Commemoration of the centenary of Pep ‘El Carreró’, minstrel from Benidorm

Yesterday Benidorm paid tribute to Josep Zaragoza Pérez, Pep ‘El Carreró’, on the occasion of the first centenary of the poet's birth with a concert by the l’Illa de Benidorm Musical Society and with the reading of part of his poems in Julio Iglesias auditorium in l’Aigüera Park.

The event began after 7:00 p.m. Around 200 people gathered there, respecting at all times the strict protocols required by the health authorities due to Covid-19. Among the public, the mayor, Toni Pérez; the Councilor for Culture, Jaime Jesús Pérez; members of the three groups with representation in the City Council; and the public and relatives, among them his widow, Lina Galdón.

The poems of Pep ‘El Carreró’, read by friends, family and scholars of his work, were interspersed with a repertoire of popular and festive pieces. The first to sound, Pepita Greus and then Aires Llevantins, Pérez Barceló, Cielo andaluz, Bajo el cielo de Benidorm, La cançó del mariner, Fiesta in Benidorm and the anthem of the city.

In the intermission, the Councilor for Culture, as president of the jury of Josep Zaragoza Pérez Musical Composition Contest, Pep 'El Carreró', together with his secretary, Juan Antonio Espinosa, announced the name of the winner: Rubén Penedés, gave him with the commemorative trophy and a check, worth 3,000 euros.

The mayor then took the floor to recall the career of who was the Cultural Distinction ‘Ciutat de Benidorm’ 2007 posthumously. "Pep 'El Carreró' - he said - is, in short, the one who has best captured the essence of Benidorm over a century," with his famous quatrains that he produced "until the last moment".

Toni Pérez valued "the notary paper" Pep 'El Carreró', whom he described as a "minstrel of the twentieth century" and recalled that many of his poems, written to commemorate festive acts and cultural events, are still distributed throughout the city. "Pep always had a piece of poetry for everything," the mayor stressed, "and whoever has been able to preserve it has a treasure."

The mayor recalled that part of Pep's work 'El Carreró' was published in the book 'De la Cala al Racó: poesies benidormeres', by the City Council and the Juan Gil-Albert Institute of Culture of Alicante, work coordinated by Francesc Xavier Llorca Ibi. It includes 68 poems, of diverse themes "that today are pieces of the history of Benidorm" where "spaces and people who are no longer, in short, who we were and where are we going" are recognized.