As a teenager, Rafa Villalba (Valencia, 59 years old) loved to draw and he did so while listening to jazz and classical records. Until he got a drum set to play his own music. “I was shy and that helped me to leave the house and interact,” says Villalba before a rehearsal with Reina Roja. At the age of 20 he recorded Chiquetere, a homemade rap of less than two minutes. “My parents went into town for the weekend and I was left alone. I would make dinner, then I would get ready, I would go out with my friends and we would end up on the beach and watch the sun rise.” These little rites of happiness gave rise to a song’s lyrics: “When I’m in the kitchen making dinner / Or when I smoke a few cigarillos on the beach / When I do my line in front of the mirror / I hear a line coming from inside me, little music that sounds like this…”. And then he burst out into an upbeat and infectious refrain: “Chiquetere te te te tere / Chiquetere te te te terao / Chiquetere te te te tere / Chiquetere sibiribabopaobuba…”. “What does it mean? Nothing. The part I’m talking about is the hair part when I comb my hair. It’s no longer the music you hear inside when you’re happy.”
Chiquetere was released on a cassette that its author distributed in 1983 to discos that lined the circuit in front of La Ruta. The theme became a cult piece. Three years later he recorded a new version with Bongos Atómicos, but the record company that hired the group didn’t see it commercially and it never came out. In 1994 it had a third life: an electronic version created with DJ Sarna shared its popularity with Esta sí by Chimo Bayo, whose onomatopoeic refrain may well be Chiquetere’s son. The song was successful in Spain, Argentina, Italy and Mexico. It worked without the prominence of its creator, who by this point was already playing drums with Social Security.
Today, Villalba – who currently lives in Chiva (Valencia) – applies his heterodox and eclectic look to Reina Roja’s flamenco. When I met Maria [Briones, vocalista] I was surprised that someone so young enjoys listening to La Paquera, La Niña de los Peines.” But no matter how focused Villalba is on the present, Chiquetere continues to accompany him. This year, a tech-house version of disc jockey Paskman has brought it back into fashion. The sum of all its versions has already amassed 35 million listeners on Spotify, and more than 450,000 videos have circulated on TikTok, in which people dance, cook or whatever to the rhythm of Chiquetere. “If I add the title of the song to my name or that of Reina Roja, the algorithm rewards me with a multiplication of listeners,” he explains with satisfaction, because this jolt of joy has infected thousands of people again.