Ismael Serrano
Who is Ismael Serrano?
Ismael Serrano Morón was born in Madrid on March 9, 1974, and grew up in the Vallecas neighborhood. The son of poet and journalist Rodolfo Serrano, he studied physics at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, studies he eventually abandoned to devote himself to music after starting to play in venues on Madrid’s singer-songwriter circuit, such as Libertad 8 and Galileo. Among his main influences are singer-songwriters such as Joan Manuel Serrat, Luis Eduardo Aute, Joaquín Sabina and Silvio Rodríguez, as well as poets like Luis García Montero and Mario Benedetti.
Career
In 1997 he released his debut album, “Atrapados en azul,” which included his best-known song, “Papá, cuéntame otra vez,” alongside tracks like “Vértigo.” The record went platinum in Spain and gold in Argentina. It was followed in 1998 by “La memoria de los peces,” in which he addressed South American current affairs in songs such as “Vine del norte,” dedicated to Chile, and which again reached platinum status in Spain. In 2000 he released “Los paraísos deseados,” an album that incorporated new sounds such as jazz and earned him a Goya Award nomination for Best Original Song for “Km. 0,” included in the soundtrack of the film of the same name.
During these years he contributed to several collective albums, such as the Aute tribute “Mira que eres canalla” (2000) and “Encuentros en La Habana” (2001), alongside artists like Víctor Manuel, Serrat and Pablo Milanés. In 2002 he released “La traición de Wendy,” which blended bossa nova, jazz and blues and earned gold records in both Spain and Argentina. After the September 11 attacks and the start of the Iraq War, he wrote songs such as “Aquella noche” and “Ground Zero,” included on “Principio de incertidumbre” (2003), a double live album recorded at Madrid’s Teatro Lope de Vega.
In March 2004 he was forced to cancel a concert in Barcelona following the March 11 Madrid train bombings, which affected him closely since he lived in Vallecas, and he published an open letter in several Spanish newspapers. In 2005 he released “Naves ardiendo más allá de Orión,” featuring the song “Fragilidad,” which again earned gold records in Spain and Argentina after a tour of more than a hundred concerts. In 2007 he founded his own record label and released “Sueños de un hombre despierto,” which debuted at number one on the Spanish sales chart. In 2010 he released his seventh studio album, “Acordarse de vivir,” introduced through one of the first virtual concerts on social media, followed by an extensive tour of Spain, Argentina and other Latin American countries, including his first performances in Colombia and Venezuela.
Notable discography
His catalogue includes essential titles such as “Atrapados en azul” (1997), “La memoria de los peces” (1998), “Los paraísos deseados” (2000), “La traición de Wendy” (2002), “Principio de incertidumbre” (2003), “Naves ardiendo más allá de Orión” (2005), “Sueños de un hombre despierto” (2007) and “Acordarse de vivir” (2010), along with the compilation “El viaje de Rosetta” (2006), released to mark his tenth anniversary as a recording artist.