Juanjo Bona continues to present his solo material, set in the tradition of Aragon, his birthplace. In ‘Mis tias’, Bona brought the jota to the present, and she does it again in ‘Moncayo’, her new single, released these days.
‘Moncayo’ is a mix of traditional influences, as Bona himself explains: “One of the things comes from the jota, obviously, but there is also a lot of tradition of brotherhoods, drums and bass drums.” In ‘Moncayo’, Bona makes that traditional facet coexist with a subtle influence of 60’s American pop: don’t the drums of the verses remind us of ‘It’s My Baby’ by the Ronettes? Maybe Bona wanted to visit this sound, after covering ‘God Only Knows’ by the Beach Boys at the Operación Triunfo Academy?
‘Moncayo’, which incorporates whistles and castanets, is a production with nuances, signed by Marcel Bagès and David Soler, experts in recovering tradition through their work with, for example, Maria Arnal. But the musical background of ‘Moncayo’ never obstructs the vocal power of Juanjo, who performs, in this song, clearly one of his best – and most heartfelt – melodies. That Aragonese mountain to which the song is dedicated, and which Bona has seen every day at her parents’ house, from her window, did not deserve anything else.
“My parents’ room has that window, the sun is always shining and the floor is warm, so I always stand there as if to look,” the singer explained. Bona has written the lyrics for ‘Moncayo’ with Fresquito and Mango.
The Moncayo mountain, therefore, means for Bona a return home, a source of peace and tranquility that allows him to escape the chaos of the outside world. The lyrics are curiously meta-musical because they capture the moment when Bona sits down to look at the mountain, to observe the branches and flowers that he sees from the room, ready to “write about love.” Maybe this is where ‘The Flash’ was born?
