Peret

Pedro Pubill Calaf, known artistically as Peret (Mataró; March 24, 1935 - Barcelona; August 27, 2014), was a singer, guitarist and Spanish composer of gypsy ethnicity. He popularized the Catalan rumba.

Biography

His father made his living as a traveling fabric salesman and as a child Peret accompanied him on his commercial trips through Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, so he went to school little. It seems that he taught himself to read by looking at advertising posters.

A fan of the guitar and gypsy singing since he was a child, at the age of twelve he formed a duo with his cousin. They were called The Montenegro Brothers. They debuted at the Tívoli Theater in Barcelona, at a children's festival.

In 1957, by chance, he recorded an album that went unnoticed by the market, so he survived as a street vendor. He even traveled to Argentina, but not to sing, but to negotiate with sheets. He occasionally performed in venues on the Catalan coast. Little by little, his name became known in Barcelona. Thus, he recorded a couple of albums that were played a lot on radio stations in the area. Soon he married Fuensanta, Santa, a gypsy member of the family to whom years later he would dedicate one of his most popular songs: "Mi Santa."

In the mid-60s he made the leap to Madrid, when he was hired by El Duende, a flamenco tablao belonging to Pastora Imperio and Gitanillo de Triana, and there his climb began. Some of his interpretations, such as "The Living Dead" by Colombian Guillermo González Arenas, began to be very successful among people from diverse social backgrounds. And at this moment a very significant phenomenon occurred that Manuel Román described like this in his book Memoria de la copla:

In the trendy discotheques, where Anglo-Saxon music and the Spanish ensembles of the time, such as Los Bravos and others of the pop genre, there is suddenly a sudden change, after midnight, that the punadiscos take advantage of to increase the rumbas of Peret.

In 1967 he recorded "Una lágrima", a rumbera version of a waltz by maestro Monreal, which had a brilliant success, becoming one of the songs of the summer of 1968. At this time, Peret's music—powerful and dizzying, with influences of mambo and rock and roll—was constantly played on radio stations, jukeboxes, taverns, casinos, discotheques, guateques, festivals...

In subsequent years, all the orchestras incorporated songs such as "El gitano Antón", "Don Toribio Carambola", "Saboreando", "¡Lo mato!", "Si fulano fuese mengano", "Chaví" into their repertoire., "Sing and be happy" (with which he participated in the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest), "What things does love have", "A mi las mujeres ni fu ni fa", "Castigadora", "Tracatrá", etc Many of his greatest hits are derived from a style of Cuban son called guaracha, which greatly influenced Catalan rumba. An example of this is the guaracha “I kill him!” by Cuban Ñico Saquito. Peret says that when he was young he went to the Rialto nightclub to dance Pérez Prado's mambos, dressed as a rocker: for him, the mix of Cuban and rock music is fundamental in the creation of the Catalan rumba.

The international bombshell came with "Borriquito" in 1971, with lyrics and music by the singer himself, which coincided with the boom of tourism in Spain, which contributed to the song becoming popular in Spain. all over the world and especially in the Netherlands (7 weeks at #1) and Germany (two weeks at #1). This song was also widely accepted in Mexico and Latin America, which led to other songs of a similar style reaching the Latin American market.

His second great international success was "It is preferable to laugh than cry", from 1972. Very popular in Latin America and especially in Argentina and Uruguay. In fact, it is their best-known and most listened to song in these countries, even decades after its release. And the phrase "it is better to laugh than cry" became popular and remained in popular speech, at least until the early years of the 90s.

In 1975, he performed at a musical festival that took place in El Aaiún, capital of the Sahara, in honor of the Spanish troops, during the green march, along with Rosa Morena, Karina, Lolita Sevilla, Arena Caliente and the comedian Chicho Gordillo. It was held for two days in the Third Saharan Third of the Legion Don Juan de Austria, where she performed before more than 12,000 people, including chiefs, officers and soldiers.

In 1982, unexpectedly, Pedro Pubill Calaf radically abandoned his artistic activity and joined the Barcelona section of the Philadelphia Evangelical Church. For nine years he carried out religious work with exclusive dedication under the name "Brother Pedro." Later, without abandoning his religious belief, he ceased pastoral activity and set up a record production company. Since then, he has reappeared on stage sporadically.

In 1991, he composed the song representing Spain at the OTI Song Festival, held in Acapulco (Mexico). The song was called "Bésame" and was performed by her nephew Joel, which would be included on his album. The Festival consisted of a semifinal and final, and Peret's song managed to advance to the final of the contest.

In 1992, he participated in the closing ceremony of the Barcelona Olympic Games, along with Los Manolos, Los Amaya and other exponents of Catalan rumba. In it she performed the song "Gitana hechicera", dedicated to the city of Barcelona on the occasion of the Olympic Games, a song that was one of the hits of that summer.

In 1998, he was awarded the Cross of Sant Jordi. In 2000, he recorded a new album Peret: Rey de la rumba , alongside soloists and pop groups such as Jarabedepalo, El Gran Silencio, Carlos Jean, Fermín Muguruza and David Byrne (from Talking Heads)..

In 2005 he participated in Peret, the soul of a town (Península Ediciones) by the poet and writer Cèlia Sànchez-Mústich (her niece "paya"), the first book dedicated entirely to her. It is a long, intimate conversation between uncle and niece in which the thoughts and life experiences of the king of Catalan rumba are delved into.

In 2006, he participated in the tribute album to Joan Manuel Serrat, titled Per al meu amic Serrat (Discmedi, 2006), in which he performed the song "Me" to the rhythm of rumba. "n vaig a peu."

In 2007, he presented a new album with unreleased songs, titled Que Levante El Dedo, and prepared the book The Rumba Bible for the next edition. Also in 2007, Joan Manuel Serrat and Joaquín Sabina paid tribute to Peret by incorporating the song "El muerte vivo" into the repertoire of their joint tour Two Birds with One Stone. At the first concert in Barcelona at the Palau Sant Jordi, Peret accompanies the two singer-songwriters on stage.

Peret participates in the collective album of La Marató de TV3 in its 2007 edition with a Catalan version of the song "Live is life" ("I came with me") by the Austrian group Opus.

On May 3, 2011, the city of Mataró awarded him the title of favorite son of the city in recognition of his professional career and as the creator of Catalan rumba. It is the first time that the city council of this Mediterranean town grants this recognition.

In 2013 he participated in the Concert for Freedom with "L'emigrant" and "Catalunya té molt poder".

On July 30, 2014, Peret announced to the media that he was suffering from cancer, leaving the stage to undergo treatment and return as soon as possible in good health.

Death

On August 27, 2014, he died at the Quirón Hospital in Barcelona due to lung cancer at the age of 79. He was buried in the Mataró cemetery.

Peret and cinema

In 1963 he played a small role in Los Tarantos by Francisco Rovira-Beleta, where the dancer Carmen Amaya also participated. He himself was the protagonist of several films that effectively contributed to the expansion of his songs. Almost all of Peret's film titles had previously been great record hits: Amor a todo gas, El meson del gitano, Marisol's 4 weddings, What things about love, To me women are neither fu nor fa, If Fulano were Mengano,... In 1996 he participated as an actor in the film Alma gitana and in 2001 in Marujas assassinas.

Discography

LP (vinyl)

• Peret 1967 (Discophon, 1967).
• Rumba pa'ti (Discophon, 1968).
• A tear 1968 (Vergara, 1968).
• I regret gypsy 1969 (Discophon, 1969).
• Gipsy Rhumbas (Discophon, 1969).
• Canta for cinema (Vergara, 1970).
• Borriquito (Ariola, 1971). (John Pardo Production)
• A tear 1972 (Ariola, 1972). (Peret Production)
• My holy (Ariola, 1973). (José Maria Bardagi, Peret Production)
• The best of Peret (Ariola, 1974). (Production Peret, Bardagi and Juan Carlos Calderón)
• Peret and his gypsies (Emi, 1974). (Emi Production)
• Sing and be happy (Ariola, 1974). (Production Peret and Fernando Arbex)
• Knowing (Ariola, 1978). (Peret Production)
• Black tears (Ariola, 1978). (Bebu Silvetti Production)
• The young Peret (Cbs, 1979). (John Pardo Production)
• The jilguero (Belter, 1980). (Joan Barcons Production)
• From cap to palla (Belter, 1981). (Joan Barcons Production)
• From coconut to straw (Belter, 1981)

Singles not included on any LP

• Sapore di sale + Salome + What luck + If I were (Discophon, 1964) ("Sapore di sale" was not included in any of the LPs edited by Discophon).
• "Playing + Hot" (Ariola, 1975) (Sencillo instrumental maintaining Cara A not edited in any LPs).
• "Pa amb oli + De cap a la palla" (Belter, 1980) (Cara A unpublished in LP and only edited in the musicassette "El forat").
• "The forat + Estem fotuts" (Belter, 1982) (Last material edited prior to its withdrawal to be dedicated to Cult).
• Killer marujas (Virgin, 2001) (Sencillo shared with Dusminguet).

CD

• He couldn't stand it. (PDI, 1991 - reissued by Picap).
• Gitana Hechicera (PDI, 1992 - reissued by Picap 2008).
• Rumbas of the closing (PDI, 1992, live disk shared with Los Manolos and Los Amaya), reissued by Picap
• How I like (PDI, 1993 - Picap, 2008 - reissued by Picap).
• Shoot flowers (PDI, 1995 - Picap, 2008 - reissued by Picap).
• Jesus of Nazareth (PDI, 1996 - reissued by Picap 2008).
• King of the Rumba (Virgin, 2000).
• To raise your finger (K Industria Cultural, 2007).
• Of the cowards nothing has ever been written (Universal Music, 2009).
• Des del Respecte/ From Respect - Posthumous disk - (Satélite K, 2014).

compilations

• The songbook #1 (Belter, 1979).
• The forat (Impacto, 1982) (Musicassette containing Catalan themes in the face A and in the face B the medley included in the discs "From cap to the palla" and "From coconut to the straw")
• Gold Rumbas (Divucsa, 1989).
• Peret is the rumba (Ariola, 1990).
• Life ahead (Sony/BMG, 1994).
• Always Peret (PDI, 1996).
• His recordings at Discophon (Rama Lama/Blanco and Negro, 1998).
• Don Toribio Carambola (Arcade, 2000).
• Vaivén Girl (Sony/BMG, 2000).
• Number 1 in rumba (PDI, 2000).
• The rumba sauce (Sony/BMG, 2001).
• Singles Collection (Divucsa, 2004).
• Hand in hand (Divucsa, 2006).
• His 20 big hits (O.K., 2008).

Predecessor: Mocedades with «It is you»

Spain at the Eurovision Festival 1974

Successor: Sergio and Estíbaliz with "You will return"