Càpsules (Capsules)

We never cease to admire the prolific creativity of Samfaina de Colors, the duo formed by Xavi Múrcia and Mirna Vilasís, for continuing to conceive, with almost twenty-five years of experience, shows as imaginative and daring as the one on this album, the fifth they have released under this name.

Imaginative by the very concept: to incarnate oneself as a child and describe any day of his daily life, from morning to night, entering into his imaginary, his fears and his illusions.

And daring in its artistic approach: long, elaborate songs; lyrics with a considerable density of content; folk-rock music performed in electric format – the backing band is the same Xavi Múrcia’s solo band: Lluís Figueras, Albert Vila and Xarli Oliver -; and arrangements that seem aimed at both children and adults. In fact, this appreciation could be extended to the whole album, a work designed for children to see themselves reflected but which is also an adult tribute, somewhere between nostalgic and fascinated, to the carpe diem of childhood.

“It’s the new performance of Samfaina de Colors… ”

(TV3 news report from minute 42:28 onwards)

Cápsulas is one of the most acclaimed musical performances for children in recent years in Catalonia. A proposal by Samfaina de Colors.

Samfaina de Colors visits with simplicity and sensitivity the common places of childhood and fills them with magic through music. A concert made of sensitive material, conceived to seduce and excite a young audience and to make adults relive their youth with nostalgia.

Each little box is a song that shows the wonder of the everyday world of childhood. This is the storyline of Cápsules (Capsules), a different, simple and emotional concert by Samfaina de Colors. Xavi Múrcia is the author of most of the songs, and together with Mirna Vilasís they put their voices at the service of a story about the passing of time. Raquel Tomàs is in charge of the staging of this folk-rock music concert with projections by the Lyona.

Thank you for the moment this afternoon. Now I have a capsule at home with a little bit of you on it that says “Samfaina al SAT, December 2012″. A pleasure, as always.

Samfaina de Colors, opens up to indie pop and large audiences with the performance Càpsules (Capsules).
After the taste and professionalism of almost 25 years in traditionalist matrix music and children’s audiences, Xavi Múrcia and Mirna Vilasís, from Sabadell, have their restlessness and creativity very much alive. The premiere of Cápsules (Capsules), his new album and show, has taken the form of an event.
It was the highlight of the Mostra d’Igualada. He was encouraged by the surprise effect. Samfaina de Colors appears on Cápsules (Capsules) with a rock band format, after the simple, delicately poetic vocal duets on De bracet (Hand in hand)… On Cápsules (Capsules) there is another story. The show is rounded off with projections that give it the indie pop-rock tone in which the music and the mood of the twelve songs are set, and the characteristic tenderness of Samfaina de Colors is not lost on the audience.

Where does the time go?

Ah! Childhood, what a serendipitous and unexpected reunion. Innocent questions are also the most tasty: Where does the time that passes go? Who gets it? What becomes of those lively and playful moments? We go around the world moving, and one day we enter the theatre with that kindly spirit that comes from unconsciousness and a light spirit, dragging an overcrowding of creatures and years. We sit, we look, we listen: tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock… Suddenly: plaf! The ambient light melts on us. We were left in the dark. Expectation, whispers spreading… Shhhh! From some impossible place, guitar chords resound. In front of the eyes, an extraordinarily colourful lamp dances and begins to chirp: blues, greens, yellows, reds…, lightning flashes! Now cardboard dummies move around on a grandiose screen. In the meantime, a deliciously fine voice warbles, singing like a nightingale. This formidable voice tells a wonderful story! What story? What do you mean, what story? Ours, everyone’s, that of a child starting any given day, savouring and savouring things; such as taking off, walking down the street, going to school, going out to the playground, lunch, coming home, running into a joking tin, tasting the butterflies of love on the bus or mumbling against after-school hyperactivity… In short, vital capsules!!! Visual and sound capsules, exciting and fun, joyful and endearing; encapsulated, unforgettable, fabulously laugh-out-loud moments! Come on, man, come on, do me a favour: stay with me!

There are shows configured in such a way that they end up laying bare the most intimate human matter. And one is perplexed when one discovers that the child, hidden by the passage of time, is still intact. Worse still, it comes out and screams for a lot of space and time. It is like that of Proust’s madeleine, which, when it is dipped in tea, suddenly bursts out irrepressibly, an inner leap, a hurried fall into memory; and suddenly, like a spark, the vibrant passage of those marvellous times of childhood appears joyfully, like a sparkle. Wow! It is like that! Music, voices and images exert this amazing power, and the inexhaustible world of childhood unfolds again before the eyes, rubbing the ears and exalting the whole body. And what to do? Nothing, just let go, walk through the spectacle like another child, capturing words, smells, colours and emotions, all of which are rhythmically stirring… So, what? Where does the time that passes go? Who takes it away? I don’t know, but I would say it is encapsulated between the heart and the pocket! In short, the magic, once again, as always, of Samfaina de Colors – Mirna Vilasís and Xavi Murcia – and their new show Cápsules (Capsules), in the format of a rock-folk concert for children and their parents, which will be previewed at the Ateneu de Banyoles and premiered at La Mostra d’Igualada.

The company Samfaina de Colors premieres ‘Cápsules’ (Capsules), its most ambitious performance, a rock-folk concert for children.

(click on the link to see the report to Xip/TV El flaix / Capítol 15) -catalan version-

The world belongs to the brave… Samfaina de Colors pre-release Cápsules (Capsules), the reception was great. The show breaks with the usual register for boys and girls… An unusual rock-folk concert format, because it adds some delightful audiovisual capsules by Lyona, who has translated into images the naïve and poetic world they portray, and on which the themes of Cápsules (Capsules) also reflect. The projections are the ideal complement to the main one, without overshadowing it: the songs. All five musicians are of unquestionable competence. Mirna and Xavi Múrcia have set no stylistic or musical limits for themselves. Les lletres tampoc no tendeixen a subestimar la intel.ligència de l’audiència, sinó que la conviden a la reflexió a través de la poesia, plantejant situacions molt quotidianes. The show consists of a dozen beautiful songs and is now available on CD.

Last Friday, April 6th, we attended as guests to the preview of the show Cápsules (Capsules) by Samfaina de Colors in Banyoles. At home we know the artistic-musical career of Xavi Múrcia and Mirna since their beginnings and we knew they would not disappoint us. The truth is, however, that they managed to surprise us once again. The musical quality of the work is excellent and the message of the lyrics manages to transport us back to our childhood. For a while we were our children’s age again and we recovered our lost innocence by sharing a seat side by side with them. The memory of this show will be one of the “Capsules” of moments of time that we want to capture and keep forever and ever.

Càpsules (Capsules) has been a HUGE success in our house. Since Friday, we’ve been flying fuet, catalana, prince biscuits, and lots of “carquinyolis” for lunch, and we love to play at going home for food. This morning, the three sons were fighting to see who would take the CD first in their respective classes. And the toy instruments, great, you had them very attentive to know which instrument was making what little music or sound.

Thank you very much.

The show invites reflection through poetry and the children’s imagination, and the songs are accompanied by audiovisual pills, the work of the designer and director Lyona (Anna Roig i l’Ombre de Ton Chien, Love of Lesbian, Amaral), who has been in charge of translating the naïve and poetic world they portray into images. Vital, visual and sound of Càpsules (Capsules), exciting and fun, joyful and endearing, that connect the big ones with the little ones and that break the company’s usual register.