Estopa

Band history

Brothers José Muñoz and David Muñoz were born in 1978 and 1976 respectively in Cornellà de Llobregat, a suburb of Barcelona, to parents from Extremadura in South Western Spain. On trips with their parents from Cornellà to the Extremaduran village of Zarza Capilla, where their family was originally from, the brothers grew up listening to Los Chichos, Los Chunguitos, and Bordón. José and David attended college for some time before quitting their studies; they worked for a factory manufacturing automobile parts for the company SEAT. The band name "Estopa" comes from the expression used by their boss to keep everybody on task, "Dale estopa a la maquina." There, they began composing songs and began to play in local bars.

After playing a song for the executives at BMG Music España, Estopa was given a record deal. Their first album, "Estopa," was released 19 October 1999 and one of its songs, "La Raja de Tu Falda," became an instant hit. Other songs such as "Tu Calorro," "Suma y Sigue," and "El del Medio de los Chichos" (an ode to the band Los Chichos) have also become fan favorites. Estopa followed with their next album "Destrangis" in 2001, which sold 250,000 copies in its first two weeks.

The album was welcomed by fans and led to a tour of Latin America. The Muñoz brothers later released a second Destrangis album including three live bonus tracks, entitled "Más Destrangis." After two years, their fourth album, "¿La Calle es Tuya?" was released in 2004. Though it did not receive such good ratings as "Estopa" and "Destrangis," it became an immediate hit with songs like "Fuente de Energía" and "Apagón." The band experimented with rock-orientated sounds on this album, while maintaining the rumba and flamenco sounds that had appeared on their first two albums.

In late 2005, the band released their highly anticipated album "Voces de Ultrarumba." The disc includes older songs written by the brothers that Estopa could not record due to limits on each disc. The songs "No Quiero Verla Más" and "Malabares" were particularly popular. The album was released as a special, dual-disc CD/DVD set. On 26 February 2008 Estopa released their fifth studio album, titled "Allenrok." They worked on a music video for "Voces de Ultrarumba"'s song, "Lunes."

Did You Know?

• Estopa made a cameo appearance in the Spanish film The 4th Floor.
• They have performed with Rosario Flores and Macaco.
• José Muñoz plays guitar and sings backing vocals, as well as lead vocals on a few songs; David Muñoz is the lead singer and also plays some guitar.