Maria del Mar Bonet


Maria del Mar Bonet i Verdaguer is a Spanish singer.

Early life and career

Bonet was born in 1947 in Palma de Mallorca, Mallorca, Spain. She studied ceramics in the school of arts, but eventually decided to dedicate herself to music. She arrived in Barcelona in 1967, where she began to sing with the group Els Setze Jutges. She has published many folk music albums in Catalan, in spite of the ban on the Catalan language and its music during Francisco Franco's dictatorship. She has performed throughout China as well as in Japan, the former USSR, Tunisia, Netherlands, Poland, Belgium, France, United Kingdom, Brazil, Sweden, Switzerland, Venezuela, Mexico, and the United States.

Recording career

In 1981, Bonet recorded Jardí Tancat in Paris, along with accompaniment by Jacques Denjean and noted Breton harpist Alan Stivell. She has worked with the Ensemble of Music Traditionelle di Tunis and Brazilian musician Milton Nascimento. She earned the French Charles Cross Academy Prize and the Catalan Creu de Sant Jordi and the National Prize awarded by the Catalan government. In 1984, the French Government gave her the Charles Cross Academy Award for the best foreign record released in France. That same year Bonet was awarded the Cross of Saint George, the highest distinction of the Generalitat de Catalunya. In 1985, as a result of her interest and research into North African music, she recorded Anells d’aigua with the Ensemble de Musique Traditionelle of Tunisia, and then toured with the group throughout France and Spain. In 1998 she toured abroad and collaborated with other well-known Spanish artists such as Amancio Prada, Loquillo, Jordi Sabatés and Rosa Vergés. In 2001, Bonet recorded a Jackson Browne tribute album, Sing My Songs. The album was recorded live in July 2001 in the Gothic district of Barcelona. The album won the 2002 Spanish [World Music Awards].

Discography

  • Maria del Mar Bonet 1970
  • Maria del Mar Bonet 1971
  • Maria del Mar Bonet 1974
  • A l'Olympia 1975
  • Cançons de festa 1976
  • Alenar 1977
  • Saba de terrer 1979
  • Quico-Maria del Mar 1979
  • Sempre 1981
  • L'àguila negra 1981
  • Jardí tancat 1981
  • Breviari d'amor 1982
  • Cançons de la nostra mediterrània 1982
  • Anells d'aigua 1985
  • Gavines i dragons 1987
  • Ben a prop 1989
  • Bon viatge faci la cadernera 1990
  • Coreografies 1990
  • El·las 1993
  • Salmaia 1995
  • Primeres cançons 1997
  • El cor del temps 1997
  • Cavall de foc 1999
  • Raixa 2001
  • Cants d'Abelone 2001
  • Collita pròpia 2003
  • Amic, amat 2004
  • Terra Secreta 2007
  • Bellver 2010
  • Blaus de l'ànima, més de 20 anys ben a prop 2011

Awards and accomplishments