Jarabe De Palo

Jarabe de Palo, a Latin rock ensemble whose name translates literally to “wood syrup,” came together in Barcelona during the early 1990s. Vocalist and guitarist Pau Donés joined forces with guitarist Jordi Mena, drummer Alex Tenas, percussionist Dani Forcada, and bassist Joan Gené to shape the lineup. An early admirer of the Beatles and Bob Marley, Donés had already started a group with his brother before recruiting an entirely new roster for the project now called Jarabe de Palo.

The band’s 1997 album La Flaca registered strong chart performance across Spain. Four years later De Vuelta y Vuelta appeared and reached the Top 50 on the Top Latin Albums tally.

Responding to Spain’s expanding appetite for Latin, African, and Anglo sounds, the musicians crafted songs that merged rock, funk, jazz, and blues with flamenco, Afro-Caribbean, Cuban, and Brazilian textures. Their 2003 release Bonito wove these strands into a wide-ranging snapshot of the group’s musical identity. In 2009 the members launched their own imprint, Tronco, and inaugurated it with the album Orquesta Reciclando.

Somos, a rock-funk collection, surfaced in 2014 and triggered a worldwide tour that visited the Americas, Europe, and Spain. Critics embraced the record, which earned three of the band’s twelve Latin Grammy nominations—album of the year, best pop/rock album, and song of the year for the title track. A live set, Americas 14-15, preserved the tour, after which the double-length studio album 50 Palos arrived in 2017, named in honor of lead singer Pau Donés’ fiftieth birthday.