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Pedro Pubill Calaf, "Peret", was born in 1935, in Mataró, Province of Barcelona. He is singer, guitarist and composer, and is known as the "king of Catalan rumba".
He started his professional career in 1947, at the age of 12, participating in an infantile festival presided by Evita Perón, in the Tívoli Theatre in Barcelona.
Famous by the form in which he plays the guitar, known as the "el ventilador" (the air-conditioning fan), he employs the resonance box as a percussion instrument, and also for its ability of nearly a juggler in the hour of turning the guitar over himself in an rapid movement of 360 degrees.
In 1973 he represents Spain in the Eurovision Festival, with ‘Canta y sé Feliz’ (Sing and Be Happy), where he is defeated by the Swedes with ‘Waterloo’. Without the overseas happening he is guaranteed with lists of sales in France, Switzerland, Germany, The Netherlands and Italy, with hits like El Borriquito.
But it is in 1992, in the Olympic Games of Barcelona, where Catalan rumba had a high reach of fame internationally in the closing ceremony with
Los Manolos and
Los Amaya, performing, Gitana Hechicera, homage to Barcelona.
In 1998 he is decorated with
Cruz de Sant Jordi (Cross of Sant Jordi), awarded by the
Generalitat de Catalunya (Autonomous Government of Catalonia), and in September 2000 Peret brings out in the market, Rey de la Rumba.