Blogilkar guest writer Daniel Motiño Camúñez reports:
Mecano is propably the most popular Spanish band till now. In 1981 Ana Torroja and the brothers José and Nacho Cano formed the group in Madrid. They were really innovative and advanced by the time in Spain. Now they get a musical makeover by some Spanish eurostars.
The country was starting to walk on democracy and they introduced synth-pop sounds to a boring grey musical scene which was dominated by stupid sangria, fiesta and playa hits by then. Hoy no me puedo levantar (I can't get up today) was their debut single, followed by the album called "Mecano". They released their last album in 1991 but only one year later decided to have a break of at least 3 years; things turned up and they ended up with a polemic split in 1998 after releasing a greatest hits album with seven unpublished songs which sold over 1 milion copies only in Spain.
Overall Mecano released six studio albums in Spain and Latinamerica, three albums with versions in French and Italian as well as some greatest hits and live albums. They even discovered Penelope Cruz, her first role ever on Mecano's video La Fuerza del Destino (The power of destiny). The group sold nearly 10 milion albums worldwide and achieved many #1 singles in Spain like Maquillaje, Barco a Venus, Cruz de Navajas and La Fuerza del Destino in Spain and Latinamerica as well as Hijo de la Luna and Mujer contra mujer which also hit the charts with its French and Italian versions.
Overall Mecano released six studio albums in Spain and Latinamerica, three albums with versions in French and Italian as well as some greatest hits and live albums. They even discovered Penelope Cruz, her first role ever on Mecano's video La Fuerza del Destino (The power of destiny). The group sold nearly 10 milion albums worldwide and achieved many #1 singles in Spain like Maquillaje, Barco a Venus, Cruz de Navajas and La Fuerza del Destino in Spain and Latinamerica as well as Hijo de la Luna and Mujer contra mujer which also hit the charts with its French and Italian versions.
Indeed Hijo de la Luna has been considered by some critics the best Spanish song ever and has been covered by dozens of artists in various languages. Here are some of them: Finnish, Loona, Stravaganzza, Italian, Serbian, Ana Torroja, Sarah Brightman and Montserrat Caballe. (It is also rumoured this song was sent to the Spanish TV for Eurovision but not accepted. BlogIlkar)
Two compilations were published afterwards, the first in 2005 just after the premiere of the Musical "Hoy no me puedo levantar" inspired in the group career and the second in 2009 called "Mecano Siglo XXI" including the release of a "Singstar" Playstation game exclusively with Mecano's hits, the first and only one dedicated to a group released for Spanish market. Other great Mecano tracks are Otro muerto, Tú, Stereosexual, Una rosa es una rosa, Naturaleza muerta, Un ano mas, Dalai lama and , El 7 de SettiembreThe band started solo projects after their break in 1992. José Maria Cano touched with a great artistic talent and who decided to leave the band unannounced back in 1998, composed the opera Luna which was a critical failure. Then he nearly got bankrupt after a polemic divorce. At the moment he is dedicated to his paiting career known as Cano de Andrés. Ana had probably the most successfull career so far, publishing five studio albums so far including one with Mecano covers. She toured together with Miguel Bosé in 2000 and just published her 5th and excellent album Sonrisa (Smile ) which I personally think is her best. Nacho Cano was always the excentric character of the band. He is vegetarian and Buddhist and co-operates in several humanitarian projects. He released four albums mostly instrumental and new-waved orientated. He was also the producer and director of Mecano's musical "Hoy no me puedo Levantar" followed by "A",. His last project has been designed to conquer Spanish dance clubs and it is called Mecandance, with dance version from the group hits. For the project he picked 8 singers and dancers from his two musicals including some Spanish eurostars: Ony of D'Nash, Gerard and Javier Mota.
Ony, the blond member of D'Nash was born in Valencia in 1981 and after taking part with in Eurovision left the group and started working with Nacho in the musical A, Gerard also took part on the Spanish National Final in 2007 but failed to qualify to the final although had two acts in the semifinal, one of them a duet with Mirela. In 2008 he took part of High School Musical in Spain and is currently preparing his first album which debut single Perderte (Losing you). Last but not least is Javi Mota from Granada. He had some success in Spain with the band Banghra, which performed in English some kind of cheap Hindu and Turkish pop, a weird and cheap experiment for such a talented artist. Javi tried in the Spanish internet selection for Oslo with the amazing Amarte Hoy but failed to qualify to the final propably due to lack of sponsors, it was one of the best quality entries.
Mecandance had a great success in Mexico and now they are touring in several discos in Spain as well as some appearances in television. Tthe album has been released but the promotion is kind of missing so far. Here is their video for Una rosa es una rosa and more of the show here, here, and here. All the best to our 3 boys there.
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