Biography of PAU CASALS (by Fina Iglesias)

I’m going to write about a musician man who was the best one in his period.

He was born in El Vendrell in 1876. He started studying piano, flute and violin when he was five years old.

One day, he saw a person who was playing an instrument in a special position. It was a cello, he became keen on that instrument and decided to learn violoncello. When he was studying, he met Isaac Albeniz who helped him to get some contacts. Afterwards he could continue his classes in Madrid. He got a degree very early and he played the cello on a particular and personal way.

He travelled around the world giving concerts and played side by side with other musicians. 

In 1971 he composed “The Hymn of United Nations” and received the Peace Medal.

Pau Casals always fought to give support to freedom for Catalonia and he participated in several concerts for peace.

Biography of Victòria dels Àngels (by Roser Riudor)

          

Victòria dels Àngels (Barcelona 1923-2005) was a Spanish singer who highlighted as a lyric and opera soprano. She was born Victoria de los Ángeles López García and lived her childhood and youth in the porter’s lodge of the University of Barcelona where her father was a caretaker. The soprano married Enric Magriñà in 1948 and they had two sons, one of them with Down’s syndrome.

She always admitted her humble origins despite her success in her professional carreer. She was a model of an anti-diva.

Victoria studied at Barcelona Conservatory. In 1941, while she was still a student, she made her operatic debut at the Liceu, as Mimí, in La Bohème but it was in 1945 when she returned to the Liceu to make her professional debut as the Countess in “The marriage of Figaro”. After winning first prize in the Geneva International Competition 1947, she sang “Salud” in Falla’s La vida Breve in 1948.

She played around the world. In 1949 she made her first apparance at the Paris Opera as “Marguerite” (Fausto) and, a year after, she made her debut in Salzburg and, after that, at The Royal Opera House (London), Carnegie Hall, Metropolitan Opera (New York), Teatro Colón (Buenos Aires), La Scala (Milán), Viena State Opera, etc. In 1961, Victoria de los Ángeles became the first Spanish singer who had performed at the Bayreuth Festival, as “Elisabeth” in Tannaüser.

Her farewell to opera was at the theater La Zarzuela, in Madrid in 1982, but in 1992 she sang at the Barcelona Olympic Games. Her last concert was at the National Theater of Catalonia, in Barcelona in 1997.

Once again, the Hospital of Sant Pau is hosting the “Victoria de los Ángeles Lied Festival”, from 20 to 29 november 2015.

Her life can be included in her sentence “I’m just someone singing and I would like to be remembered well”.

Biography of Malala Yousafzai (by Montse Vilà)

Malala Yousafzai is an activist for the right to education, especially female education. She was born in Mingora, Pakistan on July 12 in 1997. Her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, was the owner of a chain of schools known as the Khushal Public School and an education activist in Pakistan. Now he is the United Nations Special Advisor on Global Education and also the educational attaché of Pakistan in its consulate in Birmingham, United Kingdom. Her mother, Tor Pekai Yousafzai, is a housewife. Recently she has learned to read and write, and to speak a bit of English. Malala has two younger brothers, Khushal and Atal.

Although her family didn't have much money and life was difficult in Pakistan, Malala Yousafzai had a happy childhood. She went to school in Mingora, one of her father's schools. She was a very good student because she loves learning and going to school. She wanted to become a doctor.

She became interested in girls education and got involved in it because of the injustice that was happening in her country and with the support of her family, especially his father, who always encouraged her. She began speaking about education rights in September 2008, when her father took her to Peshawar to speak at the local press club. In January 2009, Malala began writing a blog under the pseudonym Gul Makai for the BBC detailing her life under Taliban occupation. At that time the Taliban banned television and music, women were prevented from leaving home alone and girls were forbidden to go to school. In summer 2009, a journalist for the New York Times made a documentary about her life in Pakistan. Then she was revealed as the author of the BBC blog. Malala and her father received death threats but continued to speak out for the right to education. Since then she has become more known by giving interviews in print and on television. In 2011 she received Pakistan's first National Youth Peace Prize and was nominated for the International Children's Peace Prize.

On October 9, 2012, when Malala and her friends were going back home by the school bus, a masked gunman got on the bus and shot her. The bullet went through her head, neck and shoulder. Two other girls were also wounded in the shooting. Malala survived but was in a critical condition. She was quickly moved to a military hospital in Peshawar where doctors operated her as an emergency because her brain was swollen. Two days later the doctors decided to take her to a military hospital in Rawalpindi. On October 15, she was moved to Birmingham, United Kingdom for treatment at a hospital that specializes in military injuries. A few days later she came out of the coma and was responding well to treatment. On October 25, she was reunited with her family. Until then, she had not cried, but when she saw them, she collapsed. They all ended up crying. On 3 January, 2013, Malala was discharged from the hospital to continue her rehabilitation at her new home. The Taliban's attempt to kill Malala received worldwide condemnation and led to protests across Pakistan. While she was in hospital she received much support from people around the world.

In March 2013, she returned to school in Birmingham. On July 12 2013, Malala's 16th birthday,  she spoke at the United Nations to call for worldwide access to education. The UN dubbed the event "Malala's Day". In that speech she said: "One child, one teacher, one pen and one book can change the world". Since then this sentence has become her motto. In that same month, Malala met Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. In October her autobiography was published and she met Barack Obama and his family. In that year, Malala and her father co-founded the Malala Fund, a nonprofit association to bring awareness to the social and economic impact of girls' education and to encourage girls to raise their voices, to unlock their potential and to demand change. In May 2014, she participated in the campaign for the release of the young Nigerian, who was abducted while studying by an Islamic group that rejects women education. 

On 10 December, 2014, Malala won the Nobel Peace Prize. She is the youngest person ever to win a Nobel Prize. She contributed her $1.1 million prize money to financing the creation of a secondary school for girls in Pakistan. On 12 July 2015, her 18th birthday, she opened a school in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, near the Syrian border, for Syrian refugees. On 20 August she got good grades in her GCSE exams. She had achieved six A*s and four As. In October a documentary entitled ""He named Malala"" was released. In November, she met Emma Watson. During the interview Malala told her that thanks to Emma Watson's speech at the United Nations , she had become feminist.

She plans to remain in the UK for the rest of her education. She wants to go to a good university and study politics. She hopes to become prime minister of her country some day. She and her family hope to return to his beloved Pakistan.

I admire her a lot because she has been and still is very brave. It is a role model and an inspiration. Her effort and dedication encourages me to be care more for other people and a better person. We need more people like her in the world. I wish her all the best in life because she deserves it.

Biography of Ona Carbonell Ballestero, by Mireia Guimerà

Ona Carbonell Ballestero

Captain of Spanish synchronized swimming team.

Ona Carbonell Ballestero was born in Barcelona on 5 July, 1990, but now she lives in Mallorca.

She began her sport education in rhythmic gymnastics and when she has 10 years old, she changed her preferences to synchronized swimming and at the age of 14, he trained in Car Sant Cugat, the high efficiency sports center of Barcelona, where the elite athletes of Spain train. Now she is 25 years old and is the captain of Spanish synchronized swimming team.

She has participated in three junior world championships, four absolute world championships, and an Olympic Game, and has won 40 gold medals, 26 Argent medals and 24 bronze medals in her life.

Her most important victory was the Olympic medal in London, 2012, and the last awards were silver and bronze in Kazan world championships in 2015.

Now she trains very hard to participate in next Olympic Games Brazil 2016.

Today, Ona is one of the best and most renowned figures in the Spanish sport,

Biography of Elvis Presley, by Montse Zamorano

ELVIS AARON PRESLEY was born in Tupelo,Mississippi the US, on January 8,1935. His parents were Gladis Love and Vernon Elvis Presley. When he was 13 years old, he and his family moved to Memphis, Tenessee.

He studied at L.C. Humes High School. Presley received only a C in music in eighth grade, When his music teacher told him he had no aptitude for singing. He joined the United States Army (1958-1960) with a rang of Sargent.

His music career began in 1954. Presley's first single HeartbreakHotel was released in January, 1956. It was a number-one hit in the US.  He became his music career as a rock and roll figure. In November 1956, he made his film debut in Love me Tender .

Elvis sang in different genres: Rock and Roll, Rockabilly, Pop, Country and Gospel.

He married Priscilla Beaulieu in 1967 and they had a child, Lisa Marie Presley. In 1973,

 Priscilla and Elvis got divorced, he had become addicted to many drugs.

Elvis Presley died on August 16, 1977 (aged 42) in Memphis, Tenesse, US.

Biography of Joan Manuel Serrat, by Júlia Morente

Joan Manuel Serrat was born in Poble Sec, a neighbourhood of Barcelona, on December 27, 1943. He is one of the most important figures of modern, popular music, in both the Spanish and Catalan languages, who started the Nova Cançó Catalana (new Catalan song) together with other Catalan musicians. Josep, his father, was an anarchist, member of the CNT, and he worked at the Gas Company as an electrician. His mother, Ángeles, was born in Belchite, Zaragoza. She was a housewife and also worked as a dress-maker.

His childhood and environment in his neighbourhood impacted him as he described Catalonia, after the Spanish Civil War. He studied agricultural engineering, but he became involved with music when he was 16 after his father gave him a guitar. He dedicated him one of his firsts songs: La guitarra.

In 1960 the young artist participated in a pop band. In 1965 he joined the group Els setze Jutges, which defended the Catalan language during the Franco’s dictatorship. ElsVells Amants i Els Titelles, which Serrat sang at the Palau de la Musica Catalana, served to establish him as one of the most important artists in the Nova Cançó Catalana.

In 1968, he was chosen to sing the song La La La at the Eurovision Song Contest. He asked to sing it in Catalan, but the Spanish authorities didn't agree, so he refused to sing it in the Spanish version, and he was replaced by the singer Masiel. As a result, Serrat's music was banned in Spain.

In 1974, he was exiled in Mexico, after he had condemned the arbitrary executions under Franco's Regime. He was acclaimed in South America and the USA. He came back to Spain before Franco's death, and he sang Catalan songs as well as Spanish songs.

In 1969, his first child, Queco, was born. In 1978, Serrat got married to Candela, a well being family's daughter, and in 1969 was born their daughter Maria was born.

Since his beginnings, he was the best photographer of the Spanish reality with his irony and sensitivity. In his songs, he gave voice to poets like Machado, Miguel Hernández, Rafael Alberti and some others, and his own lyrics are always poetry.

Nowadays, in Spain, he has been recognised as a very important musician. Not long ago, he overcame a cancer, however, nowadays he continues singing and acting.

Biography of Johann Sebastian Bach, by Javier Lima

Biography of Gabriel García Márquez, by Maria Lluïsa Iborra

Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez – Gabriel García Márquez, was born on March 6, 1927 in Aracatana (Colombia)

His parents were Gabriel Eligio García and Luisa Santiaga Márquez.

He was raised by his grandparents ; the colonel Nicolas Márquez and Tranquilina Iguaran; they were his first influence on his writings.

In 1936, when his granfather died, Gabriel moved to his parents' house in Sucre and he studied at a boarding school in Barranquilla.

From 1940 he studied at San José school where he wrote his first romances for the school journal.

After his graduation, in 1947, he lived in Bogotá for studying Law at the National University of Colombia. In 1947, he published his first short story La tercera resignación in the newspaper El Espectador.

In 1948 Gabriel gave up law studies and started to work as a reporter and writer.

He married Mercedes Barcha in 1958 and they had two sons: the oldest one, Rodrigo, was born in 1959; and the youngest one, Gonzalo, was born in 1962. Rodrigo is a movie director and Gonzalo is a graphic designer.

García Márquez is best known for his novels, such as Cien años de soledad (1967), El otoño del patriarca (1975) and El amor en los tiempos del cólera (1985). Most of his books are based or set in his birth place, Aracataca. He mostly wrote books about realism or magical realism. His themes included solitude and violence.

In 1982, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature "for his novels and short stories, in which the fantastic and the realistic are combined in a richly composed world of imagination, reflecting a continent's life and conflicts".

García Márquez was appointed mediator at the talks for peace between the Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN) and the Colombien government in Cuba, and between the “Belisario Betancourt” government and the group Movimiento 19 de Abril (M-19).

García Márquez wrote his last book in 2004. He retired in May 2008 because of his age and health.

In April, 2014 García Márquez was internee in the Instituto de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición in Mexico DF, for the relapse of the lymphatic cancer diagnosed in 1999.

Gabriel García Márquez died in Mexico DF, on April 17, 2014.

The President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, said about García Márquez: “The writer was the Colombian who put further and higher the name of our land in all the history of our country".

Biography of Josep Manel Anglada, by Joaquim Dencàs

Remembering a person

His name's Josep Manel Anglada, and he has been a famous climber in the world of mountain climbing. He was born in Barcelona in 1932, and his father was a small industrial. I don't know anything about his parents, and he didn't speak about them. He has a brother too, and he is a nephew of the painter, her name was Lola Anglada Sarriera.

Between the years 1955 and 2000 he was the most famous Catalan climber. When he was 6 years old, he studied the Liceu francès in Barcelona. Afterwards, he moved to France with his parents until the Spanish Civil War was over.  At the age of 14 years old, in 1947, he continued his studies at the college in Didsbury, England, to learn the English language, and a year later, at the French college in Loreburne, France, but every summer, he spent his holidays in El Figaró.

He was known by his friends for travelling around the world, and he began to climb his first mountains with them.

He holds the Gold Medal of the city of Barcelona for having reached the top of the highest mountains in the world.

He also worked as a technician manager of one of the Spanish expeditions to the Himalayas. He has climbed the Andes, Alps, in Africa and all other continents, too.

He's not married, and he doesn't have any children as far as I know, because we have never spoken about them.

At the age of 65 years old, he climed the Everest, and now at the age of 82 years old, he continues walking in our mountains.

Note: Now, I want tell a personal story: One day, I needed his help to get to the top of a mountain top. If it had not been for him, perhaps today I might not be here.

I will always have a fragment of those good memories on my mind.

Biography of Charlie Rivel, by Cristina Calduch

Charlie Rivel was one of the most worldwide known clowns. He took his artistic  name in homage to Charlie Chaplin.

Josep Andreu i Lasserre (that was his real name) was born in Cubelles on April 24, 1986 and died in Sant Pere de Ribes on July 26, 1983.

All his family members were also circus performers. He debuted at the age of just three years old and he was part of the group LOS RIVELS with his brothers.

In 1941, when World War II began, Charlie Rivel was in Berlin and went to Denmark, but when the Nazis occupied the country forced him to return to fulfill their contracts. Then it was a recognized and famous clown. German people loved him, and his success was absolutely spectacular. Three sessions filled daily L'Scala Varietés. Afterwards, Charlie asked for help to return to Spain. From 1954, he became one of the stars of the Circo Price. In 1971 he appeared in the film Clowns directed by Federico Fellini.

Please keep in mind his funny image wearing a long shirt, his curly red wig, his guitar and a chair. There is a museum dedicated to him in Cubelles and also a park in Vigo.

Hello everybody!

My name is Anna and I’m from Granollers. I'm currently studying English at CFA Vallès school and I’m also looking for a job. I love travelling, everywhere, and I like going out to have fun.

Last summer I went to Japan and I liked it. It’s amazing and different, the people are lovely and friendly. The only problem is the long hour journey on the plane, it is very hard, but, other than that, it was fantastic. 

Anna Baqué