Peret (singer)

Peret with a gold record for his single Borriquito, 1971

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Singles

Borriquito   DE 1 08/16/1971 (25 weeks)   CH 2 09/21/1971 (14 weeks)

Peret (born March 24, 1935 in Mataró , † August 27, 2014 in Barcelona ; actually Pedro Pubill i Calaf ) was a Spanish singer and guitarist. He was considered an outstanding representative of the Catalan rumba .

Life

During his childhood, Peret was more on the road with his father, a traveling textile merchant, in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands than in school. At the same time, he became very familiar with the guitar music of the Gitanos from the beginning and at the age of twelve he himself was together with a cousin as a musician at a children's festival on the stage of the Tívoli in Barcelona. At that time there was also a first record that has since been lost.

Like his father, he initially earned his living as a traveling merchant and also spent some time in Argentina. As a musician he only appeared on the side, but soon made a name for himself in and around Barcelona and finally recorded a few records from 1957. Musically he oriented himself towards the rumba catalana popularized by the musician El Pescaílla .

He was also known for his spirited playing style, which is called El ventilador (fan style). He circles with the beater arm and twirls the guitar around its axis. He also uses the guitar body as a percussion instrument by hitting and knocking and throwing it back and forth .

breakthrough

Peret's great career began in the mid-1960s when he went to the capital, Madrid . With a mixture of the music of his homeland, Cuban sounds , flamenco and modern rock'n 'roll, he developed a style of music that was also able to conquer the pop music and disco scene of the time. Hits from this period that are particularly well-known in Spain are El muerto vivo , Una lágrima , El gitano Antón , Don Toribio Carambola and others. His success earned him the nickname Rey de la Rumba , King of the Rumba.

He has also appeared several times as a singer in Spanish feature films. In the early 1970s in particular, he also had a few other film roles, but an acting career did not emerge from it.

Peret had his greatest musical hit in 1971. The song Borriquito was not only a summer hit in Spain. Since the country had meanwhile also become a popular holiday destination, holidaymakers in Spain took the song back to their home countries and it became a big hit across the continent, reaching number 1 in the charts in Germany , Belgium and the Netherlands and among others 2nd place in Switzerland. The success was mainly due to the simple, children's song-like chorus and the mood-setting melody, which made the song a catchy tune to sing along with.

However, the attempt to build on the international success in the following years failed. The popularity of the typical Peret rumba remained limited to Spain and Latin America. In 1974 he tried again at the Eurovision Grand Prix in Europe. With Canta y sé feliz , however, he only reached a mediocre ninth place in the end and did not make it back into the international charts. In Spain, however, the song was another summer hit.

religion

Peret, 2007

Throughout the 1970s, Peret continued his successful music career in his homeland. In 1982 he suddenly withdrew completely from music, joining the Iglesia Evangélica de Filadelfia , the largest religious community of the Spanish Gitanos ( Roma ). In the following years he devoted himself exclusively to preaching and religious activities.

Only in 1991, after leaving the church, did he return to music and record new albums. He received a special honor in 1992 when he sang as representative of Catalonia at the Olympic Games in Barcelona at the closing event, which was an expression of the appreciation of his work in his home country. In 2000 the album Rey de la Rumba was released , a new recording of his greatest hits together with other well-known artists.

Discography

Albums

• Peret (1969)
• Canta para el cine (1970)
• Peret (1971)
• Peret (1972)
• Peret (1973)
• Peret (1975)
• Saboreando (1978)
• Peret (1978)
• El joven Peret (1979)
• El jilguero (1980)
• De coco a la paja (1981)
• Saboreando a Peret (1988)
• No se pue aguantar (1991, ES:gold)
• Gitana hechicera (1992)
• Como me gusta (1993)
• Que disparen flores (1995)
• Jesus de Nazareth (1996)
• Rey de la Rumba (2000, ES:gold)
• Marujas Asesinas (2001)
• Que levante el dedo (2007)
• De los cobardes nunca se ha escrito nada (2009)
• Des del respecte (2017)

International singles

• Borriquito (1971)
• Voy voy (1971)
• Ni fu ni fa (1972)
• El mosquito (1973)
• Canta y sé feliz (1974)
• Saboreando (1978)
• Borriquito Mix (1988)

Filmography

Leading roles

• Amor a todo gas (1969)
• El meson del gitano (1970)
• A mi las mujeres ni fu ni fa (1971)
• Que cosas tiene el amor (1973)
• Si fulano fuese mengano (1974)

Supporting roles and extras

• Los Tarantos (1963)
• Las cuatro bodas de Marisol (1967)
• El taxi de los conflictos (1968)
• Un dia despues de agosto (1968)
• Alma gitana (1996)
• Marujas asesinas (2001)
• Lazos rotos (2008)

literature

• Cèlia Sànchez-Mústich: Peret. El alma de un pueblo . Barcelona 2005, ISBN 9788483076613 .

Web links

Commons : Peret (singer)  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Peret in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• The Catalan Rumba ( Memento from May 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (English / Spanish)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Chart sources: DE CH
2. ↑ Spanish Singer Peret dies, 79. buenosairesherald.com, August 28, 2014, accessed August 28, 2014
3. ↑ Awards for music sales: elportaldemusica.es ES1 ES2