“We are not Superman,” he says. Julio González Gabarre. “The bodies are getting old and it’s time to say goodbye,” his brother adds. Emily and then, Emilio Jr. He completes his father and uncle’s statements as follows: “What we do demands a lot from you. It’s not about sitting there, but you have to move, you have to jump, and it requires a lot of physical effort. It’s enough for us to come this far.”
Julio, Emilio and Emilio Jr. ticksA band that, after a fifty-year career, survived the departure and death of one of its founders and one of the group’s main composers (Juan Antonio Jiménez Muñoz ‘el Jero’, whom García replaced). sell thirty million recordsovercoming the effects of piracy and witnessing the demise of the physical format, touring stages with rumba repertoires and making a mock farewell in 2015, I have decided to retire permanently. Therefore, the artists will hold one last tour. We’ve come so farHe will tour the main cities of Spain throughout 2024.
Q. What will the public find in this book? concerts your tour?
Emilio González García: What we always give: our love and gratitude. This will be the last time you see us on stage, so every concert will be very emotional. We will visit the most important cities of Spain and sing the usual songs: Neither more nor less, Come with me gypsy, delusions, love of buying and selling…
Question: You started your career in 1973. Franco was still alive at that time and his first single was ‘I Want to Be Free’. Was this a protest song?
Julio González Gabarre: It was a song against the regime…
Emilio González García: Yes, but I don’t think Jero, who composed the song, may he rest in peace, did it out of protest. It is true that he was detained, but it only lasted a few hours. At that moment, ‘Free, I want to be free…’ came to his mind and he wrote the song, but he never made a claim.
P. But people understood it that way.
Emilio González García: Yes, that’s true and I respect that.
Question: In addition to freedom, Los Chichos’ songs also touched on social issues, some of which had not been brought to the fore until recently. For example, Dad, don’t hit your mom.
Emilio González García: The Chichos were the first to sing about drugs, say I was in love with a prostitute, or, in the case you mentioned, criticize the mistreatment of women.
Julio González Gabarre: We wrote about deep down reality, about what was happening…
Question: True, but it’s also true that other artists, even the most committed ones, don’t talk about it.
Emilio González García: They would see this as a normal thing. Earlier, a man was near his wife and slapped her, and the police told him, “She must have done something.” This was how it was thought in Spain, and Los Chichos had already condemned it.
“They sang songs about what you saw as soon as you left your house, with no intention of blaming or claiming anything. Drugs were just something that was there.”
Q. What about the drug problem?
Julio González Gabarre: We always put the cards face up. Unrepeatable Jero, one of Spain’s best writers, lived in the moment and was concerned about the problems. In the 80s, this problem was drugs and he expressed this in his songs.
Emilio González García: Without any accusation or claim, they sang about what you saw as soon as you left your house. It was just something that was there. The problem that existed before was that people got caught up in this situation due to lack of information. It was not known what drugs caused, and Los Chichos were the pioneers who said: “I got involved with drugs and it leads to something else and it will do this to you…”. We warned young people about what drugs do. Since Los Chichos was a reference for them, it served as a warning.
Question: What is the secret to writing songs that last fifty years despite societal changes?
Julio González Gabarre: You don’t look for songs, it’s the muses that visit you.
Emilio González Gabarre: We are simple people who live life sincerely. We talk to everyone and that’s why people love us, adore us, love us and will love us for the rest of our lives. It makes these songs come out, we make good arrangements for them, and then when we get onstage we cut ties because we come out with everything.
Los Chichos were the first to add strings to the choruses and the first to add female voices. […] “We innovated in everything”
Q. To what extent has this affected the success of the following? songs Do you work in the studio? Los Chicos’ albums were very strong in sound, and each new work featured innovations that had never been heard before.
Emilio González García: Previously, Peret’s Catalan rumba was recorded with guitars and some metal such as trumpets. However, Los Chichos were the first to add strings to the choruses and the first to add female voices. The arrangements were very important and the instruments were real, not digital, and were played by masters. We’ve innovated every song and everything from years ago, even if they’re not very current, they can be heard today and they hold up very well.
Q. How important was producer José Torregrosa to the sound of Los Chichos?
Emilio González Gabarre: Torregrosa was an insect…
Emilio González García: Maestro Torregrosa taught them how to make sounds. I asked them to have top and bottom sounds, and they would start working on the piano, and so it would come out with those pieces of vinyl and those sound tracks with an incredible amount of color. All of this was Torregrosa’s responsibility.
Julio González Gabarre: Torregrosa was a professor. Behind him was Serrat’s arranger Miralles. Maestro Torregrosa said: “We must bring in another arranger, because I already have five albums” and it occurred to him to call Ricardo Miralles for a change. Miralles came, he was a little shy because he had not experienced the gypsy culture, we even had to invite a friend of ours, Antonio Humanes, to bridge the gap between us. Once he gained confidence in himself, he got involved in songs and arrangements… I think he will remember the experiences on that recording for the rest of his life.
Question: Besides Torregrosa and Miralles, you have also collaborated with great rumba figures such as El Luis.
Julio González Gabarre: Luis Barrull?
Q. Yes.
Julio González Gabarre: No. Luis is my close friend, but we did not collaborate.
Q. I understand that, yes.
Julio González Gabarre: Oh right, you’re right. One day, El Luis came to me, with whom I have a great friendship, even though each of them lives their own lives and we haven’t seen each other for a long time…
Q. You’re in New York, aren’t you?
Emilio González García: No, no, he’s back, in Spain.
Julio González Gabarre: Luis brought me the lyrics Picture and he said to me: “Here, for you. I replied”: “No. I make the music and that’s how we both appear in the credits: Lyrics: Luis Barrull and Music: Julio González.” He gave it to me, but it wasn’t mine. I wanted it to be about both. What is Caesar’s is Caesar’s, what is God’s is God’s.
In Catalan rumba there was one god, El Pescaílla, there was another god, maestro Peret. “What they and Los Chichos did had nothing to do with each other because it was a different kind of rumba, but they always respected each other.”
Question: You were associated with rumba quinqui for a while. In fact, there seems to be a debate between the Catalan rumba, which is aimed at young gypsies, and the more marginal Madrid rumba.
Emilio González García: No, it wasn’t like that. For a long time in Catalan rumba there was one god, El Pescaílla, and there was another god, the maestro Peret. What they did and what Los Chichos did had nothing to do with each other because it was another form of rumba, but they always respected each other and proceeded in parallel without any conflict. To be honest, I am not aware of this controversy and also we have some scandalous ‘chicheros’ in Barcelona.
Question: Now that you mention the ‘chicheros’, how did they go from being the idols of the humblest classes in the 80s to playing for modernity at Primavera Sound in 2016?
Emilio González García: Because we are real and we act from the heart. When they told us about Primavera Sound, I asked: “But what is it?” I had no idea what it was, but when we got there we realized its magnitude. We are successful because we act normally. We didn’t want to do more or less than we normally do. The same thing happened in Viñarrock, in Estremúsika, and it would definitely happen in Benicasim if they had not suspended it due to the pandemic.
If there are people confused between Catalan rumba and ours, imagine it is between us and Los Chunguitos. Sometimes they tell me: ‘Because your sisters…’. No, these are Los Chunguitos”
Q. Are you very confused by Los Chunguitos?
Emilio González García: Too much. If there are people confused between Catalan rumba and ours, imagine it is between us and Los Chunguitos. They often tell me: “Because your sisters…”. No, these are Los Chunguitos. Other times they tell me: “I really like this If you give me a choice…”. This is from Los Chunguitos… But that’s what the newbies say. Those who really know our music know that Los Chichos and Los Chunguitos have nothing to do with it.
Julio González Gabarre: The truth is that there is a very deep gulf between the two. In every song we talk about stories, real stories. With all due respect to Los Chunguitos, we have four hundred different songs, all with true stories that have nothing to do with theirs.
P. Maybe because of the rumba letters ch, because they are in Los Chunguitos, Chacho, Los Chorbos and of course Los Chichos.
Emilio González García: Also available in Los Chavis, but Los Chichos were the first to use ch.