Bongo Botrako is a Spanish

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

band formed in

Tarragona Tarragona (, ; Phoenician: ''Tarqon''; la, Tarraco) is a port city located in northeast Spain on the Costa Daurada by the Mediterranean Sea. Founded before the fifth century BC, it is the capital of the Province of Tarragona, and part of Tar ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

in 2007 by lead vocalist and songwriter

Uri Giné Uri Giné (; born Oriol Giné de Lera; August 24, 1986) is a Spanish musician, singer and songwriter. He is best known as the founder, lead singer and songwriter of the alternative rock band Bongo Botrako from their formation in 2007 until thei ...

. The band released their first studio album, '' Todos los días sale el sol'', in 2010; it featured their most notable hit, " Todos los días sale el sol" (also known as "Chipirón"), which peaked at #12 on the Spain Songs chart. In 2012 they released their second studio album, ''

Revoltosa ''Revoltosa'' (English: ''Rebellious'') is the second studio album by Spanish alternative rock band Bongo Botrako, produced by Amparo Sánchez and lead vocalist Uri Giné. It was released on November 12, 2012, in Spain, France, Germany, United K ...

'', leading to extensive tours across eleven European countries. The band's first and only live album, ''

Punk Parranda ''Punk Parranda'' (English: ''Punk Party'') is the first live album by Spanish alternative rock band Bongo Botrako. It was recorded on May 2, 2014, at Viña Rock Festival in Villarrobledo, Spain, in front of a crowd of more than 60,000 people. Th ...

'', was released in 2014. In October 2015, Bongo Botrako announced an indefinite hiatus and a six-date farewell tour, performing their last concert on December 26, 2015.

History

Early years (2007–2009)

Bongo Botrako frontman

joined punk rock band Extracto de Lúpulo as its guitarist, backing vocalist and songwriter in 2003. Some of the songs he wrote didn't fit in the genre of the band, so he kept them apart. In October 2007, Giné decided to create his own band with all those songs and named it Bongo Botrako. He recorded a ten-track demo at his small home studio, programming the drums and performing all the rest of instruments himself. After passing the demo around, Giné quickly recruited eight more musicians: Nacho Pascual on guitar, Xavi Vallverdú on keyboard, Marc Vallverdú on bass, Gorka Robert on drums, Pitus Siles on percussion, Xavi Artiol on trumpet, Àlex Huguet on trombone and Mercè Verge on backing vocals. They started rehearsing in January 2008 and they performed live for the first time on March 20, 2008 in their hometown,

. There were some line-up changes in 2008 and early 2009: Mercè Verge left the band, Xavi Latorre replaced Pitus Siles on percussion, Xavi Barrero replaced Xavi Artiol on trumpet, Juanhito Saez replaced Àlex Huguet on trombone and Oscar Gómez joined the band as saxophonist. In February and March 2009, the band recorded a self-produced seven-track demo, called ''La maketa'', in their rehearsal space. A few days before the expected release date for the demo, Uri Giné wrote the song " Todos los días sale el sol" while being in

Granada Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...

. 500 CD copies of the demo were already being produced at that moment, so they had no time to include the new song. The demo ''La maketa'' was released on May 5, 2009 and the band sold the CD copies in their concerts. The song "Todos los días sale el sol" was premiered live in

Lleida Lleida (, ; Spanish: Lérida ) is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital city of the province of Lleida. Geographically, it is located in the Catalan Central Depression. It is also the capital city of the Segrià comarca, as ...

, Spain on May 7, 2009 and it became an instant success in every concert of their

catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

tour, despite not being included in the demo. Uri Giné left Extracto de Lúpulo on September 24, 2009 to focus entirely on Bongo Botrako. After almost two years running both bands at the same time, Bongo Botrako had become way more successful than Extracto de Lúpulo and many gigs started to coincide, so Giné felt the need to make the move. In late 2009, there were some more line-up changes that finally set the current line-up: Juanhito Saez and Xavi Latorre left the band, and David Garcia replaced Marc Vallverdú on bass.

''Todos los días sale el sol'' (2010–2011)

As a result of the buzz created by the song "Todos los días sale el sol", the band caught the attention of Joni Sahún, an A&R rep for the independent record label Kasba Music. They recorded their debut album '' Todos los días sale el sol'' in La Atlántida Studio in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

and released it on September 27, 2010 in

on Kasba Music. The album was later also released in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. The band's first headline tour started in October 2010 and took them to many sold-out indoor venues across Spain. During spring and summer of 2011, they played well-received sets at festivals in Spain and France which helped add to their growing fanbase. Bongo Botrako released the music video for the album's first single "Todos los días sale el sol" on June 23, 2011. The song became very popular in Spain after the men's national basketball team, including

Pau Gasol Pau Gasol Sáez (, ; born July 6, 1980) is a Spanish former professional basketball player. He was a six-time NBA All-Star and a four-time All-NBA team selection, twice on the second team and twice on the third team. Gasol won two NBA champion ...

, Marc Gasol and

Ricky Rubio Ricard Rubio Vives (born 21 October 1990) is a Spanish professional basketball player for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Rubio became the youngest player ever to play in the Spanish ACB League on 15 October ...

, took the habit of singing it before every game in the

EuroBasket 2011 EuroBasket 2011 was the 37th men's EuroBasket, European Basketball Championship, held by FIBA Europe. The competition was hosted by Lithuania. This was the second time EuroBasket had been held in Lithuania, the country having also hosted t ...

Championship, which they eventually won. In September 2011, "Todos los días sale el sol" peaked at #12 on the Spain Songs chart and #2 on the

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

Spain Songs chart. The song accumulates more than 31 million streamings on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

and more than 31 million streamings on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

, which ultimately makes it Bongo Botrako's most popular song by far. In October 2011, after attending a live show, Germán Quimasó of Sonde3 Producciones became the band's manager, a role that Uri Giné had played until then.

''Revoltosa'' (2012–2013)

The band's second studio album, ''

'', was recorded in Garate Studios in

Andoain Andoain is a town in the province of Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous community of Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country, in the North of Spain. Nowadays it has a population of 14,637 inhabitants (2019), which has been quite stable sin ...

, Spain and produced by Spanish musician Amparo Sánchez, also known as

Amparanoia Amparanoia is the pseudonym of Spanish singer/guitarist Amparo Sánchez combining her first name with the word 'paranoia'. It was also the name of the band she fronted from 1996 to 2006. Debut album, ''El Poder de Machín'', has been described a ...

. It was released on November 12, 2012 in Spain, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg and Japan on Kasba Music. The music video for the album's first single "Revoltosa" was released on November 15, 2012 amid controversy surrounding the appearance of riot police officers having fun while using brutal violence against a crowd of peaceful protesters. Uri Giné explained that they wanted to denounce police brutality and noted that they used sarcasm, satire and humour because they thought it would attract more attention on the issue than showing realistic images, since people is overexposed to this kind of images. During 2012 and 2013, the band embarked on an extensive tour that took them to France,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, Netherlands,

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Andorra , image_flag = Flag of Andorra.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Andorra.svg , symbol_type = Coat of arms , national_motto = la, Virtus Unita Fortior, label=none (Latin)"United virtue is stro ...

, Belgium and

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. They also became a frequent act in the line-up of Spanish major festivals such as Viña Rock or Arenal Sound.

''Punk Parranda'' and hiatus announcement (2014–2015)

The band's first and only live album, ''

'', was released on November 3, 2014 on Kasba Music. They recorded it performing to a crowd of more than 60,000 people at Viña Rock Festival on May 2, 2014 in

Villarrobledo Villarrobledo () is a Spanish city and municipality in the province of Albacete, part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. It's better known for having the world's largest area covered by vineyards (more than 30,000 has., approxima ...

, Spain. During 2014 and 2015, the band continued touring Europe and visited France, Italy, Netherlands, Austria, Andorra, United Kingdom, Germany and

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. They reached particular success in the Netherlands, where they played a sold-out indoor tour and some major festivals such as Lowlands 2014,

Parkpop The Parkpop festival is a free music festival held annually on the last Sunday of June in the city of The Hague, Netherlands. It was first held in 1981 and was attended by 35,000 visitors. Today up to 350,000 people visit the festival every yea ...

2015 and Zwarte Cross 2015. On October 13, 2015, Bongo Botrako announced an indefinite hiatus and a six-date farewell tour in a statement via their official website:

''"With this release we Bongo Botrako announce that we’ve decided to stop. It’s been eight years now since we started, quite a while. Eight years of joy, of good friends, of incredible collaborations, of exhausting travels, of wild parties and also of some wounds. But above all it’s been eight years we wouldn’t change for anything in this world. And now it’s time to breathe. Because the path enriches the heart but it’s also a weight for it. And we don’t want to continue if it’s not with the same enthusiasm of the first day. We don’t know if it’s a see you later or a goodbye, time will tell."'' – Bongo Botrako

Uri Giné explained that he felt exhausted after eight years of non-stop touring and noted that the band had lost the enthusiasm. However, he said he would continue to write songs and he left the door open to create a new music project in the future. Bongo Botrako performed their last and 500th concert in Giné's hometown Tarragona on December 26, 2015.

Musical style

Giné has often proclaimed the band's music as "punk parranda", which translates as "punk party". He explains that it's not a very accurate label but he likes it because it comprises the punk soul, understood as social activism and fast-paced songs, and the festive tone, characterized by positive messages and danceable rhythms. Bongo Botrako has been described as

reggae rock Reggae rock is a subgenre of reggae fusion and rock music that primarily uses the genres reggae, rock, and ska. Typical lyrics of reggae rock songs incorporate love, personal awareness, and life challenges while incorporating music and beat el ...

, ska punk,

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

and

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

. Many people have also labeled their music as

catalan rumba The Catalan rumba ( ca, rumba catalana, ) is a genre of music that developed in Barcelona's Romani community beginning in the 1950s and 1960s. Its rhythms are derived from the Andalusian flamenco rumba, with influences from Cuban music and rock ...

, but they have tried to distance themselves from this label claiming that they have only released three rumba-classifiable songs, all of them in their first album. The band has been known for radically transforming some of their songs when played live, often delivering fast-paced and hard-eged live versions from originally slower and quieter songs. Bongo Botrako's sound has been compared to Mano Negra,

The Clash The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the wa ...

Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981; baptised in 1980 as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements o ...

and

Kortatu Kortatu was a Basque ska punk band from the Basque Autonomous Community formed in Irun in the summer of 1984. Kortatu was born in the context of the first democracy years in Spain in 1984. They had a big significance for left-wing basque natio ...

. Indeed, current Manu Chao's

Radio Bemba ''Radio Bemba Sound System'' is a live album by Manu Chao that was released in 2002. It is the accompanying CD to the performer's live DVD '' Babylonia en Guagua'', filmed over two nights (4–5 September) in 2001 during the tour for '' Prox ...

bassist Gambeat produced the band's live shows from 2011 to 2015.

Activism

Bongo Botrako has spoken out against animal torture and police brutality. They support

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

and performed two benefit shows for them in Barcelona, in 2012 and 2013. They also included an Amnesty International quote in the music video for their song "Revoltosa" in 2012.

Members

Current members

–

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

(2007–2015) * Nacho Pascual –

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

(2008–2015) * Xavi Vallverdú –

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

, backing vocals (2008–2015) * David Garcia –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

, backing vocals (2009–2015) * Gorka Robert –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

, backing vocals (2008–2015) * Xavi Barrero –

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

, backing vocals (2008–2015) * Oscar Gómez – sax, backing vocals (2009–2015)

Former members

* Marc Vallverdú – bass (2008–2009) * Pitus Siles –

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

(2008) * Xavi Latorre – percussion (2008–2009) * Xavi Artiol – trumpet (2008) * Àlex Huguet –

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

(2008–2009) * Juanhito Sáez – trombone (2008–2009) * Mercè Verge – backing vocals (2008)

Timeline

ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:30 PlotArea = left:85 bottom:100 top:25 right:20 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/10/2007 till:31/12/2015 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:4 ScaleMajor = increment:1 start:2008 ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:2008 Colors = id:vocals value:red legend:Lead_vocals id:guitar value:green legend:Guitar id:keys value:lightpurple legend:Keyboard id:bass value:blue legend:Bass id:drums value:redorange legend:Drums id:percu value:lightorange legend:Percussion id:trumpet value:coral legend:Trumpet id:trombon value:yellowgreen legend:Trombone id:sax value:lavender legend:Sax id:backing value:yelloworange legend:Backing_vocals id:studio value:black legend:Studio_albums id:live value:gray(0.7) legend:Live_albums BarData = bar:Uri text:"Uri Giné" bar:Nacho text:"Nacho Pascual" bar:XaviV text:"Xavi Vallverdú" bar:Marc text:"Marc Vallverdú" bar:David text:"David Garcia" bar:Gorka text:"Gorka Robert" bar:Pitus text:"Pitus Siles" bar:XaviL text:"Xavi Latorre" bar:XaviA text:"Xavi Artiol" bar:XaviB text:"Xavi Barrero" bar:Alex text:"Àlex Huguet" bar:Juanh text:"Juanhito Sáez" bar:Oscar text:"Oscar Gómez" bar:Merce text:"Mercè Verge" PlotData= width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(11,-4) bar:Uri from:01/10/2007 till:26/12/2015 color:vocals bar:Uri from:01/10/2007 till:26/12/2015 color:guitar width:3 bar:Nacho from:01/01/2008 till:26/12/2015 color:guitar bar:Nacho from:01/01/2008 till:26/12/2015 color:backing width:3 bar:XaviV from:01/01/2008 till:26/12/2015 color:keys bar:XaviV from:01/01/2008 till:26/12/2015 color:backing width:3 bar:Marc from:01/01/2008 till:14/12/2009 color:bass bar:David from:15/12/2009 till:26/12/2015 color:bass bar:David from:15/12/2009 till:26/12/2015 color:backing width:3 bar:Gorka from:01/01/2008 till:26/12/2015 color:drums bar:Gorka from:07/05/2009 till:26/12/2015 color:backing width:3 bar:Pitus from:01/01/2008 till:31/07/2008 color:percu bar:XaviL from:06/12/2008 till:23/10/2009 color:percu bar:XaviA from:01/01/2008 till:31/05/2008 color:trumpet bar:XaviB from:01/06/2008 till:26/12/2015 color:trumpet bar:XaviB from:20/02/2009 till:26/12/2015 color:backing width:3 bar:Alex from:01/01/2008 till:10/01/2009 color:trombon bar:Juanh from:03/05/2008 till:18/10/2009 color:trombon bar:Oscar from:20/02/2009 till:26/12/2015 color:sax bar:Oscar from:25/02/2011 till:26/12/2015 color:backing width:3 bar:Merce from:01/01/2008 till:19/04/2008 color:backing LineData = at:27/09/2010 color:studio layer:back at:12/11/2012 color:studio layer:back at:03/11/2014 color:live layer:back

Discography

Studio albums

* '' Todos los días sale el sol'' (2010) * ''

'' (2012)

Live albums

* ''

'' (2014)

Awards

Bongo Botrako won the Catalan Bookers Association Award for "Best Indoor Tour" in 2013 and the Enderrock Award for "Best Band in Foreign Language" in 2014.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.bongobotrako.com
Bongo Botrako on Twitter
Spanish rock music groups Spanish alternative rock groups Tarragona