The Catalán folk rockers Fenya Rai! bring the spirit of Pogues, Waterboys, Gogol Bordello and Dropkick Murphys to the music of the Barcelona region, with perhaps a bit more humor and self-deprecation than you’ll typically find in those groups. But that should give you an idea of where they’re coming from. Just the fact that they incorporate an exclamation point into their name is also a clue. This is primarily party music, designed to get you up and dancing.
Hailing from Valls, southwest of Barcelona, Fenya Rai! celebrates the Catalan folk songbook that’s known as the Cançoner, bringing it up to date with modern arrangements and attitudes. This is their fourth record since 2019, but they’ve been together a bit longer, and this big double album with 19 tracks compiles a couple of concerts they played at the Festa Major de Sant Joan in their hometown of Valls in June 2025.
The core of Fenya Rai! is the quartet of Jordi Jubany on guitar, Jaume Martínez on diatonic button accordion, David Tudela on bass on Roger Montalà on drums, and while Jordi sings lead with his gruff baritone, they do some nice four-part harmonies too, especially on the rousing choruses. With just that lineup I imagine they have more of a feel of a country folk band, but here they’ve added a horn section and percussion, which really fleshes out the arrangements and adds some variety to them.
Some variety, but you won’t get whiplash from big stylistic shifts. They lead off with one of their most popular songs “La Ballarusca,” which encapsulates the bulk of what they do. At first it sounded like a polka to me, but it’s pretty much just a ska arrangement with accordion. Very peppy and danceable.
The other main element is the mid-tempo cumbia like “El vi de la terra” (the wine of the earth) and “El pobre terrisser” (the poor potter), as well as other Latin American forms, like the Afro Cuban stylings that predominate on “Americanes” after its flamenco style intro. “Ai mare aneu a missa” (Oh mother, go to mass) is a plodding march sung like a sea chanty, and “Una dona llarga i prima” (a tall, thin woman) is an up-tempo two-step that could pass for Tex-Mex. The humor is earthy, in songs like the very ska “Funerals del porc” (yep, pig funerals) and the jazzy “Oda a la merda” (ode to shit).
Nineteen tracks of this is perhaps a bit much unless you’re an uber-fan, but shuffle any or all of these into your summer World Music Party playlist, mix up that sangria, and have a ball.
(Segell Microscopi, 2026)
