The Kasba label celebrates 20 years with the edition of 11 vinyls that recover its history

History is not always written in capital letters. What's more, it usually has many lowercase letters. In those letters is written the trajectory of Kasba Music, the label that this year celebrates its twentieth anniversary with the monthly edition of 11 vinyls, yes vinyls, that recover part of that history in which its two fundamental axes. On the one hand, what was once called mestizo music, yes, that which Barcelona exported just before the massive arrival of tourism. On the other hand, punk, the mother music of the label's director, Joni D (D for destroys, nobility obliges): a musical activist who, as a barely teenager, was already organizing concerts at the Zeleste de Chema “Campeón” (the programmer who opened the venue). to worlds beyond Laietano

and who played with his brother Ferran, unfortunately died in 1996 with that incredible physical resemblance to Joey Ramone, with whom he was part of the seminal punk/hardcore movement in Barcelona and published pieces today for collecting such as the first Disposable mockup. “Since Ferran's death there have been no deaths that have impressed me so much,” says Joni in front of a sandwich waiting for him to bite.

But his words do not fully explain how the label has remained in the market for 20 years: “Perhaps it is that we are eclectic but we maintain a way of working that makes us personal. It may also influence that we do not have a business conscience,” he adds in a play on words that hides a romantic spirit in the background. Joni Sahún (Barcelona, ​​1968) blames his partner for three decades, Amparo Martín (Barcelona, ​​1962), for his open-mindedness: “I was a punk by the book and I hadn't even heard Mano Negra. Thanks to Amparo, my head opened to other styles and that has been noticed in the personality of the label.” Although the fame went to Ojos de Brujo, the wool was woven by Joni and Amparo, with bands like Color Humano or Dusminguet, pioneers of what was later called mestizaje.

With the latter, he recalls, “we had almost prepared a tour of Euskadi so that Ezan Ozenki – then Fermín Muguruza's label – could see them and close the deal, but Virgin appeared and took them away,” he recalls without regret. Another pillar in his career has been precisely Fermín Muguruza and his projects: “I organized the first Kortatu concert outside of Euskadi in Barcelona, ​​in April 1984,” he recalls with almost digital memory. His relationship with the Muguruzas, he has worked with the three brothers (Jabier, Fermín and Iñigo) since the time of the fanzines in which Joni was involved, has expanded over time, to the point that the album he opened The celebration of Kasba's 20 years has been the live (double vinyl)

, recorded at the Apolo room in 2004 at the height of the censorship offensive against the Basque musician; while the one that will close it next December is a compilation of Sagarroi, the most sensitive and intimate project by the late Íñigo Muguruza.

Joni D and Amparo Martín, founders and owners of the Kasba label, which turns two decades old and celebrates it by releasing 11 vinyls that recover its history.massimiliano minocri

Between both albums there is a wide sample of what has been the music that has passed through the hands of Joni and Amparo throughout their different business projects (both record labels and representation and promoter agencies). In general there is a clear

accent , with albums like that of Maniástica, a punk-rock band from Villena, “which is one of the albums whose pre-sale indicates that it will be a success, they were a very powerful group between 1988 and 1993 ″, says Joni, looking askance at her almost brand new sandwich. An album by TNT, the Granada band where the late Javier Arias played alongside José Antonio García (later in 091); compilations such as

(hardcore-punk groups),

(La Pegatina, Cheb Balowski, Amparo Sánchez, etc.),

(with only female voices such as Aiala, Ginestà, Nakany Kanté); albums such as the first of the Kinky Beat (

), Color Humano (

), Pixamandurries (one of the first rock references in Catalan but without being

) or Cristian Dios with

, an unreleased album by a of the most popular bands in Barcelona in the eighties and at that time the last album in which Ferran, Joni's brother, played, are part of the celebration editions. It seems that what at first seemed like a crazy business venture, eleven vinyls released at the rate of one a month, is becoming a success.

“Everything has its explanation,” says Joni, who takes advantage of the formulation of the questions to launch attacks on his patient sandwich: “Data: in the first half of 2023, with a catalog of less than 40 vinyls and 210 compacts, we will invoice 80% on vinyl and 20% on CDs. We sell a lot of vinyl, although

, despite paying terribly since I don't like it because of its treatment of artists, represents the lion's share of our income." And no, faithful to an old-school philosophy, Kasba does not make money from its artists' concerts, because it does not believe in the 360-degree concept (when the record company controls almost everything in its artists' careers). In Kasba, contracts are not made for more than one album and they rely on minority proposals. “Even with everything here we are, with good distribution conditions and seeing that this collection that many people saw as foolish is going the way we needed it to go. We have even sold quite a few complete collections,” he celebrates.

But, it is undeniable that times change, and with them artists and their styles. In fact, not having enough to work with his wife Amparo, Jara, their daughter, is an artist under the name Aiala, and makes current music, the kind that his father would have renounced when he was a child. kid. But Joni has grown older embracing flexibility: “I don't understand those of my generation who despise reggaeton or trap. You may like them or not, but it is the music of the new generations. We repeat with the youngest the prejudices that our parents had with our music,” he states emphatically. And the relationship with your daughter, an artist? “Well, she is not as problematic because she is my daughter as she is because she belongs to another generation. People under 35 have a different way of seeing the world, which is understandable given the environment they live in, and for example they are capable of sending you a message on a Sunday afternoon demanding something from you. Everything is very immediate, everything is for now and they always want you connected. There are no schedules. “They are very pressured,” he suggests sympathetically.

With time as a protagonist of musical history, Joni believes that “the years have treated punk better than the so-called mestizo or fusion sounds.” “First, I would like to point out that before mestizaje, the term

was used

and that it was after the introduction of Latin sounds that we began to talk about mestizaje, when in reality we should talk about fusion. It was already done in Latin America, as Manu Chao and Negu Gorriak saw while traveling there. Here it began with a political substratum, the first groups had formed in occupied houses, a substratum that was lost over time in favor of the festive,” he concludes almost at the same time as finishing his lunch. More years of musical activism await him.

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