Nino Bravo: “I dreamed of succeeding at Nova Cançó... but I wasn't lucky.”
The meeting with Nino Bravo takes place in a suite at the Hilton Hotel in Barcelona, shortly before the first of his two performances at the Palau Sant Jordi, as part of his worldwide tour with a symphony orchestra commemorating his more than 60-year career. A tour that, in each city, brings along singer friends willing to perform a duet with him. In the Catalan capital, his guests will include Rosalía, Tom Jones (who is taking advantage of a gig in Cap Roig), and Joan Manuel Serrat. While we talk, his granddaughter Noelia runs around the room.
“In the afternoons, they continue showing my films shot in Benidorm and Miami.”In his performance tomorrow, he plans to sing songs like My Way and others in English.
Frank Sinatra once said, “If Nino sang in English, he'd put us out of work.” After those remarks, I took language classes and one day I went to see him: “Frank, I'm going to put you out of work.” He burst out laughing. We became very good friends, and one of the fondest memories I have of my career is the duet with him at Madison Square Garden, singing “Strangers in the Night. ” Of my more than fifty albums, four are entirely in English.
And seven in Catalan.
Valencian is my mother tongue; my real name is Lluís Manuel Ferri Llopis. At first, I sang in Valencian with my group Els Suppersons, and back then I dreamed of becoming a figurehead of the Nova Cançó... but no such luck. I recorded my songs on cassette, but record labels ignored me; Edigsa preferred others. Eliseu Climent came to see me at a rehearsal... and said I had no future. I performed with Raimon in Lo Rat Penat. It was later, following my success in Spanish, that I decided to return to this line. My album based on Salvat-Papasseït is one of the most beloved of my career. Walking down Diagonal this morning, people were still singing to me on the street: "Deixa't kiss / and if et quedava enyor / kiss of nou, que la vida és comptada." In my concerts in Barcelona Estellés will also play, with Els amants: “No hi havia a València dos amants com nosaltres. / Feroçment ens amàvem del matí a la nit.”
Did you think you wouldn't make it as a singer?
At first, few people saw it clearly. They told me I looked like an office worker. They changed everything: my name, my hairstyle, my way of dressing... until they defined a more modern image for me, well, for the time. I grew my hair longer and haven't changed my hairstyle since, just in case... I dedicate all this to my great-grandmother, who was an opera singer, against family opinion, and to my grandfather, who directed the choirs of the Valencian Orpheon.
What was it like working with Almodóvar?
He calls me for some soundtracks, like this one for Bitter Christmas, where I also make a cameo as musical director of advertising jingles. My career in film began with a dozen musical feature films in which I starred, such as Un beso y una flor, which we shot in Benidorm, and América, América, filmed in Miami. They're still shown on television on summer afternoons, and I'm told they get high ratings.
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Do you feel free?
Like the sun at dawn! Man, it could be more, but I'm not complaining. The important thing is that the world doesn't cease to be. That was originally a political song.
Oh really?
Of course! It's from 1972, Franco was still alive, and my generation had to live through the repression of the dictatorship. Some have said it was inspired by the death of the first German killed by guards while trying to cross the Berlin Wall, but the reality is much more domestic. So I'm proud that Latino migrants in the US are using it these days to protest against Trump, just as I loved seeing it played again during the coronavirus pandemic. Fidel Castro banned it in Cuba, and it serves as a song for all those fighting against the barbed wire and yearning to finally find freedom. That's why I went to court to report Vox playing it at their rallies. It outraged me as much as when I saw Bigote Arrocet sing it to a smiling Pinochet at the Viña del Mar festival, and then they turned it into a Pinochet-era anthem, complete with a military version. I cried when I heard it played at full volume to drown out their screams. Free is the opposite: it is a song to the oppressed, not to the oppressor.
What do you think of reggaeton?
When I started out, singers had to choose between three genres: lyrical, light, and Spanish music. I think it's great that the field is expanding, and, as with everything, there are good ones and bad ones. My style isn't one of perrear (twerking), but I've had no problem singing songs with J Balvin and Karol G, as you know.
In fact, her latest studio album, Alas de mariposa, recorded in L'Hospitalet, features some outstanding collaborations.
L'Hospitalet is going to be the new Abbey Road. Rosalía is very clever and she created her recording studio there for a reason. I know singers from all over the world will be coming here. It will form a hub with the Warner facilities at Estació de França. On this album, in fact, Rosalía and I sing a new song, Noches sin ti (Nights without you), Miguel Poveda and I do Un ramito de violetas (A bunch of violets), and Shakira and I are Reborn.
You never managed to go to Eurovision...
I tried twice. Here in Barcelona, I participated in a qualifying round the year Julio Iglesias was chosen, I was disqualified, and I stayed home crying. Then I tried again the following year, but Karina won. At least I lost to some serious opponents.
He has always sung other people's songs...
Manolo Alejandro and especially Augusto Algueró were instrumental in my early career with Te quiero, te quiero and Noelia, but in later periods I've worked with José Luis Perales, Joaquín Sabina, writers like Luis García Montero, and more recently, David Uclés. I've also set poems by Borges ("Time is the substance of which I am made. / Time is a river that drags me, but I am the river; / it is a tiger that devours me, but I am the tiger; / it is a fire that consumes me, but I am the fire") or Agustín García Calvo ("I love you free, / like a stream that leaps / from rock to rock, / but not mine"). I constantly receive many themes, and my work is one of choice.
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You're a true idol in Latin America. You just filled the GNP stadium in Mexico City with more than 60,000 people...
I don't play thirty concerts in a row, like Bad Bunny, but I'm loved in many countries. There's a lot of work behind it, sometimes painful because it forces you to let go of the things and people you love. The Mexican, Colombian, Argentinian, Chilean audiences... are more dedicated than the Spanish ones; they're more Iberian than we are.
What do tours give you?
Everything. A concert is the true measure of your worth. An artist shows their true worth in two hours. No more, no less.
The entire proceeds from the concert in Valencia will go to those affected by Dana...
I was born in Aielo de Malferit and, like everyone else, I am shaken by everything that happened. It's the least I can do, my way of helping to remove the mud.
How are you?
The years show, but every morning when I shave, I stand in front of the mirror and say to myself, "This is your day!" and I resolve to do something memorable, both as a person and as a professional.
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