7DAYS´ INTERVIEW: Ronnie Israel

EL RONNIE!

By Sonia Golt

I would say he is 100% Gibraltarian and he says 100% Llanito! I have laughed through most of the interview with Ronnie Israel. He is a charming down to earth man with a great sense of humour. He seems to have load of time on his hands, or so it seems, even though he runs his own business, does the buying and the selling as well. He does not know what the word stress is as he is never agitated and is always in a good mood, enjoying what life offers him and passing on the good vibes to others that pass by his shop situated in Horse Barrack Lane. Ronnie's great love for 'Llanito' means his interview is expressed in much the same way and I have abided by the unsaid rules of the game!

Ronnie lets go back to basics, as a teenager you were already writing music- Cuentame?
"Anda que no hace tiempo de eso, the good old days, que buenos tiempos, yo era joven! It was 1970 and I had written a poem that I turned into a song, escribi "TU" con Agusto(Guy) Palmer, y lo canto Luis Vinet at the Song Festival and we won the second prize, in those days it was nearly impossible to win as year after year el Willie Gomez won. I remember attending the party after the event and that people who had never even said, Buenos dias, to me before were coming up to congratulate me as if they had known me all their life… no me gusto el hypocrisy y nos fuimos pronto…"

Seeing non pretentious Ronnie in person one might not believe that both him and Guy wrote songs for well known singers of the 70's like, Los del Rio, who became international stars with their song "Macarena" translated into a variety of languages, other songs were also written for the Spanish group Mocedades, and for Macarena del Rio, amongst others…they actually wrote a song for Paco Escudero, a gypsy, who took it to Miami and competed with the likes of Frank Sinatra and the Beatles fairing so well he became NO 1 hit of the time…

So with so many successes, why did you not keep writing? My mind boggles…
"We opened a recording studio here, but we were away from everything, Madrid was far and UK was far, we were in other jobs and we each had a family, y no podiamos coger la maleta y irnos asi como asi. Escribimos canciones para el "Duo Dinamico" and they loved them but they wanted the rights over them, they wanted to buy them from us and we did not want that. We then dedicated our song writing to songs for the local group "Jade" y la cancion "NO ME COMA EL COCO" became No 5 hit in los 40 Principales. After this we both wrote a very melodious song called "El tren de la vida" and we gave all the royalties to La Sociedad General de Autores de Espana, as we wanted the song to be used in the campaign against drugs in Spain - but although they loved it and it was in the finals but they could not use it because we were Gibraltarian writers and the Patron of the Campaign was the Queen of Spain…this did not stop us from continuing to write songs and present them in other shows in Spain where we were very welcome!"

What about the Song Festival in Ireland, how was that?
"At the Cavan Song Contest we won, one first prize and two seconds and a jingle, the jingle was actually used as the theme music for the Cavan Song Contest…we were very successful there and I would like to thank Pepe Vaughan, Minister of Tourism in the 70's for the help he gave us financially."

Ronnie can you sing?
"Esa es la envidia sana que le tengo a la gente, el no saber cantar. Pero tarareo aunque sea en la ducha! I keep writing but most are now unpublished."

What about the rights?
"I still get the 'rights' to any of the songs I have written but I donate the money now to the old people who need it within the Song Writers Guild Of Great Britain."

I remember when working as a presenter on GBC Television that the Clock that came out on screen just before the news had music written by Ronnie…lovely music and lovely memories of those days!

"That song was recorded by the Philarmonic Orchestra of Bolonia. A que tu no sabia eso? From that moment we were invited to a The World Song Festival in Malta and we won, and Guy was carried by the multitudes out of the hall, como si fuera un torero! It was amazing."

Ronnie's enthusiasm is contagious and I suddenly thought what a marvellous Radio programme on "Songs of that Era" that could be, bringing back local song writers and singers of those days and playing their music…food for thought…What do you think of this Ronnie?
"Has dao en el clavo, this is my dream, I would love to do something like this on GBC Radio, time will tell."

Ronnie apart from song writing has had full time jobs parallel to his writing; initially he was the General Manager of two boutiques, Bata shoe shop and Natasha's fashion shop. He even went to England to study window dressing, buying and selling techniques with Bata. Ronnie is now the owner of a small bazaar type shop in Horse Barrack Lane that sells a bit of everything, he had constant local clientele and he even buys things for the clients if he has not got it when they come looking for it - but Ronnie feels that traders in the side streets to Main Street have been left to their own devices as there are NO SIGNS anywhere inviting tourist to go beyond Main Street, but then again there are no signs to the Museum, or the Apes Den or the Moorish Castle, or other sites, people can walk to many of these places but there is nothing to tell them this, no signs or maps that entice tourist to look beyond Main Street.

"I've had tourist walking up Castle Steps and getting to my house, to ask where the Moorish Castle or the Apes are, I have even invited an old lady who was nearly dehydrated by the time she came to me, to a cup of tea in my patio - y como los monos tambien me visitan a mi en mi casa, pues hasta vio un mono sin ir mas lejos, que te parece eso for Gibraltarian Hospitality!"

You are very Nationalistic, why is that?
"I feel 100 percent Gibraltarian, and I am sad to say that today's youth are missing out in what is our dialect, bueno they are even missing out in being bilingual, una tonteria que los padres jovenes solo les hablan a los ninos en Ingles cuando it is a great thing to speak more than one language, y encima sin costarte mucho estudiarlo as it comes naturally to us. Yo a ti te puedo decir 'Anda subete en el machapie que te va a pilla el movi" and you understand it but in the future no other generation will, estas son nuestras cosas and what has made us the people we are today, GIBRALTARIANS."

Ronnie has a Jewish surname and background but his father married a catholic and so Ronnie was baptised Catholic, he loves to remember his grandfather celebrated with him Catholic feasts and then he went with his other sons to celebrate the Jewish festivities, everybody's religion was respected in his family. Ronnie speaks very highly of his wife Marie, who apart from being Ronnie's pillar of strength after so many years together, they have a son and two grandchildren that keep them busy. Marie is also always volunteering to help old people at the hospital or at Mount Alvernia, or in a personal capacity with any old person needing her.

Ronnie loves doing crosswords, he says it keeps his brain ticking, as if he needed this for that purpose, amazing Ronnie also speaks Russian, he tells me he learnt it trading shoes to Russian fishermen, this man has tried it all; his sole frustration apart from singing is presenting a radio programme about music of those days, so I hope his dream comes true.

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