Remigi Palmero, the hero of Mediterranean rock, dies

BarcelonaThe Valencian musician Remigi Palmero died on Friday at the age of 76 in Alginet, the town in the Ribera Alta region where he was born in 1950. His legacy includes the album Relative humidity (1979), one of the pillars of the so-called Mediterranean rock created in the Valencian Community, along with Yesterday's trash (1977), by Pep Laguardia, and Waiters (1981), by Juli Bustamante. Just as Pep Laguarda played with psychedelia, Palmero unfolded a luminous pop-rock seasoned with different traditions, from Valencian folk to flamenco and jazz, and with the collaboration of African musicians and verses by Vicent Andrés Estellés. He was a visionary, a champion of natural fusion long before the term "mestizo music" was even used. A contemporary of Jaume Sisa and Pau Riba, he also forged his own path outside the hegemony of the Nova Cançó movement, with lyrics that didn't dwell on explicit politics. In a way, Relative humidity It has been an album that has influenced, consciously or unconsciously, artists of later generations such as Sénior y el Cor Brutal, Òscar Briz, Arthur Caravan, Carles Sanjosex and even Antònia Font.

BeforeRelative humidityRemigi Palmero was the guitarist for the pop-rock group Els 5 Xics, and after completing his military service, he began developing his own project. It was then that he solidified his friendship with Bustamante, who would later write some of the lyrics for the songs ofRelative humidityFor example, that of the emblematic Radio AlgiersIn 1981, Palmero collaborated on the album Waiters Bustamante's band. At the same time, both musicians shared an adventure with drummer Tico Balanzá (Bustamante's brother), a group with a repertoire in Spanish and Catalan that eventually adopted the name In Fraganti and released a couple of singles. Some of the material intended for an unreleased In Fraganti album was scattered across various records. Provisions, by Palmero (Xiu-Xiu, 86), and I'm in charge of myself (1987), by Bustamante.

From the nineties onwards, musical activity ceased to be a priority for Palmero, who dedicated himself to painting and yoga. However, he still made one more album, No comment (2009), a guitar and voice album with wonders like The woman from the pine house and A moment of lightness.