A name that means a beating and a band that outlived its label

The Spanish phrase “dar un jarabe de palo” describes a hell of a beating, and it was the name that a group of musicians in Barcelona took in 1996. Literally it means wooden stick syrup. From the first day the band had the same frontman: Pau Donés, singer, songwriter and lead guitarist, whose voice and pen defined the group until the end.

The early years were prolific. Albums followed at a steady pace: La Flaca in 1996, Depende in 1998, De Vuelta y Vuelta in 2001, a record named Bonito in 2003, and 1m² in 2004. In 2005 they made Samba Pa’ Ti, a tribute to Brazil, and Adelantando came in 2007. Over the years the line-up changed often, with a long list of guitarists, bassists, keyboardists and percussionists passing through, though Donés remained the constant.

In 2008 the band announced it would leave its record company and go independent, founding its own label, Tronco Records. There was a catch: the former label owned the rights to the name, so the group changed it to “Jarabedepalo” as a single word. The independent era brought Orquesta Reciclando in 2009, which reworked old songs and added one new one, then ¿Y ahora qué hacemos? in 2011 and Somos in 2014. The later releases included Tour Americano, 50 Palos in 2017 and Tragas o escupes in 2020.

The group collected Premios de la Música, a Premio Ondas and Grammy nominations. They worked with La Vieja Trova Santiaguera, Antonio Vega, Vico C and Celia Cruz, and with the Italian musicians Jovanotti, Niccolò Fabi, Modà and Ermal Meta. Donés also composed tracks for Ricky Martin and appeared in a music video with Alanis Morissette. On 9 June 2020 he died near Barcelona after five years of colon cancer, and the band split up shortly afterwards, ending a story that began with a joke about a beating.