The Mallorcan band Ossifar filled the Son Fusteret fairground in Palma with more than 7,000 people for a concert that fans and musicians alike described as a night to remember.
A huge crowd
The attendance far exceeded the 4,500 people who saw the group in Inca the previous summer. The audience spanned every generation, from children to people in their eighties, many wearing Ossifar T-shirts, caps and the straw hats that have become part of the band’s rural, tongue-in-cheek image.
The show
The concert began at 10pm. The sound of a cow mooing through the speakers announced the band’s arrival, and Ossifar opened with one of their most popular songs, “Da-li cebes!”, followed by a run of hits mixing humour, rural Mallorcan life and affectionate satire. Singers Luis Arboledas and Llàtzer Méndez led the crowd through the songs that have made the group a phenomenon on the island.
Tributes
Between songs, the band paid tribute to members of the Ossifar family who are no longer with them, including Biel Mesquida, and thanked the many musicians who have accompanied them over the years.
The encores
The night ended with a series of encores, including “No m’agrada es reggaeton”, a pasodoble and “Au idò”, with the whole audience singing along.
Who are Ossifar?
Ossifar have been a fixture of Mallorcan popular music for decades, known for comic songs in Mallorcan Catalan that celebrate — and gently mock — rural life on the island. Their concerts are a staple of village festes, and their songs, full of local expressions and characters, have been passed down from parents to children.
More than a concert
For many in the audience, the night was a celebration of Mallorcan identity, with songs in the island’s own language and humour. In a Mallorca transformed by tourism and population growth, a band singing about onions, cows and village characters in Mallorquí still has the power to fill a fairground — and to unite generations.
