Carlos Bazarra |
Valencia (EFE) musical legacy continues unstoppable on virtual platforms and social networks.
This Sunday marks half a century since the traffic accident that made him a myth at just 28 years old and he does it no less than in the Nino Bravo Year solemnly declared in the Valencian Community, but also full of concerts and national tribute tours, the title of Adoptive Son of Valencia and even a garden with his name in the Valencian capital, where he also sets the festive and emotional rhythm of two of his most popular events, the Fallas and football.
A life
Luis Manuel Ferri Llopis, which was his real name, was born in a small town in the interior of Valencia, Aielo de Malferit, on August 3, 1944, but he only lived there for the first two years of his life before his family settled. in Valencia, on Calle de la Visitación.
There grew up the boy they called Manolito, who as a teenager began working in a jewelry store while already pointing out ways in melodic singing, according to his biographers and the artist’s official website, to later form “Los Hispánicos” with several friends and , later, “The Supersons”.
Now as Nino Bravo -a stage name chosen by his then representative, although there is no unanimous opinion on this matter-, the singer released four albums between 1970 and 1972: “I love you, I love you”, “Nino Bravo”, “Un beso y una flor” and “Mi tierra”, endorsed by composers such as Manuel Alejandro, Augusto Algueró and El Dúo Dinámico, and he knew how to take advantage of his magnetism live with television performances with large audiences and participation in festivals in Spain, Latin America and Europe.
In those barely three years he became a mass idol both in Spain and abroad, and not only in the “America” of his famous song: his songs were released in countries such as Germany, France, Angola, Turkey and the Netherlands, and even today it continues to be one of the most influential, reproduced and imitated Spanish voices (not only in karaoke) in the world within the melodic and Latin genre.
In addition, his image was unblemished in those years: he was an exemplary husband and father of a family, dressed and combed in the fashion of the early 70s and did not lead any controversy related to politics. Everything smiled at him, he felt loved everywhere and he faced his life with humility but also proud of the top he was climbing.
An accident
In 1973, Nino Bravo was preparing his fifth studio album and wanted to open a nightclub in Valencia centered on Jules Verne that would also serve as a platform to publicize artists and groups from this land, such as the Humo duo, whom He was going to produce his first album in Madrid.
He was traveling precisely with them and with his guitarist and friend Pepe Juesas when, at dawn on April 16, his BMW left the road near Villarrubio (Cuenca). This town, where the N-III highway used to pass, has a street named after the singer and a monolith next to the “Cruz de Nino Bravo”, installed next to the kilometer point where the accident took place.
The singer suffered such serious injuries that he died a few hours later in Madrid, where he was taken by ambulance from Tarancón.
More than 10,000 people attended his burial in the General Cemetery of Valencia, according to his biographers, and his death caused a great commotion in the culture and society of the Latin American universe, which led to festivals and posthumous tributes, in addition to the publication of his latest studio LP that would only be the beginning of an endless stream of compilations, tribute records, covers and even remixes for listeners of the 21st century.
Nino Bravo gives his name to streets in municipalities such as Valencia, Aielo de Malferit, Náquera (Valencia), Roquetas de Mar (Almería) and Tuineje (Las Palmas), and in his hometown he has a museum dedicated entirely to his life and work.
An inheritance
In addition to the millions of records he has sold, Nino Bravo’s musical career has found another ally on the internet, not only because of the possibility of listening to his greatest hits at all times, of remembering his live performances or interviews during his three years of glory or rehearsing for karaoke, but for the unstoppable use of their hymns on social networks like Instagram or TikTok.
On Spotify it already has 1.3 million monthly listeners and 737,000 followers and its star song is, by far, “Un beso y una flor”, with 72 million reproductions; They are followed by “Libre” (26 million), “Noelia” (19 million), “I love you, I love you” (17 million) and “Cartas amarillas” (7 million).
As for the videos, the one for “Un beso y una flor” once again dominates them all on YouTube, with 100 million views among the two most watched by the Valencian artist: one of them was his only official video clip, shot in the Balearic Islands in 1972, although the Filmoteca de Valencia has recently recovered another short, hitherto unpublished, with three songs recorded in 1971 in various areas of Madrid for broadcast in Argentina.
endless tributes
The Generalitat, the Valencian Courts and the Aielo de Malferit City Council have declared 2023 the “Year of Nino Bravo” as an official tribute to the musical and socio-cultural legacy he left on this earth.
The Valencia City Council will grant him the distinction of Adoptive Son of the city in October and will put his name to a garden of almost 2,000 m2 that has housed since 1977 a bronze bust of “Tribute of the Valencian youth to Nino Bravo”.
In terms of music, there are tribute concerts (symphonic or in Big Band format) and in the Plaza de la Reina in Valencia you can see an outdoor exhibition these days with large photographic panels that review twenty key moments in his artistic life. .