"Summer nights are for letting life surprise you"

The summer nights that Sheila Quero, singer of the group Maruja Limón, remembers most are those spent around Sant Joan with the whole family at a campsite in Sant Pol de Mar, where they vacationed every season. “On Sant Joan night we would set up a giant table and all the surrounding families would gather. We spent hours singing, enjoying, and sharing. I was little and it seemed wonderful to be able to go to bed so late. The sense of community was immense, I remember we would fry sardines and set off fireworks. From June to September, my brothers and I had the opportunity to live wildly among the pine trees and the beach, enjoying the Catalan coast, which is wonderful,” explains Quero.

The singer particularly remembers the paellas at the Cala del Molí beach bar or the night the Firefighters burst onto the beach to put out a fire burning reeds. Also the smells – of salt and pine – and the soundtrack that accompanied everything: Sopa de Caracol, Georgie Dann, and Sonia y Selena. “They were songs to be danced to, you didn't pay attention to the lyrics or anything. Now I think about it and… my goodness, what lyrics!”, says the singer.

With the onset of adolescence, the epicenter of summers shifted from family to friendships. “They were summers of going camping with friends – I’m very much into camping, I admit – but in this case, to the cheapest place we could find, it didn't matter where”.

Currently, and for more than a decade, Sheila Quero's summers are spent touring with Maruja Limón. Her foray into the world of music began through the Andalusian clubs of Santa Coloma de Gramenet, where the singer is from. “I used to dance the flamenco quadro in different clubs and I would always stay listening to the cantaors and guitarists. I would repeat the lyrics and because of that I started singing. I met the girls from Maruja Limón at a flamenco school in Barcelona, and now for twelve years we have been sharing our summers, from concert to concert,” explains the singer.

With Maruja Limón, many memorable summer nights have also passed. Quero especially remembers one concert in Cadaqués around Saint John's Day. “A lot of people came and, when we finished, we went out with friends. We played in the street, we got into the water at night... we ended up sleeping on the beach and watched the sun rise. The next day we had a horrible hangover, we were dragging ourselves around Cadaqués in our worst state, but there's one thing we Maruja Llimón have and that is that we bounce back very quickly, we give everything. That's why summer nights exist, to let life surprise you”.