Ramon Mirabet: "My parents separated in a very nice way"

Ramon Mirabet (Sant Feliu de Llobregat, 1984) is a musician, singer and producer. He presents Per sempre més (Columna), an autobiographical and musical book that transforms grief into a celebration of life.

Ramon comes from a family of artists. “My maternal grandfather went from town to town with a friend and recited poems. And it was like that for years until he arrived in Tarragona and in the audience he saw a girl (my grandmother) and they fell in love. They followed their passion, which was circus and variety theatre. She sang rancheras and did a number with puppies, and he was the presenter and imitated Cantinflas”.

His parents too. “My mother, with the parents she had, sang from a young age, she was always rooted in the theatre... On the other hand, my father's family were farmers. He was the one who broke that line, he bought a trombone at 17 and studied music”. The grandparents' love story was repeated. “My parents met on stage. My mother sang in an orchestra and my father joined as a trombonist”.

A different childhood. “My parents worked a lot. In the summers they only had one or two days of vacation. They lived very much day by day. As much as they earned, they spent. We had nothing at home, the cars were always old, we never traveled by plane, but we went out to eat, we enjoyed ourselves”.

The paternal grandmother was like a second mother. “I called her mama, because I spent as much time with her as with my mother. We lived in the same building. We were on the mezzanine and my grandparents, on the first floor. It was like having two homes. With my parents I had a one-on-one relationship, very friendly, talking about everything without taboos”.

My parents separated when he was 14 years old. “They did it in a very nice way because it was very gradual. My father went to live in Sitges and I spent a few days with him, a few days with my mother, as I wished, they gave me freedom”.

Only child

He has no siblings. “I would have liked to have some, especially when I was 20 years old and my father was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He was sick for 18 years, it's a lot of time in hospitals, waiting rooms... I have had a friendship with his doctors,” he explains.

He went to the Verge de la Salut school in Sant Feliu de Llobregat. “In the town they called it Los Padres. My uncles and my father had gone there and it was right in front of the house. It was religious, but very open, because I, for example, am not baptized. We had one hour of religion a week and they taught us about Buddhism, Hinduism...”.

He studied Business Administration and Management. “I liked audiovisual communication, but they asked for an average of 8.7. And I stayed with an 8.3. And I ended up studying ADE at the Autònoma, because at that time it was said that it had many career opportunities”.

I didn't know he wanted to dedicate himself to music. “I started piano at 3-4 years old, and at 9 I told my parents I didn't want to go back to class. I was terrified of making mistakes, we were starting to give concerts and my teeth, my legs were shaking... It never crossed my mind to study music. And my parents never forced me”.

Music found him. “In my fourth year of Business Administration, I went to Paris for an Erasmus and there, with friends, I started following two street musicians. One night I started singing with them and that audience reaction was like a poison that stayed inside me. And when I returned home, my degree finished, with the idea of looking for a job, I still didn't see myself there.” And he went to England. “I bought a guitar that I didn't know how to play and I went to Brighton to learn English. There I met musicians and I told myself: I want to keep traveling and singing, I think I do it well. And if I start singing on the street, I could pay for hostels, food... And I traveled and played on the street for six years”.

A connection with his grandfather's life. “He died when I was 2 years old and I didn't know him, but I like this comparison”.