I met the Pà txinguer Z when I was just a teenager at a performance in Alzira, I think in the early 80s. The enormous figure of their singer, LluÃs Miquel, stood out from the group, a tall man with broad shoulders, a mustache and a voice which reminded me, due to its power and timbre, of Jorge Negrete’s, a Mexican singer who was my mother’s favorite. Music in Valencian, fun, that encouraged you to dance and that the older ones knew the lyrics, as well as those of Els Pavesos, with Joan Monleón as singer, or LluÃs el Sifoner and his “Tinc un mà nec de tres pams i mig”.
This morning they told me that LluÃs Miquel has died, and I felt that something in my memory was also dying. The memory of the summer festivals of Sant Bernat, of the aplecs, of the afternoons at the Amunt de Alzira club listening to records by Raimon and Joan Manuel Serrat, two singers with whom the deceased had a close relationship. In fact, he and Raimon were the two great promoters of the Valencian Nova Cançó. Two geniuses of the land, each one with their abilities, who knew how to break the monopoly of music in Spanish to tear down some walls that, decades later, have borne enormous fruit: just look at the number of groups in Valencian that exist today.
LluÃs Miquel was also a great producer. He founded the first audiovisual production company in Valencia in 1970, Novimag, and in 1977 the first Valencian sound studio, Estudis Tabalet, of which he was director and co-owner. He was also the promoter of the production company Ardà Producciones, SL, specialized in theatrical and musical shows.
In 1984, LluÃs Miquel created the necessary infrastructures for the first time dubbing films and television series in Valencian, a task that led him to dub different characters. He was also passionate about French music. Friends like Pi de la Serra, his colleagues from Patxinguer, Carraixet or younger people like Pau Alabajos, met in 2020 to pay tribute to him with what moved his life from a very young age: music.
After the news was made public, condolences and expressions of affection have begun to arrive from political, cultural and social sectors.
The ‘president’ of the Generalitat, Ximo Puig, has spread a message on his social networks in which he states: “You wake up and you don’t want to believe it: LluÃs Miquel is dead. Generosity, loyalty to ideas and to the land, the meaning of friendship, Always in the heart, dear friend”.
The Minister of Education and Culture, Raquel Tamarit, has assured that “we are mourning” for the loss of “a promoter and staunch defender of our language and popular Valencian culture”, while the regional Secretary of Culture, Ximo López, Camps, has lamented the death of “a key figure in Valencian music and in Valencian”. “Thank you, teacher, therefore!”, He has exclaimed himself.
The CompromÃs candidate for the Presidency of the Generalitat, Joan BaldovÃ, has recalled how in his youth he was moved and laughed with his songs and his versions of Brel. “I especially remember ‘Pep’, a song to friendship. Today I will listen to it again”, he has added.
The Valencian Institute of Culture (IVC) has highlighted Campos’ long career as a musician, audiovisual and theater producer, as well as a pioneer of Valencian sound and dubbing studios. For this reason, he “leaves an indelible mark and legacy”, they have asserted from the cultural entity.
