Barrabás

Barrabás
Barrabás in 1971: (L–R: Arbex, Vidal, M. Morales, Duarte, R. Morales, Egaña)
Background information
Origin	Madrid, Spain
Genres	Rock, funk, soul, disco
Years active	1971–1978, 1980–1990, 1993–present
Labels	RCA, CBS
Associated acts	Los Brincos, Alacran
Website	www.barrabas.es/inicio.php
Members	José María Moll Iñaki Egaña
Past members	Fernando Arbex Tito Duarte Ricky Morales Miguel Morales Juan Vidal José Luís Tejada Daniel Louis Susy Gordaliza Koky Maning Armando Pelayo

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 more disco-orientated sound.

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 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 in 1973 and ¡Soltad a Barrabás! in 1974. The latter album featured the hit single "Hi-Jack", which reached № 1 in Spain, and was successfully covered by American jazz musician Herbie Mann 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. They disbanded in 1978, and Arbex moved fully towards writing and producing music for other artists.

The group reformed in 1980 with a new line-up. The Morales brothers, Vidal and Louis were replaced by the returning Moll, Costa Rican 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, and subsequently Tejada, Maning, Gordaliza and Pelayo all left. Miguel Morales and Iñaki Egaña then returned for the recording of the 1983 album Forbidden for CBS.