Enrique Sierra

Enrique Sierra, the guitarist for Radio Futura, died last Friday from complications following a second kidney transplant.

Radio Futura are one of the best groups in the history of Spanish popular music (they are certainly my favourites). Led by the brothers Santiago and Luis Auserón, they took elements of punk and latin sounds to create a fusion that became something new and specific to Iberia, all combined with brilliant lyrics that far surpass most contemporary Spanish verse! Enrique Sierra was very much in the background, but his contribution to their blending of influences shouldn't be underestimated.

This performance of 37 grados, from the terrific La Canción de Juan Perro album, shows Sierra alongside the brothers and in his element...

Escuela de Calor

Once we get to mid-June, the sun becomes relentless in Extremadura. Daytime temperatures regularly reach well over 40ºC and you have to be brave/mad/an Englishman to venture out of the house between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m..

In that context, it's time to invoke Escuela de Calor, a gorgeous subversion of a summer song, Radio Futura and Santiago Auserón (aka Juan Perro) at their best...

Radio Futura

There's a pretty coherent case to be put that Pop/Rock Music doesn't lend itself to being performed in Spanish unless the songwriter subverts it with non-Anglo-Saxon nuances, just as iambs and anapests, etc, sound ridiculous inside Spanish speech patterns.

One of the best exponents of Spanish popular music over the last couple of decades has been and is Juan Perro, the alter ego of Santiago Auseron, the lead singer of Radio Futura. This group erupted onto the scene during the Movida Madrileña - a boom time for liberal movements in Madrid during the transition to democracy. Spain was undergoing a vast number of social changes in a short period of time; the artists involved in the Movida expressed these, none more so than Radio Futura.

Here's a clip of one of their emblematic pieces. Auseron forever casts doubt on his own songwriting gifts, but he's actually an excellent storyteller with an original turn of phrase. What's more, the marriage between the words and the music is terrific - a great example of twisting its genre.

Enjoy!