Marina Rossell

Born in 1954 to a peasant family rooted in the Barcelona region, Catalan singer and songwriter Marina Rossell grew up immersed in rural traditions. During her teenage years she became captivated by the groundbreaking Nova Cançó movement of Catalan protest songs and made her first professional appearances supporting its foremost voices, among them Lluís Llach and Maria del Mar Bonet. Llach later served as producer for her debut album, a selection of Catalan folk traditionals issued in 1976. Her profile rose sharply with the 1978 follow-up Penyora, which contained the song that became her emblem, “La Gavina.” Endowed with a gorgeous singing voice, Rossell has issued more than twenty albums through 2012, worked with many of the leading Catalan and Spanish songwriters, toured extensively throughout Europe—especially France—and Latin America, and collected a wealth of musical and cultural distinctions.