The Associació Musical Tótum Revolútum is a non-profit cultural association dedicated to promoting, spreading and discovering quality music, with particular attention to progressive rock, metal, jazz, post-rock, alternative rock and other work that often falls outside the more commercial circuits.

The story of Tótum Revolútum begins in 2015, when Jordi Amela, a long-standing follower and champion of live music, decided that Barcelona needed a home of its own for progressive rock and for the kind of quality musical projects that rarely found a place in the usual programmes of the big promoters.

From that idea came the Tótum Revolútum Festival, conceived not simply as a run of concerts but as a meeting point between musicians and audiences and, above all, as a platform where bands with original projects could make themselves known.

Across its various stages, Tótum Revolútum has become a space for discovering and promoting new acts, both Catalan and international. Its stage has hosted bands that were then just starting out and have since gone on to build careers of their own, taking part in new tours, venues and festivals.

That same spirit of discovery remains one of the project’s main reasons for being today. Tótum sets itself no stylistic borders. The guiding criteria are quality, originality and character. Progressive rock, metal, post-rock, jazz, experimental or alternative music, or any other musical expression, all have a place here, as long as there is genuine artistic intent and a work of its own behind it.

Over time, Jordi Amela also launched Tótum Revolútum Press, taking the project beyond the stage and turning it into a permanent platform for music journalism.

Tótum Revolútum Press reports entirely in Catalan on everything happening across the musical styles that make up the Tótum universe: new releases, news, concerts, reviews, interviews, record critiques, features, music photography and specialist content.

This work also carries a clear linguistic purpose. Tótum helps show that Catalan can be a fully normal language for specialist international music journalism, writing naturally about Catalan, Spanish and international bands and artists, regardless of the language they sing in or the country they come from.

The aim isn’t simply to promote music made in Catalonia, but to make it possible for a fan to read about progressive rock, jazz, metal, post-rock, hard rock or alternative music in Catalan, with the same level of expertise they would find in international publications.

Photography also holds a prominent place in the project. Concerts and festivals are covered with the magazine’s own quality photo features, helping to document live music visually and giving exposure to established artists and emerging acts alike.

But Tótum still keeps its ties to live music fully intact.

The Association organises concerts, seasons and events aimed at bringing bands worth discovering closer to audiences, and at creating a space where musicians and fans can meet. Some of this activity takes place at Calàbria 66, a venue particularly well suited to experiencing concerts up close, with a capacity that keeps that closeness between musician and audience that has always been part of Tótum’s spirit.

Another priority is keeping these concerts affordable, avoiding, wherever possible, letting price become a barrier to discovering new music.

Around the project, a community of its own has also grown. The Friends of Tótum — now 1,162 of them — can follow the Association’s activity for free, receive information, discover new records and bands, and benefit from certain perks, discounts and initiatives linked to the project.

Access to Tótum Revolútum Press content is free.

The Association is not run for profit and is funded mainly through voluntary donations from the Friends of Tótum, who help make it possible for the content, features, events and musical promotion to keep going.

More than a decade after the first festival was born, the project has evolved, but it still holds on to the same idea that started it: discovering music, giving space to those who rarely find one, bringing artists and audiences closer together, and helping build musical culture.

Today, Tótum Revolútum is a festival, an association, a media outlet, photography, criticism, journalism, concerts, discovery and community.

And it does all this with something that is central to its identity: telling the world’s music, in Catalan.