Beyond Peret and El Pescaílla: is Catalan rumba still alive?

BarcelonaIt was the summer of 1989 when Francisco Casavella, a major novelist and a true rumba fan, explained how difficult it was for a music "that has been forgotten for years, marginalised by stupid clichés and even more stupid snobbery, to reap the desired fruits in an instant." Francis, as his friends called him, spoke of Catalan rumba –"the rumba that knocks you down"–, and in addition to possessing the best-tuned pen in the city, he seemed to have the gift of predicting the future. The writer did not suspect that the entire world would listen to that music just three years after that statement. It is estimated that some 3.2 billion people connected at some point with the closing ceremony of the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992. And as is well known, the best was when the rumba sounded from the stadium's loudspeakers and the stage almost fell. It was so heavy and so emotional.

It is Catalan popular music, our folklore and one of the greatest cultural heritages we will have. Just like Barça, Dalí, Gaudí, Románico and Xavier Cugat. Rumba plays in that league. But as the ill-fated Casavella prophesied, it was an instant.

If there were an official month of rumba it would be March. On this page of the calendar they celebrated the birthday of El Fishing and Peret. Both are the father and son of the genre, because the holy spirit would be Gato Pérez. Of course, deciding who is the father and who is the son would be entering into a futile discussion. In addition, it agrees that this 2025 there are common anniversaries to celebrate: the centenary of the birth of the first and the ninetieth of the second. Therefore, a big party.

The great references

Overshadowed by the fame –and the overflowing charisma– of his wife, Lola Flores, Antonio González, He Fishing, has been a less popular figure than others who parade through this report, but his importance is absolutely essential for the subsequent development of rumba in the sixties. "For us he was the master," says Jonathan Ximenis, a musician born, like González, in the vicinity of the Plaza del Raspall. In Gracia El Fishing is as important as the three lilies on the flag of the Villa.

Born in 1925 in an apartment at number 8 Fraternitat Street, he renewed flamenco and in the process created a new genre. "As there are no recordings, it is not vindicable. If he had recorded when he was active, the entire subsequent debate about the creator of Catalan rumba would never have existed. On November 17, 1956, Ángel Zúñiga in The Vanguard Now compare The Fishing with Elvis Presley," says Txarly Brown, a wise man and reference in the history of Catalan rumba.

Although he made a name for himself in the bars on Calle Escudellers, he spent a good part of his career in Madrid, at the Duende and with Manolo Caracol. And later with Lola Flores, of course. Legend has it that he could be the inventor of the fan, that way of scratching the guitar with a designation of origin. Lowering with the fingers, hitting with the palm and raising with the thumb. A movement that he did at 200 per hour. But beyond knowing whether or not he was the first to do it, which is still an anecdote, his influence is capital: "There is evidence that he synthesized the way of transforming Afro-Antillean music into Catalan rumba with the natural elements of flamenco: voice, guitar and simple percussion, that is to say, palms and bongo," explains Txarly Brown.

As for Peret, on the other hand, everything has been said and no introduction is necessary. The value of his work for Catalan culture is incalculable, since he is one of the four or five most important Catalan musicians of all time. Son of the Middle Friend and irremediable seducer, he not only sang an unquestionable catalogue of songs but was also responsible for rumba reaching all corners. Peret was a first-rate star and for many years someone who collected number 1s, sold thousands of records and travelled all over the world with Catalan rumba as his flag. "As an artist he is unrepeatable and at close range he had an overwhelming personality, one of those people who when he opened his mouth, whether to sing or to tell something, everyone fell silent and was listened to. He had the fervor of the people in an unconditional way for his songs, but above all for his way of being." The speaker is Rogeli Herrero, Peret's biographer and founder of another myth of the genre, Los Manolos, a band that shared the stage with the maestro in that memorable performance at the Games.

Peret, who died in 2014 as a result of cancer, would be the great exporter of this musical style in the world and would become the great exponent of Calle de la Cera, the southern pole of Barcelona's rumba. There was the Salchichón bar, Can Lluís and some of the most talented gypsies of all time: Peret Reyes, Petitet and Chacho, his great friend.

Rise and fall

It would take three articles like this to draw a chronological line between the appearance of these two legends – who will celebrate their birthdays this March – and the health of rumba today. In between, things keep happening, as with all living music. If we were to establish a list with some of the most notable ones, it would be similar to this: Los Amaya and one of the best debut albums ever; Chango and gypsy salsa; Rumba Tres and the I can't love you anymore; the fall in popularity of the genre and the resurgence with Gato Pérez, and, as we have already mentioned, Los Manolos.

And then, after Catalan rumba returned to the charts in 1992, it fell again, as Casavella had predicted. "The economic crisis came after the Olympic Games and everything went down the drain," says Rogeli Herrero.

But rumba, the music that David Bryne, of Talking Heads, defined as "the missing step," never goes away completely, but rather mutates and modernizes. Just ask three names more or less contemporary and who are key in this story: Manu Chao, Ojos de Brujo and Dusminguet, written in this order in a way that is not at all coincidental. "Rumba has been in the ICU since the nineties, but it hasn't died out. And one of the main reasons for its survival was the arrival of Manu Chao and the fusion at the end of the nineties," recalls Rogeli Herrero. The so-called Barcelona sound added new layers and tones, with a generation of young musicians interested in rumba, but also in other music such as Jamaican, cumbia and salsa, all with a certain rebellious and punk essence.

In recent years there are many projects that make fans. Okay, not all songs, but they have it as a regular resource and have filled spaces and really big stages, like La Pegatina, Txarango and Gertrudis. A special case is Estopa, who are directly one of the most popular bands in the whole State so far in the 21st century. Today nobody doubts the rumba designation of origin of the Muñoz brothers, fans since they were kids of the songs of Los Amaya and Rumba Tres. Furthermore, in the documentary The fan, from RTVE, assured that, for them, "Peret and El Fishing They are like Zeus and Horus," he added, recalling that his father imitated Peret in everything he could.

An old product

It is well known that the groups that have been most successful at a popular level have not had Catalan rumba as their sole or central axis, although in the last decade a good handful of projects with a more classical tradition have remained active. For long-time listeners it has been relatively easy to find names like Los Manolos themselves, but also 4 de la Cera, Raíces de Gracia, The Family Hipster, Míliu Calabuch, Málaga, Sabor de Gracia, Pep Lladó and Muchacho & Los Sobrinos, all of them proposals of the highest level. Their problem? Not leaving the niche.

"There is little recognition, and if you don't do anything more modern you don't reach the young public," says Jonatan Eiximenis. The vast majority of concerts by his group, Arrels de Gràcia, are private, for weddings, birthdays or company celebrations. "There is no interest from the programmers, although wherever we play it works like a charm," he says. She also denounces the lack of a circuit where rumba is played regularly since the disappearance of the historic Rumba Club, which was run by Txarly Brown. There are several reasons to understand this situation, although its protagonists point above all to a repertoire that is too classical and to the fact of offering an old product at a time of urban explosion.

All of this problem has been picked up by the new generation, and in this sense the words of Eli Fàbregas, percussionist in Maruja Limón, are revealing: "Rumba has appeal, but it has been somewhat stagnant, not only in the sound field, it has also lacked evolution in terms of genre." Maruja Limón are a female sextet with an increasing interest in Catalan rumba, especially in their latest LP, He has like the face, appeared a few weeks ago. The six songs have flamenco, pop and Latin rhythms, among them the rumba: "The music has been so fused that you just have to look for new sounds based on classical music, all of which have a base of connections to the one you play, and also the tradition," says Fàbregas, who plays with the band's current band. rumba with sounds more appropriate to daily urban music, such as dancehall or dembow. "The key is to find the things that work and that mix technology and street."

The coexistence of classical and modern rumba seems to ensure, for the moment, the survival of the genre. The fan is still on for large audiences and this seems to be the most important thing beyond purity. "It is not traditional, but it does have the essence. In any case, they have known how to adapt better than us to the times we live in," says Eiximenis about the fusion groups. "Just as country successfully coexists with urban music in the United States, rumba should also do so here," explains Rogeli Herrero. Txarly Brown closes, defending the current relevance of rumba: "It is very relevant in the artistic field. The album The madrilenian C. Tangana won 3 Latin Grammys. Simple: it is an updated Catalan rumba album, with a modern producer and sound and a good investment of money in marketing."