Joan Manuel Serrat sings to the 'mare nostrum' in this song, which became one of Spain's popular anthems.
At the height of his career, the singer-songwriter Joan Manuel Serrat composed this song after various extended visits to the coastal towns and villages of Catalonia and the Balearic Islands. This poetic hymn to the Mediterranean culture evokes the character of its peoples and the main historic events which have taken place in its waters, from the time of classical Greece to the present day. Despite being banned by Franco's government thanks to his refusal to sing in Castilian Spanish in the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest, 'Mediterráneo' enjoyed great popular success, and years later (2004) was chosen as the best song in the history of Spanish popular music in the programme 'Our best song' on Spanish public television.
