hop has a similar function: it looks at the present critically and questions the structures of power and privileges. I would not say that music made from a critical point of view has disappeared, but that it has taken other forms.

The musician Niño de Elche claims that the transformative force of creation is not in the contents, but in the ways of doing. Do you agree?

Yes, of course. From feminism we have learned that personal and intimate is also a space of transformation. Our project is based on care. If we didn't take care of each other, with the small group we have and with such a long tour, it wouldn't be sustainable. We always strive to act honestly, without a hidden calculation. Nor are we afraid of contradictions: the project has grown a lot and transformed our lives, we are not in the same place we started. It's inevitable to see in some moments that there are things that don't fit with what you did at first, but that's why it's important to be honest with yourself and with others.

They ask you a lot about the contradictions, as if it were suspected that such a proposal would be successful…

Purity doesn't exist. The traditional music that we've worked on is also a mixture of a lot of things. In real life, we're also in that game, in the balance between many elements. We are Europeans, white, full of privileges… We have had contradictions with us from the point of departure. We say things that we think are important and sincere. The more people connect with that, the better.

People don't realize their strength. This is what one of your songs says.

It's a poem by Joan Brossa that starts by repeating that phrase over and over again. I really like the phrase, not only from the collective point of view, but also from the individual point of view. We all have inside a voice that boycotts us and weakens us. As the Child of Elche says, I fight against the capitalist inside. It is important that each one trusts in himself to be able to bring that trust to the collective as well. In the headlines, this song is usually a turning point.

On a personal level, you've turned what was a hobby into a trade, and that's changed a lot of things. He just told us about the need to take a nap, but you have to be here, interviewing…

I find the interview much more interesting than the siesta. It is incredible what has happened to us, I feel very happy and grateful, as if I were in a situation of emergency. It's hard for something like this to happen. I have a lot of friends, mostly girls, who are extraordinarily talented and constantly devaluing themselves. When I worked as a translator, I didn't think I would sing well, and now I was looking at where I am. I would like this route to be used for them, so that they see it possible. We're boycotting a lot, we're not boycotting ourselves.

What is Sharing Dona Gustet and what influence has it had on you?

This is a group that has linked music from oral tradition with free licenses in network through different projects. There I was working on communication and the relationship with the media. The person who drives the collective is Marc Sempere, who contacted Marcel. We ran the test and we've come together to this day. It has therefore had a great influence. We learned a lot about the Creative Commons license, and with it we have also published our works.

You started the tour a long time ago. Do you have any time to create it?

It is difficult, but indispensable. The tour was going to last a year, but given the success it has had, we had to lengthen it. But we didn't want to feel like we were repeating something that we had created a long time ago. That's why we've rethought the direct one to make it look more like what we now want to do.

Looking at the second album, it seems that you intend to open new paths.

It's the passion to experience what unites our process and all our work. At first, the starting point was field recordings, among other things, because I started learning about songs. We've worked that road a lot, and it's somehow in us. But at the same time, we are about thirty years old, we hear a lot of music and we want to work others caminos.Queremos to do something more electronic, but always creating those sounds and bases with our own instruments. That is what we are now.