"What we at Huracán earned, nobody else earned working."

CitadelA musical hurricane has been stirring the people of Menorca for 50 years, captivating them at local festivals and celebrations. Like an intense tramontana wind, the small orchestra, born in the mid-70s in the island's smallest village, Migjorn Gran, continues to make its presence felt in squares, venues, and football fields. With over 5,000 concerts under their belt, the Orquesta Huracán (keyboardist Miquel Pascual, his inseparable Pere Sales, and vocalists Rudy Velasco and Antoni Rodrigo) is a force to be reckoned with. PopiTheir population has grown in parallel with tourism, which was still in its infancy at the time, and has now doubled in half a century. They are living cultural testaments to the authentic, uncrowded Menorca that many still long for today.

They started out calling themselves Censur (referring to their origins in the central and southern parts of the island), back when Migjorn Gran was still part of Mercadal and not yet an independent municipality. It was 1974, and some of them were no more than twelve years old. But Censur didn't last long, and a year later they transformed into Huracán, the band they are today.

In May 1976, they gave their first performance for 12,000 pesetas (72 euros) at the old Hotel Cóndores in Santo Tomás, which is now the five-star Villa Le Blanc Gran Melià. The musician who accompanied them that night on the Hammond organ never performed with them again. "He told us he was quitting because he didn't see a future in it," Miquel Pascual says with a laugh. Even he couldn't have imagined that, 50 years later, they'd still be making waves on stage.

He abandoned the guitar, with which he had started performing, and switched to keyboards. In Palma, he bought a Hammond organ—"which I still have"—for 250,000 pesetas. He only had 20,000 saved, so his parents, not without some reluctance, had to contribute the remaining 200,000-plus pesetas.

200 performances each season

In that early Menorcan development half a century ago, there were only three hotels, an apartment complex, "and a few villas built on the beachfront." But from then on, Huracán started playing from hotel to hotel, from development to development, sometimes doing two shows on the same day and accumulating 200 performances each season. "We played for British and Germans, and many of them came to see us every night. As soon as we finished, they paid us directly from the till, without a receipt or anything," Pascual recalls. "What we earned, nobody made working. I myself worked as a cutter in Jaume Mascaró's shoe factory, but we all ended up earning more with an instrument in our hands than at our jobs," he emphasizes.

They not only made a name for themselves live, but they also recorded albums and a cassette tape, which they took to the hotels where they performed and of which they sold more than 3,000 copies. In 1988 they became the official band of the Maó Maritime Club and began to play at weddings and parties of the time.

Their huge success in Menorca reached the ears of the top booking agencies in Mallorca. Romantic took them to Palma for New Year's Eve, but they didn't try their luck again on the neighboring island "because we all had jobs here and we didn't consider it on a professional level." Now, however, Miquel Pascual is certain that, "if we had tried it, we would have been almost as successful, or even more so, in Mallorca than in Menorca."

On July 12th, Huracán celebrated half a century on stage with a home concert at the Los Nogales football field in Migjorn Gran. Fourteen musicians and a technical team of about ten people made the show possible, which was recorded with nine cameras and accompanied by a projection of related images.

No other group from that era remains active in the Balearic Islands. This season, Huracán will have played over twenty gigs, almost all of them booked by local councils. "After so long, we want to be more comfortable and have stopped playing in hotels," says Miquel. They have a minimum fee of 1,600 euros per performance, which can go up to 3,000 if they also provide their own equipment and hire a DJ or other supporting act. "Musicians have to stand up for themselves," he affirms. In their case, they won't accept playing for less than 300 euros for any song. "But at this point, the money's there. What we prioritize is sounding good, enjoying ourselves, and getting people talking."

Repertoire of around one hundred songs

They like to say, "Many people have fallen in love with our songs." Especially the famous one. Amoras that the wind takes awayThe song that La Quinta Reserva released in 1974, which has always been Huracán's most emblematic song. They have a repertoire of about a hundred songs, but they don't close any. setlist specific to each concert. "We play one song or another depending on the audience's reaction," Miquel points out. Something that has surprised Bep Camps, a 73-year-old blacksmith who joined the band this year as bassist. "We play the night before and end up exhausted. We're old, but we don't really feel it," he says. In fact, at the summer festivals, they start by playing dance songs, but towards the end, with the younger crowd in attendance, they announce they'll play "the song of the summer" and really get going.Hail Mary, Bisbal's; the Maria, by Ricky Martin; the Sweet Caroline, by Neil Diamond, and My big night, by Raphael, among others; songs that have become especially fashionable again in recent years in different circles and that guarantee them a top-notch finale.

"There are always people who come up to us and tell us how lucky we are because there's no other group like us. And, in fact, I think that's true. Nowadays, musicians know how to play very well and sound better than we do. There are many local bands that play the music of the '80s and '90s, like Fand Boleros in Mallorca, Los Géminis… but none of them play as much or offer such a wide and diverse repertoire," he explains. "We combine boleros with bachata, waltzes, pasodobles, cha-cha-cha, and more pop-oriented hits." This summer, for example, they've noticed a special enthusiasm among the audience when they perform A kiss and a flower, by Nino Bravo and have even released their own song. "It's called The tourist and part of a funny song written by Bep Camps, which we've set to a catchy tune. It's a big hit."

At the national level, their influences are El Dúo Dinámico, Fórmula V, Lorenzo Santamaría, and Los Diablos, "who are still performing. As long as Agustín Ramírez (the singer) is at the helm, I don't think they'll stop," he says. Neither will Huracán. "How long will we continue? We're having too much fun! Until our health gives out..."