Raimon

Ramon Pelegero Sanchis, who takes the stage name of Raimon (Valencian pronunciation: [rajˈmon]), is a Spanish singer, one of the most important exponents of the musical style of Nova Cançó and one of the most well-known veteran artists in the Catalan language.

Raimon was born in Xàtiva in the province of Valencia, Spain on December 2, 1940, at el carrer Blanc (White Street), which he references in some songs. In his youth he worked for several years as a radio broadcaster in his hometown, absorbing the music of artists as diverse as Juliette Gréco, The Platters, and Juanito Valderrama.

At age 21, he moved to Valencia in order to study history. It was there that he discovered Catalan culture, and read writers such as Ausiàs March, Salvador Espriu, Josep Pla, and Joan Fuster, among others. Prior to this, however, he had already written his first song, Al vent (To the wind).

In 1962, Raimon made his first public appearance at a literary prize ceremony. A little later, after entering a contest in Castelló, where Els Setze Jutges participated, he sang for them. Josep Maria Espinàs was impressed and invited him to Barcelona for the Fòrum Vergés. His success was immediate. Raimon surprised with the form and content of his songs. His urgent texts spoke of a rebellious existentialism; his style departed from the "French style" of Els Setze Jutges and offered a vision of the world tied not to the life of the Barcelona bourgeois in which musicians like Espinàs, Delfí Abella, and Enric Barbat lived, but rather to the Valencian working classes. His first EP appeared quickly on Catalan record label Edigsa in 1963; it included the songs Al vent, Som, La pedra, and A colps, and became a great sales success.

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