This month on the Metropolitan Culture Corner Tori Sparks interviews musician, author and storyteller extraordinaire Carlos Romagosa. He was one of the founding members of one of the very first live music groups that ever existed in post-war Barcelona back in 1958—they were called Las Estrellas Fugaces, or the shooting stars—and six decades later, he’s still an active part of the local music scene with his eight-piece Cuban band Son de la Rambla.
Romagosa has also been a journalist, an actor, a clown and has recently released his first book, Cuando el Ocio No Existía, which translates literally to “When Leisure [or Fun] Didn’t Exist.” It chronicles the adventures he and his young bandmates had while struggling to create something new and inspiring during the Franco dictatorship.
Last month we interviewed film composer and music supervisor Toni Mir. He has written soundtracks for award-winning shorts and films and was recently nominated for a 2020 Goya Award for Best Original Song in a film for “Allí en la Arena” from the movie La Inocencia. He is also the founder of Trafalgar 13 Music House, an independent composition and music supervision studio in Barcelona that creates music for television and commercials and known for its adventurous spirit.
Stay tuned to Metropolitan’s YouTube channel and social media to make sure you don’t miss a single episode of our monthly interview series! You can also watch the full archive of 2020 interviews on our official YouTube channel, and be sure to follow Metropolitan on Facebook: @BCNMetropolitan, Twitter: @bcnmetropolitan and Instagram: @barcelonametropolitan.