Guitarra by Joan Bibiloni

Noble wood, tense strings

Things that should be known: Joan Bibiloni began his career with the electric guitar (remember, the group Zebra). But he quickly fell under the spell of the acoustic guitar. The attraction may have been its portability, the autonomy provided by the wood guitar. On the mainland, we tend to think the sun and the sea define character, flexibility, a bohemian temperament.

They do not, not necessarily. I would like to think that Joan discovered in the acoustic guitar an entire universe, a whole kama sutra of possibilities. Opportunities also provided by his mastery of the recording studio and production techniques. There are tracks in this anthology where everything you hear is the work of Bibiloni. And pieces which have been maturing over the years, like spirits left in barrels, awaiting the appropriate blend.

Certainly, the first sensation produced by this collection borders on amazement. I mean surprise at the range of styles: jazz, blues, ragtime, Mediterranean airs, film music, even chill-out?. But it will not suffice to applaud such variety: the essential ingredient resonating here is the artisan’s love for his craft, including affection for his fellow travellers (and I do not mean only the memorable series of “Dedicated to…”).

You will find echoes of Bibilonian experiences, from the Guitar Centre to Palabra de Guitarra, from the psychedelia of Deià to the Blau label, from nights of laughter to hours of solitude. These sound fragments function like keys to open up the — all too secret — history of creative music in Mallorca.

Diego A. Manrique
(December 2019)

Flying guitars

Can a guitar fly? A few strings, a bridge, some pegs and a piece of wood, no matter how noble, do not seem to be suitably designed to challenge the law of gravity. You will not find guitars up among starlings, kites or paper planes. Do not waste your time looking up at the sky because, decidedly, guitars do not fly… or do they? I think I saw one flying over my head. In order to make a guitar glide something more is required than a pair of expert hands and fingers with the agility of a Jesus lizard. In order to make a guitar fly, one must place imagination above knowledge, one must be brave enough to go naked to a formal party, one must be so utterly mad that other mortals cannot appreciate it. When someone can take a guitar and cleanse it of all constraints, prejudices and formalities, and play it more with their gut than with their hands, that is when a guitar is free to begin take-off.
I know very few musicians capable of transforming their instruments into migratory birds, but there is one in Manacor. Joan escaped many years ago from the prison bars of six strings to explore territories very few have reached. Joan travels paths with many turnings, crossroads and secondary trails where shortcuts are completely forbidden. Guitars, many guitars, which migrate fromflamenco in the south to samba in the west, with stopovers in the warmth of Latino to finally come to nest in the darkness of blues.
Now Joan invites his faithful to join him on a long journey embarked on his fleet of guitars. We will travel through a labyrinth of chords and rhythms where anyone who finds the exit will be required to leave. Instrumental potions will be served by a crew displaying the same imagination as the flight commander, with whom they have shared many hours in the air. Through the window we will see multi-coloured scenery, arid zones, wet forests and gently undulating hills pass by.
Last call for passengers on the flight to the Bermuda Triangle of instrumental music. Make yourselves comfortable, seat belt fastened, seat in an upright position, table folded, and do not forget to thank commander Bibiloni for having become one of the few who still know how to make guitars fly.

Albert Puig

A colossal guitarist

Joan Bibiloni is a colossal guitarist, one of the greats. A cosmopolitan Mallorcan (Manacor, 1952). He is a composer, producer, arranger, co-founder of the Blau label… He has released a double album highlighting his acoustic side, but not only that.
He began very young. Fifty years have passed since he first walked into a studio. He has made good use of them. It was to replace one of the members of the famous Grupo 15. There were few opportunities in Manacor, even though several international artists visited the island (Jimi Hendrix, for example, only once, just when he was starting out). This news was not reported. Los Javaloyas or Los Beta were more present. Although he took private lessons, he is a self-taught musician who paid attention to what was going on around him. He wanted to go a step further, do other things, develop a personal form of expression. And he did. It meant paying an obligatory visit to Deià, home to hippies where he was able to hear Kevin Ayers and a few others. He was up to something else: he played in clubs like Sgt Peppers where he witnessed the fusion of Los Bravos with Z-66 to form Zebra, a group vital to the history of Spanish rock. They released just one LP in 1976 but their numerous performances were acclaimed as one of the best live shows of the time. The following year gave us the outstanding album with Pepe Milán.
He combined the electric guitar with the acoustic guitar, rock with other things, refining a unique style which crystallized in his first LP titled Joana Lluna, released in 1982, which included the collaboration of, among others, a young Jorge Pardo. Bibiloni’s main influences came from two musicians with which he had extensive contact, Manolo Bolao and Larry Coryell.
This double album is not a greatest hits nor even a chronological retrospective but it does provide abundant elements to acquaint us with an impeccable career. Bibiloni has played with many artists. The list is tremendous, apart from those already mentioned we have Wally Fraza, Salvador Font, Nando González, Concha Buika, Miquel Figuerola etc… It is worth mentioning the flute player Ernie Mansfield with whom he recorded an original album for RNE. Equally, there is another very curious work titled For a Future Smile, released on the Theta label in 1988, which introduced him to the world of New Age then in vogue and opened up the doors to the United States for him. There awaited Alfonsina y el mar. I will not go into his many Palabra de guitarra concerts nor his wide range of productions, but I will point out that the Blau label and shop energized a city supposedly very well-known but of whose cultural nooks and crannies many tourists are unaware.
Joan has dedicated many songs to his friends, one need only look at the credits on the album. I met him when he was playing in Sweden (Waxholm) at the 1985 Euroradio Folk Festival and I can guarantee that he was already at international level and my colleagues asked me where such a good guitarist had come from who didn’t play flamenco and who was so original. He is a friend of his friends and that is why I am writing these notes to celebrate part of his outstanding musical career.

José Miguel López (Discópolis-Radio 3)

Diabolical fusion of sounds

Now that there are so many “anniversary” concerts around, Joan Bibiloni, who this year 2020 celebrates the 28th anniversary of the publication of Joana Lluna, has decided to hold his own, but in digital format. Because it could be argued that this is precisely what this compilation is about: myriad meanings through his personal style on the guitar. The repertoire includes well-known pieces as well as unpublished material, together providing a fine portrayal of his career.
All the material collected here has been remastered by Bibiloni for the occasion, so that what we have is part of his musical legacy seen through the eyes of the present. Since I was given the job of putting the pieces in order, with absolute freedom of criterion, it was clear to me that my main purpose was to give the passage of these little moments of fantasy, which is essentially the unmistakable hallmark of Joan Bibiloni, the appearance of a live performance to be listened to from the undisturbed comfort of a sofa.
The uniqueness of the Mallorcan guitarist stems from the diabolical fusion of sounds brought to life by his fingers provoking sensations at the mercy of his frenetic capacity for improvisation. His incomparable style, by his own volition, has not succumbed to the temptation of following fashions, which is precisely why he has become a cult musician.

Fernando Merino