Fok brings together 54 tracks across a double CD performed by more than two hundred musicians from Catalonia, País Valenciá, the Balearic Islands and L’Alguer. The project focuses on establishing a dialogue between the trikitixa and the Mediterranean sonic universe, while paying tribute to foc —fire—, an element deeply rooted in these cultures. From this starting point, Kepa constructs a journey that combines traditional melodies, diverse collaborations and a production spread across eighteen studios.

Kepa distances himself from the idea that only the melodies and rhythms of our closest surroundings are capable of moving us. He describes this feeling as “primary and innate”, something that separates us from what comes from outside, before adding that perhaps this reflection already belongs to another era: “Catalonia, País Valenciá, the Balearic Islands, L’Alguer… fill my musical heart, and I am fortunate to have my trikitixa with me to enter these fascinating and immeasureable cultures.”

The list of participants amounts to something close to an encyclopaedia of folk music sung in Catalan and related Romance languages. In “Sa ximbomba”, for instance, Biel Majoral (Mallorcan), Miquel Gil (Valencian) and Artur Gaya (Catalan, from Quico el Célio, el Noi i el Mut de Ferreries) join their voices together. In “El pardal & Xotis del Jaumet Xic”, Artur Blasco (1933), one of the great preservers of Pyrenean tradition and diatonic accordion music, gathered around fifty accordion players. In “Espolsades”, the harp of Josep María Ribelles, the violin of Anaís Falcó and the tenora of Jordi Molina intertwine.

The graphic concept revolves around fire and features photographs by Igotz Ziarreta, a Basque artist from Meñaka (Bizkaia) based in Barcelona since 2003 and linked to the city’s Euskal Etxea. One of the most striking images shows a triki being consumed by flames; in Kepa’s words, “This album is very special to me. During this journey I received so much that I wanted to symbolically give back this strength and warmth by burning one of the things I love most in the world: a small trikitixa.” Igotz explains: “For this album I put forward the idea that fire could emerge from a triki. From there we moved on to burning it. We took the photographs in the quarry of Ereño. We only had one chance to burn the trikitixa.”

Fok was chosen as Best Folk Album of the Year by the critics of the 2018 Enderrock Awards, the most prestigious music awards in Catalonia. Just days after its release, the magazine itself described it as: “Perhaps the most ambitious production released to date within the Catalan folk scene.”

Record label: Infernuko Auspoa. Production: Kepa Junkera.