[08001] A dysfunction of the system?

Imagine a city of roughly 1.8 million inhabitants, among which more than 400.000 are immigrants. Imagine that the city is positioned somewhere in the middle between three continents, belonging to Europe, facing Africa and having "family" links with South America and the Arab states. Then imagine of a city being at the verge of what may still be considered "avant-guard" while at the same time being tolerant to the traditional heritage of its immigrants and, evenmore, willing to incorporate them into a "mestizo" culture, that is a cultural mixture of all of the above. This is Barcelona.

And, at least for me, Barcelona is Raval, the neighbourhood of the immigrants which is situated west of la Rambla between the Barrí Gotic and Poble Sec. A micrography of our world, with its beautiful rennovated flats of modern painters, right next door to a two bedroom flat which may be shared by a dozen of iraquis. Streets full of colours, odours and tastes from as far as Pakistan and Argentina, syrian restaurants, greek bars, dutch jazz clubs, irish pubs and peruvian barber shops. Everything in walking distance from each other, the good-looking side of "globalization". Zip code: 08001.

No wonder, the most interesting band I 've seen up to now, comes from the Raval. And no wonder it's called 08001. More a collective than a band, comprising twenty-three people from 15 different countries. Their music, a fusion of folk world music with trip-hop, hip-hop, heavy base chords, funky outbursts and melodic vocal sessions is all someone can ask for. The musicians´ inspiring performance blends with the vocalists (more than 8 that keep coming on and off the stage throughout the whole set) and with well-placed samples and video projections.

In times where multi-cultural appeal is confined in extremely expensive, trendy restaurants, when the need to get in touch with a different culture is usually satisfied with an organized trip that locks you up in a 5-star hotel in Habana or Thailand, a walk in the streets of Raval may bring you to the other side of the moon, where life is still real, people work ordinary jobs and do not dress up for tourists. And what better soundtrack for this stroll than 08001?