Pep Blay

Pep Blay (Josep Blay Boqué, born 2 September 1966 in Tarragona, Spain) is a Catalan writer, script writer and music journalist. As a music journalist, he interviewed stars like Lou Reed, The Cure and Nick Cave. He also often works together with Spanish artists, f.e. Enrique Bunbury, Iván Ferreiro, and Amparanoia.

Pep Blay
Pep Blay

Biography

Blay was born as the youngest of three children on 2 September 1966 in Tarragona, Spain. He studied Catalan Philology at Universitat de Barcelona, faculty of Tarragona from 1984 to 1989. During his studies he worked as a cultural journalist for the Catalan newspaper Catalunya Sud. He also published poems for the magazine Negre+Roig and founded the collective Andrògina Productions.

After his studies, he moved to Barcelona to begin higher education in theatre theory and critics; he also learnt Japanese. That same year he started to write about literature for the Catalan newspaper AVUI and edited the supplement Rock & Classics. He also worked for magazines like El Temps, Catalònia and Cultura. Between 1990 and 2000 Blay sporadically performed reciting poetry live; a few of his performances can be found in the DVD Poesia en viu a Barcelona (Habitual Video Team/ Propost.org, 1991–2003).

His career as a music journalist started with AVUI in 1993. That same year, he also began to sing as a vocalist in the Tarragonian post mortem-underground band Els Patètix; he spent 3 years in that group. In 1995, he published a biography of the Catalan musician and songwriter Lluís Llach for the collection Los Autores (SGAE Barcelona). In 1999, Blay started to work for the Catalan TV-channel Televisió de Catalunya as programme director for the cabaret Bohèmia, and also as script writer and art director. He wrote two more biographies about Catalan rockbands: “Sopa de Cabra. Si et quedes amb mi“, Rosa dels Vents, in 2002 and “Els Pets. Cara a cara”, Rosa dels Vents, in 2003. Moreover, he created in the magazine Enderrock the series “Sexe, Blay & rock´n´roll“ which is associated to later works.

His passion for travelling led him through Europe, the USA, Island, Tanzania and Mexico. In September 2003, he started a one-year-trip around the world to experience cultures in Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Brazil and Japan. These experiences had such a heavy influence on Blay's life that he started to work as script writer for the travel programme Km33 on the Catalan TV-channel Tv3. Thanks to that job, he continued travelling to f.e. Morocco, Burkina Faso, Mali and the USA (New York). He usually sends reports about travelling and other topics to the Catalan radio station iCat fm.

Blay who has always been a devotee of vampirism and polypoetry became famous with his novel “Vampíria Sound“ (Plaza & Janés Editores, S.A., 2004), which is a radical contemporary music thriller. The biography he wrote about Enrique Bunbury - called “Enrique Bunbury. Lo demás es silencio“ (Plaza & Janés) - made him famous overnight amongst both Spanish-speaking and international fans of Enrique Bunbury and his ex-band Héroes del Silencio. That biography offers an exciting human portrait of the extroverted Spanish singer. The book has also been published in Mexico.

In 2009, Pep Blay continued to show the extent of his talent and numerous skills with the release in Catalan of the teenager-fantasy-novel “Gotholàndia“ (Montena). At the same time “Erótica Mix“, four short stories about music and sex, were both published in Catalan (Rosa dels Vents) and in Spanish (Plaza & Janés). At the end of the year, as art director, he produced together with Spanish stars like Enrique Bunbury, Iván Ferreiro and Amparanoia, the CD “Més raons de pes. El tribut an Umpah-Pah“.

Blay has been living in Barcelona for a long time. Finally, he finds his inspiration closed to the sea to write books while his journeys take him around the globe.

Works

  1. “Lluís Llach“ (Collecció "Los Autores", SGAE, Barcelona, 1995) is a biography about the Catalan musician and songwriter Llach.
  2. “Sopa de Cabra. Si et quedes amb mi” (Rosa dels Vents, 2002) is a biography about a Catalan rock band. The vocalist Gerard Quintana decided to make a solo career after their separation.
  3. “Els Pets. Cara a cara” (Rosa dels Vents, 2003)
  4. “Vampíria Sound“ (Plaza & Janés Editores S.A., 2004) is a novel about music with thriller and vampirism elements.
  5. “Enrique Bunbury. Lo demás es silencio” (Plaza & Janés, 2007)
  6. “Gotholàndia“ (Montena, 2009) is a fantasy novel for older children and teenagers.
  7. “Eròtica Mix“ (Catalan, Rosa dels Vents, 2009) / “Erótica Mix“ (Spanish, Plaza & Janés, 2009) are four short stories.
  8. “Pretòria“ (Ara Llibres, 2010)

Literature from Pep Blay

Lluís Llach. Col•lecció "Los Autores", Barcelona, 1995, SGAE. Sopa de Cabra. Si et quedes amb mi. Barcelona, 2002, Rosa dels Vents. 1ª Edición, 336 pages, Catalan. ISBN 84-01-38607-1; ISBN 978-84-01-38607-7.

Els Pets. Cara a cara. Barcelona, 2003, Rosa dels Vents. 1ª Edición, 360 pages, Catalan. ISBN 84-01-38630-6; ISBN 978-84-01-38630-5.

Vampíria Sound. Barcelona, 2004, Plaza & Janés Editores S.A. Colección Narrativa Rosa dels vents. Catalan. ISBN 84-01-38654-3.

Enrique Bunbury. Lo demás es silencio. Barcelona, 2007, Plaza & Janés. 448 pages, Spanish. ISBN 978-84-01-30551-1.

Gotholàndia. Barcelona, 2009, Montena. 272 pages, Catalan. ISBN 978-84-8441-504-6.

Eròtica Mix. Barcelona, 2009, Rosa dels Vents. 304 pages, Catalan. ISBN 978-84-01-38727-2.

Erótica Mix. Barcelona, 2009, Plaza & Janés. 296 pages, Spanish. ISBN 978-84-01-33707-9.

Pretòria. Barcelona, 2010, Ed. Alisis. Ara Llibres SCCL. 229 pages, Catalan. ISBN 978-84-937628-6-5.

References

    1. Interview with Pep Blay: PAGÈS, Rosa: Pep Blay: defugint el localisme. Revistes catalanes, Revista del Centre de Lectura de Reus, Jahr 1990, Nr. 23 Februar.
    2. Bookintroduction: PALMER, Jordi: Els Pets ja tenen biografia. Ritmes.cat. 09.04.2003.
    3. Interview and bookintroduction : PEÑAS, Esther: Pep Blay, periodista musical. Bunbury tiene auténtica obsesión por sentirse libre. La crónica social. 26.10.2007.
    4. Interview with Pep Blay: GARRANCHO, Juan: Entrevista a Pep Blay. Olvidados Magazine. 31.01.2008.
    5. Radiospot about Pep Blay : CERVERA, Jordi: Pep Blay. Radio iCat fm.
    6. http://www.dalealplay.com/informaciondecontenido.php?con=203603 Video about Festival of Polipoesie in Barcelona: 17 festival de polipoesia de barcelona pep blay fragmentos del festival realizado en torre llobeta 2009 oktubre docuMentalidades
    7.  : MAIGÍ, Raül: Pep Blay satiritza la corrupció urbanística en la novel·la «Pretòria» . Elpunt.cat. 13.04.2010.

    Blay's official homepages:

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