Oscar Dalmau: “Noria Filho invited me to make coffee at her house and take all the records I wanted”

“He invited me to make coffee at his house and took all the records I wanted.” This is how caller Oscar Dalmau recalls how he met Noria Filho, an artist from Sants to whom he has dedicated an exhibition in Palau Robert in honor of her character, which can be visited until next May 19.

The origin of Dalmau's admiration for the artist comes from far away. He explained in statements to the newspaper: “I studied with his niece, and when I was 14 years old, I really loved what I was doing.” Line. But they didn't recognize each other until 'vintillargs'. “I really love jazz and suddenly I heard her voice on tape and I called my niece Eulalia and she gave me Nuria Filho's phone number so I could tell her how successful she was,” Dalmau says.

It was at that very moment when Filho invited him to his house so they could get to know each other and collect all the jazz records he wanted. “He left me a suitcase because I had no way to take it with me,” Dalmau recalls. From that moment they established a strong friendship that lasted until the artist's death in July 2022. He is now paying tribute to the gallery.

Saints as the protagonist

The exhibition opened on February 13, and showcases Filho's musical career spanning 50 years, as well as breaking the image that saw her as “Aunt Catalonia.” For the communicator, doing so was quite a “responsibility.” “My fear was that I had never organized an exhibition, but they helped me a lot,” he says. In this sense, Dalmau explains that he studied audiovisual communication and that when he did so he realized that preparing an exhibition was the same thing. “It contains everything: audio, pictures, performances and unpublished materials,” explains the presenter The competition From RAC1.

In addition to showcasing Nuria Filho's personal career, the exhibition also notes her vital connection to Saint. In fact, the giantess representing her character, who usually sleeps at the Cutxeres Civic Center in Sants, is well placed at the entrance to the exhibition.

Once inside, the viewer sees a first room dedicated to the artist's origins in Sants with a photograph of her working in her family's vegetable store. “The market was her first stage, she explained, because her mother told her that she should always smile and wear make-up to look good in front of the public, and because the spotlight was already on her.” Dalmau. During the tour, other aspects of his life are also explained, such as the square where he was born, Oska Square, or when he studied piano in the same neighborhood of Sants.

On the other hand, one of the most curious unpublished photos related to Sants is that of a concert held in the old Plaça de Sants in 1971, taken from the archives of Televisió Española, which almost no one saw there that day.

Universal personality

The exhibition covers all aspects of Filho. From his time in theater to his defense of the Catalan language. The truth is that the artist formed his identity through artistic ambition and global vision, but also through Catalanism and Barça. Filho, who became a great master of jazz by translating the genre's great international songs into Catalan.

We must not forget that the artist from Sants, who was known throughout the country, was very involved in the media, such as Televisió Española, which devoted a study to her during the Franco regime, even though she sang in Catalan.