They have established themselves around the world, but before, they made their first steps and concerts in local and small bars in the Aragonese capital. We review the trajectory of the best groups from Zaragoza, most of them disappeared like Héroes del Silencio or Más Birras, but we can’t forget others that continue to be a hit in the current music scene like Amaral.
Zaragoza is a city of music. Not only because of the excellent facilities and spaces it has to host concerts of all formats or the large number of artists, national and international, who have passed through them. Also for the quantity and quality of the numerous groups that, during the last decades, have emerged in the rehearsal rooms and bars of the city.
We want to review some of them, the most legendary, either by the success they have achieved or for what they have meant for the music scene. There are so many, that’s why it was so hard for us to choose only six. Most of them are no longer active, but that hasn’t stopped their music from being heard, that’s why they are mythical.
Join us on this journey to remember them or meet them for the first time. Of course, before we start we want to warn you that they are not ordered according to their success or quality, that would have been impossible. We have preferred to do it in alphabetical order.
Amaral
Eva Amaral and Juan Aguirre make up one of the best known musical proposals in our country, and they are the only ones still active in this list. Since their first album, Amaral (1998), which they played in the bars of Zaragoza, the duo has evolved into concerts that fill stadiums. Musically, in their beginnings they offered an intimate pop that turned to rock. Among the awards they have received are an Ondas for their album “Pájaros en la cabeza”, the Premio Nacional de las Músicas Actuales of the Ministry of Culture or the Golden Music Award for their entire career.
El Niño Gusano
One of the pioneer groups of independent pop, not only in Zaragoza but also in Spain. Led by the late Sergio Algora, El Niño Gusano burst onto the music scene with dreamlike songs and convoluted lyrics, apparently naive. In just six years of existence, they marked a path that many Spanish bands still follow today.
Heroes del Silencio
There is little left to write about what has been one of the most successful Spanish groups, both inside and outside our country. Through hard work and talent, Enrique Bunbury, Juan Valdivia, Joaquín Cardiel and Pedro Andreu (with the collaboration in the last stage of the Mexican Alan Boguslavsky) sold millions of records and played concerts with tens of thousands of spectators. And all this without Zaragoza ceasing to be their “center of operations”. Their reunion tour, in 2007, was one of the greatest events in the history of music in Spain.
Mas Birras
One of the most important examples of Zaragozan rock. Led by Mauricio Aznar, a key figure in the Zaragozan music scene of the 80s and 90s, they released up to four albums until they put an end to their career in 1993. Many of their songs are still being recovered by Aragonese groups, such as Apuesta por el Rock And Roll, which was covered by Héroes del Silencio.
Niños del Brasil
In Zaragoza there was also a place for electronic music. Its greatest exponents were Niños del Brasil, who mixed it with gothic rock to give shape to one of the most interesting musical proposals of the Aragonese capital. Their first stage was from 1986 to 1997, although they met again ten years later. As a curiosity, Enrique Bunbury himself passed through their ranks.
Violadores del Verso
This is the group that turned Zaragoza into the capital of hip hop. This group is the living history of rap in Spanish. Revered also in Spanish America, in 2011 they announced that they were taking a break to undertake solo projects, and since then their many fans are still waiting for news of the return of Kase.O, Lírico, Sho-Hai and R de Rumba.
These are just some of the mythical groups that have come out of Zaragoza, but, as if it were a record, we could offer you several bonus tracks in this compilation, with bands whose career has also been very outstanding: Ixo Rai!, Tachenko, Los Gandules, Distrito 14, Los especialistas, Sick Brains… the options are many, as many as the quality of the music scene in Zaragoza.
