Andorran Choir Director Battles Decline Amid Christmas Concerts and Funeral Music Empire

Xavier Martín directs the Sant Antoni and Sant Miquel choirs from La Massana and Encamp, which are performing Christmas concerts this week as part of a longstanding local tradition.

Martín has led the La Massana choir for 24 years and the Encamp group for 13. Their programmes blend traditional carols such as *Adeste fideles* and *L’àngel i els pastors* with modern songs, including one by Dausà. The choirs also perform at Midnight Mass.

He highlights challenges facing traditional choirs across Andorra, including a decline in singers and audiences. "It's not just La Massana or Encamp—even directors of groups like the Orfeó face the same issues," Martín said. Attracting young people proves difficult, as digital distractions keep people at home on the sofa rather than attending events. He contrasted this with life 50 years ago, when choirs dominated community activities.

Martín's career began unexpectedly after studying in the US. He started accompanying solo singers on piano, only to find himself directing a full choir when one group misrepresented their needs. Within a few years, he was managing 14 choirs simultaneously.

For the past 15 years, he has also run a business providing live music at funerals in Andorra's tanatoris, organising services for more than 50,000 burials. The idea came through choir contacts: one singer knew a priest who handled ceremonies at a tanatori and invited Martín to set up the music.

He has collected countless anecdotes from these events, enough for a book. Families sometimes arrive with deep-seated conflicts, testing the solemnity of the occasion. In one case, relatives showed up with bags of flour and eggs, leading to a chaotic brawl during the ceremony—girls pulling hair, an elderly man swinging a stick. "And stories like that, some tragic, number in the thousands," Martín noted.