Peret
Who is Peret?
Pere Pubill Calaf, known artistically as Peret, was a Roma singer and guitarist born on Carrer de La Palma in Mataró (Barcelona) on March 26, 1935, and died in Barcelona on August 27, 2014, from lung cancer. He is regarded as the creator and foremost representative of Catalan rumba, a style that fused flamenco compás with influences from mambo, rock and roll and Cuban guaracha.
The son of a traveling fabric salesman, he barely attended school and taught himself to read by studying advertising posters; as a child he accompanied his father on his trading trips around Catalonia and the Balearic Islands. A guitar and singing enthusiast from an early age, at twelve he formed a duo with his cousin known as the Hermanos Montenegro, making his debut with them at the Teatro Tívoli in Barcelona.
Career
In the mid-1960s he moved to Madrid, where he was hired by El Duende, a flamenco tablao owned by Pastora Imperio and Gitanillo de Triana, marking the start of his rise. In 1967 he recorded “Una lágrima,” a rumba version of a waltz that became one of the hit songs of summer 1968. The following years brought hits such as “El gitano Antón,” “Don Toribio Carambola” and “Canta y sé feliz,” with which he represented Spain at the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest. Shortly before, “Borriquito” (1971), written and composed by himself, had become an international phenomenon, reaching number one in the Netherlands, where it stayed for seven weeks, and in Germany, coinciding with the tourism boom in Spain.
In 1982 he unexpectedly abandoned his artistic career to devote nine years to religious work at Barcelona’s Evangelical Church of Philadelphia. In the 1990s he returned to the stage, and in 1992 took part in the closing ceremony of the Barcelona Olympic Games alongside Los Manolos and Los Amaya. In 1998 he received the Creu de Sant Jordi, and in 2000 he recorded the album “Peret: Rey de la rumba,” featuring collaborations with Jarabe de Palo, Carlos Jean and David Byrne, among others. His hometown, Mataró, named him a favorite son and placed a plaque on the house where he was born.
Legacy
Peret is considered the inventor of the strumming technique known as the “ventilador,” fundamental to Catalan rumba, and his influence extends to later artists such as Los Amaya, Estopa and Las Grecas. He died in Barcelona in August 2014, barely a month after announcing his retirement for health reasons, leaving a legacy that remains very much alive in Catalan and Spanish popular music.