Varry Brava: “Music took us to amazing places but coming to Italy is great”

Like this, New Year will start stronger than ever for Murcians who flew to Rome yesterdayThey are very well received here. Additionally, they have confirmed multiple festivals for next season and are currently putting together a revamped live show full of hedonism, frenzy and guaranteed fun; a more electronic live show where songs from their new album and the band’s biggest hits can be heard live for the first time. Their singer, Óscar Ferrer, infects us with his enthusiasm for how they lived these moments.

Soon, Raffaella, I mean Oscar.

Chow baby.

You’ve been speaking a lot of Italian lately.

Yes, we’ve been traveling there a lot lately because so many beautiful and amazing things are happening to us in Italy.

The song you introduced yourself at Benidorm Fest, Raffaella, has crossed borders.

Yeah, we just recorded the headline of my home is your home TV show and we’re freaking out. They took us to play in Rome, in the middle of the Italian countryside. Of course, we go back and remember those endless afternoons we spent at the rehearsal space in Murcia and how the music took us to so many wonderful places, but this is incredible.

The thing about Raffaella was talismanic.

Look, he’s a figure we always have very much in mind (due to himself, his career, and the way he understands music), but the brutality this song brings to us. I insist: we are going crazy.

How did all this happen? I guess as a result of your time at Benidorm Fest.

Yes, the singer Cristiano Malgioglio, who collaborated on this new version of Rafaella, is a big Eurovision fan; so much so that the Benidorm Festival followed, where he discovered our theme. He was a friend of Raffaella’s, worked with him many times, composed for him and liked our song, he understood the respect we pay to his figure with all the love in the world, and that’s why he called us. We wanted to sing the song with him and see if we could do more together. This is what happened thanks to him.

And you went to Italy.

OK, yes. Actually everything was put together before we got there. He suggested we record the title of his show, so we went to meet him, have dinner with him, hang out with his whole crew… and record. They treated us great.

That host is already running, the program is live on RAI 2. Have you seen?

Yes, they gave us the video of the title and it’s so cool. It also remains a memory of those days when we recorded there and met many people. It is Italy for us… Those who know us know that it is a culture that fascinates us and makes us fall in love; especially in music. Because the music we always listen to on the way to the beach in our parents’ car, on the way to our grandparents’ house… It’s a very special, closing circle.

And your name came a bit from Mina, the tiger of Cremona.

Definitely. so

How was the emotional shock of this trip?

Things are unfolding slowly. It’s not like when you win the lottery (I guess I never won). But I imagine you go from zero to hundreds per second in such situations; This is something else, something that is built slowly. First you get an email about interest in the song and so on until you finally find yourself there, and that’s when you stop for a moment at the hotel or wander through Rome, think about how you got there, and you go crazy.

I think you will have the opportunity to share anecdotes and stories with Cristiano Malgioglio, who knows Raffaella very well.

Yes, while we had dinner with him, we talked about him and also about Mina, Lucio Battisti, Battiato… Italian music in general. It’s a very special flavor. They also speak excellent Spanish by chance. I really enjoyed it.

What changes have occurred in the song?

Musically, the version is the same. The only innovation is an Italian phrase that appears at the end of the topic. Well, and Cristiano sings the chorus with us.

First time learning?

I don’t know, he sent us the recorded sounds. But I can tell you that we did several versions of the song – even an entirely Italian adaptation – and it was he who decided that the Spanish sounded better. In fact, we were open to anything; We wanted Cristiano to lead this version.

So you also have an Italian version? Can you post it as a bonus song?

I don’t believe this will stay… I don’t know if the family listens to their colleagues at home. I think it’s that good. Also, Cristiano said: words sound better in Spanish. He is the expert. He composed for many years for the great artists we admire. it stays like this

And what are you working on now? We spoke recently with your keyboardist, Aaron Sáez, about the Carey project, and he told us that they’re also going to Italy. Looks like you’ve been moving a lot lately and it could be an interesting market for Varry Brava…

Yes, I think it’s important that this doesn’t just stop at one TV show. While being there will bring us something (because it’s not just any TV show, it’s on the Italian national television RAI), we’re trying to move all this from our side to see if we can make things bigger. It would be great to collaborate a little more, to start a small concert there… If that’s what happens in the end: what makes us happy is that people are singing and dancing our songs.

And your time at Benidorm Fest has been a huge boost to you. It brought you closer to other audiences, a much larger audience. Have you noticed this in your concerts?

Yes, it was a strong shot, and it was even more powerful knowing that we came from a two-year period of a very unstable pandemic that we didn’t know what to expect. But the thing is, TV inevitably brings you closer to new viewers, and that’s why we always wanted more airtime for the music; and not only live, but also in general (playback, half-play…). The question is, the songs we sing on television, which is our domain, belong to everyone. This is how we feel.

This must be the best year for Varry Brava. How do you balance for 2022?

The balance is very good, but the best year is every passing year. You have to put things in context. In the first year of the group, when we released the demo and forty people came to see us, the balance was already very positive. From owning nothing to owning a band, songs and an audience, it’s already a huge leap forward. Everything is positive when you grow up.

When do you stop to make a new record? Your last concert was in Huesca a few days ago…

Well, now we’re back with some promotional material from TV that we’re about to finish recording. You’ll see us in more than one place this Christmas… we’ll eat cookies together on Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve, and New Year’s Eve. And we will be out with new news until January or February. We have the album in mind but the songs are slowly coming out throughout 2022, we released them and they are working well, so for now we will keep working like this; We really want to make an album, but we don’t know when it’s 2023 or 2024… I don’t know. We’ll let things run their course, we’re doing very well that way.

At least one single will be released in 2023. Or are there other surprises before the year ends?

No, not before the end of the year; but when ’23 started, yes. We have a little something to tell you for January or February (if I don’t get all the promotional work in progress).

And some concerts.

Yes, there are many dates closed already: SanSan festival in Benicassim, Warm Up, Pirata Beat in Gandía, Granada Sound…

And I guess you’re going to start with a new show now, a more electronic live show.

Yes, we’re always trying to add something new and transform songs that are a little behind in production (not because it sounds worse, but because there are five albums already, each one sounds different and you have to pack a certain amount when you jump on stage). And that’s what we’re doing: retouching, updating… and experimenting with new sounds. What we always do, wow.

Varry Brava has always been claimed to be a group from Murcia, but it seems your city has now returned to the group as well; Even Orihuela CF has given you a surprise…

Yes, they put us in the middle of the field and we greeted all the fans. We used to go to watch the games when we were little and we were very excited to be there and the people of Orihuela remembering us. TV also brought us a little closer to the people who were standing in the street smiling, saying that they voted for us for Eurovision and that we are from Oriolan. [Risas]. But before the band started, we always said we were from Orihuela, our family was from here and our childhood friends were there, but the band was formed in Murcia and we had our first concerts here and that’s where those people (also you, the media) started talking about Varry Brava. So it’s legal to recognize it, and I believe both can coexist.