The Barcelona rumba singer Joan Ximénez Valentí, El Petitet, passed away yesterday, October 11, 2024. Catalan rumba loses one of its great references. From 11Onze we want to express our condolences to the family and mourn the death of the author of our anthem, “La rumba del calerons”.

“El Petitet was one of those special people, gifted with talent, joy and a creative capacity beyond measure. It was easy to notice in his house. You were with him, in the dining room, chatting in front of the TV and you realized that he, connected to the machine that helped him breathe due to the myasthenia gravis he suffered from, was moving his fingers rhythmically: he was thinking about music. He was always thinking about music,” explains Toni Mata, director of content and communication at 11Onze.

Joan Ximénez, a gypsy from Calle Cera, was the son of Ramón el Huesos (one of Peret’s first clappers) and has been one of the most prominent figures in Catalan rumba in recent decades. From when the Raval was home to gypsies who worked in textiles and went out into the street all dressed up, the handsome gypsies, as Petitet said. From when clothes hanging out to dry gave colour to the streets and rumba was the most powerful urban music in Europe. At that time, rumba dancers filled the music venues and Petitet, with his group Tobago and his album Rumbamanía, competed in sales with David Bowie and Michael Jackson.

But that world disappeared, and illness conditioned the last years of Petitet’s life. However, he had the strength to keep a promise. When his mother was on her deathbed, he promised her that he would bring Catalan rumba to the Liceu. And he succeeded, because “when a gypsy gives you the word, that’s it.” That adventure, that of bringing the music of the people, such as rumba, to the opera house and the upper classes, was captured in the documentary Petitet, by Carles Bosch. The film was awarded the Gaudí Prize for best documentary film. The screenwriter of that film, David Vidal, is the author of this obituary for Petitet.

Petitet and 11Onze

“In 2022 we contacted Petitet because we wanted to make a song for 11Onze. We wanted a rumba because it is Catalan, it is cheerful, it is from the people, and it represents the gypsies, who have often had to live on the margins of society and have managed to survive. All this connected directly with the ideology of our entity,” explains Toni Mata. The understanding was immediate. Petitet understood and embraced the idea of ​​11Onze and its community vision. The collaboration gave rise to “La rumba de los calerons”, the first critical rumba ever composed.

“Petitet was a perfectionist,” Mata recalls, “he would send me versions, adjusting the lyrics, adding layers of music… he even convinced a harpist from the Liceu to come to the studio to record. Of course, the harp would act as the piano, and without sheet music! The harpist managed it, but it was really clear that Petitet and his gang were made of different stuff.” The video for La rumba dels calerons was recorded on the Rambla del Raval, at a huge popular festival next to the streets that saw Petitet and Catalan rumba grow.

Today 11Onze and all those who knew him mourn Petitet’s death. “With him we lose the author of our anthem, a beautiful person, faithful, dignified and full of love for the people,” says James Sène, president of 11Onze. At “The rumba dels calerons,” explains Toni Mata, “he ended up asking for peace in the world. He didn’t achieve it, but he certainly did a little better.” We said goodbye to Petitet, passing on our condolences to the family and dancing with him because, as he always said, “it’s better to laugh than to cry.”

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