Barrabás

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Barrabás was a Spanish musical group of the 1970s and 1980s, led by drummer Fernando Arbex. The group's musical style was initially Latin rock with jazz and funk influences, and later developed into a more disco-orientated sound.

Arbex formed Barrabás in 1971 when his previous band, Alacran, split. He and Alacran's bass guitarist / vocalist Ignacio "Iñaki" Egaña were joined by several other musicians for their debut album Wild Safari in 1972. This album spawned the hit single "Woman", which was successful in various countries across Europe and the Americas, including the USA.

Egaña decided to leave the group in 1973 after his involvement with drugs was made public [1], and Arbex decided to reduce his own involvement as a musician, hiring two new members as vocalist and drummer. With the popularity of disco in the mid-1970s, Barrabás moved in that direction and produced a number of minor hits. They disbanded in 1977 when Arbex moved fully towards writing and producing music for other artists, but he reformed the group in the early 1980s and recorded three more albums before being dropped by their record label RCA Records, in 1984. Barrabás continued on a smaller scale for some time afterwards.