THE bare facts of Juanito Valderrama’s life are easily stated.
He was born 110 years ago in the north-east of Andalucia.
A natural singer with a talent for writing his own lyrics, he started recording in 1935, became a media superstar, and died in 2004, just after his 88th birthday.
But as a showbiz and cultural phenomenon, Juanito is much richer, much more nuanced, than the bare facts suggest.
Think of Sacha Distel, who died a few weeks after Valderrama.
Distel had authentic ‘protest power’ as a young man, having spent his childhood in a Nazi concentration camp.
In the 1950s his music was raw, angry and revolutionary. But then he hit the TV/cabaret circuit, and realised that the middle of the road was where the big bucks lay.
Spain’s social tragedy came in the aftermath of World War Two.
Fascism was securely in power, and anyone from a left-leaning family understood the situation.
There was no future, no work, no welcome for millions of Spaniards in their own country.
To stay alive, they moved to Germany, where a nation needed to be rebuilt, and there was a shortage of manpower.
Talk to any elderly man at random in Andalucian villages like Montejaque or Durcal.
He’ll answer you in German, learnt in his youth on some Dusseldorf construction site.
In 1949, Juanito Valderrama wrote a passionate song, ‘El Emigrante’, which captures the pain of simple, innocent folk forced to seek a living in a far-off land.
As success enriched him, Juanito moved away from the earthy, emotional flamenco that he loved, and morphed into a lounge-suited crooner, like Sacha Distel.
But two things never changed: the sombrero Cordobes became his trade mark, but was really his reminder of his roots, and he used his wealth and reputation to foster the rise of young flamenco artists like Cameron and Jose Merce.
24 MAY, 2024 – DEADLY BAR COLLAPSE IN MALLORCA
We all know how it works.
Tourists have money, and they are eager to spend it.
Towns like Palma, Mallorca don’t just thrive on tourism – they rely on it.
New attractions, new bars – to keep the euros flowing, beach resorts need flashy gimmicks, ‘opening soon’.
To keep luring that tourist money, bars and night spots have to be novel, fresh, eye-catching.
That was the idea behind the Medusa Beach Club of Platja de Palma, which offered a roof bar.
Two years ago, the new ‘hot spot’ collapsed at eight o’clock in the evening, killing four people – two young Germans, a Spanish woman in her 30s (she was working as a waitress) and a Senegalese man. Sixteen people were injured.
The“Medusa had opened only the day before.
Questions have arisen as to whether the new building had been properly authorised.
Palma’s mayor, Jaime Martinez, commented that ‘excessive weight’ seemed to have caused the upper floor to buckle.
What should happen is, the finished structure is compared to the architect’s plans, to check for things like thickness of floors (there are formulae which dictate how many people can safely occupy the space).
If all is in order, the structure gets the green light.
Eder Garcia, spokesman for the Mallorca Fire Service, pointed out that there were 21 people on the roof terrace at the time of the collapse, and there didn’t appear to be any certification indicating the safe maximum number of customers.
Attention has been drawn to a party of a dozen Dutch tourists.
Though totally blameless, they were dancing, and had several waiters serving them. The combination of weight and vibration may have triggered the disaster.
We’ve seen it all before, here in Spain.
The new bar’s completion has to be rushed, so that it can open as the tourist season begins.
Some structural details may get overlooked, or skimped.
The result is, a building that is unsafe for visitors, and for the locals who work in it.
Click here to read more Spain News from The Olive Press.
