Nino Bravo, 50 years after his departure: The romantic with the imposing voice

The tires slid at high speed over the asphalt, propelled by more than 160 horsepower from a constantly challenged engine. It seemed like an everyday, predictable dance. The dynamic car had recently resumed driving and was already in the second half of the planned route, between Valencia and Madrid. The music playing, the windows open to the spring heat, outside the fields of Castilla-La Mancha, the warm breeze, a blue sky that did not seem to anticipate a tragedy. Inside the car, four passengers traveled with the peace of mind of someone who is sure to reach their destination. Suddenly, an inopportune change of side to the cassette they were listening to, the phrase of a colleague in the back seat, the turn of the neck towards him, the attention subtracted from the road and the wheel, the impossibility of dominating, in extremis, the 1400 kilos that the car weighed, fatal loss of control. A book will remain open, an unwritten letter. The plans, the appointments, the commitments, everything, was suspended when, after 10 in the morning, the car slipped in a curve of the Valencian highway N-III, in the town of Villarubio in Cuenca, it tumbled several times and, finally, a few turns of the bell. Three occupants, a guitarist friend and members of the Humo duo, the group that the driver had started producing shortly before, left with minor injuries. The driver, who responded to the name of Luis Manuel Ferri Lopis, known as “Manolo” by his friends and as boy bravo for the rest of the world, he did not resist the serious injuries and died during his transfer to the hospital in Madrid. On his chest crimson flowers sprouted endlessly.

In that transition to another plane, the father, the son, the friend or the man died, but the artist became such a great icon that today, 50 years after that fateful morning of Monday, April 16, 1973, we continue talking of the.

Nino and his companions had started the journey of just over 350 km between Valencia and Madrid around 7 am, in the white BMW 2800 E3 with license plate GC-66192 that the artist drove. A car so expensive in those years that even someone with the fame and success of Nino Bravo had had to buy it second-hand just a couple of months before. Those close to him said that he was in love with that car. Before him, he had a Seat and a Mercedes Benz that was damaged in November 1972, after an accident in Barcelona in which the artist had better luck than 5 months late. “See if I don’t want to appear in the press for something other than my songs, that I could have told you details of that accident, like sensational news, to say that I was about to kill myself. But I didn’t take advantage of that misfortune…” Nino had confessed to the journalist Manuel Román, shortly before his death, referring to that mistake in Barcelona that seemed to be a warning. Just in January of that 1972 his daughter María Amparo was born. María Amparo was also called his wife, pregnant at the time of the accident with what would be Eva, the couple’s second daughter. “It just can’t be! It just can’t be!”, was the only thing that María Amparo managed to repeat on the day of the final goodbye in the Municipal Cemetery of Valencia, which was attended by more than 10,000 people who also could not believe what was happening. The Hispanic world lost the singer who put a musical background to her most romantic moments. She, the love of her life, an inseparable companion since they met. And I searched among your yellow letters/ I love you a thousand, a thousand caresses/ And a flower that fell asleep between two leaves…

And between my dreams I saw myself

Minutes before dying, while receiving first aid after the accident, Nino, with serious blows to the head and chest, but still conscious, asked that they contact his representative agency in Valencia and that they do everything possible to save his life. life. “I don’t want to die” was one of his last sentences. The day before, he had participated in a cheerful paella with his wife, his parents and his cousins. On a table in his house, he left his glasses and a gold Dupont lighter that his mother later treasured.

He was just 28 years old when he passed away, so he’s already been famous for more than twice as long as he lived. He had barely 5 years since he had started using the pseudonym with which he would become immortal. According to various sources, he was renamed that way by his first manager, Miguel Siurán, inspired by the composer Nino Rota and also by the rise of Italian names, a consequence of fashionable cinema or the famous Sanremo Festivals, and “resurnamed” Bravo, because of his indomitable character. Luis Manuel Ferri did not feel very comfortable, but he accepted the change. On the road to fame he was a jeweler, a grocer, an office worker, did his military service and had a couple of bands with which he began to become known.

By 1973, he had released 4 solo albums and had his fifth almost ready. He recorded just over 60 songs, including emblematic songs such as “I love you, I love you”, “A kiss and a flower”, “Noelia”, “Libre”, “It’s the wind”, “Cartas amarillas”, “My earth”, “Door of love” or the posthumous “America, America”. Where the warm sun shines/ with a new brilliance/ gilding the sands…

like the hot earth

Today, more than 1 million 300 thousand people listen to it per month on Spotify. Peru is the fourth country in the world where it is heard the most, with more than 63,000 reproductions. Spain is the second, with just over 98 thousand. The first is Chile, with more than 145,000 listeners. Although many see the small photo that usually accompanies each of his albums, few young people today identify an image that is already iconic, one could say cult, for the most adult.

Somewhat long hair, broad forehead, sharp nose, the look of someone who is about to drive a stake into your heart while singing to you and whispering that everything is fine. Modern jackets, white and black suits, flashy shirts, tailored suits, cafarenas, gold or silver necklaces, a fang-amulet hanging from his neck, a leather belt with the initials NB, a microphone that he always wore to all his concerts. Michi ties, black, colored. Sideburns like speakers that flank a round throat. A hippie before going to the office. A civilized rebel. A good savage who sings of love.

In the manner of James Dean, who filmed only 3 movies, Nino was also made immortal by a road accident. One was 24, the other 28. They both sensed that they were going to continue living their lives throughout their death. The comparison with the American actor is not unreasonable, considering that, in his time, he also looked to the other side of the Atlantic looking for a simile for Nino’s talent. Some said that he was a sort of Spanish Tom Jones, or that he sought to be one, although he was also compared to Engelbert Humperdinck, the Argentine Sandro or his compatriot Raphael. He, however, confessed to much broader influences: The Platters, Domenico Modugno, Jorge Negrete, Antonio Machín or Carlos Gardel. My land has its voice/ that roars if it is locked up…

like the sun when it dawns

He once cited Manuel Alejandro as one of the composers who best saw his style of interpretation, thanks to “Es el viento”. Others were Augusto Algueró (I love you, Noelia), Jose Luis Armenteros or Pablo Herrero (A kiss and a flower, Free). “They have shown a boy younger than Augusto and Manuel Alejandro. I’ve been shown more done, like a more mature singer”, he confessed in 1971.

His legacy is irrefutable. Neither the appearance nor the success of other extraordinary and contemporary Spanish singers, such as Raphael or Camilo Sesto, separated him from the radio or from the taste of a public that has increased over the years. On Facebook, for example, the so-called “Nino Bravo Fan Club” has more than 10,000 followers. Another, with the name “Friends of Nino Bravo”, totals more than 74,500. Both regularly publish content related to the Valencian artist, favorite son of Aielo de Malferit, where today a museum dedicated to his memory is located, created the 2006.

Here in Peru, one of the most remembered participants of Yo Soy is the Chilean Sebastián Hormazábal, who has his own story of passion for the singer. “Imitating him is a privilege, an honor and a tremendous physical and mental challenge. Doing so requires a lot of preparation and concentration to achieve his register and the different interpretations he makes in each song.“, tells us. From a very young age, she listened to Nino’s music at home, thanks to his family, but starting to imitate him was a fortuitous event. Friends and acquaintances encouraged him because of the resemblance they noticed in his voice. So, in 2011, when impersonator programs appeared in Chile, he was encouraged to participate, since he had not seen anyone else dare to do so. There he began a musical adventure that later brought him to Peru.

That same year, while participating in Yo Soy in his country, something changed inside him. “I realized that I could really imitate him, because I was advancing stages and I felt that his essence was becoming part of me. Then, I could achieve an interpretation more and more similar”, assures Hormazábal. That made him set himself the challenge of always imitating him better than on the previous occasion.

“The first thing that I rescue from his music is the vocal and interpretive quality. It’s something I haven’t noticed in many artists. In addition, his drama when dealing with certain verses and, of course, the music itself, very complete at an instrumental level. Listening to those musical arrangements, which are rarely seen today, is a delight for any ear.”, assures the Chilean interpreter. For him, the importance of Nino Bravo is enormous, because he cemented the interpretive path of many artists of the time, very powerful voices, but at the same time very melodic and sweet. An ideal combination that Nino was able to achieve.

50 years after his death, Sebastián Hormázabal, “I am Nino Bravo”, enjoys each of his lyrics. “They are pure poetry“, tells us. And he adds:He has a sublime concept of love. It reaches the depths of each person who listens to it. In his lyrics and music he is spiritual and magical. His voice is unique and unrepeatable.”.

Ironies of fate, when in present times they ask those who travel along the old route between Valencia and Madrid -which today looks almost abandoned, after the construction of a more modern road-, in which the singer was killed, many agree that They drive while listening to the songs of Manolo Escobar, Los Diablos, Formula V… or Nino Bravo. There are many who, when visiting his grave in the Valencia Cemetery, sing in front of it, waiting for the surprising chorus of the one who lies there: “Free! / like the sun when it dawns I am free / like the sea / Free! / Like the bird that escaped from his prison / And can finally fly ”.