Barrabás are a Spanish musical group, most successful in the 1970s and 1980s when they were led by drummer and producer

Fernando Arbex José Fernando Arbex Miró (28 May 1941 – 5 July 2003) was an influential Spanish musician and songwriter from Madrid, who enjoyed success both with his own groups and also with other artists. While still in his teens, he was the drummer in Los ...

. The group's musical style was initially

Latin rock Latin Rock is a term to describe a subgenre blending traditional sounds and elements of Latin American and Hispanic Caribbean folk with rock music. However, it is widely used in the English-language media to refer any kind of rock music featurin ...

with

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

and

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

influences, and later developed into a more

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

-orientated sound.

History

Arbex formed Barrabás in 1971 when his previous band, Alacrán, split. He and Alacrán's bass guitarist and vocalist Ignacio "Iñaki" Egaña were joined by several other musicians in preparation for the recording of their debut album '' Wild Safari'' released later that year. These were Filipino guitarist brothers Ricky and Miguel Morales; Portuguese

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 * Mus ...

player Juan Vidal and Cuban percussionist, saxophone and flute player Ernesto "Tito" Duarte. ''Wild Safari'' spawned the hit singles "Woman" and "Wild Safari" which were successful in various countries across Europe and the Americas, including the USA and Canada. The group also toured throughout Latin America. Arbex removed Egaña from the group after the recording of ''Wild Safari'', and also decided to further reduce his own involvement as a musician, hiring two new members, José Luis Tejada and José María Moll, as vocalist and drummer respectively. Moll had played live with Barrabás from the beginning, with Arbex only playing on ''Wild Safari''. This new line-up recorded two albums, ''

Power Power may refer to: Common meanings * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power, a type of energy * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events Math ...

'' in 1973 and ''

¡Soltad a Barrabás! ''¡Soltad a Barrabás!'' is the third album by the Music of Spain#Popular music in Spain, Spanish group Barrabás, released in 1974. The album was originally released as ''Release Barrabás'' or ''Hi-Jack'' in some other countries, but the modern ...

'' in 1974. The latter album featured the hit single "

Hi-Jack "Hi-Jack" is a 1974 r&b and funk disco based song written by Spanish musician Fernando Arbex and originally recorded by his group Barrabás for their album ''¡Soltad a Barrabás!''. While their version of the song was a huge success in their na ...

", which reached № 1 in Spain, and was successfully covered by American

musician

Herbie Mann Herbert Jay Solomon (April 16, 1930 – July 1, 2003), known by his stage name Herbie Mann, was an American jazz Flute, flute player and important early practitioner of world music. Early in his career, he also played tenor saxophone and clarinet ...

in 1975. Moll then left the band after disagreements with the other members, and was replaced by Daniel Louis. With the popularity of disco in the mid-1970s, Barrabás moved in that direction and produced a number of minor hits. There was another line-up change when Tejada and Ricky Morales left to be replaced by Ernie Garrett on guitar and vocals. Garrett was soon forced to leave the band with heart problems and Barrabás disbanded in 1977. Arbex then moved fully towards writing and producing music for other artists. The group reformed in 1980 with a new line-up. Neither the Morales brothers, Vidal nor Louis were involved, and were replaced by the returning Moll,

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

n guitarist "Koky" Maning, bassist "Susy" Gordaliza and keyboard player Armando Pelayo. This line-up recorded two albums before being dropped by their record label,

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

, and subsequently Tejada, Maning, Gordaliza and Pelayo all left. Miguel Morales and Iñaki Egaña then returned for the recording of the 1983 album '' Prohibido'' for

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

. Barrabás continued on a smaller scale afterwards under the leadership of Moll, still accompanied by Egaña and Miguel Morales, with Duarte and other musicians helping out both live and in the studio. A number of albums were recorded in the 1990s, consisting of re-recordings of songs from the 1970s and 1980s. Barrabás founder Fernando Arbex died in 2003. Multi-instrumentalist Ernesto "Tito" Duarte died in Spain on 14 July 2003, at age 57. Tejada died on 20 April 2014 at age 69. Ricky Morales died on 28 September 2024 in Madrid, aged 79.

Personnel

(1941–2003) –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

(1971–72), production * Iñaki Egaña (1948–) –

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

, vocals (1971–72, 1983–) * Ernesto "Tito" Duarte (1946–2003) –

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

, drums,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

(1971–77, 1980–2003) * Enrique "Ricky" Morales (1945–2024) –

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

, vocals (1971–77) * Miguel Morales (1949–) –

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

, bass guitar, vocals (1971–77, 1983–) * Ernie Garrett (d. 1978) – guitar, vocals (1977) * João Antonio "Juan" Vidal (1945–) – keyboards, vocals (1971–77) * José Luis Tejada (1945–2014) – vocals (1972–77, 1980–83) * José María Moll (1946–) – drums (1972–74, 1980–) * Daniel Louis (1946–d.) – drums (1974–77) * Armando Pelayo (1948–) – keyboards (1980–83) * Jorge Eduardo "Koky" Maning – guitar, vocals (1980–83) * Jesús "Susi" Gordaliza – bass guitar, vocals (1980–83)

Album discography

* '' Wild Safari'' – 1971 (AKA ''Barrabás'') * ''

'' – 1973 * ''

'' – 1974 (AKA ''Release Barrabás'' or ''Hi-Jack'') * '' Heart of the City'' – 1975 (AKA ''Check Mate'') * '' Watch Out'' – 1975 (AKA ''Desperately'') * ''

Barrabás Barrabás are a Spanish musical group, most successful in the 1970s and 1980s when they were led by drummer and producer Fernando Arbex. The group's musical style was initially Latin rock with jazz and funk influences, and later developed into a ...

'' – 1977 (AKA ''Swinger'' or ''Watch-Out'') * '' Piel de Barrabás'' – 1981 * '' Bestial'' – 1982 * '' Prohibido'' – 1983 * ''Barrabás Power – Abraxa'' – 1994 * ''Grandes Éxitos'' – 1997 * ''Vive'' – 1999

References

External links

* Barrabás at Allmusicbr>Discography at Spanishprogressiverock.blogspot.comOfficial website
(

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Barrabas Spanish musical groups Musical groups established in 1971 Musical groups disestablished in 1977 Musical groups established in 1980 Musical groups disestablished in 1990 Musical groups established in 1993 Atco Records artists English-language musical groups from Spain