Joan Manuel Serrat 2024 Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts

At its meeting in Oviedo, the Jury for the 2024 Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts, composed of Claude Bussac, Josep Maria Flotats i Picas, Sergio Gutiérrez Sánchez, Maribel López Zambrana, Antonio Lucas Herrero, Joan Matabosch Grifoll, Isabel Muñoz Villalonga, María Pagés Madrigal, Helena Pimenta Hernández, Martha Thorne, Rosa Torres-Pardo and Carlos Urroz Arancibia, chaired by Miguel Zugaza Miranda and with Sandra Rotondo Urcola acting as secretary, has unanimously agreed to grant the 2024 Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts to Joan Manuel Serrat for the scope of an artistic career that transcends music to become a source of civic inspiration, adding the force of the collective anthem imbued with universal will to the lyrics of his songs.

With deep Mediterranean roots, the art of poetry and music come together in Serrat’s work at the service of tolerance, shared values, the richness of the diversity of languages and cultures, as well as a necessary longing for freedom. An advocate of dialogue in the face of confrontation, the work of Joan Manuel Serrat constitutes an exponent of his unwavering vocation to build bridges between countries and generations.

Oviedo, 24th April 2024