Companyia Elèctrica Dharma

Companyia Elèctrica Dharma is a Catalan band. Many of its members are brothers, from the district of Sants, in the city of Barcelona. They have performed in Europe, North and South America and Africa. At music festivals including "Rock in Rio", Rio de Janeiro (Brasil) "Memphis In May" Memphis (USA) "Festival of Essakane" (Mali) "Awesome Africa Festival" and Durbane (South Africa). Their albums are distributed worldwide. The band's music is a fusion of Cobla, Rock, Jazz, Blues, Progressive music, and Symphonic rock.

The will to become a band brought three brothers of the Fortuny family to form "Els Llums". Their first concert was at Casal d'Horta in 1967. Josep was the drummer, Esteve played guitar and organ and Joan was at the Bass. They sang The Beatles' songs, the oblied version of The House of the Rising Sun amongst other Catalan traditional arrangements to rock. The rise of folk music, brought to the conversion of Els Llums into La Roda while they turned on to acustic. Josep with a twelve string guitar, Esteve at the counterbass and Joan with guitars and flute with two new friends, Jordi Marigó, banjo; and Francesc Granell, guitar. They kept singing in Catalan but they added some own new work (El pescador, Tinc Fred, Mariner, Cors Humils...) musical versions from popular songs and poems.

With a new name, now "Fang i Disbauxa", they abandoned the folk to go back to its electric roots. Specially after they crashed the counterbass being driven at the top of their father car, a tinny SEAT 600. They got into Blues, playing on solos as John Lee Hooker or Big Bill Broonzy and decided to turn on to instrumental.

1971, Josep, Esteve and Joan found a saxophonist called Leandro, a guy impressed by The Road by Kerouac, the icon-book of the Beat Generation, which in Catalan was translated by Manuel de Pedrolo as "Els pòtols místics" or "Els pirats de la Dharma".

On this early years some new faces came and went as Joan Bofill (flute) or Joan Albert, who turned on Joan Fortuny's motivation for the saxo. They shared the scene with Màquina! The band which was considered to be the best rock underground or progressive music band of its time, a label that used to be hanged on groups as Agua de Regaliz, Baf or Bueyes Madereros.

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